History YMMV / StrangerThings

** The return of the Nancy/Steve/Jonathan LoveTriangle in Season 4 has sharply divided viewers. Many find it to be a waste of time that cheapens all three characters (Nancy and Steve had gone through much CharacterDevelopment since their breakup while Jonathan spends the entire season in a different state, making the [[ShipToShipCombat rivalry]] between him and Steve seem rather one-sided and unfair). Others (mostly Stancy shippers) welcome the storyline and are eager to see it finally get resolved in Season 5.

* EvilIsSexy: One can be this for some, due to being played by the naturally handsome and charming [[spoiler: Creator/JamieCampbellBower.]] [[spoiler: ''Fully averted'' however [[EvilMakesYouMonstrous when he becomes]] [[HumanoidAbomination Vecna]]. Turns out being banished to the Upside Down for seven years is not good for [[{{Pun}} one's]] looks.]]

* [[CatharsisFactor/StrangerThings Catharsis Factor]]

* AngstWhatAngst: After losing friends and loved ones, being chased by government agents, seeing said agents get their brains liquefied in front of them, and having interdimensional monsters stalk, capture, and [[spoiler:pretty much rape]] one of them, the gang seems to always bounce back without much psychological trauma. Season 4 averts this by showing Max becoming severely depressed due to her guilt over [[spoiler: Billy's death]], though this arguably makes the other characters' relative lack of angst even more jarring.

** Some desperate fans who wanted to see Neil Hargrove get his just desserts at the hands of Mind Flayer Billy were disappointed by his and Susan's absences. Even worse when we see Billy's backstory, and just how much Neil deserves a comeuppance. Flayed Billy feeding Neil to the Mind Flayer could even have added to Billy's character arc, as a subtle lesson could be derived from [[spoiler:Billy staying possessed due to the hollowness of using his father's brutal methods to "deal" with him, whilst being reminded of his mother's love frees him and incentivizes him to use his new strength to defend someone helpless from a Mind Flayer that would technically be part-Neil in this situation]].

** Some desperate fans who wanted to see Neil Hargrove get his just desserts at the hands of Mind Flayer Billy were disappointed by his and Susan' absences. Even worse when we see Billy's backstory, and just how much Neil deserves a comeuppance. Flayed Billy feeding Neil to the Mind Flayer could even have added to Billy's character arc, as a subtle lesson could be derived from [[spoiler:Billy staying possessed due to the hollowness of using his father's brutal methods to "deal" with him, whilst being reminded of his mother's love frees him and incentivizes him to use his new strength to defend someone helpless from a Mind Flayer that would technically be part-Neil in this situation]].

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!!YMMV tropes with their own pages:

