Stranger Things Season 4 introduced some new characters.
Arguably the best new addition has been Eddie Munson.
In this video, we are going to review Eddie’s backstory, recap he’s done so far, opine
on his growth as a person, and speculate as to where he is going.
When the boys entered high school, Lucas became friends with the sports players.
But no one was nice to Mike and Dustin.
No one except for the sixth-year senior, Eddie Munson.
The very first thing that Eddie did this season was read a ridiculous article in Newsweek
about Dungeons and Dragons being the cause of violent behavior.
Even murder.
Eddie went on to say that society has to blame something, so society blames outcasts like
him and his friends since they are an easy target.
They play a fantasy game instead of band, science, parties, or sports.
Long story short, Eddie said that forced conformity is the real monster.
That is very similar to something that One said to El.
When One described his past to El, he said that where others saw order, he saw a straitjacket.
A cruel, oppressive world dictated by made-up rules.
So Eddie has the same world view that Henry once had.
Nevertheless, they went down two different paths.
Whereas Henry entered the minds of animals and killed them, Eddie found like-minded friends.
He formed a band as well as Hellfire Club.
He grew out his hair and he got tattoos.
Eddie also became a drug dealer.
Since Chrissy was having waking nightmares, she went to Eddie for some supplies.
Eddie was surprised that she of all people would hit him up for that.
He was also surprised that he liked her.
Since the two of them got along, he offered her a discount, but Chrissy decided that she
wanted something stronger, so they went back to his uncle’s trailer to get something
else.
While looking for the Special K, Eddie spoke to his guitar.
Since music is a way to penetrate Vecna’s waking nightmares, Eddie’s guitar is a pretty
obvious example of a Chekhov’s gun.
Something that will pay off in the future.
When Eddie went back out to Chrissy, Vecna had her.
And he killed her.
Eddie became Eddie the Banished.
Chrissy’s boyfriend named Jason hunted Eddie down, and then Vecna killed Patrick.
So Jason believes that Eddie killed both Chrissy and Patrick.
Now, he has the whole town out looking for Eddie.
Thankfully, some people still believe in Eddie.
Dustin convinced his friends that Eddie is a good guy, and they adopted him onto their
anti-Vecna team.
In the past, Eddie had judged people like Chrissy and Steve.
But Eddie quickly opened up to Chrissy.
And he opened up to Steve as well.
He even admitted to Steve that he likes him.
So Eddie has always been different.
And there are people like Jason who are prejudiced against him for that.
But Eddie now realizes that he himself had misjudged some people such as Steve.
So Eddie has grown as a person.
He has also become more brave.
Before meeting his new friends, his instinct was to run from danger.
But now, he dove into a lake and traversed the Upside Down.
Eddie has come a long way, and his journey has just begun.
At the end of Volume 1, Eddie and Robin climbed back out of the Upside Down.
Steve is still in the Upside Down with Nancy since Vecna has her in a trance, but the Volume
2 Teaser suggests that Nancy escapes that trance, and they leave the upside down.
In order to save Max, they had to play Max’s favorite song.
But they may not have Nancy’s favorite song readily available.
Thankfully, Eddie has a guitar.
Chekhov’s gun.
So this shot here might be Eddie saving Nancy’s life.
To play devil’s advocate, there’s a major flaw to this theory.
Nancy is inside the trailer in the Upside Down.
Why would Eddie grab his guitar, climb up into the Upside Down and then go outside onto
the top of his trailer.
That doesn’t make sense.
So here are two other options.
We know that Steve, Robin, and Nancy are going to go back into the Upside Down.
So this might be Eddie rocking out from the top of his trailer so as to protect Nancy
while she goes out on the mission to kill Vecna.
Or it might be Eddie rocking out so as to distract the swam of evil bat creatures, which
allows the other three to get to Vecna’s home.
There are other options, but the takeaway from them all is the same.
Eddie Munson has become a real life hero.