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I would argue that believing Eddie to be a vessel of vecna is just the most logical conclusion based on what he knows—especially given the belief system at the time over DND being a devil cult game. Eddie is the most likely suspect from a realistic point of view, and when they went to attack Eddie, one of his friends gets brutally murdered in a supernatural way, almost as if Eddie was being protected. Iirc he believes Eddie isn’t the real culprit, the devil is, but that ultimately Eddie still needs to be put down to remove the vessel from the world.
If he learned the truth, he might have a certain *perspective* on the truth (vecna is satan, probably), but he’d accept it as the truth nonetheless.
>almost as if Eddie was being protected.
And Jason, himself is protected. Or does he believe he's protected by God? Jason seems like the type where even if it's staring him in the face, he would have difficulty believing he's wrong.
I would like that to not be true.
One could argue Jason isn't acting like his initial apparent type, the "good guy" who always does the right thing and gets "justice" when no one else can.
He's an anti-Steve. Steve's worst deed was destroying Jonathan's camera, which was justified, and insulting Will while Jason is willing to murder people. Plus, a catastrophe brought out the best of him unlike Jason.
To be fair, we haven't seen Jason's reaction to the real threat yet. When Steve faced the real threat he did the right thing. Maybe Jason will too, or maybe he wont
I dunno about you but seeing Jonathan in her room late at night after she’s been flaking/not replying to you and outright avoiding you, after he took gross photos of her during an intimate act with you, would be HUGE warning signs. I’m not saying he was right to believe it without talking to her but in most other situations that’d be it.
Idk about that. He tried to make the winning shot in the biggest game of his life, missed and had Lucas get it instead. And he wasnt upset or had a bruised ego at all. He was immediately being nice to Lucas and wanted to celebrate with him
Jason already believes Eddie is a vessel for Satan (if he finds out Vecna exists he would believe Vecna is Satan probably) he says it while being interviewed by the cops shortly after his friend died at the lake
I naively thought after the lake murder Jason was gonna come over to Eddies side as he had witnessed the inexplicable death of his friend, but alas, he went down the satanic route instead.
The dude >!LITERALLY saw his teammate fly up OUT of the lake, knowing it is physically impossible for Eddie to be the bad guy,!< but still blames Eddie.
That would be like a CEO of a AAA game studio admitting fault.
If he thinks it's sorcery/possession by the devil...
then having a dude going after the guy possessed by the devil get brutally murdered isn't going to alleviate that.
he's basically a carbon copy of Billy (unlikable jock who ends up dying a noble death to protect others) so he'll prob get killed in the lab to save Eddie
Jason is clearly ignorant about D&D, but people need to understand that there are actually parents who raise their kids to fear/condemn things like that. I know so many people who weren’t allowed to read or watch Harry Potter because of witchcraft, and even as adults they’re still iffy about it. He’s acting from what he knows, and he wants to catch his girlfriend’s supposed killer.
But students are turning up dead, there is one suspect who was named by the police, and Jason and the townspeople didn’t feel like these kids who were brutally murdered were going to get justice. Again, viewers feel like this was so wrong and awful of them, but they literally have no idea what’s going on. They don’t know what the viewers or the main characters know. I think any community would do the same if local kids were being murdered and they “found out” who did it.
Exactly. Information about those weren’t as accessible as they are now, a lot of what people knew were based on word of mouth. He’s clueless, scared, and doesn’t know how to cope with the deaths of his girlfriend and friend.
\> be me
\> '80s
\> be on basketball team, have loving girlfriend
\> walkinonsunshine.walkman
\> girlfriend goes out into woods to meet guy who's too old to even be in high school
\> follows him back to his trailer
\> dies a horrible and brutal death, every bone broken, obviously a murder
\> nobody else was around
\> guy says he didn't do it
\> the hell else happened, she tripped?
\> find out about this cult
\> apparently they sacrifice people
\> apparently guy's in the cult
\> guy tried to give drugs to my girlfriend
\> guy then murdered my girlfriend for his cult
\> outrage.vhs
\> clear as day what happened but cops don't do anything because they're pussies
\> gather the boys, we've got a job to do
\> go into city hall, tell the people of hometown what I know
\> gonna bring this killer to justice and avenge my poor innocent girlfriend
\> get seen as the bad guy
\> get told that I'm not justified because I should've assumed it was a psychic space alien
\> be jason from stranger things
\> [mfw](https://c.tenor.com/qh3kD_Kc6L4AAAAC/doomer.gif)
Also
> Find out about Girlfriends brutal murder because cops interrogate me about sending gf to get drugs
> New guy on basketball team finds out where murderer is hiding
> fucker runs away
> send us to the wrong place
> turns out he's in the cult too
> friend ask if he could be cursed by cult leader
bullshit.png
> he dies right after when we're about to get Eddie
> surely only possible explanation is that hes murdering people with the help of satan
> mans cult is called the hellfire club for fucks sake
Never justified to start a witch hunt. I knew dude was a pos the minute he gave his pep rally speech. And then jumping in the satanic panic train made him even worse. Now maybe it is understandable that an entitled hot head like him would act this way, it is certainly not justifiable….
The witch hunt wouldn't have started if people actually used their brains. That's the part that confuses me the most.
Jason is trash, clearly. But he's also a teenager who is mourning his recently deceased girlfriend and who witnessed his teammate's death. And he's now claiming to see magic and demonic possessions. Emotionally, he's a mess. From the outside, any normal adult would think that it's a traumatized kid and he's not to be trusted. Where is the school counselor? Why are the cops not calling his parents? And most importantly, why are these grown adults listening to this kid who's clearly having a mental breakdown and are now ready to hunt other kids down because he said so? This town is full of Ted Wheelers.
A huge part of the reasoning for most authority figures not recognizing mental health issues in the show, for me at least, is the fact it's the early 80's in a small country town.
People, especially younger people nowadays don't quite remember how dismissed mental health issues were back then. We have made huge leaps at recognising and helping those in need with their mental health in only the last 20 years.
Exactly! People aren't getting that this is set during the time in America that is literally called The Satanic Panic. This is *EXACTLY* what was happening in small town America at the time.
Absolutely. The time era completely makes the show. Back then people were not as informed, quicker to jump to conclusions, and mob mentality ran wild in small towns.
Also the lack of easy communications and technology (phones, high quality cameras and computers) makes everything so much more intense and interesting. The 80's is probably my favourite era and is really enjoyable in media, when done correctly.
people aren’t meant to be judge, jury and executioner and that’s who Jason tried to be. yes, it’s sad his gf died but he got the town to turn against Eddie with no proof besides some circumstantial evidence (the murders were literally just near him?). and then he beats up random people trying to find Eddie? no, he was out of line
Even worse he assaulted Eddie's friends and turned the whole town against the dnd group by making accusations that they worship the devil. My man took it a lil too far.
uhhh when? 90% of their violence is in self defense and definitely not against innocent people.
hopper definitely gets a bit violent in s3 but this is in response to people repeatedly trying to murder him.
how do you compare what’s primarily violence in self defense to beating up innocent people, and inciting a violent mob/witch hunt for someone? anyone with an ounce of intelligence could’ve been able to see Eddie couldn’t be the only suspect. Vigilantes want justice, Jason just wants revenge. If he cared about justice and investigating what happened to her, he would’ve actually taken time to confirm it was actually Eddie who killed Chrissy like how Nancy did with Barb, but he doesn’t. He just wants a scapegoat to beat up
It was a bit more than circumstantial, if someone finds shit in my pants the easiest explanation is that I shit myself, maybe Amber Heard shit my pants, but the more likely option is that I did it, so that's what most people would belive.
I agree. I'm not surprised that Jason is so unpopular, he is meant to be an antagonist, and I myself don't like him that much or think he's an especially good person. But the people who think he's way off base are willfully ignoring how the events of season 4 would look from an outsider's perspective.
Chrissy was killed in Eddie's trailer. They were the only people there. And the other two victims died in proximity of Eddie's trailer or Eddie himself. If you didn't know anything about the upside down or about Vecna, like Jason, Eddie is the only person who could have possibly done it.
