Jason Carver

Base Breaking Character
Full Name	Jason Carver
Alias	None
Origin	Stranger Things
Powers/Skills	Physical Strength Basketball Skills Fighting Skills Speed Charisma
Family	Unknown
Allies	His gang: Patrick McKinney Andy Chrissy Cunnigham (girlfriend; deceased) Lucas Sinclair (formerly)
Enemies	Eddie Munson Lucas Sinclair The Hellfire Club
Goals	Catch Eddie Munson and presumably kill him to avenge the death of Chrissy Cunnigham. Kill any of Eddie's friends who protect him (both ultimately failed). Kill Lucas Sinclair and save Max Mayfield (partially succeeded, but in vain).Stop the Hawkins murders of 1986 (briefly indirectly succeeded, but it got much worse)
Why Do Some People Hate The Character?	Many of Jason's detractors view him as a deranged religious fanatic who stirs up a lynch mob. Assaulting Gareth. Intimidating Nancy.
Why Do Some People Love The Character?	His crusade against the Hellfire Club had sympathetic motivations. Trying to save Max's life. He did seem to genuinely love his girlfriend. Loyalty to his friends, especially Patrick.
Type of Base Breaking Character	Contradictory Anti-Villain

Jason Carver is the secondary antagonist of Season 4 of the Netflix original sci-fi TV series Stranger Things. He is a popular student at Hawkins High School and leader of its basketball team, later seeking vengeance on the Hellfire Club.

He is portrayed by Mason Dye.

What Makes Him a Base Breaking Character?

What Do People Like About Him?

• Many fans consider his crusade against D&D to be sympathetic, that being vengeance for the death of his girlfriend Chrissy (whose death genuinely saddened him). Although his delusions do not justify his actions in the slightest, he still is genuine in his belief that he is overcoming evil with righteousness and (understandably) believes Eddie is the killer.
• Unlike other antagonists (such as Billy and Troy), Jason isn't a bigot or sadistic bully, which can make him a more sympathetic antagonist after he falls into villainy.
• He has a sense of loyalty to his friends, as he was happy when Lucas made the game winning shot and told him he wasn't obligated to help chase after Eddie. Even after witnessing Patrick's traumatizing supernatural murder, he dragged his body back to shore and remained there until the police came.
• Many fans felt that Jason's character had wasted potential as they would've liked to have seen Jason realize the error of his ways.
• He felt like a scapegoat as he died trying to save Max Mayfield and thinking that he failed to avenge Chrissy and Patrick's death.

What Do People Hate About Him?

• While his motivations were sympathetic, his detractors felt he took things a bit too far, including stirring up a lynch mob. Additionally, any sympathy his detractors may have felt for Jason went out the window when he attempted to kill Lucas.
• The writing for his character is rather inconsistent, as how sympathetic or hateable he is seems to vary from scene to scene, making it unclear how the writers wanted to portray him.
• His detractors point out that, even before Chrissy's death, Jason already had a problem with the Hellfire club.
• He is distant from Chrissy which is why she cozied up to Eddie so much in the first place, implying he was never a very good boyfriend. He also reacts badly to the suggestion that she would have confided in Eddie rather than him, which makes him come off as controlling towards her.

Trivia

• Caleb McLaughlin himself once weighed in on the controversy around Jason, admitting he felt Jason was misunderstood because he genuinely thought Eddie killed his girlfriend and wanted to avenge her, considering Jason a better person than Billy Hargrove, whom Caleb openly stated was a racist that hated Lucas because he was black.

External Links

• Jason Carver on Villains Wiki
• Jason Carver on Villainous Benchmark Wiki
• Jason Carver on Stranger Things Wiki