#breaking him out of jail woild he the perfect opportunity for Hopper to come back and tell Chief Powell everything

[catharusustulatus]

My Eddie Munson analysis, with points that have already been made, but that I’ll say again:

He was probably not intended to be as popular as he became, hence his death. The Duffers and co obviously regret their decision; cue the kajillion posts, teases, and merch pieces coming out about him. They fucked up by killing him, and they know it. Will he come back? I have no idea.

Joseph was the one who made Eddie as great as he is. He helped shape the character and he gave him the depth and personality (mannerisms, rings, eye fucking Steve in all scenes, other choices, ad libs, etc) that we love him for.

To me, Eddie as a character IS a plot device. He was written to mature the party boys, specifically Dustin. He was written to die, so that Steve could live. He was written to subvert expectations, like with Chrissy, which makes you care about him.

He was also written to confirm the re-significance of Stancy, with his explicit “get her back” comments in the UD. This fascinates me because he barely knows these people, let alone what’s going on in their relationship. Why would he feel compelled to say what he said, unless he’s being used as a narrative tool to push Stancy to the forefront? I am into Stancy too personally but like, lol, who told him about what was going on? Did Robin take 5 minutes to be like “hey Eddie btw if Steve and Nancy seem awkward around each other, it’s because they used to date but she broke up with him and he never really got over her and her long distance bf has been incommunicado so I feel like there might be a chance they rekindle their love” like I guess it happened off screen! Did Dustin tell him? And while I wish we’d seen a conversation so it would make more sense why he’s saying that, we didn’t need it, because HE doesn’t exist that deeply on the page. His comment was to further someone else’s plot, not his own. (I personally also love the headcanon that he said all of that to Steve because he was crushing on Steve and was deflecting).

I have no idea what the costume and hair and makeup departments were doing when they developed his final looks, but that boy is queer. The bandana alone, I immediately thought he was going to be the first gay character in the show in s4e1. In his introductory monologue he mentions sodomy, I mean….

Lastly, everyone has already said this, but his death. Are you kidding me? It’s not just that he was another one season semi filler character that’s introduced, who you fall in love with, who dies. It’s the fact that he died so savagely, in what felt like a nonsensical way. It felt almost taunting, like here’s this symbol of what it means to be different and let’s kill him! Get it, he didn’t run away this time! Booooo 🍅🍅 that’s bad writing. He didn’t zip up his jacket! Why? He was written to make all the wrong decisions, because they so thoroughly wanted him to die, almost like his death is an important part of his character.

Whether or not he’s Kas, just haunts Dustin the way Billy haunted Max, or something in between, if he isn’t shown at all in season 5, after all the hubbub about him, I will riot.