[This post contains spoilers for Stranger Things 4]
There weren’t many deaths in season four of Netflix’s Stranger Things — much to Millie Bobby Brown’s bloodlust dismay — but the list of casualties does include Dr. Martin Brenner. Or does it? In response to Vulture asking him whether we should assume “Papa” is dead, actor Matthew Modine replied, “No, I wouldn’t. Because I wouldn’t want him to be dead.” I don’t think that’s how it works, but I respect the optimism.
Modine also discussed how Brenner could redeem himself if he returns for the fifth and final season. “Obviously, the only children he tortured who are alive, that we know of, are Eleven and Kali. I guess Vecna, if there’s any saving One. It would be that moment of them forgiving Brenner and giving him their grace,” he said. Modine then compared his character to former-president Donald Trump, who he called a “psychopathic liar.”
And the horror of what Brenner did is accepting and understanding his culpability in the death of all those children because of what One did. So if Eleven and Kali, or just Eleven, forgave him and sent him off, he would spend the remaining days of his life knowing he had been forgiven but having to accept responsibility for what he did. Do you think Donald Trump is able to sleep at night with a clear conscience? Or does he have to sedate himself and become a psychopathic liar in order to justify the behavior and the things that he’s done? Well, maybe he is. That’s a bad example. [Laughs.]
Modine thinks Brenner is a “more moral person” than Trump, and “he’d have to spend his final days acknowledging and accepting responsibility for the pain he caused. That’s the real nightmare — not being able to escape your thoughts and the things you’ve seen or done.” Meanwhile, Trump sleeps soundly bathed in the warming glow of Newsmax.
(Via Vulture)