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* HilariousInHindsight:
** Joyce's son Jonathan eventually finds himself in a LoveTriangle with Nancy and Steve, which bears a lot of similarities to the love triangle in 1990's ''Film/EdwardScissorhands'', where Creator/WinonaRyder played a girl dating a JerkJock while also being crushed on by a strange boy. One big difference would be the film's JerkJock turning out to be evil, while the one in this series turns out to be [[HeelRealization not so bad]] after all. It's even funnier is that while making ''Scissorhands'', Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp were dating in real life. As it turns out, Natalia Dyer (Nancy) and Charlie Heaton (Jonathan) also began [[RomanceOnTheSet dating in real life after Season 1.]]
** Joe Keery (Steve) played Melchior Gabor in ''Theatre/SpringAwakening'' in university, who also initiated underage sex with a brunette girl around his own age. Only this time, Nancy said no and Steve backed down.
** [[Film/It2017 This wouldn't be the last time]] that Finn Wolfhard fought an EldritchAbomination in the 80's.
*** The scene where Mike tries and fails to throw a rock at his bullies becomes this where his character in ''It'' does the same thing, but with better results.
*** The boys dressing up as Ghostbusters at the start of Season 2 becomes more meaningful [[Film/GhostbustersAfterlife later on]]. In fact, Finn Wolfhard was afraid that he might not get the part in ''Film/GhostbustersAfterlife'' because of this scene, but Jason Reitman cast him anyway.
** The similarities between Eleven and ComicBook/{{X 23}} became this after Creator/MillieBobbyBrown revealed she auditioned for the latter role in ''Film/{{Logan}}'', losing out to Creator/DafneKeen. Her not getting it made her available for ''Stranger Things''.
** Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas were established to be fans of Tolkien in Season 1. In Season 2, Joyce's boyfriend is played by none other than Creator/SeanAstin, who played Samwise Gangee in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' films.
** A few weeks before Season 2's release, ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'' also introduced ArcWords that included "Bitchin'."
** A ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF7qb6Y3GJE sketch]] that aired in October 2016 was purportedly a sneak preview of the next season, with appearances by Lucas's family. Lucas's father, played by Kenan Thompson, looks a lot like Lucas's father in Season 2.
** The episode of ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'' that aired a few days after Season 2's release also features a kid befriending a small, cute creature that turns out to be a juvenile form of a dangerous race.
** Some fans have pointed out that the Mind Flayer looks very similar to the female M.U.T.O from the Film/MonsterVerse. Creator/MillieBobbyBrown starred in ''[[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Godzilla: King of the Monsters]]''.
** Creator/FinnWolfhard went on to voice the Player in ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego'', essentially Mike's Dungeon Master role as a whole character.
** 2019 now has ''two'' instances where a [[Film/AvengersEndgame major sci-fi franchise]], as directed by [[Creator/TheRussoBrothers two brothers]], [[spoiler:kills off[[note]]Or ''presumably'' kills off, in Hopper's case[[/note]] a beloved character, with their final words being a post-mortem message to their daughters]]. Both of them even utilize the number three in their goodbyes; [[spoiler:Tony says "I love you '''3'''000", while Hopper says "Keep the door open '''three''' inches"]].
** Hopper spends much of the third season fighting a Soviet conspiracy and winds up capturing a Russian scientist named Alexei. Later that year, his actor David Harbor was announced to be playing the Soviet superhero Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian in Marvel's ''[[Film/BlackWidow2021 Black Widow]]''. [[spoiler: There are also hints that Hopper, thought to be dead at the end, might still be alive but trapped in a Soviet gulag. One part of ''Black Widow'' involves the main characters rescuing Harbour's character from a Russian prison that he was sent to after the fall of the USSR; similarly, Season 4 would feature a subplot dedicated to Hopper being rescued from the aforementioned gulag.]]
** Season 4 taking place in 1986 becomes this when, due to an odd circumstance of timing (both projects were heavily delayed by the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic), Volume I launched the same day that ''Film/TopGunMaverick'' -- the long-awaited sequel to [[Film/TopGun 1986's biggest film]] -- opened in theaters. The fact that ''Stranger Things'' [[RevivalByCommercialization helped propel]] the 1986 song "Running Up That Hill" into the music charts while ''Top Gun'' dominated the box office led some to joke that they felt like they really were back in 1986.
** When ''Film/FearStreet'' came out, fans already noted the similarities involving the ''Stranger Things'' cast members - Maya Hawke being a DeadpanSnarker who works in mall retail, and Sadie Sink being a FieryRedhead who's a non-conformist. Then Season 4 came out and it ended up featuring several elements from ''Fear Street'' - such as Sadie Sink once again [[spoiler: being signalled for death by a DeadlyNosebleed, other characters trying to protect her from death and her being legally dead and then getting a supernatural RevivalLoophole]]. Superficially, Ziggy in ''Fear Street'' had an alcoholic mother and a DisappearedDad; Season 4 revealed Max's stepfather to have left after [[spoiler: Billy's death]] and her mother was now drinking.
** In Season 4, Dr. Brenner admits to Eleven that he wanted to train her and the other children subjects of Hawkins Laboratory for American interests, namely as living weapons against "the commies" in the Soviet Union. Creator/MatthewModine would go on to portray Vannevar Bush in ''Film/{{Oppenheimer}}'', a character who works with the titular character to create ''the'' weapon that America would stockpile against the USSR due to the fear of communism.