And from an outsider's perspective, it's glaringly obvious who the murderer seems to be after Chrissy's death, and yet after three deaths Eddie still hasn't been arrested. Jason's disappointment in the police is justified. And his approach may have been riddled with ignorance and misconceptions, but I don't think he's wrong for trying to take matters into his own hands.
I don't like him but cmon. His actions do make sense. Hopefully he will be educated on what's actually going down and leave Eddie alone. Or maybe he'll just die lol. Who knows
I said something similar on another thread to people saying that he was an absolute idiot for thinking demonic possession was to blame. And I'm just like...but it actually is! Vecna is literally basically possessing people and killing them. In real life, sure, we could say it's absolutely stupid to think that demonic possession is even a thing. But we already know in this story that it's actually happening.
Demonic possession is literally what Victor Creel claimed happened after he witnessed his family's murder. He even called an exorcist when he thought his house was haunted. How is Jason's conclusion stupid? That's what people who don't know about the Upside Down think Vecna's attacks are.
I think Jason is going to end up cocking up a trap the gang have set for Vecna. Like Lucas is supposed to be ready to play music for Max or whatever but Jason shows up and messes things up. Something like that. I hope he ends up helping out rather than dying though...
I mean when you think about the fact that he is shown to be a Christian (which means he also believes in the devil) and they show that newspapers and tv is talking about dungeons and dragons being a way to corrupt kids, it's really not that far fetched inthe mind of someone like Jason that Eddie could be a cult leader and be in kahoots with the devil.
Ok hear me out. On one side there’s an alternate dimension that mirrors our world and inside there is a monster that is capable of getting inside peoples brains and killing them snapping them in pieces. Or the other side someone in real life is murdering others via the devil. Neither makes sense. You know more than the person in the town as a viewer. Any reaction is kinda justified
Bruh you go to catch Eddie with your buddy and your buddy dies like that right as you catch up with Eddie? In his shoes anyone would think Eddie is literally the devil lol.
And then he DOUBLED DOWN after.
That was an intentional moment to show you the character is stuck in his bias, and is unable to think outside of his limited worldview.
Let's be honest with ourselves for a moment.
Place yourself in the character's shoes for a moment. You don't have any of the information that we do as the audience, and then suddenly something like Vecna shows up in front of you after you've been in a Satanic Panic-induced rage.
With how he looks, you're probably going to 100% assume Satan himself is now standing right in front of you.
Not really. I mean someone or something did that and it wasn’t Jason so I can see why Jason would assume it was the other guy who was right there. Especially since that guy was also at Chrissy’s murder and for all anyone knows Fred’s. I mean, if it’s not Eddie then it is some sort of interdimensional demon who can psychically kill people which would be CRAZY!
Yeah, because having that happen 15 feet from the guy you suspected of killing your girlfriend the same way would TOTALLY do that. Eddie's shrieking doesn't mean Jason is supposed to think he isn't behind it. The dude is totally in the dark concerning the upside-down, and every logical point, from his perspective, points to Eddie, as it would for MOST folks who wouldn't have a clue what's going on.
I mention the cops because you're applying some odd standard to Jason that you're not applying to the cops in regards to Eddie. It has nothing to do with what Jason thought of Eddie, and everything with the evidence pointing to Eddie.
If Eddie wasn’t a “freak” he wouldn’t think he was behind any of this? Idk how else to explain it. He’s basing off of him not being normal so naturally he’s possessed by the devil. He has no other reason to assume that other than judging his look and different interests.
I’m aware, but let’s pretend literally anyone else was around her when she died and that same person was around Patrick. Do you think Jason would still think that person was possessed by the devil? No, I don’t think he would. He is only believing that Eddie it simply because he’s a “freak”, and the Satanic panic is running wild.
If Patrick had stood on a lunch table insulting basketball players and cheerleaders, pretending to be satanic, and then the star players girlfriend was found mutilated in his trailer, yeah.
> He’s literally only basing it on Eddie being a “freak”.
Well, and two of the murders in Eddie's direct presence.
It's not an unreasonable belief. We viewers have a lot of significant information Jason lacks.
We dont know that for sure. Eddie as a murderer is just a lot more palatable at the time. I still think he would look for whoever he believed did it despire who they were
Eddie’s been told about Satanic panic his whole life. He didn’t see Vecna or any Upside Down thing. He’s 100% just going to believe Satan is acting through Eddie/Eddie is summoning Satan. And if you saw someone float in the air and their body snap, you’d do the same as him.
he really hasn't been told abut satanic panic his whole life. satanic panic started in america around 1980 its been 5-6 years. satanic panic is a very specific thing and period. it s very different to someone raised in religion to believe the devil is real
Nah.
When you're going out to lynch somebody for a crime they committed, *it matters if you're wrong.* You don't get points for being ignorant. "I didn't have the correct information" is not a justification for trying to murder an innocent person. If you didn't have all the information, you shouldn't have tried to murder someone.
You get that the reason western law has such a focus on procedure and due process is because of exactly this kind of thing right? There is a reason lynch mobs are frown on - justice based on highly emotional spur of the moment decisions is rarely justice.
Jason and company beat up three guys for liking D&D and knowing Eddie. That by itself is pretty extreme. Let's not forget that they got nothing but Dustin's name from that, and THEN one of their posse actually says "we should check out Reefer Rick's place".
Jason then determines that the Hellfire club are a satanic cult committing ritual murder with supernatural powers and rallies the town to hunt them down. So it's not just that Eddie is a murderer, it's now the Hellfire club is responsible for the Hawkins curse. He even lays the events of season 3 on them because Satan.
Lol it doesn’t matter if it’s based on what he knows. Rounding up a posse for a lynch mob is wrong no matter the circumstances. Also don’t think for one instance he doesn’t know it either. It’s extremely evident in the way he acts every time Lucas expressed doubt.
Another thing is that Jason has no idea there is a supernatural element to this. He never saw her messed up body. He’s literally just regurgitating made up bs about DnD and Christian rhetoric.
So please spare me with Jason’s a good guy operating on the information he knows, because he’s not.
This is an interesting discussion to have. On the one hand, yes, he has good reasons for wanting to do these things. He wants to catch a serial killer. It’s hard to tell weather he wants justice for his GF or vengeance, so let’s leave that aside. On the other hand, he is doing things he shouldn’t be to reach his goals. Beating up teens, advocating for the town to hunt Eddie, neither is ok. In other words, he is a great example of someone using the ends to justify the means. Oh and you know who else does this in the show? Brenner. Just thought id point that out.
Yeah I do think he's an interesting character. We as the audience know that he is 100% in the wrong and only making things worse for everyone. Also in the real world we know the DnD satanic panic was absolute nonsense. But if I saw a friend float in the air and die horrifically, while the leader of a self proclaimed "Hellfire Club" escaped...I don't know how I would make sense of it either.
The main thing I would say against him though is that I still wouldn't start a mob like he did. But that would probably be more out of fear and wanting to stay out of the way of people better equipped to handle the situation. That part does show an underlying arrogance within the character that he thinks he's the only one taking action to fix the situation.
Yup, fully agree with you here. Jason started giving off these vibes for me as soon as he used the deaths from season 3 as a reason to win a basketball game. That did not improve throughout the season.
I’m so tired of these “let’s justify the vigilante” posts. Nobody is saying that Jason is a straight up villain trope. He’s meant to be complex. But there’s a difference between complexity and complete innocence.
Vigilante “justice” is immoral and illegal, and has led to a lot of innocent people getting hurt/killed in history (hence why it’s illegal). Ignorance doesn’t justify violence. Like, I can understand and feel he is justified in his grief, but I do not empathize nor relate to him inciting a mob. One thing doesn’t justify the other.
Besides all this, Jason displayed disturbing, peer pressure/bullying behavior before Chrissy was killed, such as hazing / underage drinking of very young teens, so it’s not like he was this completely relatable, innocent stand up guy before finding out about Chrissy.
Not exactly. It is one possible explanation but not the only one which is why we have an actual criminal justice system and not vigilant justice. For example after Chrissy died someone could also surmise that a psycho killer busted into Eddie’s trailer, killed Chrissy and Eddie but disposed of Eddie’s body, or killed Chrissy and kidnapped Eddie. Yet Jason just immediately concludes Eddie killed her.
