How should I feel about Ben Horne in The Return?

It's probably absolutely BLASPHEMOUS for me to ask this about a David Lynch work, but what are your guys' take on Ben Horne's character in The Return. A lot of people say it's really fucked up how the show wants you to view a guy who had sex with a seventeen year old girl as "decent", but other people saw that the show doesn't push you to forgive him and you're supposed to view him as tired and sad rather than good.

A part of me wants to believe that him turning down Beverly was the show's way of saying "he's mellowed out, but we shouldn't reward him for doing the bare minimum", but afterwards he calls her and asks to go out for dinner with her. I'm worried that moment completely undoes the intention.