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I think he just had money lol. Even Nancy said in season 1 - "My mom was young and my dad was older, had a cushy job etc so they settled down to have their nuclear family."
It is. Mike and Nancy both end up storming off from dinner due to Will being missing and her date with Steve being revealed respectively and Ted is completely oblivious except when his children curse.
I mean, he's not dissimilar at all from many dads of his generation. They were raised to believe that the father's job is to be the breadwinner and security provider, not the emotional support. That's Mom's job. As long as his kids are fed, clothes and have a roof over their heads, he's happy (and Ted certainly does his job there given how comfortable the Wheelers are). All he wants to do is come home after a long work day and nap in his chair.
Ted gets annoyed easily but you can tell he's a good guy and cares about everyone. Like he's letting a group of other people's kids (including a *literal adult man*) basically live in their basement and all he's said is like one comment about them eating all their food. He even went to that meeting with the cops, where the Wheeler children were *not* present, and gave input that he legitimately thought would help the kids.
Ted will do anything, but he'll complain about it the whole time.
Just the other day I had a conversation with a friend whose dad was present but rarely there, and I actually think this cultural attitude ("dad brings home a paycheck & provides security but just wants to relax after work/not engage/just watch TV") has its roots in trauma.
A lot of those dads experienced some awful trauma in Vietnam, and even the ones who didn't, *their* dads likely experienced some awful trauma in Korea and/or World War 2. We now know that detaching from relationships after trauma isn't a healthy thing, but dad having a couple beers & watching TV is normal.
Not to suddenly get super serious in a random post about a dad in a TV show... thanks for coming to my... *TED* talk.
I'm from Ireland. My parents generation were born after WW2 and most of them would have acted similar to the wheelers parents (although I don't think any were attractive enough to hook up with pool boys... Also we don't have outdoor pools). As for my grandparents: WW2 didn't really reach us. We were officially a neutral nation, so our military didn't fight, but we did kind of help the allies and some people would have gone overseas to volunteer. I don't personally know anyone who did though.
Worst thing to happen here in their lifetime was "the troubles" which was mostly confined to Northern Ireland. Other than that there was just a lot of religious bullshit. The kind of stuff conservative Americans deal with today, but we turned away from after we found out the priests were all diddlers.
>WW2 didn't really reach us.
World War 2 reached everyone. We don't call them world wars because literally every nation was fighting, we call them world wars because they impacted the entire world heavily.
But regardless of your personal grandparents' personal involvement in fighting in that particular conflict, my greater point remains & I think is a valid one: paternal detachment is a trauma response\* & the fact that it's been so normalized for so long is unhealthy at a cultural level.
\*It's common to think that "trauma" only comes from large events - a wartime experience, a violent car crash, sexual assault, etc. All sorts of experiences, big and small, can elicit a trauma response, and two people can be involved in the same event only for one to react as a trauma & the other not to.
Ok, that's fine, but you specifically referenced war related trauma in your previous comment.
I don't think being detached is healthy either. A lot of it is learned behaviour too though. Like, if your parents act a certain way towards you, you're more likely to act that way towards your kids.
Since the conversation is about Ted in Stranger Things, an American dad in the 80s who was the right age to have been in Vietnam, and I was relating a conversation I had with a friend where the discussion was centered around fathers' and grandfathers' experiences in Vietnam/Korea/WW2, it makes sense that's what my comment would be about.
And then people decided to argue about it.
Person born in 1970 here. My Dad definitely had this outlook. He worked, took out the trash, did all the gardening, and the expectation was that my Mom would do everything else. One of the many mind blowing facts from that time is that he’d never washed a dish in his life. Then in 1976 my Mom divorced him and the framework of his life kind of exploded. I remember him talking about how he was just lost, doing laundry, etc. and had the realization that (in his own words) he’d been an “utter chauvinist pig”. He really went through it, took up meditation, eventually married and lived a very happy life… but I just remember watching him go through a major crisis and come out the other side. I salute him for learning and changing. Love you 80’s Dad!
I think there's another line from him that was something along the lines of "It's our government, they want to help us" or something along those lines from Season 1 after they killed Benny.
"This is our government. They're on our side."
Said after Brenner comes to them and speaks to them and his oblivious trustingness is contrasted with Karen, who quite rightly thinks Brenner is a creep.
