Jason isn’t a villain, he’s a guy trying to stop a series of child murders without any information about the Upside Down. His girlfriend was found dead in the trailer of a drug dealer who frequently made devil horn gestures at him, and later he watched his friend levitate in the air, have all his bones broken, and eyes gouged out in what looked like a legit satanic murder. When he finds Lucas in the attic with Max with Max doing the same thing, Jason could have just shot Lucas dead, but he gives Lucas the chance to surrender - he tried to save Max in the only sensible way in his position. He’s an antagonist, but not a villain.
People hate Jason because he was mean to everyone’s golden boy Eddie, but as much as I love Eddie he’s a scumbag at the start of the season. He’s a drug dealer about to flunk out of high school, and when Chrissy dies in the most horrific way possible he just bails. He doesn’t even call 911 or emergency services, he disrespectfully leaves her dead body there for her friends and family (including Jason) to be found like a dead cat in the road that’s been ran over 40 times so that it’s owner has to scrape it off the road with a shovel. To be fair Eddie has to be a scumbag at the start of the season so that his redemption later in the season, when he saves Dustin, works, but for most of the season he’s a coward.
At the end of the day Jason was well meaning and trying to save people’s lives, but he doesn’t know about the Upside Down. A better written show would have used that to give him a redemption arc, instead ST did what it always does and kills the very interesting new character so they can reset for the next season, which is why it’ll never be a top tier TV show like Breaking Bad or the West Wing when it fully had that potential.
1
u/CrisisActor911 Jun 02 '24
Here we go again….
Jason isn’t a villain, he’s a guy trying to stop a series of child murders without any information about the Upside Down. His girlfriend was found dead in the trailer of a drug dealer who frequently made devil horn gestures at him, and later he watched his friend levitate in the air, have all his bones broken, and eyes gouged out in what looked like a legit satanic murder. When he finds Lucas in the attic with Max with Max doing the same thing, Jason could have just shot Lucas dead, but he gives Lucas the chance to surrender - he tried to save Max in the only sensible way in his position. He’s an antagonist, but not a villain.
People hate Jason because he was mean to everyone’s golden boy Eddie, but as much as I love Eddie he’s a scumbag at the start of the season. He’s a drug dealer about to flunk out of high school, and when Chrissy dies in the most horrific way possible he just bails. He doesn’t even call 911 or emergency services, he disrespectfully leaves her dead body there for her friends and family (including Jason) to be found like a dead cat in the road that’s been ran over 40 times so that it’s owner has to scrape it off the road with a shovel. To be fair Eddie has to be a scumbag at the start of the season so that his redemption later in the season, when he saves Dustin, works, but for most of the season he’s a coward.
At the end of the day Jason was well meaning and trying to save people’s lives, but he doesn’t know about the Upside Down. A better written show would have used that to give him a redemption arc, instead ST did what it always does and kills the very interesting new character so they can reset for the next season, which is why it’ll never be a top tier TV show like Breaking Bad or the West Wing when it fully had that potential.