- "The fuck y'all lookin' at?!"
- —Ed Wuncler III
Edward Joseph "Ed" Wuncler III is the grandson of Ed Wuncler I and son of Ed Wuncler II. He is a drunken, trigger-happy ex-soldier freshly discharged from active duty in Iraq, where he served alongside his best friend Gin Rummy. He strikes up a friendship with Riley Freeman at his grandfather's garden party, where he shows the young boy his extensive firearms collection and talks him into testing out a shotgun by shooting him point-blank in his vest. From then on, Riley takes part in Ed and Rummy's schemes and calls on Ed whenever he needs muscle and firepower.
Personality[]
Ed III is a very much a "wigger"; a white person who shows a great fondness for African-American culture, mostly the negative stereotypes. This is especially jarring considering he comes from a filthy-rich, privileged background. He casually uses the n-word to refer to himself, his best friend Gin Rummy, and others. He was voiced by the late Charlie Murphy, further cementing the irony as a dark-skinned black man voicing a pale white man with speech laden with ghetto slang.
Ed is very impulsive, even psychotic, being quick to violence and brandishing guns whenever things don't go his way. This predictably causes more trouble than there needs to be, and regularly almost costs him his life. When setting up a deal with Steve, he screws over Thugnificent's record deal because the former wasn't interested in the drug deal they came for, causing Ed to snap and demand money. He causes Steve's bodyguard to have a cardiac arrest, Steve to wreck his own house with a shotgun, and nearly gets himself killed in the process, only being saved by his vest.
That said, Ed is also shown to be quite cowardly. He relates his time in the army where he defecated on himself many times to the point where his team gave him the unflattering name of "Stinkbomb" and stopped taking him out on patrols since his horrid stench would give away their position. When swimming in a pool, he flails around and pathetically begs for help. When shot at, aside from being a lousy shot, he is terrified of being under fire and runs away. He only survives thanks to dumb luck.
Ed is shown to be terrible at remembering faces. Riley once asked him to reclaim a chain Thugnificent had given him from Butch Magnus; however, Ed ended up kidnapping a skinny, nerdy kid despite being given a description and a picture. When the Hateocracy threatened the Freemans, Riley once again asked Ed for help, only for him to blindly commit a drive-by on random elderly people in a park.
Ed also has a racist streak, being the most overt racist in his family. He takes advantage of post-9/11 paranoia by accusing an Arab convenience store owner of being a terrorist to get away with stealing from his store, and calls the Wushung kickball team "yellow bastards and motherfuckers". He also borrows his grandfather's "terrorist descent" term when accusing the convenience store owner.
His character could be seen as a parody of a young George W. Bush — a figure destined to be president on the strength of his family's wealth and power, despite his sub-average intelligence (as referenced at the end of "The Garden Party", where his grandfather says, "In 30 years, that boy will be President of the United States... and he'll still be a fucking idiot!").
Appearance[]
Ed is a tall, muscular white man with a red buzzcut. Ed's usual outfit consists of a white tank top, sagging khakis, and a large medallion in the shape of the letter W. Otherwise, he is usually seen in military or heist gear, like fatigues and ski masks.
History[]
Ed and his friend Gin Rummy are former Special Forces. Ed had an unremarkable military career on account of him regularly getting scared and defecating on himself. Eventually, he was given the nickname "Stinkbomb", as he would smell so terribly that the enemies would smell him in hiding.
Him and Rummy only get away with their misguided and comically inept criminal antics because his grandfather Ed Wuncler I has the police and everyone else in the city on his payroll, and because his service in the U. S. Armed Forces confers the public image of a hero no matter how blatantly immoral his actions may be, while Gin Rummy often argues that their escapes are the result of them being criminal masterminds. As a result, the pair go completely unpunished when staging poorly-executed robberies, such as the mini-mart robbery in which Ed and Rummy are seen as heroes since the store owned by people of "terrorist descent" (Arab). In attempting to kidnap Oprah Winfrey, they mistakenly abduct Maya Angelou, then when they try to kidnap Oprah again, they take a right and end up finding Bill Cosby instead.
Ed is responsible for two running gags in the series; every time a shootout happens with Ed present, he catches a bullet, but something is always protecting his chest from a fatal shot, whether it's his medallion, or his vest getting shot at point blank with a shotgun by Riley. This is usually followed up by him asking any witnesses, "[What] the fuck [are] y'all looking at?"
Relationships[]
Ed Wuncler I[]
Ed does not have the best relationship with his grandfather. It's clear that his impulsive, idiotic actions only serve to annoy the elder Wuncler, especially since he occasionally has to bail him out directly. Ed III at first denies Riley's request to kidnap Butch Magnus as he doesn't want his grandfather to get angry.
