#either that or poppy's dead both are plausible tbh

[archer-kacey]

Homewarming Analysis: Eddie

There are LARGE sections of info in the latest Welcome Home update, but none as strikingly out of place as the last clip in the compilation on awayfrompryingeyes. And what a coincidence! I like discussing puppet trauma.

First thing to note- Poppy is noticeably just gone from the Homewarming celebration. This is especially weird seeing as she was still included by name in the Cookbook, appeared in one of the technical difficulty segments, and was also on Eddie's delivery list for Homewarming. Hell, the narrator of the holiday special insists that everyone had joined in for the festivities.

Yet nobody else seems to notice her absence. More on this later.

In between the other commercials, there are several live-action instances of Eddie showing frustration at the fact that nobody has contacted him all day, and that there are no packages to be delivered.

At the beginning of the holiday special, Sally explains to him pretty breezily that everyone helped out with deliveries so Eddie wouldn't have to do it, meaning he has the day off for Homewarming.

I do think the Neighbors had all the best intentions by trying to surprise him, but unintentionally crafted a pretty perfect hell for Eddie.

There are some recurring themes in Eddie's "about" section- overall forgetfulness, his dedication to his job and by extension his reliability in that regard, the fact that he's often up and about (usually around the Neighbors), and that he works hard.

So not being contacted, not having anything to do for most of the day, and not even seeing anyone walking by outside VERY understandably drives him crazy! And for someone with memory issues already, having a huge disruption like that in an otherwise pretty standard routine has got to be not only jarring, but downright scary as well!

After Sally brings him in for Homewarming and he gets settled in, the narrator insists that Eddie was indeed happy like the rest of the cast. We quickly see this isn't the case. Instead, he seems to be having some kind of derealization, which is shown via live-action shots spliced in with the normal 2D animation.

While Eddie is in crisis, Home is the only other character in frame. Everything else is either extremely dark, or a random sequence of shots. Home stares down at him the whole time, and the whole time Eddie is incredibly aware of this.

There are quite a few abstract shots that either come off as something burning or melting- an ornament dripping yellow liquid onto the floor, a red screen with subtle changes in the lighting and shadows, a live-action shot in a red-lit room with a moving shadow, Eddie sweating profusely (possibly crying), and an actual candle burning and melting.

I don't think the derealization scene is meant to only encompass one thing. Eddie is becoming aware of his surroundings and realizing that the world he lives in isn't exactly real, and Home is scaring the shit out of him. But I don't see a lot of people touching on the fact that this could represent burnout as well.

Eddie is often held up on a pedestal as the hardest working neighbor, the one who likes to help problem solve and the one who physically takes on heavy loads. It was shown between commercials that when he's not fulfilling his normal duties, he literally doesn't know what to do with himself. His passion for his job and his fellow Neighbors is a strength, but if he's been inadvertently neglecting himself, then he's pretty susceptible, maybe even blind, to the fact that he's burnt out. And unfortunately, I think burnout is hitting him in tandem with other things. Home seems to be fully aware of the fact that Eddie is starting to crack, and judging by that stare, I don't think it's going to be handing out mental health services any time soon.

Eddie starts to come back (albeit in a bit of a confused haze), and there are only two characters in front of him- Sally and Frank.

Their two opening lines in the conversation really summarize the difference in their awareness to Eddie's distress.

Frank immediately opens with "this bitch told me you've been doing too much, what's that about?" and Sally responds with "yeah it's not easy being the hottest bitch in town </3"

Okay, maybe not exactly that. You get my point- Frank is immediately sus, Sally isn't.

It isn't until after Sally leaves that Frank tries to get through to him more insistently, and after some coaxing, Eddie seems to start coming back with more clarity of his surroundings.

Also noteworthy that despite still being a little out of it, he can see Frank pretty clearly when he leans down.

Now, the logical part of me says that he's closer with Frank than the others, therefore he might act as sort of an "anchor" when his mental state starts spiraling.

The sappy part of me says that Eddie tends to remember things he's passionate about better. AKA his job, AKA Frank.

Anyway, I mentioned Poppy earlier, and there was a point to that.

We've seen how Eddie's memory can be dodgy at times. He was already in crisis when he arrived to Homewarming, and then he immediately had to go home.

And again, let's not forget that Poppy was cited to have been at Homewarming, and by all other accounts seems to have been included to some degree, even if not front and center.

Maybe she was actually there.

Maybe Eddie just forgot.