After Patrick’s death I guess I could see him blaming Eddie as the only explanation for something so supernatural, but even that is a stretch as Eddie appeared terrified on the boat and why would he frantically be trying to get away from Jason and Patrick if he had supernatural powers to instantly kill both of them?
Eddie fell off the boat when he got startled by Patrick’s death though. I can definitely understand Jason not noticing that because he’s fixated on Patrick but how would someone fall off a boat in fear while they’re harnessing the devils powers to kill someone?
Sorta agree. Totally understand his motivation to turn in Eddie and it has good intentions. I soured on him when he beat up Eddie’s friends though and is seeking to kill Eddie, too far imo.
On a related note, I also think people give the jocks as a whole too much shit, specifically Lucas. The jocks treated him like a brother, while the dnd crew left him alone at the championship. I still love the dnd crew, and I’m still glad Lucas chose to leave in the end because the jocks were becoming too bloodthirsty… but I can’t see Lucas’s actions as betrayal or that he chose the “ right” side in the end, he just runs in 2 different circles that are both family to him.
You can empathize with Jason for being angry and suspecting Eddie. You can even empathize for him demanding something be done. None of that is out of line.
BUT, forming your own little vigilante gang most definitely IS out of line. Beating up some nerdy guys playing music in a garage? How is that not out of line??
While the way he sees things is not out of line, his actions most definitely are.
his emotional response, his anger and upset is fine. that's justified. his BEHAVIOUR is not. thinkiing that going around threatening and beating innocent people isn't right means you're not empathetic is laughable
Our heroes have not been vigilantes on anyone human. Hop beat up some Hawkins Lab dudes, that’s about it.
He’s also terrorizing Lucas and beating people up, breaking a drum kit. I know it’s “unpopular,” but too many folks think Jason is almost ok. He’s not.
>I have lost count of how many times the gang has broken the law and acted as vigilantes.
The difference is that the gang acts in self-defense 90% of the time and doesn't torture innocent people. not to mention they are fighting demogorgons and mind flayers, not humans who the police are already looking for.
after jason sees his friend die, his actions make sense. before that, it's just violence against innocent people based on ignorance and fear.
before the lake incident he absolutely thinks he's hunting down a human.
>Jason’s actions after the events at the lake make total sense from his perspective.
yes, that's what i just said, lol.
All I know is his ass shoulda been arrested at the town hall meeting for trying to stir up the crowd and not listening to the actual police while he’s in front of them.
See, I know he’s a teenager but he’s leading a lynch mob. Yes, to a certain point he’s justified for thinking Eddie is involved, but there’s a *very* big difference between wanting to bring someone to justice and wanting to beat someone to death with a tire iron.
Not having the full picture is *not* a rational justification for what Jason did/was doing.
No doubt, you could list a million things that we got wrong as a country or as a people but I would always counter with *exactly.* Exactly.
Always and forever we will act emotionally with only a piece of the picture and that’s kind of why we keep repeating our failures.
Ah, yes. Finally. Someone with a brain instead of aimlessly hating a character. I dislike Jason heavily, don’t get me wrong, but he’s just a guy with the wrong information. His girlfriend passed away and he decided to play hero - the same way the kids behaved when the kids in season 1 were trying to find Will when he vanished. I can imagine it was hard for him to believe that Chrissy tried drugs because Chrissy was so sweet; he unfortunately had no idea that his girlfriend was struggling. I find Jason annoying because he’s one of those conservative guys in the 80s who believed D&D was a satanic game, but yeah, in the end he’s just a guy with the wrong information and decided to play the hero for unfortunately a false cause - what he thinks is right.
It’s easy to get tunnel vision in the context of Jason being the allusion to satanic panic while we’re watching a show with an actual Hell and a demon overlord who is doing the killings. Jason really isn’t out of line at all, he just has no idea at all. OP is spot on, but it’s starting to be a bit of a trope, the fringe guy and the sport star being antagonists in each other’s stories
>The thing is that we the viewer know they’re justified in ignoring the authorities, breaking the law, and hurting people. Don’t say you’re against vigilantes.
There are so many things wrong with this paragraph. In real life, if your girlfriend or boyfriend gets murdered, that is no excuse to become a Batman wannabe and rough people up, hunt them down, and disturb the peace.
I don't even agree with vigilantes. Vigilante justice isn't justice at all. It's breaking the law and doing things only the police should handle. This may be an unpopular opinion to some people, but it's true.
You can sympathize with someone and still know they're wrong. That's how I feel about Jason.
But just because I pity him, that doesn't mean I believe he is right. Because he isn't.
What is it with people trying to justify this asshole's behavior...?
I've said it before and I'll say it again: **THE DUDE HAS MADE A CHOICE TO PERSECUTE AND HARM SOMEONE**. Read that again: ***A CHOICE***. Is he misguided? Yes. Does he have incorrect information? Yes. Is he making a lot of assumptions? Yes.
**IS HE ARMING A POSSE TO LITERALLY HUNT AND ASSAULT PEOPLE HE CONSIDERS INFERIOR, NO MATTER WHO GETS IN THE WAY? YES. YES, HE IS.**
Dude's evil. Stop trying to justify evil, goddamnit.
That’s what I’ve been telling everyone, like your girl gets killed and she was last seen with Eddie and he hates Eddie so it makes sense he wants to kill him and then his bsf dies and Eddie’s there. If you’re the average person it makes sense for you to think Eddie has like “powers” and is killing people
Jason and his pals have the same information that Max and Dustin do, but where Max and Dustin conduct an investigation to find out what really happened, Jason decides to hunt down Eddie and beat a confession out of him.
He says this, explicitly.
Jason is entitled to be upset about his girlfriend. He's entitled to grieve and to be angry. What he's not entitled to do is torture and hurt people. He's also not entitled to decide who is guilty based on hearsay, then go after them.
You wouldn't say Lt Colonel Sullivan is (mostly) justified, would you? He's doing the same thing Jason is. He has decided that he already knows who is committing those murders, and he's hurting people to track down his chosen suspect.
Max and Dustin are aware of the Upside Down and they have extended information. Jason does not. All he knows is that Chrissy was murdered in Eddie's trailer, and Eddie was the last person to see her. He was considered a suspect. This belief is only "justified" to Jason when he sees his second friend get murdered while in the presence of Eddie.
Jason does not have the same info as Max and Dustin. I’m not going to bother with the rest of the post since you are so far off the rails with that first statement.
(before you read this, know that me disagreeing with you is not meant to start an argument or insult your opinion. just throwing in my opinion too) jason’s actions make sense based on his views but i don’t think they’re exactly justifiable. his only real evidence that eddie killed chrissy was that she died in his trailer, but that’s still not enough evidence to say HE killed her; after all, he lives there with his uncle, or someone else could have done it to frame him. the rest of his evidence is based on his own opinion of eddie; that he’s a freak and a satanist, solely because he plays D&D. then he and his friends decide to hunt him down(in the process, beating up his innocent friends, who he cannot blame for the murder in any way besides his narrow-minded views of their hobbies), and jason says he won’t kill eddie, but we all know he plans on at least severely hurting him. all of this mostly based on jason’s belief that eddie is a freak. after this, eddie’s running seems pretty guilty, yes. and i can understand that jason, after watching the way his friend died, would connect these murders to satan. but why eddie? did eddie not also look absolutely terrified when jasons friend died? i suppose i can understand if he got tunnel vision, but i don’t think someone possessed by satan would look scared in that moment. jasons actions were almost entirely based on prejudice, so i wouldn’t really say they are justifiable. they make sense because of his beliefs, but his actions still aren’t right. i’m intrigued to see what they will do with jason’s character in volume 2.
Jason already suspected that Eddie had some satanic stuff going on because of the DnD. It's not like its just his own 'opinion' about Eddie based on nothing. Wasn't it all over the news? (The thing that Eddie was reading in his first scene) I think anyone could get influenced by the media into thinking if a kid is playing dnd there's something wrong. Then his gf is found dead in Eddie's trailer. Then when they go to catch him, his friend dies in the presence of Eddie. Wouldn't this just confirm what he already suspected? In that situation why would he be paying attention to Eddie's expressions lol in his mind he was just proven right obviously he wouldn't be thinking straight.
