Winston Zeddemore: The Underappreciated Ghostbuster

This could have been the last thing Ray and Egon saw.

When you really think about it, Winston Zeddemore was never really appreciated properly for the things he did in “Ghostbusters” and “Ghostbusters II”. I’d like to focus mostly on his actions in the sequel, namely him saving Ray and Egon from dying in their darkroom when the photos of Vigo spontaneously combusted.

Winston’s act of valor went completely unrecognized on camera. I guess it would have been weird to have Ray and Egon just thanking Winston nonstop for the last hour of the film, but he deserved that. How much different would the ending of “Ghostbusters II” have been had Winston decided to go out for a smoke or a burger when Ray and Egon were screwing around in the darkroom? Forget taking on Vigo, there would have been a police investigation and a couple of funerals to plan.

Winston acted incredibly fast too. All Ray and Egon did was scream for a few seconds and BAM, Winston was there with a fire extinguisher smashing down the door. How did he know to have a fire extinguisher? That was insane. Was there a fire extinguisher sitting right by the door specifically for an instance such as the one that occurred? I doubt it. That meant this dude ran off the couch from watching TV, got the fire extinguisher, and saved Ray and Egon in a matter of mere seconds.

There's no telling what destruction Winston prevented.

But the thing that gets me the most is not only do Ray and Egon NOT thank Winston for saving them from being INCINERATED ALIVE, but shortly after they’re teasing him about giant rats. They know the guy doesn’t like rats and they’re busting his chops about that while walking through the subway. This guy saved you from being human charcoal and you’re just acting like it never even happened. Then they take a dive in the pink jizz and Ray is actually ready to whoop Winston’s ass. Now even though the ooze made them cranky, Ray must have still felt really bad about that. Not even an apology though?

Without Winston, one might argue that only the two remaining Ghostbusters (three if you include Rick Moranis) would not have been enough to overtake Vigo in the climactic battle. Then Sigourney Weaver’s kid would have been possessed by the evil tyrant and basically the entire world would be turned into hell on earth. It clearly was a team effort, but Winston was the reason you had a team of four. That’s a big deal. So on behalf of the fictitious world in which the Ghostbusters movies takes place, thank you Winston Zeddemore!

Then again, maybe it was best that he was underappreciated. Had Ray and Egon thought of him as an equal perhaps he would have been in the darkroom with them examining the Vigo pics when the entire room burst into flames and all three would have died… That still doesn’t take anything away from what he did, so fuck that.