Is Lewis Really THAT Bad? | Stardew Valley 

Morris is better than Lewis because he has an ass that just wont quit

Pam and Penny : We live in a trailer. We are clearly struggling financially and one of us is out of job because the bus is broken. Lewis, their neighbor : That gold statue of me is looking great !

My mom thinks he’s a perv and refuses to fulfill his request for truffle oil.

my biggest gripe with lewis is that he PRETENDS to care about the town. Morris straight up doesn't care what happens to stardew and he doesnt pretend. But Lewis wants you to think that he is nice and sad about the town falling apart

Another thing I hate about Lewis is the way he tries to shift the blame of the deterioration of the community center onto the younger townspeople when he says something along the lines of "the young people would rather sit in front of the TV than interact with the community". That is such BS because most of the younger people are either chilling with their friends or doing work/working on some sort of hobby around town. Hell, even the more introverted ones like Sebastian make time to hang out with their friends at least once a week. The only person I can really think of that sits in front of his TV mot of the day is elderly George!

Regarding the community center, theres a dialog from Robin that says she has offered to fix up the community center but Lewis was being hesitant and couldnt decide what to do with it. So if you need proof about his intentional disregard for the community, there ya go

lewis killed my family, burned my crops, and ruined my mental state

I never got how lewis couldn't just have a relationship with marnie. I know he's like "oh it will undermine my position!" But what does that even mean? He doesnt do anything and even if he did, why would anyone care? Does everyone think that he'll give her less taxes if they're dating or something??

Marnie should check out Marlon. I think she'd be much happier with him than with Lewis

Using a very trendy word these days, Lewis is an example of weaponized incompetency. I don't think he's evil, just incompetent with a big ego.

He always annoyed me because he like bitches about the community center being falling apart and I’m like “bestie there is a Carpenter in this town I saw her do you wanna like see if she can do something?”

12:00 Lewis literally tells you he will sell the lot to Joja if just *ONE* more person buys a membership...

For me, I don't hate Morris because he's the bad guy, and in most instances, bad guys are usually not great people. I hate Lewis because of the way he treats Marnie. I hate him because he made a gold statue of himself. Also if he doesn't want people to know about the fact that he and Marnie are a thing, maybe he shouldn't send the player character on a quest to get his underpants back or to make a truffle oil. And why is he asking his dead friend's grandchild of all people to do those things for him?

For me, it was disappointment. Everything everyone says, including your grandpa, leads you to believe that Lewis is a good guy. You're set up to believe you're escaping the horrors of society that let you down and finding a shelter, surrounded by nature and good, caring people of this small community, that is as tight as family... Well, all of that is bullsh!t. People in Pelican Town are absolutely miserable and couldn't care less about each other. And Lewis is exactly the guy who is supposed to do something about it all, but he doesn't, while trying hard to make everyone, including you, to pretend otherwise. His character is basically an avatar for every let down you experience in this supposed paradise. While Morris is just... well, Morris. He is everything you expect him to be. Hating him for being what he is is like blaming a street dog for having fleas 🤷🏼‍♀️ Also, you've gotten yourself a subscriber 😉 your narration is exactly what my autistic ass needs in these trying times.

I can’t belive how quickly you skipped over Marnie! That’s the entire reason I hate him! Let her love publicly or let her go dammit! She deserves better!!

I would love to see a “run for mayor” mod. It would be so cool. Pick a day in winter for the Election Day, after the community center is complete, that way the player gets accustomed to the game before getting thrown into politics lol. You get votes depending on how high your friendship with people are, I’d say if you’re below five hearts you don’t get a vote, 5-9 there’s a 50%< chance they’ll vote for you, and a ten heart is guaranteed. Once you become mayor then you have several new duties, such as collecting taxes from the businesses and people on a specific day maybe twice a month, and put them in the safe in the community center, and that room will be your “office”. If you collect taxes than you lose half a heart from them, so if you don’t keep up with your gifting and relationships, Louis has a chance to beat you again in the next election. Towns people will have a bulletin board for new types of requests. Sam might ask for an actual ramp in town to skate on, or penny can ask for a playground for the kids, and you would use the taxes you collect to pay for them to improve the community. There can also be a donation box by the desk that happy towns people can donate to in order to help with the projects. There’s a lot of open space to put things like that.

