#(also this isn’t an attempt to excuse Lucas of his actions particularly for the drone thing that’s just not the focus of this analysis) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

reesiereads · 7 months

Text

Lucas and the Worms (Goosebumps 2023 Analysis 4/5)

If you haven’t yet read the previous parts I’ve written of this analysis I highly recommend you do. However the jist of it is that I believe each haunted object linked to the kids was chosen deliberately by Biddle and symbolically represents a major struggle the kid linked to the item is dealing with.

This time let’s discuss Lucas. Fair warning, this one is a fair bit darker then the other sections. Trigger warnings for discussions of suicide and self harm.

(Spoilers below the cut, I seriously recommend watching the show before reading it’s worth it)

Lucas is the fourth point of view character, staring in the episode Go Eat Worms. Prior to this episode three things about Lucas are made apparent: He’s reckless, he’s (seemingly) laid back to the point he doesn’t seem to care about much of anything, and he’s extremely socially awkward/unaware.

Now Go Eat Worms emphasized all these traits but it also portrayed the reasoning behind them which changes the perception of Lucas from a burn-out skater boy who couldn’t give less of a fuck to someone who is… well, all of that as well as excessively self-destructive.

While a lot of Lucas’ social awkwardness seems to come from a genuine struggle of not knowing what to talk about or what would be socially appropriate I believe a part of it also ties in to his laid-back attitude. In The Haunted Mask Isabella rips into a multitude of Lucas’ insecurities, one of the most effective being when she insults his “jackass facade.”

Based on Lucas’ reaction here, which is something close to a flinch or a cower, we can tell Isabella hit the nail on the head. Lucas deliberately gets himself intro trouble and then ignores the worry or anger that this behavior ignites. The perfect example of this is in Go Eat Worms when Lucas drags his bike to the school roof and rides it down straight into Colin Stokes car. He severely injures himself in the process but he brushes off Colin’s shouting and Margot’s fretting in the exact same manner: essentially giving the impression he could not care less.

While this reaction is partially affected by the worms in general this is in line with Lucas’ previous behavior, as he reacted similarly when he first got in trouble for destroying Isabella’s drone in The Haunted Mask. At first he comes across as simply an asshole, uncaring of the damage he is causing around him. With the added context of his recent Dad’s death however, alongside some of Nora’s lines (such as her line to Colin in The Haunted Mask about how she “assumed he’d be sad after Dennis died, not reckless”) which all imply that this behavior goes deeper then just simple impulsive trouble making.

It becomes increasingly clear over the course of Go Eat Worms that Lucas is dealing with a severe amount of grief… badly. We open the episode with him attempting to talk himself into performing the same trick his Dad did when he died where Lucas ends up fighting off tears. It’s implied Lucas spends a lot of time in his Dad’s old shed and he has a poster of his Dad’s stunt work on his wall right over his bed. When breaking down at the Booms of Doom Lucas states that “we’re (meaning his Father and him) so similar. We’re Father and Son.” His grief is quite literally consuming him and only a few minutes into the episode something becomes very clear: Lucas is severely depressed.

The other important thing about Lucas’ behavior that’s elaborated on is his most obvious trait: his recklessness. Lucas’ introduction is quite literally skateboarding off a roof and giving himself a possible concussion. Throughout the other episodes we continue to see him perform other unsafe acts: Skateboarding down the stairs, jumping at a tall height to catch a drone and landing on the pavement, and attempting to eat a worm (not necessarily as bad but still shows a disregard for his health and general well-being). We know Lucas likes skateboarding and other dangerous stunt stuff due to his Dad however the amount at which Lucas gets Injured is notably excessive as Nora quite blatantly calls it reckless. Lucas is also extremely nonchalant about his actual injuries, one of his first lines being: “it’s fine Mom, it’s just my head this time.”

Not all of Lucas’ disregard for himself can be blamed on grief however, as it’s also subtlety implied throughout the show that Lucas is insecure. Specifically, Lucas is extremely insecure about his own intelligence. The first we see of this is actually at the Halloween party, when Lucas makes a joke to Margot about coming as a guy with brain damage. While this can be taken as a dig at his penchent for injuries his tone seems to imply something else, it’s too serious. We see it once again in The Haunted Mask when Isabella is digging at Lucas. While her comments about him pretending to be a jackass get to him the comment he has the worst reaction to is her first one: “This moron.” There is a noticeable shift in Lucas’ body language here, he is no longer calm or nonchalant. It’s the first time we see him openly upset. Then, in Reader Beware, Lucas states: “You make me feel so dumb, but not in a bad way like… literally everybody else.”

Lucas also tells Margot here that he once broke six bones in his hand at the age of six, implying his reckless behavior has been something he’s struggled with for a long time.

All of this is to say, Lucas in Go Eat Worms and throughout most of the show is dealing with both severe grief, some sort of depression, and what seems to be a fair amount of insecurities. He’s in an extremely bad place mentally and his self-destructive behavior shows this.

Then he finds out about his Mom’s affair and eats the Biddle worm.

The Biddle worms work like this: once one is consumed the consumer will begin to feel ill. While unconscious the other worms will work their way into the consumer’s body and burrow under the skin. They will make the consumer completely unable to feel pain both mental and physical, and will heal any wounds the consumer receives, even broken bones. The only way to expel the worms from the consumer’s body is to put the consumer through intense mental anguish. The worms will attempt to reenter the consumer and the only way to avoid this is to physically destroy the worms.

Before we get into the worms themselves let’s discuss Lucas’ reaction to them. Once discovering that he feels no physical pain Lucas’ first reaction is to slam his hand so hard into his locker that all his fingers snap (keep in mind that when he did this he had no idea if they would heal). Once he realizes his healing factor he then drives his bike off the school roof into Colin Stokes’ car, where it’s shown he severely hurts his shoulder in the process. Thanks to the worms these wounds heal, however the most interesting part of this is Lucas’ line to Margot when she tries to check on him. “I feel fine! I know you’re in pain Margot but that’s the wonderful thing about pain, you can choose to turn it off!”

Lucas is in a severe amount of emotional turmoil, finding out about his Mom’s affair is essentially his breaking point. It becomes clear through this line and his behavior that Lucas distracts himself from mental pain by physically harming himself: he is quite literally self-harming.

Lucas shows no indication of suicidal thoughts prior to the worms driving him to the Booms of Doom (though he does perhaps show a softer version of it. The whole mentality of “walking across the street without looking, not actively seeking death but not avoiding it either” sort of idea). However, as the worms emphasize Lucas’ reliance on recklessness and physical pain to bury his mental pain, the worms also broadcast how quickly that behavior can spiral into something more. While I don’t believe Lucas goes to the Booms of Doom looking to kill himself he also does try to proceed when Nora tells him that’s exactly what his Father did.

The worms are then expelled as Lucas is forced to face the grief he’s been trying to bury. However, they attempt to take him back and Lucas is only able to fight them off with the help of his Mom and Margot.

The message of this one is clear: Running from grief or insecurity and trying to deal with it through self-destructive means will not fix the problem. The only way to genuinely begin healing and moving forward is to rely on the people around you and face the feelings, no matter how difficult they may be.

#goosebumps 2023 #goosebumps #goosebumps analysis #character analysis #Lucas Parker #reesie rambles #(I promise I didn’t go into this planning this to be so dark but worm boy just has… so many fucking issues)#(also this isn’t an attempt to excuse Lucas of his actions particularly for the drone thing that’s just not the focus of this analysis)

82 notes · View notes