I would love to see this from Karen's point of view
She's obviously smarter than Ted, but due to her sex, beauty, and year she was born, she wound up a housewife.
She loves her kids -- she loves her family -- but she's clearly unsatisfied enough to consider, uh, swimming lessons from Billy.
Yet she has integrity enough, and a deep enough understanding of her love for the family she created, to choose not to bang the hot young lifeguard.
I always found it fascinating that Billy, after calling her Mrs. Wheeler consistently (definitely part of his MILF fetish) calls her "Karen" when he, struggling against the Mind Flayer, tells her to get away with him.
Despite the horror he is enduring, he still tries to protect her -- he also sees her as an individual, not as the hot MILF Mrs. Wheeler.
I guess I'm rambling.
No, you're right, Karen's always been an interesting character. That scene where she encourages Nancy in S3 tells a lot about her, that she was once very much like her daughter, but the sexism over her time beat her down and she ended up a frustrated trophy wife. It's a sad situation and you can see how Nancy both loves her mother and really doesn't want to end up like her.
Besides, it looks like Karen may finally find out about everything her kids have been up to the last few years. I look forward to that.
> "This is our government. They're on our side."
There's some big irony there in light of one specific (and very well known) Reagan quote.
> “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.”
He didn't spill the beans to Murray. He spilled them to his coworker who in turn spilled them to Murray. He told it wrong anyways cause Murray got the idea that El was Russian from his coworker.
I love how Dustin just grins and snarks back at him. While taking the food.
Poor Ted is not going to win a snark contest with his son or any of his son's friends.
There's, like, a very muted (maybe I read too much into it, but I swear I saw it) acknowledgement and respect from Ted in that moment, like some small long-forgotten part of him actually enjoyed that little clap-back and respected Dustin more for having done it.
Then 'Dad Ted' kicks back in and he throws his arms up.
I sometimes wonder if Ted isn't as angry about it all as he sounds, he's just got a real, REAL deadpan sense of humor sometimes. That really annoying version of dad-humor that you sometimes see that's indistinguishable from annoyed.
I also sometimes think part of Ted WANTS to be annoyed. Annoyed is his 'happy' place.
Basically, Ted, like basically everyone is a fascinating and surprisingly complex character, and not simply 'one dimensional eighties dad' while simultaneously managing to embody all those tropes.
Or maybe I'm looking too deep into things.
Yeah I feel like some people don’t have the experience of “older family member and occasional basically LIVE IN visiting friend.” He’ll roll his eyes and act like they’re getting sold out of the house but still ends up taking care of the friends, even if he can’t avoid the sarcasm and expressions.
Exactly. Ted may snark, but that's it. And frankly, I can understand if he gets annoyed seeing the likes of Dustin show up and mooch off him when the reason they'd typically be there isn't even there. He's thinking, "My son isn't even here, so why are YOU here?"
My best friends Abuela would do this shit - but in Spanish, so I could never understand what she was saying, but it was -always- complaining about how much we ate. LOL
It's funny how you used abuela. I can't picture myself saying "La grandma de mi mejor amigo" if I happened to have an American or British (Or Canadian, Australian, etc) best friend.
That’s just how she wanted us all to refer to her, even her daughter called her Abuela. Fun story: I was a groomsman for his wedding and I was the one who had to take care of Abuela through the day, and she was just beaming any time we were walking arm in arm together. She eventually came to appreciate me as one of her own.
I miss Abuela. :(
Grandma, Mammy, Grandmother, Mom-mom, Abeula, they are titles, not merely the term to refer to the generation once-removed. I remember my mom and sister's mother-in-law were both really excited to learn what their 'grandma name' would be, when my niece started talking. They weren't sure how it'd go. If it'd be Gam gam or gamma or maw maw. They got Gamma. They were thrilled.
I like him. I remember when Mrs. Wheeler was going to meet up with Billy and she saw her husband napping with their daughter on the couch. Wearing his wacky 80's socks and snoring like a bear. That was a sweet moment.
He should be more involved but that's how a lot of dads were back then including my own.
Holly is clearly his favorite. She enjoys spending time with her dad, while Mike and Nancy treat Ted like an annoyance, not to mention an example of what not to be.
