ENDORA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (15)

By: Dan Reines
August 24, 2025

One in a series of enthusiastic posts, contributed by 25 HILOBROW friends and regulars, on the topic of our favorite sympathetic villains. Series edited by Heather Quinlan.

WALTER PECK

OK, let’s play a game. The game is called “Guess the Asshole.”

Contestant A is Peter. He is, we’ll say, kind of a charming rogue. He’s a little sleazy, a little skeevy, fun to be around, but not for too long. You wouldn’t want to lend the guy your car. You wouldn’t trust him with a secret. And you definitely wouldn’t put him in charge of safeguarding a volatile and potentially toxic novel substance inside a structurally compromised building in a densely populated area.

Professionally, Peter is a scientist, but not. He definitely is not interested in scientific ethics, or the scientific method. He stages phony and abusive experiments as a ruse to lure women into his bed.

After being run out of academia, Peter takes a job in which his most important responsibility is to safeguard a volatile and potentially toxic novel substance inside a decaying firehouse in Lower Manhattan. He takes the work as seriously as you might expect. He uses it as a pretense to lure women into bed.

Okay, so that’s Contestant A in our game of Guess the Asshole. Now don’t guess yet, because we have another contestant to consider.

Contestant B is Walter. Walter is an inspector for the EPA. His job is to keep Peter from evaporating New York City. Walter is earnest, and dedicated, and he takes his job seriously. People’s lives are on the line.

So did you guess? That’s right. Walter is the Asshole! Walter is the one we hate. Peter nearly leveled the largest city in the country, and Walter tried to stop him, but also? Walter’s kind of a bad hang. Grumpy, uptight, maybe a little too rule-bound. I mean, fuck that guy, right?

Obviously, this is Ghostbusters, and Peter is Peter Venkman (Bill Murray). He and his reckless goons put every living being in the tri-state area at risk because Peter couldn’t be arsed to look into basic waste management techniques.

And Contestant B? Meet Walter Peck (William Atherton). College educated, probably an advanced degree in geology. Put himself through school working nights at the box factory. Stood to make millions in the go-go ’80s, but went into public service instead. Has a servant’s heart. Takes care of his aging mother, probably. Volunteers at the animal shelter, probably. Cares about the planet, definitely. What a dick.

Honestly, what was Peck supposed to do? You saw what happened. If Peck lets Venkman explode a giant marshmallow over the New York City, it’s gross negligence. But Peck dives on the grenade, and he’s a buzzkill! It’s a no-win!

It’s infuriating. Peter Venkman was a menace to society, but he was kinda flirty and kinda naughty, and to this day, kids dress up as him for Halloween. He’s a hero. Captain America. But Peck? Children chase Peck down the street shouting “dickless.” That’s true! That happened!

We are all in Walter Peck’s debt, and we own the man an apology. I do, and so do you. What a jacked-up world we live in.

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ENDORA YOUR ENTHUSIASM (15)

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