Did they ever say why Eddie went/was crazy? Like he started oout all quiet and mellow just wanting to read in his room and being left alone to watching Chandy whilst he sleeps and thinking a cracker is a fish and putting his fish in his pockets? Please explain
shareIt's just kinda lazy writing. But then again, I'm watching Fear Thy Neighbor. It's not uncommon to meet someone who seems normal at first until they get comfortable and the honey moon's over.
shareLazy writing would be if he had been a regular and they turned him crazy just to write him off the show. Eddie was in three episodes, so it was always their intention to have him seem relatively normal at first and then, when he opens up to Chandler, have it be revealed that he's completely nuts.
Hey, how about the fact that I fought an Avenger and didn't die?share
It's not a hole. It's really the nature of crazy people. And we know he was crazy before he ever met the Friends.
shareYa but It just happened so all of the suddenly like maybe it was he was bi-polar or something but at least he didn't do Rachel like Ben Stiller crazy bits
shareWhen I lived with my 'Eddie', he seemed normal and friendly at first then the mask began to slip and he was revealed to be a psycho.
shareHrs always been my favourite non regular so to me he'll always be necessary, but if you notice he frightened Chandler as soon as they started bonding when he told him about Tilley ripping his heart out and smearing it all pver his life 😂😂
He started really acting crazy when Tilley showed up and he got paranoid about her and chandler.
**cArNiVaLs oF fAyGo**
They did that with heaps of minor characters. They start out fairly normal then do something outlandish to write them out.
shareMy sister's ex was pretty much exactly like Eddie. Seemed really cool at the start, friendly but a little quiet. Then, out of nowhere, everything we did apparently made him go nuts!
shareEddie's story about Tilly was kind of his breaking point. Up till then he seemed normal. After that, he let the gloves off. There was no more normal after his speech.
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"But my job's fun too - I mean, tomorrow I don't have to wear a tie." - Chandler
Eddie was the funniest! I crack up every time I re watch season 2! I kinda wish he would've come back at some point for one or two more episodes! Like Phoebe's David or even Janice!
shareI agree and even though he was a psycho I always feel sorry for him the way they left it with all his stuff in the hall!!! Like, where did he go next??!!
**cArNiVaLs oF fAyGo**
he was a plot device to split up joey and chandler and then bring them back together again no more no less
shareThere is surely more to it than that. Why split them up just to return to a status quo?
sharebut that is exactly what happened
shareYes, I know it is.
Eddie was there because he added humour to the show in his own right. That is my point. He was more than just a plot device in my opinion.
ermmm he wasnt funny and he only lasted 3 episodes
after he left joey and chandler were friends again
plot device alert
In your opinion, he wasnt funny but many would disagree, I suspect, myself included. I enjoyed his brief run in the show.
I didn't say he wasn't a plot device, just that his presence wasn't solely a plot device, he added something to the show in his own right, at least I felt he did.
I'm not even that sure he was really a plot device as Joey's decision to move out was largely based on him and Chandler arguing over the spoon licking and then coincidentally him being offered the new apartment. Eddie wasn't even introduced at this point, so Joey moving out had nothing to do with Eddie. They could just as easily left Chandler alone in the apartment but it seems they thought they could create an interesting and amusing arc by adding Eddie as a new roommate to create humour through Chandler being freaked out by a guy who seemed OK at first but turned out to be a complete weirdo.
when joey came back to visit them there was a scene where eddie makes eggs i think for chandler
the eggs were fried in a certain way by eddie that joey was surprised as he thought chandler liked them in a different way, this was in the very brief period when eddie and chandler got on...you got the sense joey was jealous and wanted to come back
eddie was badly written , probably the worst written guest star on the show and had to go one way or the other
he was a plot device , was badly written which in no way is a fault of the actor by the way and his departure meant joey and chandler living together again
at the end i think chandler says to eddie GOODBYE YOU FREAK and shuts the door
goodbye and good riddance!
I know what happened, I have seen the trio of episodes more times than I care to remember.
You obviously didn't like the character and that is your right. Others like myself did like him and that is our right.
What exactly defines a plot device? Arguably anything and anyone is a plot device to a point. What was the plot anyway? Joey moves out, loses his job and then has to move back again? I suppose he is a plot device in the sense that he is a potential obstacle to Joey seamlessly returning.
I just see this 3 episode arc as the show taking a humorous alternate direction. The show was great with the 6 main characters, but you need other characters to bounce off other than just those 6 otherwise you are just going to end up with repetition.
So to that extent, he was a plot device, but no more or less so than the other countless number of recurring or guest roles over the shows run.
yes u are right paul and i cannot deny a certain entertainment value in seeing a character like eddie in a mainstream tv show like friends and the importance in having different characters /actors in a show of this vast appeal.
my main point is that his character makes no sense as in he is badly written or maybe bizarrely written
his motivations make no sense , he is nice to chandler and then turns against him and then nice again conveniently forgetting how nasty he was beforehand given chandler a vast confusion in his mind which i dont think people would blame him for.
maybe there is an underlying dark and disturbing aspect to his character that was not in keeping with the general tone of the show
I think it is plainly obvious that Eddie was a few sandwiches short of a picnic.
That was the point and the humour came from that. Eddie was a fruit loop. He thought goldfish crackers were real. He accused Chandler of sleeping with his ex with absolutely no evidence. He even thought he and Chandler had won money in Vegas and Chandler bought him shoes.
I will admit, the ending is a little off. It is implied that Eddie actually believes he made a mistake and never actually lived there. I didn't really buy that part.
Mental illness awareness has increased hugely since those episodes aired 20 years ago. I doubt we see anything similar now, I think there has been some criticism of the plot in more recent times because it is perceived that humour is being sourced through a serious illness/issue.
I personally wouldn't go that far, as I say I enjoyed the character for the most part, I wasn't really convinced by the conclusion and I do actually wonder what became of Eddie because presumably he suddenly became homeless with all his possessions dumped in a corridor.
In fact, not to take things too seriously, but surely what Chandler did would have legal ramifications, surely Eddie would have had rights as a tenant, but was he of the necessary state of mind that he could have pursued anything legally?
Sorry for drifting way off topic.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Eddie character. Probably my favourite throughout the series. I think more than 3 episodes of him would be too much, so even if it was a plot device, it was a well used one. I love that he seemed normal in the beginning, and played well of Chandler trying all of the things he did with Joey, on him, and failing. Then the descent into madness with the death of the fish etc, just classic sitcom characterisation. And it really does happen, I know 2 people who seemed totally normal at the start, who turned out to be complete Looney tunes! One actually being carted off in the padded van!
So, I found that being condensed into 3 episodes in such a brilliant way, highly entertaining!