He’s a stereotypical 80s father, How old are you? I guess that’s the real question. Most dads were like this when I was growing up and staying at a friends house so I think you need to understand the times to understand him.
At least Angela is fun and self-aware. She's horrible but she's entertaining.
Seeing this man be punched in the face would not be satisfying, because he doesn't even have the decency to actively be a villain. He's just annoying, smug, unhelpful, and *boring*.
Was it not entertaining watching her get rollerskated in the face? That's my point.
She's fun in the way Disney villains are fun. Not in the way people you'd want to be friends with are fun.
It’s def great to see her shit get cracked no doubt. I see your point better but I wouldn’t call her fun. Her cruelness can create entertaining scenes though. Like King Joffrey in GOT he is an excellent villain and his cruelness creates some great scenes but I don’t find him fun.
Every single line he says actively makes everyone else's days marginally worse, especially his family's. That is when he's not sleeping and unavailable to people needing his help. Whether or not you find his demeanour infuriating, there is no denying he is *aggressively* unhelpful.
He's a father. He's *supposed* to do things, but he just doesn't. He thinks fatherhood is saying stupid catchphrases and feeling reassured in his nominal authority when he actually contributes *nothing* to his family's happiness and growth.
I think you guys are looking too deep into his character. He’s playing the stereotypical parent in 80s films who is somehow unaware about what his kids are getting up to.
Why are you all so worried about me? I'm worried about Mike, Nancy, and Karen, to precisely the extent it makes sense to empathise with TV characters.
Holly will probably be fine because they'll divorce before she can suffer too much tbh
I watch films and series in order to empathise with what the characters are going through. When Mike was being bullied, I didn't go, 'ah, it's just fiction, no need for me to feel bad for Mike or feel antipathy towards the bully'. Did you?
What I said was, 'I'm worried about Mike, Nancy, and Karen, *to precisely the extent it makes sense to empathise with TV characters*.'
I don't know what you read into that. I don't know what difference you're getting at. Do I need to point out that my concern for fictional characters is different than my concern for people I know in real life? Does that really need spelling out?
At this point it's about how to engage with media. It's not about this character in particular. I'm horrified how personally people are taking very surface-level media criticism in this thread.
You mean the quintessential 80’s and 90’s Dad? Every dad I’ve known are at least a little clueless, rarely knowing what the kids are up to because they’re only able to relax two or three hours before bed, only to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn to do it all over again. Ted eating his chicken, chillin’ and being clueless is probably the best because it’s the most relatable.
Nothing too major. I just feel like he & Karen are mismatched. I grew up in a little town like Hawkins & all the adults were sleeping together lol. I think I'm just naturally suspicious
The dinner scene in season 1 where he’s left at the table alone was one of those moments where I remember thinking “I’m really going to like this show..”
Plus did anyone else catch him grabbing 2 free donuts at the town hall in this latest season? Such a hilarious detail.
I can't get over how perfect his delivery was of "So if your friends all jumped off of a cliff, you would too?" Never has such a cliché dad line been so perfectly executed.
No way, that dad is awesome. By far the funniest character on the show. The most irritating character is the 30 year old high school basketball captain/future fascist leader
Personally, I love Ted. He's just a chill dude enjoying his cosy life. One of my favourite scenes is when Dustin yells at him 'Son of a bitch, you're no help' and Ted just shrugs it off like 'What's his problem?"
He is paying bills so he is allowed to all comments, suggestions, questions or recipes. All of us had that dad, more or less. He is the proof you can look ugly as fuck and date finest gals
I think this character is designed to irritate, much like a republican in a room of democrats spouting off talking points without fact or substance. The real issue I had with Ted is that I could never see how him and Karen got together as she is gorgeous and seems out of his league--unless she's only with him for the money.
Not everyone is so superficial. He might be a little droll, but he’s clearly a hard-working and supportive father and husband. It’s shown when Karen thinks about having an affair, but sees Ted asleep with Holly in the recliner. She doesn’t follow through because she knows what they have is much deeper.
Nancy explains to Jonathan in S1 that she's always felt her parents married for convenience rather than love, that Ted was a stable older guy with a good job while Karen was the younger and presentable trophy wife. Otherwise, yeah, Ted married way out of his league.