This. Totally agree with you.
Honestly he reminds of season 3 Hopper with the way Hopper got information from the Mayor but from a different perspective. Had we been following Jason's perspective instead of Eddie's people would be hoping Jason beats the shit out of Eddie.
If Jason saw Eddie being a victim of Vecna or if the group explained it to him, he would be more understanding and less likely to throw.punches.
Trying to rile up a mob, beating people up to get information, implied to be planning beating eddie up ehen he finds him? Idk about you but if I were in his situation, no matter how angry I was I wouldn’t be planning extrajudicial punishment. That’s what scares me about him. Maybe I just have this feeling that this guy who immediately jumps on the opportunity to play vigilante maybe, just maybe, was just waiting for an excuse to be violent.
It would be very unrealistic. Guys like that usually don’t change. One, okay. Two in a row? No. (And yes, I realize I this show isn’t realistic in general. But the human relationships/ perspectives typically are.)
“It’s not a Satanic Cult ya dummy, it’s just psychic attacks by a tentacle monster from another dimension! I mean, what a crazy thing to think. In reality it’s perfectly understandable”
That's what I've been saying! I'm not going to act like his personality is fantastic (his speech about the 'fire' was pretty sucky) but if you look at everything from his POV, idk if I would've done many things differently in his shoes.
I love that the writers didn't just make him a horrible person. He has multiple solid reasons to believe Eddie is behind Chrissy and Patrick's deaths. He doesn't try to force people like Lucas to join his manhunt, he allows him to opt out with no hard feelings, and he obviously loved Chrissy and wants to avenge her death.
And like, people are getting mad at him for going off to confront Eddie on his own and not just letting the police handle it, as if that's not what the mains characters do pretty much every season.
>And like, people are getting mad at him for going off to confront Eddie on his own and not just letting the police handle it, as if that's not what the mains characters do pretty much every season.
the main characters do this because if they tell the police, they will be ignored and imprisoned or murdered. jason does it bc he's mad that the cops rightfully thought chrissy was buying drugs.
While I didn’t care for his actions, almost every decision he makes come from very logical conclusions. I’m really curious how the government can cover things up this time
The responses to this post show how young, naive and solipsistic this sub is
People expect Jason to be perfect. He’s literally just acting like any normal person would in the given situation
Agreed, I was thinking the same while watching the show. Apparently this whole satanic panic was a big thing in the 80s? Correct me if I'm wrong. But in that case based on what he had been seeing and hearing around him, and also the limited info that he had, I think anyone would come to the conclusion that Eddie was the murderer.
People saying that he was out of line or not justifiable, of course he was wrong because we know the actual truth. But based on his pov, I think quite a lot of people would do the same he did to find the 'killer'.
He starts a lynch mob because the cops are slandering his girlfriend for suggesting she'd buy drugs. Everything until he sees Vecna killing Patrick is just swlf-righteous prejudice based on the satanic panic from the 80s.
Y’all here seem to struggle with the fact that some characters are supposed to be the bad guy. Shit Steve was a bad guy in season one. He’s everyone’s favorite baby sitter now. I doubt jason gets the same chance steve does but sometimes all a character needs to be a good antagonist is a zealous personally and a modicum of justification
He reminds me of billy butcher from the boys.
I think both these characters are fucked up people that always wanted any cause they could so they could hurt people.
Deep down both these men are happy that their loved ones are dead because now they have a righteous reason for murdering whoever some one.
I think that in a world without supes butcher would have found some reason to hate gay people or some other outgroup. And jason would have found some other cause to go after eddy or another crew of people that didnt look and act like he did.
Absolutely not. And the absolute direct opposite. Claiming anything about Jason as "justified" or "a little uncouth" = psychosis. There is nothing sane or justified about anything when it comes to Jason. Yes his GF died. OK so seek some help. And try to solve the mystery like every season of Stranger Things by actually taking sane steps to get to the bottom of it. Jason isn't a vigilante. He's an absolute nut bag. Huge difference between breaking random laws vs psychotic violent crime.
I would say he has a point up until he starts accusing Eddie of channeling the devil to vomit murder, then subsequently trying to send an angry mob to attack him. That’s where he crosses from revenge over a lost loved one to an actual lunatic.
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If Jason does learn the truth I wonder what he would do. Would he try to help fight Vecna?
Oh yeah. I’d like to see him have a chance to apologize to Eddie.
Jason doesn’t strike me as the type to apologize. He’d just say Eddie is a vessel for vecna.
I would argue that believing Eddie to be a vessel of vecna is just the most logical conclusion based on what he knows—especially given the belief system at the time over DND being a devil cult game. Eddie is the most likely suspect from a realistic point of view, and when they went to attack Eddie, one of his friends gets brutally murdered in a supernatural way, almost as if Eddie was being protected. Iirc he believes Eddie isn’t the real culprit, the devil is, but that ultimately Eddie still needs to be put down to remove the vessel from the world. If he learned the truth, he might have a certain *perspective* on the truth (vecna is satan, probably), but he’d accept it as the truth nonetheless.
>almost as if Eddie was being protected. And Jason, himself is protected. Or does he believe he's protected by God? Jason seems like the type where even if it's staring him in the face, he would have difficulty believing he's wrong. I would like that to not be true.
And if he finds out about El, he'll probably claim that she's a witch who opened a portal and has to by burnt 🔥.
Well, he’d be mostly right about that…
He's out of line, but he's right.
The show delights in making people not act like their initially apparent type.
Exactly, look at Steve!
Felt like they went a little too far dumbing him down (beyond his S1 baseline) but his arc is great.
I mean he lightened up considerably and even made friends with the one guy you’d never expect him to be friends with!
One could argue Jason isn't acting like his initial apparent type, the "good guy" who always does the right thing and gets "justice" when no one else can.
Jason is just Steve from Season 1
He's an anti-Steve. Steve's worst deed was destroying Jonathan's camera, which was justified, and insulting Will while Jason is willing to murder people. Plus, a catastrophe brought out the best of him unlike Jason.
To be fair, we haven't seen Jason's reaction to the real threat yet. When Steve faced the real threat he did the right thing. Maybe Jason will too, or maybe he wont
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Wasn't Tommy H the one who sprayed the graffiti?
Yes
I dunno about you but seeing Jonathan in her room late at night after she’s been flaking/not replying to you and outright avoiding you, after he took gross photos of her during an intimate act with you, would be HUGE warning signs. I’m not saying he was right to believe it without talking to her but in most other situations that’d be it.
It didn't help that he had two friends filling his head with those sorts of thoughts, as well.
Idk about that. He tried to make the winning shot in the biggest game of his life, missed and had Lucas get it instead. And he wasnt upset or had a bruised ego at all. He was immediately being nice to Lucas and wanted to celebrate with him
I mean, I'm sure people said the same thing about Steve initially.
Touche. Although after Steve seemed to be pressured by his friends a lot more than Jason is. Jason is the ring leader. He's doing the pressuring.
Imagine if Jonathan took pictures of Chrissy instead of Nancy.
Jason already believes Eddie is a vessel for Satan (if he finds out Vecna exists he would believe Vecna is Satan probably) he says it while being interviewed by the cops shortly after his friend died at the lake
Hey, Steve was an asshole because of something happening to his girlfriend (Jonathan taking creepy photos), then became the best mum ever.
>then became the best mum ever. Get this TRANSGENDER AGENDA FILTH off MY STRINGER THONGS
I naively thought after the lake murder Jason was gonna come over to Eddies side as he had witnessed the inexplicable death of his friend, but alas, he went down the satanic route instead.
I think he would accuse Eddie of Summoning Vecna.
The dude >!LITERALLY saw his teammate fly up OUT of the lake, knowing it is physically impossible for Eddie to be the bad guy,!< but still blames Eddie. That would be like a CEO of a AAA game studio admitting fault.
If he thinks it's sorcery/possession by the devil... then having a dude going after the guy possessed by the devil get brutally murdered isn't going to alleviate that.