* [[Woobie/StrangerThings Woobie]]

* HarsherInHindsight:
** Dustin's first appearance in Season 3 has the rest of the group pranking him with his toys apparently coming to life, in what was likely a deliberate nod to Gaten Matarazzo's upcoming role hosting ''Prank Encounters'', about people coming in for a day's work only to be pranked by something seemingly supernatural. Trouble is, by the time the season was released, that show had suffered an astonishingly poorly worded announcement that gave the impression it was preying on people looking for long-term jobs, forcing both Netflix and Gaten himself to clear things up.
** The ''first'' episode of Season 3 focused on Hopper trying to give Eleven a "heart-to-heart" talk about her relationship with Mike, only to be playfully joked at by Mike and Eleven. This becomes ''incredibly'' more saddening considering [[spoiler:the final episode of the season reveals that the talk was less about Hopper wanting Eleven to set boundaries on her relationship with Mike and more about him ''just wanting her to still be his daughter despite growing up'']]. Ouch.
** Dustin telling Hopper that they could defeat the Mind Flayer with an army of zombies was played as a joke in Season 2. Then in Season 3 we see the Mind Flayer's brainwashed minions ingesting toxins, decomposing and turning into horrific monsters. Just like zombies.
** When he first sees El, Dustin asks whether she has cancer. In the season finale, [[spoiler:we find out that Hopper's daughter died of it]].
** Nancy's justified anger towards her mother regarding her lack of focus on [[spoiler:Barb's disappearance]] and more onto the fact she slept with Steve becomes eerily uncomfortable when the final two episodes focused more on [[spoiler:Will's rescue from the Upside Down]] and less on [[spoiler:Barb's death]]. The fan reactions made it worse, to the point that Season 2 kinda had to work to resolve this.
** Karen, who had upbraided Nancy for having sex, came close to cheating on her husband with Billy.
** Billy taking his lifeguard job seriously becomes quite poignant upon finding out that [[spoiler: his childhood dream was to be a surfer.]]
** In "Vecna's Curse", Mike treats Will like a third wheel during his date with Eleven and blames him when it goes badly, accusing Will of moping and acting depressed. This becomes a lot harsher when fans noticed that the episode takes place on Will's ''birthday'', which seems to be completely ignored by his friends, which the Duffers admitted they didn't catch.
** Mike encouraging/pressuring Will to say yes to the girl who asks him to dance at the Snow Ball in Season 2 is quite hard to watch after Season 4 reveals that [[spoiler: Will is gay and in love with Mike]].
** Will wanting to continue playing D&D with his friends in Season 3 is portrayed as him clinging onto childhood while his friends are moving on, and could even be interpreted as him [[AmbiguouslyGay struggling with his sexuality]]. Will giving his D&D paraphernalia to Erica and warmly telling Mike he'll ''never'' want to play with another group is portrayed as CharacterDevelopment and him accepting growing up. Except... in Season 4, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas have all started playing D&D again with the Hellfire Club, the game is portrayed far more maturely (to the point they're reluctant to let eleven-year-old Erica play with them), and Will is now the ''only'' one from their original group who doesn't play at all.
** Season 4 contains some prominent product placement for Jif peanut butter, with Yuri being a proud smuggler of Jif products and [[spoiler:Hopper nourishing himself on a stash after his first escape from prison]]. Just a week before the premiere of Season 4's first volume, [[https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/j-m-smucker-co-issues-voluntary-recall-select-jifr-products-sold-us-potential-salmonella the J.M. Smucker Company had issued a massive recall of Jif products over potential salmonella contamination]], and the products were still largely unavailable at the time of Volume II's premiere.
** In the penultimate episode of Season 2, Dustin compares the Mind Flayer to the Nazis, alikening its desire to lord over humans to Hitler's desire to see a "master race" of humans. The reveal of what the Mind Flayer (and by extention, [[TheManBehindTheMan the being controlling it]]) really is shows that Dustin was right on the mark.
** Max escaping from Vecna to a triumphant musical score becoming the SignatureScene of the series [[spoiler:can feel a bit less triumphant when he puts her in a coma during a subsequent encounter a few episodes later.]]