When Riley blasts his grandson out of a window with a shotgun, Wuncler doesn't show much concern and correctly chalks it up to his stupidity.
In "The Red Ball", when Ed takes a bad hit from a kickball that practically staples him to the wall, his grandfather simply says to get him some good over-the-counter meds.
In "It's Goin' Down", Wuncler tasks his grandson and Rummy with planting a bomb in Wuncler Plaza to kill Dan Stuckey in a false flag operation. Predictably, it goes wrong thanks to Ed and Rummy's incompetence and Jack Flowers' rogue heroism. When Flowers holds Ed hostage, Wuncler encourages Flowers to shoot him, and it's not entirely clear if he's simply joking.
Gin Rummy[]
Gin Rummy is Ed's army buddy. They are clearly the best of friends and care for each other deeply. Despite their gangsta tough guy demeanors, they are shown to be very gentle and affectionate with each other, which Riley is always quick to call "gay", especially since it tends to include hugging things out. Just like Ed, Rummy is a terrible criminal and marksman, and only ever gets away with the legal repercussions thanks to the Wuncler's monopoly over Woodcrest and the apathy of its citizens, though they remain convinced they're criminal masterminds.
Riley Freeman[]
Ed and Riley met at Ed Wuncler's garden party. He asked Riley if he liked guns, and showed him his collection. He then proceeded to drink heavily and goad Riley into shooting him point-blank with a SPAS-12, as he called himself "The Terminator" in his vest. Riley obliges, being blown backwards from the recoil and shooting Ed out of the window.
Huey and Riley later request Ed's help finding the "Xbox Killer", as said killer was armed and dangerous and Ed has firepower. He accepts, and rounds up Rummy for backup. They proceed to terrorize a neighborhood looking for the killer, all while Huey and Riley simply ask around and get a description and address. They drive for a while until Ed and Rummy abruptly decide to stop by a mini-mart to get some drinks. While there, Ed tries to get Riley to walk out with a six-pack of beer, only for the mini-mart clerk to stop them and insist they pay. Ed and Rummy decide to frame the clerk as a terrorist just to avoid paying, leading to a massive shootout.
In "Let's Nab Oprah", Ed and Rummy think of the eponymous plot, while Huey tries his best to intercept it. They bring Riley along as a lookout to their schemes, but he quickly grows irritated by their sheer incompetence, even missing clear signs of Oprah's location. When Rummy retorts that they were Special Forces veterans, Riley snaps back that they should've been in the Special Olympics, and goes home to abide by his curfew.
In "Thank You For Not Snitching", Ed and Rummy ask for Riley to hide them in the Freeman house from Betty von Heusen's wrath. When they notice Dorothy, they steal it, with Riley trying to stop them to no avail. When Robert tries getting him to admit who took it, Riley refuses, as he doesn't approve of "snitching", especially not on his friends. At the end of the episode, they bring the car back, only to exchange it for Riley's bike. As they speed off, Rummy thanks Riley for not snitching, with Ed calling him a "stupid motherfucker" for covering for them.
In "Shinin'", Riley enlists Ed's help to retrieve his Lethal Interjection chain from Butch Magnus. Ed refuses at first to avoid trouble with his grandfather, but gives in with some further prodding. He kidnaps a completely random kid that looks nothing like Butch and traumatizes him with threats of torture, just barely being tamed by Riley, who points out that he got the wrong kid despite giving him a description and even a picture. Ed gets annoyed as if it's Riley's fault and tells him he needs to pay a large amount for another kidnapping.
Gallery[]
Appearances[]
- "The Garden Party" (debut appearance)
- "A Date with the Health Inspector"
- "Let's Nab Oprah"
- "Bitches to Rags"
- "The Red Ball"
- "Stinkmeaner 3: The Hateocracy"
- "The Fundraiser"
- "It's Goin' Down" (final appearance)
- "Good Times" (mentioned)
Trivia[]
- Ed was voiced by the late Charlie Murphy.
- Despite being one of the most popular characters in the series, Ed only appears in 10 of the 55 total episodes and only appears twice in Season 2.
- He seems to be a parody of the younger George W. Bush, being poised to become the nation's president based on his family's wealth, despite his below average intelligence, as well as his questionable military service.(Though, despite this, we can now arguably agree that bush was better than this guy)This is based on a comment made by his grandfather during "The Garden Party".("In 30 years, that boy will be President of the United States... and he'll still be a fucking idiot!")
- Rummy claims that he and Ed served in Special Forces (aka the Green Berets).
- Ed and Rummy do not appear in Season 4.