True, he uses the tax money to make a statue of himself, strings Marnie along and expects you to fix the whole town. Pierre is just as bad since he has a dialogue of wanting to open up dozens of shops for more money, doesn't spend time with his family and assaulted Morris for wanting to have some competition. Demetrius is bad as well too.

I hate Lewis infinitely more than I do Morris because Lewis doesn't even have dapper fat boy swag going for him

Lewis embezzels the funding of a town that can't even afford to build/provide transport to a school.

"joined tradwife tiktok" salem i died

I think the reason it’s easy to hate Lewis more than Morris is because Morris is a shitty guy hands down. Everyone knows it and he’s not hiding it; making him more transparent and you know his intentions. While Lewis appears nice but uses it to hide that he’s shitty then plays the victim on how his town has gone to shit. It’s like you said too there’s also more interaction with Lewis than Morris so revealing how Lewis is a scumbag is more rewarding especially with how CA laid it out with clues. Side note too if you have the phone in your house. Lewis will call you and one of the options is ”I know your secret, Lewis” He panics says you’re breaking up then hangs up. Funny as hell XD

"i headcanon lewis as dead" -my best friend

lewis has personally committed hate crimes against me and my family

Maybe Mayor of Stardew is an unpaid Honorary title that either doesn't pay much or doesn't pay anything and may not have any real power. The governor may be the one who can make changes.

The other thing is, provided the funds, Morris actually DOES improve the valley while Lewis sits on his ass the whole time.

I wasn't expecting to be called a "little bitch" this early on, but I'm here for it.

Marnie deserves so much better. 😤

Meanwhile, in some alternate reality: "Lets Dissect Lewis" > proceeds to pull out surgical table and relevant supplies

Spouse and I discussed this at length and we think Lewis was getting a kickback from Joja. I mean, they have to have the mayor's okay to do business there, and he should be the first one to jump them for pulling the bullshit they pull. I lived in a rural town that started becoming rich snob hell with McMansions and overpriced boutiques because the mayor and the town council started giving such businesses and shady real estate investors massive tax breaks, and we all know they were getting kickbacks to make said decisions because it's amazing how suddenly well-off they became. We think Lewis is of that same brain, that if he takes Joja's money, he won't have to care because they'll pull a Walmart on the town and basically run it for him.

my favorite thing about this video is how you absolutely rip the fuck into this fictional old man with the calmest monotonous voice possible

This was just the one third of an hour of ancap Lewis slander I needed after a long day, thank you Salem

I would refute the idea that Lewis doesn’t actually do anything as mayor. He makes it clear when you move in that he’s the one who empties your shipping bin every night. So he does do ONE helpful thing besides shake down store owners every weekday. Of course, it’s probably why we don’t pay taxes - he must take some profit as a percentage. And if he was only using it to run the ridiculous number of festivals this town has, I wouldn’t mind! Party planning is a lot of work. But none of it explains or excuses the statue. Or how he treats poor Marnie. He cares far too much about his status and reputation

The Gold statue is more than enough justification to hate him professionally and personally

4:26 “if you already find me irritating, leave now, it’s going to get worse” the way i felt that in my soul 😭

Morris is a cartoon villain we can't have too much emotion for. Having to deal with a Lewis is something people can relate to and feel viscerally about. Kind of like how Dolores Umbridge is CONSISTENTLY more hated that Voldemort; "The Villain" vs the villain you know.

Personally, I always felt Lewis wasn’t with Marnie because of embarrassment towards her family. Think about it, they’re both adults and Marnie is an active, friendly member of the community with hobbies, friends and a thriving ranch she runs mostly by herself. Everybody already knows about their relationship (he’s clearly not ashamed to bring the farmer into it too, asking the farmer to retrieve HIS shorts or get oil for him) and Marnie laments wanting to make it official - Why would Lewis think it’d affect his reputation if not for her nephew, one of the known town alcoholics who works for the company ruining the valley and great god-niece who’s very quiet and reserved (and probably traumatized)? It’d make him look less perfect to be associated with her family, but if he keeps it secret he still has deniability. You’d don’t have to be associated with your booty-call’s family, whereas a boyfriend or husband WOULD, and it would show further how the town isn’t perfect. He doesn’t care about Marnie enough to make it work, but love bombs her enough to keep her on the hook, wanting for a relationship that he’ll never give her. Absolutely no shade to Shane and Jas, but all the shade in the world for Lewis.