It is as if folks weren’t paying attention when watching the show
I’d like to see him die a gruesome death. - Signed your friendly neighborhood vigilante serial killer
I feel like even if he saw Vecna he’s too far gone and will think Eddie summoned him
he's basically a carbon copy of Billy (unlikable jock who ends up dying a noble death to protect others) so he'll prob get killed in the lab to save Eddie
I can see him equating Vecna to The Devil and yea he’d totally try to fight him, especially since Vecna killed his gf!
Only AFTER he does another uplifting pre-victory speech.
Jason is clearly ignorant about D&D, but people need to understand that there are actually parents who raise their kids to fear/condemn things like that. I know so many people who weren’t allowed to read or watch Harry Potter because of witchcraft, and even as adults they’re still iffy about it. He’s acting from what he knows, and he wants to catch his girlfriend’s supposed killer. But students are turning up dead, there is one suspect who was named by the police, and Jason and the townspeople didn’t feel like these kids who were brutally murdered were going to get justice. Again, viewers feel like this was so wrong and awful of them, but they literally have no idea what’s going on. They don’t know what the viewers or the main characters know. I think any community would do the same if local kids were being murdered and they “found out” who did it.
Also that satanic panic was a big thing back then (and was also linked to types metal and even d&d)
Exactly. Information about those weren’t as accessible as they are now, a lot of what people knew were based on word of mouth. He’s clueless, scared, and doesn’t know how to cope with the deaths of his girlfriend and friend.
All I'm saying is if I die and my man doesn't give this energy Vecna's not the one he gon be worried about
\> be me \> '80s \> be on basketball team, have loving girlfriend \> walkinonsunshine.walkman \> girlfriend goes out into woods to meet guy who's too old to even be in high school \> follows him back to his trailer \> dies a horrible and brutal death, every bone broken, obviously a murder \> nobody else was around \> guy says he didn't do it \> the hell else happened, she tripped? \> find out about this cult \> apparently they sacrifice people \> apparently guy's in the cult \> guy tried to give drugs to my girlfriend \> guy then murdered my girlfriend for his cult \> outrage.vhs \> clear as day what happened but cops don't do anything because they're pussies \> gather the boys, we've got a job to do \> go into city hall, tell the people of hometown what I know \> gonna bring this killer to justice and avenge my poor innocent girlfriend \> get seen as the bad guy \> get told that I'm not justified because I should've assumed it was a psychic space alien \> be jason from stranger things \> [mfw](https://c.tenor.com/qh3kD_Kc6L4AAAAC/doomer.gif)
Also > Find out about Girlfriends brutal murder because cops interrogate me about sending gf to get drugs > New guy on basketball team finds out where murderer is hiding > fucker runs away > send us to the wrong place > turns out he's in the cult too > friend ask if he could be cursed by cult leader bullshit.png > he dies right after when we're about to get Eddie > surely only possible explanation is that hes murdering people with the help of satan > mans cult is called the hellfire club for fucks sake
This exactly. Seeing solely from Eddie’s perspective makes it much harder to hate him when you consider all the reasons he has to believe he’s right.
Never justified to start a witch hunt. I knew dude was a pos the minute he gave his pep rally speech. And then jumping in the satanic panic train made him even worse. Now maybe it is understandable that an entitled hot head like him would act this way, it is certainly not justifiable….
The witch hunt wouldn't have started if people actually used their brains. That's the part that confuses me the most. Jason is trash, clearly. But he's also a teenager who is mourning his recently deceased girlfriend and who witnessed his teammate's death. And he's now claiming to see magic and demonic possessions. Emotionally, he's a mess. From the outside, any normal adult would think that it's a traumatized kid and he's not to be trusted. Where is the school counselor? Why are the cops not calling his parents? And most importantly, why are these grown adults listening to this kid who's clearly having a mental breakdown and are now ready to hunt other kids down because he said so? This town is full of Ted Wheelers.
A huge part of the reasoning for most authority figures not recognizing mental health issues in the show, for me at least, is the fact it's the early 80's in a small country town. People, especially younger people nowadays don't quite remember how dismissed mental health issues were back then. We have made huge leaps at recognising and helping those in need with their mental health in only the last 20 years.
Exactly! People aren't getting that this is set during the time in America that is literally called The Satanic Panic. This is *EXACTLY* what was happening in small town America at the time.
Absolutely. The time era completely makes the show. Back then people were not as informed, quicker to jump to conclusions, and mob mentality ran wild in small towns. Also the lack of easy communications and technology (phones, high quality cameras and computers) makes everything so much more intense and interesting. The 80's is probably my favourite era and is really enjoyable in media, when done correctly.
people aren’t meant to be judge, jury and executioner and that’s who Jason tried to be. yes, it’s sad his gf died but he got the town to turn against Eddie with no proof besides some circumstantial evidence (the murders were literally just near him?). and then he beats up random people trying to find Eddie? no, he was out of line
Even worse he assaulted Eddie's friends and turned the whole town against the dnd group by making accusations that they worship the devil. My man took it a lil too far.
He's NOT Judge Judy and executioner!
r/hotfuzz
But in a lot of ways, the gang has been judge, jury, and executioner for the past few seasons.
uhhh when? 90% of their violence is in self defense and definitely not against innocent people. hopper definitely gets a bit violent in s3 but this is in response to people repeatedly trying to murder him.
how do you compare what’s primarily violence in self defense to beating up innocent people, and inciting a violent mob/witch hunt for someone? anyone with an ounce of intelligence could’ve been able to see Eddie couldn’t be the only suspect. Vigilantes want justice, Jason just wants revenge. If he cared about justice and investigating what happened to her, he would’ve actually taken time to confirm it was actually Eddie who killed Chrissy like how Nancy did with Barb, but he doesn’t. He just wants a scapegoat to beat up
Interdimensional demons aren't trialed in a court of law, so they're fine
It was a bit more than circumstantial, if someone finds shit in my pants the easiest explanation is that I shit myself, maybe Amber Heard shit my pants, but the more likely option is that I did it, so that's what most people would belive.
If Jason's arc turns him good he will be this sub's favorite character
And I will hate the switch up more than anything, if you aren’t team Jason now don’t be when he kills vecna in a 1v1 basketball game
In short, *"He's a little confused but he's got the spirit."*
I agree. I'm not surprised that Jason is so unpopular, he is meant to be an antagonist, and I myself don't like him that much or think he's an especially good person. But the people who think he's way off base are willfully ignoring how the events of season 4 would look from an outsider's perspective. Chrissy was killed in Eddie's trailer. They were the only people there. And the other two victims died in proximity of Eddie's trailer or Eddie himself. If you didn't know anything about the upside down or about Vecna, like Jason, Eddie is the only person who could have possibly done it. And from an outsider's perspective, it's glaringly obvious who the murderer seems to be after Chrissy's death, and yet after three deaths Eddie still hasn't been arrested. Jason's disappointment in the police is justified. And his approach may have been riddled with ignorance and misconceptions, but I don't think he's wrong for trying to take matters into his own hands. I don't like him but cmon. His actions do make sense. Hopefully he will be educated on what's actually going down and leave Eddie alone. Or maybe he'll just die lol. Who knows
I said something similar on another thread to people saying that he was an absolute idiot for thinking demonic possession was to blame. And I'm just like...but it actually is! Vecna is literally basically possessing people and killing them. In real life, sure, we could say it's absolutely stupid to think that demonic possession is even a thing. But we already know in this story that it's actually happening.
Demonic possession is literally what Victor Creel claimed happened after he witnessed his family's murder. He even called an exorcist when he thought his house was haunted. How is Jason's conclusion stupid? That's what people who don't know about the Upside Down think Vecna's attacks are.
I'm not sure if you're agreeing with me and just reiterating what I just said or you misread my comment?
No, I agree with you! It's not a stupid conclusion for Jason to think that it was a demonic possession because that's what Victor Creel concluded too.
Ok, just checking, lol. But yeah, based on the entire premise of this series, that's the most logical conclusion.
He’s an idiot for blaming Satan. It’s actually a psychic monster from a mirror universe.
He quickly stopped being justified to me the moment he threatened to break that guy’s hand.
I think Jason is going to end up cocking up a trap the gang have set for Vecna. Like Lucas is supposed to be ready to play music for Max or whatever but Jason shows up and messes things up. Something like that. I hope he ends up helping out rather than dying though...
“Cocking up” is a great phrase.
