I really just can't decide which way to go here.
On the one hand, a near-40-year-old angry man bullying a 20 yo young woman is appalling. Idc what kind of girl she is or whether she gives back just as bad, it is really pathetic and unseemly for him to do. Add to that the fact that she is already completely fucked up - due to another man old enough to be her father, and it looks like two grown men (metaphorically or literally - it's a gray area) passing around this twisted girl just to abuse her more. Ralph should have the balls to tangle with that maniac Ben directly. But he doesn't. Wonder why? a) chicken, b) Ralph cravenly exploiting this pathetic girl, c) he thought he had a chance and he truly is a woman scorned, or d) they cooked it up together, which makes them all sick fucks.
On the other hand, the Thorps are so utterly vile I really can't root for them, either. They're like the family in some 48 Hours-type show that is first shown in smiling family photos, quiet house, then you get the inside turbulence and violence, ending in sick depravity and death. The shit they themselves have aired is beyond fucked up, even when they're not playing it up. Forget Ben and golden child grace's creepy tango - the scapegoating (and obvious instability and weakness) of the mother and abuse of the sons (I've only seen the older one interact, with the next one just on a sofa buried in video games and trying to ignore the psychodrama around him - older siblings in the household physically abusing each other; the dad egging them on, manipulating them, and psychologically and verbally abusing the older son; mother nowhere to be found) - is like a tragic parody of the DSM come to life. All versions at once.
I hate Dr Phil (who doesn't), but I'd almost like to see those creeps on his show just to see him shake his head over and over as he fails to reach any one of them. I can see it - grace doing one of her bad dances almost striptease style around Ben, who grins and preens until he orders her to sit down, while the mom starts pawing her pockets for a cig as she waits to be told when to speak, what to say, and when to shut up. Older son dials in from jail, after Grace and Ben thought it would be funny to goad him to violence and then call the cops after having planted meth in his bedroom; next one can't call but sends his regards from the juvie-sponsored rehab program he landed in after 15 years of small-time Caligula's reign.
Tl; dr: Ben Thorp thinks he's fucking Neegan, and Ralph is afraid of Lucille, so he's bullying a damaged girl half his age. Good look, Ralph. All you had to do was stop fetishizing and exploiting fucked-up women young enough (literally or at least mentally (May)) to be your daughter because you think they'll be impressed where sane adult women would run like deer from a forest fire. Even the most compromised of girls/women see through you, some sooner than others. It's embarrassing.