I stole Lewis's shorts from his basement and put them in my fish tank.

One of the scenes that pissed me off was Sam skateboarding. I was honest. Hes in the wrong, but its not like he has a place to skate, and Lewis said he thought id be more mature than that. I AM mature. Kids need to be entertained in a safe manner, or else they will find their own entertainment. There are so many young adults and 2 children, and literally nothing for them but a playground. There is a mental health crisis in the city, why am I able to fix everything in a damn year when im just a farmer?

My last straw was the golden statue, I was so mad I created a new save so I can always place the purple shorts at the soup every year

Marnie is great which is why i dislike lewis like dude why do you have to break her heart and keep your relationship so secretive.

I hate Pierre more than I hate Lewis. Pierre is actively evil. He's even worse than Morris because at least Morris is honest.

The whole hiding the relationship thing is so stupid. The whole “no one will respect me” bull is so dumb because the governor is married with a child of his own and you dont see anyone trying to overthrow the governor or respect him less cuz hes in love it makes no sense hes a ass and is just embarrassed of marnie

On year 4, we should have the ability to run against him

It really is just the gold statue thing. The neglect of the town could easily be seen as a lack of funds due to the farm being shut down for years until the player arrives, which was likely one of the biggest contributers to the local economy. And what funds he did have seem to have been used to maintain the library, which Lewis straight up tells you when he visits it. It seems he had limited funds and chose to support the library, which was probably the best decision. Travelling to the desert is largely just for leisure, and the community center is mostly unnecessary for such a small community. So Lewis did the best with what he had. And once the player showed up, its not like he can compete with forest spirit magic.

Just look at the doll house. Lewis is fooling no one, not even a little girl. She's already been through a lot and has to deal with Shane spiraling, and then the guy who /could/ be a positive male role model for her... just isn't.

1:38 Salem's tone of voice didn't change at all throughout this entire sentence, so it took me a second to realize that they'd just called Robin "the town's very hot carpenter" XD

I’m not gonna pretend like he’s the best mayor or even a good one but he’s better than this at least. He does interact with the town, he frequently talks with Marnie, Gus, Willy, Robin and Clint. It doesn’t take an hour to collect taxes, he’s probably talking to them. As for the festivals, sure some of the decorations can be reused, but what about the food? He needs to pay Gus for it each time, and there’s always a lot. Some of the decorations can’t be reused, like the flowers at the flower dance, the igloos at the ice festival, and what about when the wooden decorations need repairs? He needs to pay Robin for that. On top of that, who’s setting up the festivals, besides spirits Eve? If not him, he’s most likely paying someone, or they’re doing it as a favor, so he can’t be that much of a douche. And as for joja, yeah he let them into the town, but jojamart creates jobs for people, even if it sucks. But yeah he spends a probably large portion of the taxes on a golden statue of himself, let the bus and community center fall into disrepair for years, bribes the player, and is an asshole to Marnie

Also remember: If you create your farm as a Co-op world, In Mayors house you can split your finances. Especially usefull when you have that one friend who tries to get to lvl 100 of skull caverns without prep and is wasting your money

Wait what? I just watched/listened to this while putting my Switch down to make dinner and I can't believe this video doesn't have 20k+ views? I really enjoyed you airing all of our grievances with Lewis, thank you :)

It's a pretty realistic depiction of a politician... petitioning magical woodland creatures is a more viable way to improve a town than him.