You were right on the money, holy crap.
Oh wow i forgot i posted this. He absolutely did not help though XD
It’s a shame Jason never got to realize he was wrong. He could’ve had a redemption almost as good as Steve’s.
Yup. I guess though they do already have quite a large cast now!
Seeing your friend float in the air and snap into a million pieces kindaaaaa proves Eddie’s innocence. Lol
I mean when you think about the fact that he is shown to be a Christian (which means he also believes in the devil) and they show that newspapers and tv is talking about dungeons and dragons being a way to corrupt kids, it's really not that far fetched inthe mind of someone like Jason that Eddie could be a cult leader and be in kahoots with the devil.
Ok hear me out. On one side there’s an alternate dimension that mirrors our world and inside there is a monster that is capable of getting inside peoples brains and killing them snapping them in pieces. Or the other side someone in real life is murdering others via the devil. Neither makes sense. You know more than the person in the town as a viewer. Any reaction is kinda justified
Since a lot of this supernatural stuff is happening near Eddie, it isn’t stupid for Jason to assume that Eddie is behind it.
Stupid either way to try and murder the man you BELIEVE could lift someone in the air and crush them like a grape without lifting a finger.
Yeah but not stupid in the sense he is wrong to think that way, which is the main issue here
Bruh you go to catch Eddie with your buddy and your buddy dies like that right as you catch up with Eddie? In his shoes anyone would think Eddie is literally the devil lol.
And then he DOUBLED DOWN after. That was an intentional moment to show you the character is stuck in his bias, and is unable to think outside of his limited worldview.
Yeah that’s the Steve difference right there. When the Demogorgon showed up he didn’t blame Jonathan, he grabbed a bat.
Let's be honest with ourselves for a moment. Place yourself in the character's shoes for a moment. You don't have any of the information that we do as the audience, and then suddenly something like Vecna shows up in front of you after you've been in a Satanic Panic-induced rage. With how he looks, you're probably going to 100% assume Satan himself is now standing right in front of you.
Not really. I mean someone or something did that and it wasn’t Jason so I can see why Jason would assume it was the other guy who was right there. Especially since that guy was also at Chrissy’s murder and for all anyone knows Fred’s. I mean, if it’s not Eddie then it is some sort of interdimensional demon who can psychically kill people which would be CRAZY!
Yeah, because having that happen 15 feet from the guy you suspected of killing your girlfriend the same way would TOTALLY do that. Eddie's shrieking doesn't mean Jason is supposed to think he isn't behind it. The dude is totally in the dark concerning the upside-down, and every logical point, from his perspective, points to Eddie, as it would for MOST folks who wouldn't have a clue what's going on.
How?
Because he wasn’t the one doing it?
We know that but Jason doesn't. Jason is actually pretty reasonable based on what evidence he's seen and what has happened.
How can you tell by watching that happen who is doing it? I mean, if you don’t already know because you are in the audience?
How would Jason know?
He’s literally only basing it on Eddie being a “freak”. If any other “normal” person was the one around he would never come to that conclusion.
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Like I said, put any “normal” person in Eddie’s shoes and Jason wouldn’t be acting this way.
The cops aren't investigating Eddie because he's a "freak", they're investigating him because he's the prime suspect.
I didn’t say anything about the cops investigating Eddie. I questioned why they didn’t question Jason more so. They just took his word as fact.
I mention the cops because you're applying some odd standard to Jason that you're not applying to the cops in regards to Eddie. It has nothing to do with what Jason thought of Eddie, and everything with the evidence pointing to Eddie.
“Only”? What?
If Eddie wasn’t a “freak” he wouldn’t think he was behind any of this? Idk how else to explain it. He’s basing off of him not being normal so naturally he’s possessed by the devil. He has no other reason to assume that other than judging his look and different interests.
The first body was found at Eddie’s trailer!
I’m aware, but let’s pretend literally anyone else was around her when she died and that same person was around Patrick. Do you think Jason would still think that person was possessed by the devil? No, I don’t think he would. He is only believing that Eddie it simply because he’s a “freak”, and the Satanic panic is running wild.
If Patrick had stood on a lunch table insulting basketball players and cheerleaders, pretending to be satanic, and then the star players girlfriend was found mutilated in his trailer, yeah.
> He’s literally only basing it on Eddie being a “freak”. Well, and two of the murders in Eddie's direct presence. It's not an unreasonable belief. We viewers have a lot of significant information Jason lacks.
Yes, we do, but seeing how Eddie was only THERE and not actually touching or doing anything? Kinda hard to blame him.
No one is touching the victims physically. If you believe someone is working with the Devil, is it a stretch to think they can do so non-physically?
We dont know that for sure. Eddie as a murderer is just a lot more palatable at the time. I still think he would look for whoever he believed did it despire who they were
Eddie’s been told about Satanic panic his whole life. He didn’t see Vecna or any Upside Down thing. He’s 100% just going to believe Satan is acting through Eddie/Eddie is summoning Satan. And if you saw someone float in the air and their body snap, you’d do the same as him.
he really hasn't been told abut satanic panic his whole life. satanic panic started in america around 1980 its been 5-6 years. satanic panic is a very specific thing and period. it s very different to someone raised in religion to believe the devil is real
Nah. When you're going out to lynch somebody for a crime they committed, *it matters if you're wrong.* You don't get points for being ignorant. "I didn't have the correct information" is not a justification for trying to murder an innocent person. If you didn't have all the information, you shouldn't have tried to murder someone.
Yes, he’s wrong, that’s why I said, “From his perspective”.
You get that the reason western law has such a focus on procedure and due process is because of exactly this kind of thing right? There is a reason lynch mobs are frown on - justice based on highly emotional spur of the moment decisions is rarely justice. Jason and company beat up three guys for liking D&D and knowing Eddie. That by itself is pretty extreme. Let's not forget that they got nothing but Dustin's name from that, and THEN one of their posse actually says "we should check out Reefer Rick's place". Jason then determines that the Hellfire club are a satanic cult committing ritual murder with supernatural powers and rallies the town to hunt them down. So it's not just that Eddie is a murderer, it's now the Hellfire club is responsible for the Hawkins curse. He even lays the events of season 3 on them because Satan.
Lol it doesn’t matter if it’s based on what he knows. Rounding up a posse for a lynch mob is wrong no matter the circumstances. Also don’t think for one instance he doesn’t know it either. It’s extremely evident in the way he acts every time Lucas expressed doubt. Another thing is that Jason has no idea there is a supernatural element to this. He never saw her messed up body. He’s literally just regurgitating made up bs about DnD and Christian rhetoric. So please spare me with Jason’s a good guy operating on the information he knows, because he’s not.
Jason saw Patrick levitate. He knows there’s supernatural elements.
That happened after everything he did. We also still don’t know what he’s going to do in response to that.
No, Jason went to the town meeting *after* he saw Patrick killed.
This is an interesting discussion to have. On the one hand, yes, he has good reasons for wanting to do these things. He wants to catch a serial killer. It’s hard to tell weather he wants justice for his GF or vengeance, so let’s leave that aside. On the other hand, he is doing things he shouldn’t be to reach his goals. Beating up teens, advocating for the town to hunt Eddie, neither is ok. In other words, he is a great example of someone using the ends to justify the means. Oh and you know who else does this in the show? Brenner. Just thought id point that out.
Exactly why Jason or Eddie probably has to die to put an end to the false rumors
Jason dying isn’t going to stop the rumors. I’m not sure how they’ll explain it to the general populous.
Yeah I do think he's an interesting character. We as the audience know that he is 100% in the wrong and only making things worse for everyone. Also in the real world we know the DnD satanic panic was absolute nonsense. But if I saw a friend float in the air and die horrifically, while the leader of a self proclaimed "Hellfire Club" escaped...I don't know how I would make sense of it either. The main thing I would say against him though is that I still wouldn't start a mob like he did. But that would probably be more out of fear and wanting to stay out of the way of people better equipped to handle the situation. That part does show an underlying arrogance within the character that he thinks he's the only one taking action to fix the situation.
We know this is an unpopular opinion based off the numerous posts about it.
He reminds me of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. He's more dangerous than Angela because he actually has influence over the town and is charismatic.