** Ted Wheeler. He's such an aloof, hands-off parent that the fandom has molded him into an ironic badass capable of all kinds of crazy feats. Many joke ''he'll'' be the one to take down Vecna in the last season.

** Upon being taken out of her comfort zone in Season 4, Robin displays a bumbling dorky side; especially when she has to wear a frilly outfit and pretend to be a preppy psychology student. Clearly Steve and Dustin rubbed off on her.

* [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter/StrangerThings They Wasted A Perfectly Good Character]]

* [[SpiritualAdaptation/StrangerThings SpiritualAdaptation]]

* [[CatharsisFactor/StrangerThings CatharsisFactor]]

* [[Woobie/StrangerThings The Woobie]]

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* SpiritualAdaptation: [[SpiritualAdaptation/StrangerThings Also with its own page]]

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* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter/StrangerThings Also with its own page]]

* [[Catharsis Factor/StrangerThings CatharsisFactor]]

* SpiritualAdaptation: [[SpiritualAdaptation/SpiritualAdaptation Also with its own page]]

* CatharsisFactor: [[CatharsisFactor/StrangerThings Also with its own page]]

* SpiritualAdaptation:
** All things considered, Eleven's storyline is probably the closest we're ever going to come to a live-action adaptation of ''Manga/ElfenLied'' (minus the whole interdimensional monsters thing), with her relationship with Dr. Brenner being very similar to that between Dr. Kakuzawa and Nana, right down to calling Brenner "Papa". Season 4 also gives Brenner a similar redemption arc to Kakuzawa.
** Powers aside, Eleven's background also shares a number of similarities with Comicbook/{{X 23}}, the main difference being their power sets (telepathy and telekinesis, rather than WolverineClaws and a HealingFactor). Millie Bobby Brown even auditioned for the role of Laura in ''Film/{{Logan}}'' shortly before getting this one instead.
** Powers considered, Eleven is extremely similar to [[Characters/MarvelComicsJeanGrey Jean Grey]] with even her troubled father-daughter relationship with Dr. Brenner mirroring Jean and Professor X. In fact a few people of have pointed out Eleven may have of been a big ShoutOut to Jean from the getgo, as in episode 1 before the boys meet El, Will says he'll be getting Dustin's ''X-Men #134'' a issue from ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'' which is focused on Jean. In said issue Jean psychically holds Mastermind againist a wall, [[https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/dHdpHo5rWGrdsx-KyBJfAiJLqdM=/0x0:900x600/920x0/filters:focal(0x0:900x600):format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/6890605/1470335891639.png just like Eleven does to the Demogorgon]] and [[https://i.insider.com/629fe5102253ea0019519a47?width=1000&format=jpeg&auto=webp Henry]].
** [[spoiler:A TownWithADarkSecret is connected to a DarkWorld version of itself that's filled with fog and inhabited by monsters. People can become trapped in this world, and a well-meaning police officer, a parent looking for their child who begins to doubt their own sanity, and a mysterious little girl with psychic powers who inadvertently caused a catastrophe involving the dark world are all key players here. TheConspiracy is looking for the girl in order to further their own goals.]] Did we just describe ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'', or ''Stranger Things''?
** Speaking of horror video games, the show has been noted by many to be [[https://i.imgur.com/Iyun239.jpg very]] [[https://preview.redd.it/zw4ac17s6wa31.jpg?auto=webp&s=1af1de2e38239d108fc77fe08c771a33ea4e4ae7 similar]] to ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'' right down to the hero cops, mad scientists, govermeant conspiracys, bio-augmentation and monster outbreaks going on in a small town. The fact that the actual [[Series/ResidentEvil2022 TV adaptation]] of ''[=RE=]'' came out around the same time and according to some had less in common with the games than ''Stranger Things'' did was a big source of {{irony}} for fans.
** A GovernmentConspiracy rating high on the ScaleOfScientificSins is looking for a PsychicChild who's been subjected to brutal experiments all her life and is key in stopping a potentially world-ending disaster caused by said conspiracy, who continue to study the disaster long after the fact. Sounds like something out of the Website/SCPFoundation. The working title for the series was even Montauk![[note]]In the SCP Foundation universe, one of the items (SCP-231-7, a little girl with some kind of horrific entity growing inside her) needs to be subjected to a procedure known as 110-Montauk in order to prevent the monster from getting out. It's never made clear what 110-Montauk is, but it is heavily implied to be some form of sexual torture.[[/note]]
*** Also, [[spoiler:the Demogorgon is basically a less ([[NonMaliciousMonster actively]]) malicious version of SCP-106]].
** Much of the entire plot above is ''VideoGame/BeyondTwoSouls'', the biggest difference is that the protagonist in that is all grown up.
