I started appreciating stoicism when I realized the popular conception of it as anti-emotion is a bit off base. In that respect it's sort of the flip side of the point you make about how the epicureans are misperceived.

I believe that "freedom from the passions" is more about not being ruled by your emotions than it is about not having them. The Vulcan line "We control our emotions so that they do not control us" comes to mind.