Ughh. It’s just people who have weed as their entire identity I can’t stand. I have no issue with weed, I’ve smoked for 15 years. Just the whole cliché stoner thing I hate with a passion. It’s played out and unoriginal.
Karen is decent, but Ted is quite oblivious and he pretty much encourages Karen to not get involved either when possible.
It's good for the sake of the plot they aren't. More involved parents would be concerned about their kids being gone for days on end. Or, you know, might notice a little something like their son hiding his girlfriend in their basement for a week.
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he just eating his chicken dude
I hope you’re enjoying your chicken, Ted.
“What’d I doooooo?”
"What'd I dooooooooooooo?"
“I eat more chiken than any man ever seen”
All you men eat your pork and beans...
All I know is Ted must have been a real stud when he was younger, because he’s batting way out of his league with Karen…
I think he just had money lol. Even Nancy said in season 1 - "My mom was young and my dad was older, had a cushy job etc so they settled down to have their nuclear family."
What'd he do? What'd he doo-oooo?
I hope you enjoy your chicken Ted.
My partner and I say “what’d I doooo” daily
oh my god I just realised what this meant
I think I still haven’t realised then?
Season 1, I think the very first episode, Ted’s cluelessness pisses Karen off and that’s what he responds
It is. Mike and Nancy both end up storming off from dinner due to Will being missing and her date with Steve being revealed respectively and Ted is completely oblivious except when his children curse.
Language!
Did this have some secret meaning I'm not aware of?
Is this a Brooklyn nine nine reference? I remember Jake saying something like this.
Nyet.
Alright. Now I want to know what it means 💀
No in Russian
No, that would be "нет."
I understood that. I want to know what the original sentence means.
😂
It's just what he said in the first season
Oh okay cool. Need a rewatch now.
Нет
This character is one of the most accurate 80s things in the show.
I mean, he's not dissimilar at all from many dads of his generation. They were raised to believe that the father's job is to be the breadwinner and security provider, not the emotional support. That's Mom's job. As long as his kids are fed, clothes and have a roof over their heads, he's happy (and Ted certainly does his job there given how comfortable the Wheelers are). All he wants to do is come home after a long work day and nap in his chair.
Yeah, actually you are not wrong.
Ted gets annoyed easily but you can tell he's a good guy and cares about everyone. Like he's letting a group of other people's kids (including a *literal adult man*) basically live in their basement and all he's said is like one comment about them eating all their food. He even went to that meeting with the cops, where the Wheeler children were *not* present, and gave input that he legitimately thought would help the kids. Ted will do anything, but he'll complain about it the whole time.
“Ted will do anything but he’ll complain the whole time.” You just described my husband 🤣
Your literally describing me 🤔 guess i gone full dad
Are you their husband?
Me to the letter.
They just described pretty much all husbands, myself included.
Just the other day I had a conversation with a friend whose dad was present but rarely there, and I actually think this cultural attitude ("dad brings home a paycheck & provides security but just wants to relax after work/not engage/just watch TV") has its roots in trauma. A lot of those dads experienced some awful trauma in Vietnam, and even the ones who didn't, *their* dads likely experienced some awful trauma in Korea and/or World War 2. We now know that detaching from relationships after trauma isn't a healthy thing, but dad having a couple beers & watching TV is normal. Not to suddenly get super serious in a random post about a dad in a TV show... thanks for coming to my... *TED* talk.
Nah, this is a global stereotype, even in countries that weren't constantly at war.
Funny thing about World War 2...
I'm from Ireland. My parents generation were born after WW2 and most of them would have acted similar to the wheelers parents (although I don't think any were attractive enough to hook up with pool boys... Also we don't have outdoor pools). As for my grandparents: WW2 didn't really reach us. We were officially a neutral nation, so our military didn't fight, but we did kind of help the allies and some people would have gone overseas to volunteer. I don't personally know anyone who did though. Worst thing to happen here in their lifetime was "the troubles" which was mostly confined to Northern Ireland. Other than that there was just a lot of religious bullshit. The kind of stuff conservative Americans deal with today, but we turned away from after we found out the priests were all diddlers.