** You could also see it as a license to ''Film/Super8''. People disappear in a small Midwest town. A group of nerdy kids gets involved in something strange, only to find out there's a military conspiracy in the middle of all of it (that does not hesitate to kill to get their way) and get way over their heads, only getting through thanks to their ingenuity and the help of several understanding adults. A girl that is more or less an outcast joins the group, and PuppyLove develops between her and TheLeader of the [[KidHero main characters]], but this causes strife within the group as one of them dislikes said closeness. And one of the driving issues is the disappearance of one of the children.
** The series came about because the studio behind [[Film/It2017 the new adaptation of]] ''{{Literature/IT}}'' passed on the Duffer Brothers' treatment. Similarities between ''IT'' and ''Stranger Things'' include an [[EverytownAmerica American]] [[TownWithADarkSecret small town]] setting, a young boy getting kidnapped by a [[ToServeMan man-eating]] [[EldritchAbomination alien monster]], and a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits gang of outcast children]] banding together to try and stop that monster. This also doubles as a strong case of HilariousInHindsight; given that the 2017 ''IT'' film changes the time period to [[TheEighties the 1980s]], and they just outright lifted one of ''Stranger Thing''[='s=] actors (Creator/FinnWolfhard) to [[TypeCasting play yet another]] [[ActorAllusion middle-school-aged kid confronting a predatory monster]].
** It can also be one for ''Literature/LetTheRightOneIn''. Both are horror stories set in a 1980s small town, focus on a romance between a bullied boy and a girl with supernatural abilities, and said boy's bully is a criminally insane sociopath that tries to kill him for a small offense, but is saved by the supernatural girl. However, here, the bully only [[spoiler:got off with a broken arm instead of getting ripped to pieces]]. Added to this, Eli’s cover story that the boys briefly use is that she is from Sweden, the original setting of ''Literature/LetTheRightOneIn'', and her nickname differs from that of the book’s female vampire by one letter and syllable. (El vs. Eli, pronounced as "Ellie".)
** Season 3 could very well be one for ''Film/{{Slither}}'', since it involves [[spoiler:an otherworldly entity coming to a small, rural town to brainwash a number of citizens into a zombie hivemind, some of whom develop a [[HorrorHunger ravenous hunger]], while others scout the town for more people to forcefully convert. Not to mention said entity then weaponizes BodyHorror in order to create a new form for itself out of the flesh of its victims.]] If the resemblance isn't strong enough already, there's even a scene where [[spoiler: Eleven has to yank a distinctly slug-like piece of the Mind Flayer out of her leg in order to keep herself from turning into a Flayed.]]
** Season 3 also has many similarities to ''Film/TheThing1982'', a movie whose poster is featured prominently in Mike's basement and is even name dropped by the characters in episode 7. Both feature [[spoiler: an AlienInvasion by an [[TheAssimilator Assimilator]] who takes control of its victim's minds and bodies on the cellular level. Victims behave normally until they are exposed, threatened, or see a chance to create another host. And both The Thing and the Mind Flayer's avatar's final form is a BodyHorror-incarnate BodyOfBodies with CombatTentacles, MoreTeeththantheOsmondFamily, and vaguely spider-like features that the heroes fight with fire and explosives]].
** Key parts of Season 3 involve a replica of a unique creature with [[CombatTentacles extra tentacles the original isn't shown to have]] born from earth and decay around the time of a fireworks festival, the creature seeking out an individual with psychic powers to add to itself among other victims while [[ImplacableMan proving very difficult to even slow down]], the antagonist who helped create the replica [[spoiler:redeeming themselves by getting in the way of the replica at the last moment due to being [[LoveRedeems reminded of love]]]], and the replica creature's [[spoiler:death instigated in part by cutting off its power source]]. Now, did that just describe Stranger Things Season 3, or ''Anime/PokemonJirachiWishmaker''?
** A bunch of kids (particularly, one with psychic abilities) fighting an otherworldly [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abomination]] in a [[EverytownAmerica fictional American town]]. Sounds a lot like ''VideoGame/EarthBound''.
** A badass and a divorced mother of two boys foil Soviet plots and fall in love. Sounds like ''Series/ScarecrowAndMrsKing''.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter:
** Barb likely gained such a fan following relatively quickly because she's a virginal, not too conventionally attractive girl with a slightly wry but very down-to-earth personality -- [[HollywoodHomely a type of girl rarely seen on television]]. Which made it hurt that much more when she was killed off after only two episodes, during which she was given minimal screen time and development, while her conventionally attractive friend Nancy gets to have her own role evolve without her former best friend by her side. The fan-perceived lack of importance that Barb's death ultimately had in the remainder of the first season didn't help matters, hence the "Justice For Barb" meme, though [[AuthorsSavingThrow this one ended up getting addressed and rectified in the second season]] and got a little CallBack in the third season.
