Solomon Lauter Is So Underrated. I Know We All Hate Him Because He’s Horrible To Steph, And He Does

Solomon Lauter is so underrated. I know we all hate him because he’s horrible to Steph, and he does suck for that, but he’s also such a compelling character, especially for the limited screentime he’s had. I want to know more about his backstory, I want to know the specifics of his deal with the Lords in Black, I want to know WHY he’s so desperate to keep his position as mayor because it seems like it goes deeper than just wanting to stay in power and he doesn’t seem to have any aspirations beyond it—at least so far, he hasn’t expressed interest in, say, running for governor or the senate, which I feel like he would if it was just about power and ambition. I think he needs to keep watch over Hatchetfield specifically (stand sentinel at the gates of hell, as he phrases it in NPMD) and he can’t ever leave his post. Something is keeping him tied there.

The way he immediately, blatantly directs everyone to start pointing fingers at each other in Hatchet Town and it works. The way he doesn’t seem to care about individual people very much, but is still invested in saving the world from Max, to the point where he’s willing to dig up the black book and trust Stephanie with it. The way he’s still unwilling to touch the book himself. The way he KNOWS Max cannot be reasoned with, but is still desperate enough in his final moments that he tries to plead with him and offers to buy him beer of all things. And the way Corey delivers his monologue right after he makes Pete Steph and Grace dig up the book?? The way the Nightmare Time leitmotif comes in on “to survive this night, you’ll have to strike a bargain with the Lords in Black”?? Fucking immaculate. So good, so chilling, I think it might be one of my favorite serious/non-comedic moments in the entire Hatchetfield trilogy.

In conclusion: he’s such a fascinating character and I really hope we get to see more of him at some point in the future.