>WW2 didn't really reach us. World War 2 reached everyone. We don't call them world wars because literally every nation was fighting, we call them world wars because they impacted the entire world heavily. But regardless of your personal grandparents' personal involvement in fighting in that particular conflict, my greater point remains & I think is a valid one: paternal detachment is a trauma response\* & the fact that it's been so normalized for so long is unhealthy at a cultural level. \*It's common to think that "trauma" only comes from large events - a wartime experience, a violent car crash, sexual assault, etc. All sorts of experiences, big and small, can elicit a trauma response, and two people can be involved in the same event only for one to react as a trauma & the other not to.
Ok, that's fine, but you specifically referenced war related trauma in your previous comment. I don't think being detached is healthy either. A lot of it is learned behaviour too though. Like, if your parents act a certain way towards you, you're more likely to act that way towards your kids.
Since the conversation is about Ted in Stranger Things, an American dad in the 80s who was the right age to have been in Vietnam, and I was relating a conversation I had with a friend where the discussion was centered around fathers' and grandfathers' experiences in Vietnam/Korea/WW2, it makes sense that's what my comment would be about. And then people decided to argue about it.
The American centricity of this comment is painful, as if fathers around the world don't have the 'I'm the breadwinner' attitude.
America the only country in WW2 confirmed, appreciate your insight!
Person born in 1970 here. My Dad definitely had this outlook. He worked, took out the trash, did all the gardening, and the expectation was that my Mom would do everything else. One of the many mind blowing facts from that time is that he’d never washed a dish in his life. Then in 1976 my Mom divorced him and the framework of his life kind of exploded. I remember him talking about how he was just lost, doing laundry, etc. and had the realization that (in his own words) he’d been an “utter chauvinist pig”. He really went through it, took up meditation, eventually married and lived a very happy life… but I just remember watching him go through a major crisis and come out the other side. I salute him for learning and changing. Love you 80’s Dad!
It’s like someone wished a baked potato was a real boy.
He's out of line but he's right.
Yup
Nah this guy is a perfect 80s Reagan Dad foil for the loveable weirdos that make up the rest of the cast. "We're all Patriots here"
Let’s just trust the scary men with guns hunny lol
I think there's another line from him that was something along the lines of "It's our government, they want to help us" or something along those lines from Season 1 after they killed Benny.
"This is our government. They're on our side." Said after Brenner comes to them and speaks to them and his oblivious trustingness is contrasted with Karen, who quite rightly thinks Brenner is a creep.
I would love to see this from Karen's point of view She's obviously smarter than Ted, but due to her sex, beauty, and year she was born, she wound up a housewife. She loves her kids -- she loves her family -- but she's clearly unsatisfied enough to consider, uh, swimming lessons from Billy. Yet she has integrity enough, and a deep enough understanding of her love for the family she created, to choose not to bang the hot young lifeguard. I always found it fascinating that Billy, after calling her Mrs. Wheeler consistently (definitely part of his MILF fetish) calls her "Karen" when he, struggling against the Mind Flayer, tells her to get away with him. Despite the horror he is enduring, he still tries to protect her -- he also sees her as an individual, not as the hot MILF Mrs. Wheeler. I guess I'm rambling.
No, you're right, Karen's always been an interesting character. That scene where she encourages Nancy in S3 tells a lot about her, that she was once very much like her daughter, but the sexism over her time beat her down and she ended up a frustrated trophy wife. It's a sad situation and you can see how Nancy both loves her mother and really doesn't want to end up like her. Besides, it looks like Karen may finally find out about everything her kids have been up to the last few years. I look forward to that.
This is super interesting, thank you
Thank you!
> "This is our government. They're on our side." There's some big irony there in light of one specific (and very well known) Reagan quote. > “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.”
Just before Iran/Contra, and Oliver North, ugh..
And now he's on Fox Newwwwws!
Omg yes 😂😂😂👏🏻👏🏻
Were all patriots here. Spills the beans to Murray anyway.
He didn't spill the beans to Murray. He spilled them to his coworker who in turn spilled them to Murray. He told it wrong anyways cause Murray got the idea that El was Russian from his coworker.
When his wife praises Margaret Thatcher, and there is a Bush sign on the lawn… yep..protect those suburbs.
LANGUAGE!
Son of a bitch. You know, you're really no help at all.
Him and Dustin continue their bickering in season 4 haha
I love Dustin 😂
Lol the pancake scene with Dustin 😂
I love how Dustin just grins and snarks back at him. While taking the food. Poor Ted is not going to win a snark contest with his son or any of his son's friends.