** [[OneOfTheBoys Despite]] [[BigBrotherBully the storytelling]] [[LockedOutOfTheLoop potential]] that a character like [[{{Tomboy}} Max]] has, she isn't really given much in terms of coherent focus. Until Season 4, that is.
** Will tends to suffer from this a bit in Season 2 when it comes to scenes in which he is with the rest of the Party. While in Season 1, he is shown to have [[{{Adorkable}} plenty of]] [[DeadpanSnarker camaraderie]] [[TheBabyOfTheBunch with the others]] despite his lack of screentime, here he tends to be more or less [[OutOfFocus relegated to the background]] when the group is together. Granted, it could be chalked up to him still not quite recovering from his ordeal. In Season 3, he doesn't do much in the second half of the season, and in Season 4, barely gets to interact with characters other than Mike, Jonathan, and El.
** Mike can feel this way in Season 2, where he spends most of his time either missing El, worried about Will, or rejecting Max. In the first season, he was the closest thing to a protagonist and leader of their group; in the second season, Dustin has picked up his slack with the group, and Lucas is the most proactive of them. This complaint has only gotten louder with each passing season, with many fans feeling his role in the story has been reduced to little more than "El's boyfriend."
** The Russians were clearly meant to fill the void left by the Hawkins Lab, yet they're treated as little more than props to keep the story moving along. Alexei gets some memorable moments, [[spoiler:yet he's killed off as soon as he's no longer relevant]]. The Russian hitman [[spoiler:(who killed Alexei)]] also seems to serve little purpose outside of being TheHeavy and a ShoutOut to ''Film/TheTerminator'', as if there was a need to get as many 80s references in as possible.
** See above and below about "The Lost Sister"; Kali/8, another psychic who wants vengeance, is an interesting concept (regardless of the writing for the rest of the episode, the scene where she makes a butterfly for Eleven is very pretty, plus a rare instance of Hawkins "graduates" getting to ''enjoy'' their powers). But she got bogged down by an episode that was poorly received, and she doesn't appear at all in future seasons despite her implied connection to Dr. Brenner, and the writers saying they'd bring her back at some point. She does appear in the novel ''Suspicious Mind'' and the comic ''Into the Fire'' thought.
** Jonathan and Nancy fell into this in Season 3, the former especially being marginalized in favor of memeable moments from flashier characters like the Scoops Troop. Jonathan is hit with this even more in Season 4, where he is heavily OutOfFocus and spends much of the season (outside of a few moments with Will) either palling around with Argyle or driving the boys across the country to find El.
** Angela the AlphaBitch at Eleven and Will's new school in Season 4 is given a lot of screen time and build up, culminating in [[spoiler:El breaking her nose with a roller skate]]. After that, she disappears from the narrative completely. While it would admittedly be hard to work her in to all the other subplots, we never get a chance to see if the incident changed her or how it affected her at all.
** Chrissy, not unlike Barb, received an enormous amount of fan support after only one episode, despite her PlotTriggeringDeath. As a result, "Chrissy lives" AU fics cropped up immediately due to a large number of fans believing that they killed her off way too quickly and that she had a lot of potential as a character. The Duffer Brothers, Chrissy's actress Creator/GraceVanDien, and Eddie's actor Creator/JosephQuinn have all expressed agreement, with the Duffer Brothers admitting they regretted that they'd already filmed her death scene by the time they realised her potential.
** Many fans bemoaned [[spoiler:Eddie's death]] which they felt didn't add anything to the narrative and only happened because [[spoiler:the writers couldn't figure out a way to clear his name and thus continue including him in the show's future]].
** Jason, who for many was a character with potential, either as a villain posing a real threat to the heroes when turning the town against them or by redeeming himself and finally helping bring all of Hawkins together to fight the Upside Down, since he proved himself capable of swaying the entire town. In the end, he's [[PaperTiger little more than a nuisance]] who paves the way for the real villain to succeed and is then unceremoniously killed practically by accident. Ultimately, it seems like the character was only created as a TakeThat to other shows, and the Duffer brothers just didn't know when and how to remove him from the story once they had made their "point".