I think what you’re looking for is putting Lewis into the 80s sci-fi short story “I have no mouth yet I must scream” lol

i think another thing about morris is that, provided you take the community center routte, he gets his comeuppance. he gets run out of town and everyone celebrates him getting what he deserves. but mayor lewis? there's nothing that happen ins the story to punish him for his actions.

also can we talk about how george has been a full time wheelchair user for years if not DECADES and yet mayor lewis has clearly not done a single fucking thing to make the town more wheelchair accessible? i know george shows up at the festivals but realistically unless he has a rad all terrain wheelchair it would be extremely difficult if not impossible for him to attend festivals in the woods or the beach, and it'd be difficult for him to get through large parts of town. not to mention the community center being completely off limits. plus just speaking as a wheelchair user cobblestone can be pretty damn tough to go over if it's not in great shape and even when it is in good condition it can be an uncomfy ride if you have issues with chronic pain, and given the general neglect of the town....yeah, i'm not putting too much faith in it. no wonder the guy is so grumpy and just sits in front of the tv all day!

For me, the difference between Morris and Lewis is Competence, Obligation, and expectation. Lewis is incompetent, doesn’t fulfill his obligations, and doesn’t live up to the expectations of his position. Morris however is competent, fulfills his obligations, and lives up to his expectations. So he is easier to like even if he’s antagonistic to what we as players are primed to value.

The people crave more pelican town gossip videos

Also, imo, Lewis case is like one of Dolores Umbridge - he pretends to care when he gives little to no shit about the town, Umbridge pretends to care for students while her favorite punishment is both painful and humiliating (which is imo far worse than whatever was happening on practice part of magic lessons - its obviously hardly fixable impact considering both time books was written AND that wizard society very hardly accepts new stuff that muggles already came up with) Morris, at very least, honest in his evilness, so you don't like him but it's less infuriating - he is exactly what you expect him to be

morris is cartoonishly evil and cruel. he's always come off as a caricature to me. lewis is... very real. he acts like my city's mayor acts. an indifferent politician who says they're making everything better, but is harming people with willful ignorance and withheld resources. that's something you actually deal with in real life, constantly, especially north american players.

I’m ready to join the Fiona religion

I feel like another reason why Lewis is just so darn hate able is that the game is biased toward him. It feels like you're supposed to like him, because if you side against him, you're with Joja. Unlike other members of the valley who are openly sleazy (like Pierre claiming your produce is his if it's high quality!) Lewis tries to hide his behavior under the guise of goodness. He wants to be selfish and also have your respect as an influential resident of the valley. This is absolutely no hate to the way the game is written, I actually really love this small facet of character and world building.

I think he's like a romanian mayor. He stays on the same job for 20 years and doesn't do anything for the city.

This is an amazing first video of yours for me to find. I instantly love you!

I will NEVER understand how lewis pulled marnie, istg

One of my mods gives the Lewis statue a GIANT pen/s and I don’t know which one it is because none of them have any indication that they would contain that so I can’t uninstall it

Yknow, i didnt really think of this until i read a Hitmen and Stardew Valley crossover, but its fucking crazy that Lewis has a gold statue of himself while the town is suffering echonomically. The fucking money made from the statue probably could of fixed up the Community Center all on its own!

Okay, but you're literally the funniest RU-vidr to me. The nonchalance is perfect and that tone made all your jokes hit harder for me. Thank you for making me laugh.❤

Once again thanks for covering so many varried topics. I love your channel for that

The real reason we hate him is because he is looking at a calendar for 8 hours straight, blocking our access to it if we don't have one at home.

I love your attitude and monotone delivery. Really funny!

Personally, I just don't think Lewis is bad enough to really hate. Pierre and Morris are greedy little capitalists, but Lewis is just stuck up and a bad boyfriend. And, while he may not do a great job of upkeeping the infrastructure, it seems like the various festivals are the lifeblood of the town, and he does seem to do a pretty good job of planning those. Even the solid gold Lewis isn't that bad: as someone else pointed out in the comments, a gold bar is worth the same as a pint of decent quality beer in Stardew, so it seems like rare metals are actually incredibly cheap for some reason. Also, the currency is gold coins, and you end up with thousands of them, so even more proof that gold is actually not all that expensive in the world of Stardew. I genuinely think it's reasonable that he didn't even need to steal any tax money to afford the materials for his statue, he could reasonably have just saved for several years and simply bought the gold from Clint, or maybe even from Grandpa if he was as diverse in his skillset as the player. If Lewis would just be better for Marnie, I'd say he was a decent guy. Hmm, I wonder if there's a mod that makes Lewis be a decent boyfriend, and actually spend time with Marnie in public.