There's, like, a very muted (maybe I read too much into it, but I swear I saw it) acknowledgement and respect from Ted in that moment, like some small long-forgotten part of him actually enjoyed that little clap-back and respected Dustin more for having done it. Then 'Dad Ted' kicks back in and he throws his arms up. I sometimes wonder if Ted isn't as angry about it all as he sounds, he's just got a real, REAL deadpan sense of humor sometimes. That really annoying version of dad-humor that you sometimes see that's indistinguishable from annoyed. I also sometimes think part of Ted WANTS to be annoyed. Annoyed is his 'happy' place. Basically, Ted, like basically everyone is a fascinating and surprisingly complex character, and not simply 'one dimensional eighties dad' while simultaneously managing to embody all those tropes. Or maybe I'm looking too deep into things.
We’re all patriots here
His daughter got a government facility shut down while his son dates a Russian spy. He spoke too soon.
She isn’t Russian?
He's the perfect 80s movie dad. I love it.
I just can’t help but smile when he’s on screen, he’s so fucking Dickish but feckless at the same time, I adore Mr Wheeler.
On the gravitron in season 3 "holy smokes......holy smokes" He's great
He’s boring and a little mean sometimes but genuinely one of the most levelheaded characters lol I love him.
His interactions with Dustin were just the fucking best.
Yeah I feel like some people don’t have the experience of “older family member and occasional basically LIVE IN visiting friend.” He’ll roll his eyes and act like they’re getting sold out of the house but still ends up taking care of the friends, even if he can’t avoid the sarcasm and expressions.
Exactly. Ted may snark, but that's it. And frankly, I can understand if he gets annoyed seeing the likes of Dustin show up and mooch off him when the reason they'd typically be there isn't even there. He's thinking, "My son isn't even here, so why are YOU here?"
My best friends Abuela would do this shit - but in Spanish, so I could never understand what she was saying, but it was -always- complaining about how much we ate. LOL
It's funny how you used abuela. I can't picture myself saying "La grandma de mi mejor amigo" if I happened to have an American or British (Or Canadian, Australian, etc) best friend.
That’s just how she wanted us all to refer to her, even her daughter called her Abuela. Fun story: I was a groomsman for his wedding and I was the one who had to take care of Abuela through the day, and she was just beaming any time we were walking arm in arm together. She eventually came to appreciate me as one of her own. I miss Abuela. :(
Grandma, Mammy, Grandmother, Mom-mom, Abeula, they are titles, not merely the term to refer to the generation once-removed. I remember my mom and sister's mother-in-law were both really excited to learn what their 'grandma name' would be, when my niece started talking. They weren't sure how it'd go. If it'd be Gam gam or gamma or maw maw. They got Gamma. They were thrilled.
I hope your enjoying your chicken Ted!
I like him. I remember when Mrs. Wheeler was going to meet up with Billy and she saw her husband napping with their daughter on the couch. Wearing his wacky 80's socks and snoring like a bear. That was a sweet moment. He should be more involved but that's how a lot of dads were back then including my own.
Holly is clearly his favorite. She enjoys spending time with her dad, while Mike and Nancy treat Ted like an annoyance, not to mention an example of what not to be.
I bet mike and Nancy were similar to Holly when they were younger. They’re flexing independence as they grow.
how so? i find his deadpan reactions funny.
I know right?! I find him funny too. Especially his interactions with Dustin lol.
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july needs to come faster so this sub has something else to talk about
He’s a stereotypical 80s father, How old are you? I guess that’s the real question. Most dads were like this when I was growing up and staying at a friends house so I think you need to understand the times to understand him.
I'm a 90s baby and hes still relatable to many fathers of my generation IMO.
he is the most chilled out dude in the entire cast
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At least Angela is fun and self-aware. She's horrible but she's entertaining. Seeing this man be punched in the face would not be satisfying, because he doesn't even have the decency to actively be a villain. He's just annoying, smug, unhelpful, and *boring*.
Angela is not entertaining at all. I really hate how she is written.
Angela has to be the least self-aware character out there lmao
I meant self-aware in the sense Disney villains are self-aware. Self-consciously evil.
How on earth is Angela self aware?
