Stranger Things season 4 brought in the wonderfully charming and hilarious Eduardo Franco as Argyle, a friend Jonathan Byers made in California, and while Argyle seemed to be just the stoner friend of Jonathan, he proved himself important to the California team in the way that he was willing to do whatever they needed with no questions asked. So, it is a bit strange to see people online hating on him.
A now-deleted tweet from someone who just didn’t like the character wound up spawning a conversation about the fan reaction to Argyle as a whole. The tweet simply said, “Please don’t bring him back for season 5,” and while this one user just didn’t like the character, it did highlight an important trend in fandom: Why is this character any different from the plethora of white boys that have become the internet’s main squeeze throughout their time in the shows we love to watch?
This isn’t to say you can’t dislike a character, but also, a character like Argyle isn’t necessarily one that should be the focus of backlash.
And many Stranger Things fans are pointing out the double standard of who fans will rally behind versus the characters they just left drift into the background.
What this all boils down to is the lack of hype around Argyle and why that should change.
Argyle is the best
Looking solely at what he did in the show, Argyle is the only reason that the California team got to El and got back to Hawkins. He’s the only reason they were able to let El use her powers to save Max, and he also comforted them all with a handmade pizza while they were stressing about their friends back home.
Personally, I can’t wait for Argyle and Steve to hang out because the two of them are the parents of these groups in how they treat everyone and care about the kids they’re protecting. Argyle made sure everyone got to safety and was fed and it was thanks to him that they even made it back to Indiana in the first place.
I don’t understand where the hate comes from because he’s funny, he is more charming than other characters we’ve met, and he genuinely seems to love being around everyone and he’s willing to just go with whatever is happening to them. He found out that Eleven had powers and didn’t turn on them or freak out. He just went along with them and knew that she needed him to take her places or get her into a tub with a lot of salt.
He was helpful, he kept the team alive, and I loved having him just accept what was going on, no questions asked, so I hope he’s back in season 5, and I hope he’s ready to take Hawkins by storm because it’s what my boy Argyle deserves.
(featured image: Netflix)
