Ned Banks was originally portrayed by Tyler Patrick Jones, but starting with season 3 episode "Slam," Christoph Sanders took over the role. He is the son of Delia and Charlie Banks. The events of his adolescence have been part of the plots of some episodes.
Personality[]
Ned is seen as a smart, sweet, young man. He can be disobedient to his mother, and sometimes abrupt towards her. In one episode, his mother says, "You study the Occult to help people." Ned replies rudely, "I study the occult because it fascinates me." Although he can be stiff and abrupt, he loves his mother unconditionally. He also respects and is even friends with Melinda.
He sees Jim as a mentor and a father figure, since Ned's father passed. He is distraught when Jim 'dies'. He goes to the baskbetball court on the Thursday after Jim dies, like they always did, and Jim is seen as a ghost watching him.
Ned isn't very popular, with a select group of odd friends. He treats women nicely, although he froze out one of his female friends in an episode. He is considerate, caring, and funny. Along with being a charmer, he is very gentle and sweet towards all people.
Plot[]
He was caught shoplifting at Melinda's antique shop, stealing Grateful Dead tickets. Melinda realized that his behavior was the result of a spirit's urging. Ned found out Melinda's secret before his mother did when he overheard Melinda in the episode "Curse of The Ninth". He is always eager to help Melinda with her ghosts. A few episodes later, when his deceased father Charlie visits him and his mother, Melinda helps his father go into the Light. In the season three episode "No Safe Place," Ned gets into a private school.
In "Slambook," Ned (played by Christoph Sanders from then on) is on the basketball team when a ghost begins tampering with the scoreboard to make it read 34 + G.F. = Death, implaying Ned's teammate, #34 Brad and his girlfriend, Krista. During this incident, Melinda sees the ghost of a boy who supposedly died in a skateboarding accident, Thomas Benjamin, just as the bleachers begin to collapse, but it is clear that all is not as it seems. Ned and Melinda go to question Thomas's sister, Lucy, who everyone believes is the culprit to the scoreboard and bleachers, but she gets defensive and it is obvious she is hiding something.
After Krista is attacked by a bat in her car and a text is sent around school from a non-existent IP address, Melinda begins to believe that Thomas may have had something going with Krista. When she talks to Brad, he admits to snooping in on Krista's email and replying to someone whom Krista had been having "intense" conversations with, telling them to meet him (pretending to be Krista herself). When Thomas shows up, he takes a swing at Brad and Brad pushes him into the chalkboard, causing Thomas to hit his head and gain a concussion. After Thomas falls asleep at home, he doesn't wake up. Later, when Ned and Melinda follow the IP of the text message sent and it leads to Lucy, it is revealed that Thomas was not actually the one emailing Krista, but it was actually Lucy, who was "kind of into" Krista. Thomas was trying to protect her and went in Lucy's place meet 'Krista'.
At the end of the episode, Ned is walking by a cafe patio and sees Lucy sitting there, she says hi to him and he sits down with her, striking up a conversation. She apologizes for calling him crazy earlier, and she looks across the square to Melinda, who is outside her shop. A few minutes later, as Melinda is seen talking to Thomas, Krista walks up to them at the patio and tells Lucy that she got her email, that she "got all of [her] emails". Lucy, looking very confused because she hadn't sent any email, is told by Ned "come on, don't be shy. Just admit it," as he nods over to where Melinda is seemingly talking to herself. Catching on, Lucy replies "busted" before asking if Krista knew it was her, to which Krista replied that she "hoped" it was her. Krista sits down with them and they begin talking all together, and Ned is shown to have gained friends in the two girls.
In the episode "Home but Not Alone," Ned has his first girlfriend and (probably) his first kiss. In season 4, there was a plot that involved his mother suspecting him of smoking marijuana, but as it turned out, it was his mother's friend's joint.
Trivia[]
- He shows a fascination in the occult
- He studies it in College
- He hosted a Radio Show with 4 of his friends
- He helps out Melinda with her ghosts even against his mother's wishes.