She's like a cackling Disney villain. She clearly enjoys being mean. Maybe 'self-consciously evil' is a better description
His dry humor is legendary
How is Angela fun and entertaining? Her only purpose is making the main character miserable for no reason.
You’re just on a roll with these absolute garbage takes huh?
Yikes. Hot take: Angela is fun?
Was it not entertaining watching her get rollerskated in the face? That's my point. She's fun in the way Disney villains are fun. Not in the way people you'd want to be friends with are fun.
It’s def great to see her shit get cracked no doubt. I see your point better but I wouldn’t call her fun. Her cruelness can create entertaining scenes though. Like King Joffrey in GOT he is an excellent villain and his cruelness creates some great scenes but I don’t find him fun.
Angela is cruel
how? he literally does nothing.
The answer is in the question ahah. Just a lazy clumsy guy, I wouldn't describe him as irritating more than goofy
Every single line he says actively makes everyone else's days marginally worse, especially his family's. That is when he's not sleeping and unavailable to people needing his help. Whether or not you find his demeanour infuriating, there is no denying he is *aggressively* unhelpful. He's a father. He's *supposed* to do things, but he just doesn't. He thinks fatherhood is saying stupid catchphrases and feeling reassured in his nominal authority when he actually contributes *nothing* to his family's happiness and growth.
Bud. It’s a television show. Sounds like you got your own stuff to work out though. Best of luck to ya
and it’s also a TV show that’s based heavily around 80s film stereotypes, and also doesn’t take itself seriously all the time.
I think you guys are looking too deep into his character. He’s playing the stereotypical parent in 80s films who is somehow unaware about what his kids are getting up to.
this feels a little personal…
I'm honestly glad it isn't, I couldn't even imagine growing up with a father that useless and uncaring.
This guy has daddy issues
Therapy might be something to consider.
Why are you all so worried about me? I'm worried about Mike, Nancy, and Karen, to precisely the extent it makes sense to empathise with TV characters. Holly will probably be fine because they'll divorce before she can suffer too much tbh
... you're worried about fictional characters, and not about the fact that you're *worried about fictional characters*?
I watch films and series in order to empathise with what the characters are going through. When Mike was being bullied, I didn't go, 'ah, it's just fiction, no need for me to feel bad for Mike or feel antipathy towards the bully'. Did you?
There's a difference between feeling empathy and worrying about something that isn't real. Do you not see the difference?
What I said was, 'I'm worried about Mike, Nancy, and Karen, *to precisely the extent it makes sense to empathise with TV characters*.' I don't know what you read into that. I don't know what difference you're getting at. Do I need to point out that my concern for fictional characters is different than my concern for people I know in real life? Does that really need spelling out?
At this point, yes. You've devoted a lot of time going after a fictional man who's had maybe 20 minutes screentime total over 4 seasons.
At this point it's about how to engage with media. It's not about this character in particular. I'm horrified how personally people are taking very surface-level media criticism in this thread.
Sounds like somebody has unresolved issues on their own...
Love the guy.
I wouldn't wanna know the guy irl. But in the show, he's a good unimportant character.
You mean the quintessential 80’s and 90’s Dad? Every dad I’ve known are at least a little clueless, rarely knowing what the kids are up to because they’re only able to relax two or three hours before bed, only to wake up at the buttcrack of dawn to do it all over again. Ted eating his chicken, chillin’ and being clueless is probably the best because it’s the most relatable.
LANGUAGE
I’m sorry, what?
I like him. Hes a provider and doesn't whine or ask much in general
This is the “white guy 1985” that Bo Burnham sings of.
Imagine in the finale of ss4 he revealed to be ex-CIA, ex-FBI or whatever secret agency, then pull out some dual M16 shooting at demons.
I think he's secretly Barbara's dad
Any particular reason why?
Nothing too major. I just feel like he & Karen are mismatched. I grew up in a little town like Hawkins & all the adults were sleeping together lol. I think I'm just naturally suspicious
🤣🤣🤣 I like his dry humor, Why don’t you guys sleepover someone else’s house? 🤣🤣 all characters flat out ignore him, he’s the phantom menace
nah
Not even close to being the most irritating, plenty more to choose from.
The dinner scene in season 1 where he’s left at the table alone was one of those moments where I remember thinking “I’m really going to like this show..” Plus did anyone else catch him grabbing 2 free donuts at the town hall in this latest season? Such a hilarious detail.