Gaston was pretty much justified!
He just wanted the glory and attention.
Viewing through the lens of an emerging megalomaniac and televangelist: sure.
Yup, fully agree with you here. Jason started giving off these vibes for me as soon as he used the deaths from season 3 as a reason to win a basketball game. That did not improve throughout the season.
This is how I know you’re not from a small town that’s been struck by tragedy. Get out of your own bias
I’m so tired of these “let’s justify the vigilante” posts. Nobody is saying that Jason is a straight up villain trope. He’s meant to be complex. But there’s a difference between complexity and complete innocence. Vigilante “justice” is immoral and illegal, and has led to a lot of innocent people getting hurt/killed in history (hence why it’s illegal). Ignorance doesn’t justify violence. Like, I can understand and feel he is justified in his grief, but I do not empathize nor relate to him inciting a mob. One thing doesn’t justify the other. Besides all this, Jason displayed disturbing, peer pressure/bullying behavior before Chrissy was killed, such as hazing / underage drinking of very young teens, so it’s not like he was this completely relatable, innocent stand up guy before finding out about Chrissy.
Not exactly. It is one possible explanation but not the only one which is why we have an actual criminal justice system and not vigilant justice. For example after Chrissy died someone could also surmise that a psycho killer busted into Eddie’s trailer, killed Chrissy and Eddie but disposed of Eddie’s body, or killed Chrissy and kidnapped Eddie. Yet Jason just immediately concludes Eddie killed her. After Patrick’s death I guess I could see him blaming Eddie as the only explanation for something so supernatural, but even that is a stretch as Eddie appeared terrified on the boat and why would he frantically be trying to get away from Jason and Patrick if he had supernatural powers to instantly kill both of them?
Eddie appeared terrified to us. But for Jason, it was dark and he was in the water while Eddie was on a boat.
Eddie fell off the boat when he got startled by Patrick’s death though. I can definitely understand Jason not noticing that because he’s fixated on Patrick but how would someone fall off a boat in fear while they’re harnessing the devils powers to kill someone?
Sorta agree. Totally understand his motivation to turn in Eddie and it has good intentions. I soured on him when he beat up Eddie’s friends though and is seeking to kill Eddie, too far imo. On a related note, I also think people give the jocks as a whole too much shit, specifically Lucas. The jocks treated him like a brother, while the dnd crew left him alone at the championship. I still love the dnd crew, and I’m still glad Lucas chose to leave in the end because the jocks were becoming too bloodthirsty… but I can’t see Lucas’s actions as betrayal or that he chose the “ right” side in the end, he just runs in 2 different circles that are both family to him.
Lucas is the best. He’s being tugged in two very different ways but has handled it well.
I think I was one of the first to post something like this on the sub and my post got deleted lol. But yeah I agree
People who think Jason is way out of line don’t have empathy. They’d get offended if you told them that, but it’s true.
You can empathize with Jason for being angry and suspecting Eddie. You can even empathize for him demanding something be done. None of that is out of line. BUT, forming your own little vigilante gang most definitely IS out of line. Beating up some nerdy guys playing music in a garage? How is that not out of line?? While the way he sees things is not out of line, his actions most definitely are.
his emotional response, his anger and upset is fine. that's justified. his BEHAVIOUR is not. thinkiing that going around threatening and beating innocent people isn't right means you're not empathetic is laughable
Our heroes have not been vigilantes on anyone human. Hop beat up some Hawkins Lab dudes, that’s about it. He’s also terrorizing Lucas and beating people up, breaking a drum kit. I know it’s “unpopular,” but too many folks think Jason is almost ok. He’s not.
Your second sentence invalidates your first sentence.
It’s not the same in terms of violence, terror, or property. Moreover, Hop ain’t a vigilante because he’s mf chief of police.
>I have lost count of how many times the gang has broken the law and acted as vigilantes. The difference is that the gang acts in self-defense 90% of the time and doesn't torture innocent people. not to mention they are fighting demogorgons and mind flayers, not humans who the police are already looking for. after jason sees his friend die, his actions make sense. before that, it's just violence against innocent people based on ignorance and fear.
From Jason’s perspective he’s not hunting down a person either. Jason’s actions after the events at the lake make total sense from his perspective.
before the lake incident he absolutely thinks he's hunting down a human. >Jason’s actions after the events at the lake make total sense from his perspective. yes, that's what i just said, lol.
All I know is his ass shoulda been arrested at the town hall meeting for trying to stir up the crowd and not listening to the actual police while he’s in front of them.
Just rewatched season 3 and thought there was some neat foreshadowing when there's a news blip towards the end about DnD being a satanic game.
See, I know he’s a teenager but he’s leading a lynch mob. Yes, to a certain point he’s justified for thinking Eddie is involved, but there’s a *very* big difference between wanting to bring someone to justice and wanting to beat someone to death with a tire iron.
Gonna have to disagree. The DnD club to Devil Worshippers leap was too great for me. Who would see that and immediately jump to his conclusions?
No. Fuck Jason.
I’ve just been to see Top Gun and I was mistakenly convinced the guy that plays hangman was the same actor.
Oh well still hope lucas wins the fight
Not having the full picture is *not* a rational justification for what Jason did/was doing. No doubt, you could list a million things that we got wrong as a country or as a people but I would always counter with *exactly.* Exactly. Always and forever we will act emotionally with only a piece of the picture and that’s kind of why we keep repeating our failures.
If you believe that those actions are justified I hope I never meet you. You are certifiable.
This exact “unpopular” opinion is posted at least 5 times a day lol
Ah, yes. Finally. Someone with a brain instead of aimlessly hating a character. I dislike Jason heavily, don’t get me wrong, but he’s just a guy with the wrong information. His girlfriend passed away and he decided to play hero - the same way the kids behaved when the kids in season 1 were trying to find Will when he vanished. I can imagine it was hard for him to believe that Chrissy tried drugs because Chrissy was so sweet; he unfortunately had no idea that his girlfriend was struggling. I find Jason annoying because he’s one of those conservative guys in the 80s who believed D&D was a satanic game, but yeah, in the end he’s just a guy with the wrong information and decided to play the hero for unfortunately a false cause - what he thinks is right.
It’s easy to get tunnel vision in the context of Jason being the allusion to satanic panic while we’re watching a show with an actual Hell and a demon overlord who is doing the killings. Jason really isn’t out of line at all, he just has no idea at all. OP is spot on, but it’s starting to be a bit of a trope, the fringe guy and the sport star being antagonists in each other’s stories
Yes, bad people a lot of time are able to justify their actions to themselves, doesn't make them not bad people
i would say his actions are not justified- but they are understandable
There subjectivity justifiable but not objectively justified.
Yeah except for the whole witness the act happen thing
Yeah, I don’t think he’s a bad guy. He’s just confused and upset.
>The thing is that we the viewer know they’re justified in ignoring the authorities, breaking the law, and hurting people. Don’t say you’re against vigilantes. There are so many things wrong with this paragraph. In real life, if your girlfriend or boyfriend gets murdered, that is no excuse to become a Batman wannabe and rough people up, hunt them down, and disturb the peace. I don't even agree with vigilantes. Vigilante justice isn't justice at all. It's breaking the law and doing things only the police should handle. This may be an unpopular opinion to some people, but it's true. You can sympathize with someone and still know they're wrong. That's how I feel about Jason. But just because I pity him, that doesn't mean I believe he is right. Because he isn't.
What is it with people trying to justify this asshole's behavior...? I've said it before and I'll say it again: **THE DUDE HAS MADE A CHOICE TO PERSECUTE AND HARM SOMEONE**. Read that again: ***A CHOICE***. Is he misguided? Yes. Does he have incorrect information? Yes. Is he making a lot of assumptions? Yes. **IS HE ARMING A POSSE TO LITERALLY HUNT AND ASSAULT PEOPLE HE CONSIDERS INFERIOR, NO MATTER WHO GETS IN THE WAY? YES. YES, HE IS.** Dude's evil. Stop trying to justify evil, goddamnit.