“This kinda feels like I’m talking about the sex life of Ronald Reagan” I just want you to know that that sentence just dealt me psychic damage from which I may never recover… subscribed.

Lol, I just started watching Fiona's videos and then got recommended yours, the algorithm has connected you. Great video!

i really wish lewis didnt look like old luigi bc that makes me kinda feel bad for hating him so much

I think Lewis runs unopposed as the town mayor because everybody else is either employed full-time or a child or incapable. He is the only person in the entire town with enough free time to even run for office. Everybody else is literally busy.

You are delightfully unhinged, and I am so here for it.

I find the thing where Jas puts the grandpa doll under the bed creepy bc thats like a scene in a svu episode showing the old man is the culprit.

Am I only one who thinks he raided grandpas house right before we got there? Like last chance to take all valuables out before its ours.

He once got mad at me for digging in his trash can. He had no right to judge, he threw a perfectly good bread stick away.

I want a dialog option when he asks you to keep their relationship secret that says: "The whole town already knows! Stop kidding yourself!"

Need deep dive on how much Clint sucks too 😫 hate that guy so much, he wont stop trying to come for my wife

At 7:10 the meme "you got soft hands boy, they got you on the easy shift" came to mind

Lewis doesn’t bother me much. He checks on the stores and the library to help take care of their needs, sells the stuff in your shipping bins for you, and hangs out with the villagers at the saloon, so I figure he’s not the most active mayor but still does his minimum. Morris annoys me a lot, especially with his smug attitude and expressions. He seems both like a real villain and like a corporate idealist whose ideals happen to not align with mine. He seems to think he’s all that, though, which is so annoying.

Hear me out, we need an update where we can become the new major

Got my sub at "he looks like he's about to make Uma Thurman very uncomfortable."

Liking for the frame at 0:11 very accurate. Very funny.

I get some of the hate bc Lewis’ relations with marnie are sus and the money embezzling are both bad but some of it is reaching. You claim the intro cutscene is such a drag but all he really says is that they’re excited to meet you and even attempts a compliment at the house even if its half baked lol.

Mayor Lewis is the Taylor dosse of Stardew valley

When I was expanding my farm, and found the little Shack "for a friend" I got so excited that it would be for Linus, and I built it on the farm before I realized it was the multiplayer door. But it did raise some lore related questions- if the towns taxes can pay for a small home for a random person, why can't Lewis use the money to make Linus an actual home instead of letting him live in a tent in the mountains?

5:05 i remember someone saying "Pierre might want to be next mayor".

I think i found my new fav stardew-tuber c: Love the material, love the way you talk!

wish there was a mod where there was an election :3

Fiona’s videos put yours on my algo! Anyway, please do Pierre next because Lewis imo is an aging man too stagnant to take action after 20 years either politically or personally, whereas Pierre is an active capitalist who lies about the source of his produce and stresses Abigail and Caroline tf out

lmaooo shawty (can i call you shawty?) you are so funny, love the humor here

I saw "Lets dissect Lewis" and was on board immediately. I was disappointed when I realized it was meant metaphorically.

I honestly think his relationship with Marnie, if us revealing it ever became an actual choice we could make, it could be a great development for the Lewis character. Showing him people didn't really care and were just happy for them. Not saying every stardew char has to be perfect or get a full redemption arc, like he could still regret parts of it...but it would add -something- to him, a bit of depth or hints that he might entertain the thought of oppening up more from his mayor persona.

the "F*ck Lewis" Farm lmfaooo

The war Kent fought in is more of a territorial dispute instead of all out war, inferred by the fact that there is no food rationing and streetlights stay on at night, meaning there is no fear of air attacks

I took the joja mart route only because I accidentally put my fish smoker in Lewis's walking path and he destroyed it. He has been my sworn enemy ever since.

Your honesty has my attention. Subbed

genuinely might be the best video i have ever seen on this platform

0:36 “Let’s dissect Lewis”. I mean he’s a bad mayor but he doesn’t deserve that