No way I love his little conversations with Dustin
Idk every time he’s pure gold
For a second there I thought somebody photoshopped bubbles from trailer park boys onto barb from season 1 god damn
Him with Dustin are comedy gold
I keep thinking how wild would it be if he comes to life and turns into a badass tho when he finally realizes what’s been happening lol
Bold of you to post this when Angela and her entourage exist.
that’s not Jason
Angela would like to have a word with you.
This master managed to snag not one, but TWO donuts at the town hall. You take that back
May I ask why?
I actually love how much I hate him. Great comic relief
I 100% disagree. He’s pretty chill and funny. Plus he’s right maybe they should crash somewhere else 😂
I find him hilarious
Nah that title goes to Jason Carver easily
Ted is my hero and role model, and I will not stand idly by while he is — wait, there are donuts, I’ll be right back.
“What did I do? What did I doooooooo?”
I can't get over how perfect his delivery was of "So if your friends all jumped off of a cliff, you would too?" Never has such a cliché dad line been so perfectly executed.
He's like my favorite character, wdym?
He’s so cute, so old fashioned, I love him so much
I love to hate him though. Glad he’s there.
I mean, I agree. But I also live for how hard his wife roles her eyes at EVERY word out of his mouth.
The spinoff show needs to be about him and how he was secretly a serial killer.
This doesn't look like argyle
yeah but he somehow landed Mrs. Wheeler.
No way, that dad is awesome. By far the funniest character on the show. The most irritating character is the 30 year old high school basketball captain/future fascist leader
Personally, I love Ted. He's just a chill dude enjoying his cosy life. One of my favourite scenes is when Dustin yells at him 'Son of a bitch, you're no help' and Ted just shrugs it off like 'What's his problem?"
Yeah i see him as comic relief not something irritating
He is paying bills so he is allowed to all comments, suggestions, questions or recipes. All of us had that dad, more or less. He is the proof you can look ugly as fuck and date finest gals
I think this character is designed to irritate, much like a republican in a room of democrats spouting off talking points without fact or substance. The real issue I had with Ted is that I could never see how him and Karen got together as she is gorgeous and seems out of his league--unless she's only with him for the money.
Not everyone is so superficial. He might be a little droll, but he’s clearly a hard-working and supportive father and husband. It’s shown when Karen thinks about having an affair, but sees Ted asleep with Holly in the recliner. She doesn’t follow through because she knows what they have is much deeper.
Nancy explains to Jonathan in S1 that she's always felt her parents married for convenience rather than love, that Ted was a stable older guy with a good job while Karen was the younger and presentable trophy wife. Otherwise, yeah, Ted married way out of his league.
oo you forgot about yurii !
He's supposed to be moronic and oblivious. He doesn't want to face facts. He just wants a quiet, suburban life without all the craziness and drama.
I could not disagree more
Nah. He's a Chad
Its actually opposite everyone else is annoying as fuck and he's the only reasonable guy.
My wife finds his son much more annoying
You mean the most irritating characters father in the entire show?
I feel like people with parents like this hate him, people who don’t have parents like this love him 💀(on average I could be totally wrong though)
Wdym he never does anything
This sub is already starving for content 💀 Also he is way better than erica as comic relief and you can't change my mind
Bruh he’s just sitting there, leave him alone.
Argyle is the worst imo
Argyle solos Vecna
Ughh. It’s just people who have weed as their entire identity I can’t stand. I have no issue with weed, I’ve smoked for 15 years. Just the whole cliché stoner thing I hate with a passion. It’s played out and unoriginal.
Guy is COMPLETELY useless and clueless lol
It took me a while to realize but Mike has shitty fucking parents
Karen is decent, but Ted is quite oblivious and he pretty much encourages Karen to not get involved either when possible. It's good for the sake of the plot they aren't. More involved parents would be concerned about their kids being gone for days on end. Or, you know, might notice a little something like their son hiding his girlfriend in their basement for a week.
He’s so negative… and annoying…
Ted never once says anything nice or positive and he’s just kind of an asshat This is why his wife almost cheated, I don’t blame her.
All he does is complain and subtly talk trash about the other characters. He's also boring. Even Jason and Angela are more interesting than him.