He is utter garbage. I don't care if he's struggling with his sexuality. 1. He raped someone. 2. He set a trap for Taylor to get beat so he's clearly abusive. Every single character that's part of the Leyland basketball team is trash.
I'm not crazy, I just don't give a fṷck!
He has pretty much been forcibly outed by the headmistress and turned into a poster child for the school's acceptance of gay students. He is being ostracized by the rest of his team. His younger brother hates him. Yes, he did take part in setting Taylor up, but he didn't have much choice. He is sad and lonely and tried to commit suicide. His mother left them. I do feel sorry for him.
Boo Hoo! Let me wipe away the tears with my PLASTIC hand!--Lindsey McDonald (Angel)
I said this in another post. The actor playing Eric and the writers make you feel for a kid you in any other circumstance would hate. At his core he is not a bad guy but his decisions say otherwise. You can tell he really didnt want to set that up. We'll see how this all plays out. Its not looking good for anyone on that show. I have a feeling this isn't one of those "happy endings for everyone" shows
shareOf course he had a choice. All of these basketball players, including Eric, should go to jail for assault.
shareTechnically it's still up in the air if he raped him-knowingly. He received the text messages from Taylor. But we don't know if he gave Taylor the laced drink. Setting the trap, seems like he was talked into doing it? We don't know what they said to him. It's still wrong. And he would have charges. But the way he's being treated & being a teenager-he seems lost. Right now we have missing pieces, so it's hard to know.
shareIf he found the girl he was going to be with drunk or drugged out of her mind and "took advantage" it would not be up in the air if he knowingly raped her. You don't do that. Find a live specimen.
Ladies and Gentlemen take my advice
Pull down your pants and slide on the ice.
My point being is that we don't know the scene up to the point Eric & Taylor got together. When was Taylor given the drugs...so forth. They had already made plans to get together, so for all Eric "could" have known was that Taylor had a drink. It wasn't until the end that Eric said Taylor freaked out.
shareAnd remember he's not "one of them." He's a scholarship student, and they will never let him forget it.
Boo Hoo! Let me wipe away the tears with my PLASTIC hand!--Lindsey McDonald (Angel)
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Imagine the utter despair, fear, and anxiety a young man feels when realizing he's gay, in a world where people like Eric have this tremendous stigma laid on them, where they hate how the world has left them and even hate themselves so much they attempt suicide.
Eric did not succeed with the pills, but then the reaction of his brother, mother, teammates and others probably made him wish he'd succeeded.
Perhaps he feels desperate and alone now. I see why Eric submitted to Kevin's will. He's thinks he's between a rock and a hard place.
In the end I still think Taylor is the most innocent one, but Eric was dealt a truly sh!tty hand to be a gay kid in Indiana.
If we were people who were there and knew these kids, I think Taylor would be the most sympathetic compared to Eric because of the latter's bad attitude. (That scene with the reporter -- LOL!!) And it was because of his attitude that I was sure he raped Taylor, but now, because of subsequent events, I'm not so sure, and I'm seeing his bad attitude as an act.
Right now, I'm trying to look at them as two kids from troubled families who were already confused and unhappy and trying to be accepted at Leyland.
If it turns out he did rape Taylor, I'll come back and say you were right about him.
I already agree about the rest of the Leyland basketball team.
To me Eric is obviously still deeply conflicted and it gets worse and worse by masking how he truly feels with this fake attitude. I believe that it’s all just an act and that he, though far from flawless, might even feel remorse about the whole Taylor situation but can’t admit it.
As many have stated, I believe Taylor and Eric hit it off at the party and they were somehow caught and Eric tried to cover what happened by maybe being in or defininitely watching whatever the team did to Taylor.
I do think that he likes Taylor and that it was probably quite horrific to be part of that „hazing“ incident that possibly went out of control. I believe that in no way he wanted Taylor to get hurt.
It’s just the way Eric a) said stop to the guy he kissed in the car b) the way he reacted when his brother told him to stop when Eric snapped c) the way Eric looked once the coach told the team that they found blood on Taylor etc. The latter didn’t look to me as if Eric was afraid of getting caught but he seemed more irritated as to what happened, why Taylor was hurt or that he was hurt for the matter.
It just seems that something is haunting Eric that goes beyond him being afraid of maybe being found guilty of rape.
Aside from Eric acting cool and a bit like a tough guy, he seems almost as sensitive as Taylor. Maybe he actually isn’t into rough stuff and wants to take things slow. In the car with that guy Eric really seems to be longing for something more tender and gentle, almost something comforting. So, I’m also wondering what will happen, based on next week’s promo, when that older guy he supposedly meets for a hook up again, hits him in the face.
Oveall, I think the way Eric reacts might have to do with him being slightly traumatized by the whole Taylor incident but also because there’s a sweet kid in him somewhere that made quite some bad choices and faces really unfair challenges with his family, his sexuality, the team and maybe feeling guilty about Taylor.
I do feel for him despite all. A very complex character (and great actor).
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