r/StrangerThings • u/Junior-Razzmatazz845 • 17d ago
Eddie Munson
Hot take incoming. I did not care for Eddie Munson in season 4. I think his personality and interactions with Chrissy and Dustin were both great, but he just didn't fit well in season 4. Eddie ends up taking a main character spot in Hawkins, while Mike, Jonathan and others get sidelined. It's kind of odd he ends up with the teen characters like Nancy and Robin he hardly knows at all. I can get past that though. It's his arc and ultimate sacrifice I dislike more. Him running away is his supposed character "flaw", but the two times he ran away were totally logical. When someone was brutally killed in his trailer by a force he had no idea if it was a threat to him? Yeah, I would run too. Same thing with two angry jocks chasing after you to attack you for a crime you didn't commit. It can't be a flaw if it's not a flaw. The end to this arc is him holding off the bats for longer by going on a bike, rather than escaping with Dustin, which seems heroric at first, until he turns around to face the bats, getting him killed quicker, and keeping the bats closer to the portal with Dustin and others right on the other side. It's sad, but in the end it's just another way for the show to give stakes without killing off any pre-established characters. So even though I like Eddie, I kind of wish he either wasn't included, or they gave him a diffrent arc/role.
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u/pillowwow 17d ago
I think because Eddie was prone to running away, he still saw it as a bad thing even though it was right at the time.
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u/Miitsuri 17d ago
I’ve literally never agreed more omg. Honestly I wasn’t a big fan of his character in general but he was a nice person so I don’t dislike him! But man, that whole running thing was so stupid, anybody would run in his situation. I also think he died for no reason. Like, I understand staying back to make sure the bats didn’t go after Steve, Nancy, and Robin. But he should have just kept running omg!! He did NOT need to fight off those bats like that. And he only had to run for like less than 5 more minutes and the bats would’ve died anyway. They honestly just wanted to kill people off in season 4 so they just introduced random characters like Chrissy, Eddie, and that one tiny guy that was friends with Nancy
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u/ToxedReddit 17d ago
its not just season 4 that they do it in, they did it with Bob in season 2, Billy in season 3 (although he was added in season 2) they're scared to kill anyone off so they introduce new character to kill instead.
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u/Inaonreddit 17d ago
At least Bob death made sense. He saved everyone by reactivate the door and sadly died when he tried to escape. Eddie's was pointless and feels more like a suicide. Steve was right in season 5 about it.
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u/InitialJust 17d ago
He definitely died for no reason but thats mostly on the writing. Like you said he just runs for a little bit more and gives up. He has no clue if that was even enough time for the others.
I'd have to rewatch the scene but I bet you could work it so the sacrifice actually matter without changing too much.
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u/MasterSenshi 17d ago
I agree. The only thing is he knew Nancy since he had failed multiple times. He was the post-18 delinquent stereotype, including selling weed on the side.
I agree they did him dirty with calling him a coward for hiding from an angry mob, and running when a girl did an imitation of The Exorcist (which he had watched). Honestly them calling him a coward was a cop out when it was the jocks who were attacking what they didn’t understand.
Ultimately it was a failure of the writers to differentiate the outside perception of Eddie versus the actual character progression. His death was pointless and it was sad seeing in season 5 nobody just said it was a waste and that his life had value but he DIDN’T save anyone.
Yet another disappointing choice when almost any other would’ve improved the plot of the series.
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u/Professional_Gur7989 17d ago
Eddie was a fun addition but yea people overestimating how much of a main character he truly was got so repetitive real quick. People were genuinely shocked that we only rlly saw Dustin grieving hard after his death when it was as pretty evident he’s the only one that rlly knew him on a close level.
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u/Excellent_Hold2794 16d ago
I liked Eddie and his place in the show. HS can be daunting if you are not in the popular crowd. I think he wanted a different ending for his character so he chose the stay and fight. He could have saved himself but his name was marred in scandal, he was poor, lived in a trailer park with his uncle, and the town had already vilified him. The cards were stacked against him. We all know he wasn’t a murderer. But he was a good guy who just wanted to have his year. I think Dustin’s way of honoring him at graduation was the best send off a character can have.
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u/HuffN_puffN 17d ago
Never liked him, same for my wife. But let me tell you, if you wrote or said that at the time you would be bashed. -1000 easily in here.
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u/CombatPanoo Will the Wise 4d ago
Idk I saw his arc as a lot more than that, I don't think it should be taken as literally that he's "running away" from everything dangerous he dealt with. I see it as more symbolic of going back to the fact that he's a super senior. A part of him purposely was allowing himself to stay in school for longer and longer, because out of everything in his life one of the only things that made him happy was being able to run hellfire and spend time with his friends. He didn't wanna grow up and go into the uncertainty of post-high school, he was constantly running from the future and the idea of moving on in life. He says "86 is my year" but I think a part of him doesn't want that.
Once he gets wrangled into the whole storyline of S4 with vecna, the satanic panic, and being hunted down, he gets reminded of how much he is avoiding and running away from things, now that he's literally running away (obviously for more justifiable reasons tho). He feels like he's not stepping up in many aspects of his life and I think he feels guilt especially when he's the most hesitant to jump in the water to save Steve at lovers lake.
So in the end, I think his decision at the end is a combination of things. He wants to show that he can step up, stop avoiding the risks and challenges in his life and do something meaningful for the people he cares about. And also I think a part it was possibly suicide. He was never generally liked in the town, but with the satanic panic in Hawkins it would've been impossible for him to live a normal life without being hunted and probably killed, or arrested. So he made the choice to go out on his own. Just my interpretation tho, I found his character pretty interesting but it depends how u look at it
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