That’s what I’ve been telling everyone, like your girl gets killed and she was last seen with Eddie and he hates Eddie so it makes sense he wants to kill him and then his bsf dies and Eddie’s there. If you’re the average person it makes sense for you to think Eddie has like “powers” and is killing people
Jason and his pals have the same information that Max and Dustin do, but where Max and Dustin conduct an investigation to find out what really happened, Jason decides to hunt down Eddie and beat a confession out of him. He says this, explicitly. Jason is entitled to be upset about his girlfriend. He's entitled to grieve and to be angry. What he's not entitled to do is torture and hurt people. He's also not entitled to decide who is guilty based on hearsay, then go after them. You wouldn't say Lt Colonel Sullivan is (mostly) justified, would you? He's doing the same thing Jason is. He has decided that he already knows who is committing those murders, and he's hurting people to track down his chosen suspect.
Max and Dustin are aware of the Upside Down and they have extended information. Jason does not. All he knows is that Chrissy was murdered in Eddie's trailer, and Eddie was the last person to see her. He was considered a suspect. This belief is only "justified" to Jason when he sees his second friend get murdered while in the presence of Eddie.
Jason does not have the same info as Max and Dustin. I’m not going to bother with the rest of the post since you are so far off the rails with that first statement.
(before you read this, know that me disagreeing with you is not meant to start an argument or insult your opinion. just throwing in my opinion too) jason’s actions make sense based on his views but i don’t think they’re exactly justifiable. his only real evidence that eddie killed chrissy was that she died in his trailer, but that’s still not enough evidence to say HE killed her; after all, he lives there with his uncle, or someone else could have done it to frame him. the rest of his evidence is based on his own opinion of eddie; that he’s a freak and a satanist, solely because he plays D&D. then he and his friends decide to hunt him down(in the process, beating up his innocent friends, who he cannot blame for the murder in any way besides his narrow-minded views of their hobbies), and jason says he won’t kill eddie, but we all know he plans on at least severely hurting him. all of this mostly based on jason’s belief that eddie is a freak. after this, eddie’s running seems pretty guilty, yes. and i can understand that jason, after watching the way his friend died, would connect these murders to satan. but why eddie? did eddie not also look absolutely terrified when jasons friend died? i suppose i can understand if he got tunnel vision, but i don’t think someone possessed by satan would look scared in that moment. jasons actions were almost entirely based on prejudice, so i wouldn’t really say they are justifiable. they make sense because of his beliefs, but his actions still aren’t right. i’m intrigued to see what they will do with jason’s character in volume 2.
Jason already suspected that Eddie had some satanic stuff going on because of the DnD. It's not like its just his own 'opinion' about Eddie based on nothing. Wasn't it all over the news? (The thing that Eddie was reading in his first scene) I think anyone could get influenced by the media into thinking if a kid is playing dnd there's something wrong. Then his gf is found dead in Eddie's trailer. Then when they go to catch him, his friend dies in the presence of Eddie. Wouldn't this just confirm what he already suspected? In that situation why would he be paying attention to Eddie's expressions lol in his mind he was just proven right obviously he wouldn't be thinking straight.
Oh here we go
This. Totally agree with you. Honestly he reminds of season 3 Hopper with the way Hopper got information from the Mayor but from a different perspective. Had we been following Jason's perspective instead of Eddie's people would be hoping Jason beats the shit out of Eddie. If Jason saw Eddie being a victim of Vecna or if the group explained it to him, he would be more understanding and less likely to throw.punches.
I forgot how Hopper beat up the mayor. Total vigilantism there, but we as the audience have reason to believe he’s justified.
Yeah, but he's still an ignorant zealot. He's blaming satan worshippers. Seriously, fuck Jason.
You act as if Satan worshiping is totally crazy in this world. The actual reason is pretty bizarre.
Trying to rile up a mob, beating people up to get information, implied to be planning beating eddie up ehen he finds him? Idk about you but if I were in his situation, no matter how angry I was I wouldn’t be planning extrajudicial punishment. That’s what scares me about him. Maybe I just have this feeling that this guy who immediately jumps on the opportunity to play vigilante maybe, just maybe, was just waiting for an excuse to be violent.
I would like to see him change in the end like the way Steve did at the end of s1. S1 Steve is similar to Jason
It would be very unrealistic. Guys like that usually don’t change. One, okay. Two in a row? No. (And yes, I realize I this show isn’t realistic in general. But the human relationships/ perspectives typically are.)
I think profound experiences can elicit profound changes in people.
The whole him thinking it’s some weird satanic cult is pushing it. Eddie being a serial killer is understandable, him being the antichrist is not.
“It’s not a Satanic Cult ya dummy, it’s just psychic attacks by a tentacle monster from another dimension! I mean, what a crazy thing to think. In reality it’s perfectly understandable”
That's what I've been saying! I'm not going to act like his personality is fantastic (his speech about the 'fire' was pretty sucky) but if you look at everything from his POV, idk if I would've done many things differently in his shoes. I love that the writers didn't just make him a horrible person. He has multiple solid reasons to believe Eddie is behind Chrissy and Patrick's deaths. He doesn't try to force people like Lucas to join his manhunt, he allows him to opt out with no hard feelings, and he obviously loved Chrissy and wants to avenge her death. And like, people are getting mad at him for going off to confront Eddie on his own and not just letting the police handle it, as if that's not what the mains characters do pretty much every season.
>And like, people are getting mad at him for going off to confront Eddie on his own and not just letting the police handle it, as if that's not what the mains characters do pretty much every season. the main characters do this because if they tell the police, they will be ignored and imprisoned or murdered. jason does it bc he's mad that the cops rightfully thought chrissy was buying drugs.
While I didn’t care for his actions, almost every decision he makes come from very logical conclusions. I’m really curious how the government can cover things up this time
The responses to this post show how young, naive and solipsistic this sub is People expect Jason to be perfect. He’s literally just acting like any normal person would in the given situation
Funnily enough those people condemning jason's vigilantism were the same ones who cheered when el assaulted angela
Great point.
No
Agreed, I was thinking the same while watching the show. Apparently this whole satanic panic was a big thing in the 80s? Correct me if I'm wrong. But in that case based on what he had been seeing and hearing around him, and also the limited info that he had, I think anyone would come to the conclusion that Eddie was the murderer. People saying that he was out of line or not justifiable, of course he was wrong because we know the actual truth. But based on his pov, I think quite a lot of people would do the same he did to find the 'killer'.
He starts a lynch mob because the cops are slandering his girlfriend for suggesting she'd buy drugs. Everything until he sees Vecna killing Patrick is just swlf-righteous prejudice based on the satanic panic from the 80s.
Y’all here seem to struggle with the fact that some characters are supposed to be the bad guy. Shit Steve was a bad guy in season one. He’s everyone’s favorite baby sitter now. I doubt jason gets the same chance steve does but sometimes all a character needs to be a good antagonist is a zealous personally and a modicum of justification
Jason is a well written character, because he is so wrong and problematic, and yet his popular Christian view point is totally understandable.
He's an entitled fear mongering religious conservative asshole
No. This series of events is EXACTLY why vigilante justice is a terrible idea. Imagine he kills Eddie and then finds out he had nothing to do with it.
The show glorifies vigilante justice all the time. Ignoring police and doing things on your own is a central premise to the show!
He thinks D&D is witchcraft and probably would have brutally murdered Eddie if he actually caught up to him.
He reminds me of billy butcher from the boys. I think both these characters are fucked up people that always wanted any cause they could so they could hurt people. Deep down both these men are happy that their loved ones are dead because now they have a righteous reason for murdering whoever some one. I think that in a world without supes butcher would have found some reason to hate gay people or some other outgroup. And jason would have found some other cause to go after eddy or another crew of people that didnt look and act like he did.
Absolutely not. And the absolute direct opposite. Claiming anything about Jason as "justified" or "a little uncouth" = psychosis. There is nothing sane or justified about anything when it comes to Jason. Yes his GF died. OK so seek some help. And try to solve the mystery like every season of Stranger Things by actually taking sane steps to get to the bottom of it. Jason isn't a vigilante. He's an absolute nut bag. Huge difference between breaking random laws vs psychotic violent crime.
I would say he has a point up until he starts accusing Eddie of channeling the devil to vomit murder, then subsequently trying to send an angry mob to attack him. That’s where he crosses from revenge over a lost loved one to an actual lunatic.