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* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:

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* CatharsisFactor:
** After Steve's [[spoiler:{{Jerkass}} side really comes out via him both SlutShaming Nancy and going out of his way to insult Jonathan's family, it's ''extremely'' satisfying to see Jonathan give Steve an absolutely brutal beatdown, even if he gets arrested afterwards.]]
** Bet you never thought you'd cheer so loud for a [[spoiler:child's arm being telekinetically snapped almost in half]], complete with SickeningCrunch, did you? But boy oh boy, did [[AssholeVictim the]] [[TheBully character]] have it coming.
** Also, the one attack by the monster that's more satisfying than scary? [[spoiler:Its attack on Dr. Brenner.]]
** When El uses her powers to [[spoiler: give Connie a CruelAndUnusualDeath that involves her brains getting scrambled]] -- it's incredibly cathartic especially since the woman [[spoiler: killed Benny in cold blood right in front of El]].
** Billy spends Season 2 as an antagonistic force looming over the heads of Max and Steve in particular. [[spoiler:The audience is likely cheering along with the kids to finally give it to him. Likewise, [[TheDogBitesBack Max]] being the one to force Billy to back down is a welcome sight after seeing her bearing the brunt of his abuse all season.]]
** Mayor Larry Kline is such a [[SmugSnake smarmy asshole]] that the only thing more enjoyable than Hopper beating the shit out of him in his own office (and almost ''[[GoodIsNotSoft cutting his fucking fingers off]]'') is seeing him [[spoiler:arrested by the Hawkins PD and dragged out in front of all the news cameras with a look of pure disbelief on his face.]]
** [[spoiler:Nancy beating the complete crap out of (and later on ''killing'') Bruce, the Hawkins newspaper reporter who kept mocking her and being a complete HateSink was borderline satisfying, especially when she bluntly tells him to [[PunctuatedForEmphasis "Go to hell"]]. Equally satisfying is Jonathan, after suffering a vicious beatdown from a mind-flayed Holloway, turning the tables on the host body by ''[[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome stabbing him in the throat]]'' with a pair of scissors. It's even better because they're the same scissors Tom was trying to stab ''him'' with [[HoistByHisOwnPetard only seconds beforehand.]]]]
** [[spoiler:Dustin straight-up ''[[TookALevelInBadass killing]]'' the sociopathic Russian TortureTechnician who was torturing Robin and Steve by [[LaserGuidedKarma electrocuting him with his own cattle prod.]]]]
** Hopper absolutely ''[[CurbStompBattle beating the shit]]'' out of Grigori in the funhouse, followed shortly thereafter by Joyce [[MegatonPunch punching Mayor Kline in the face]] and ''then'' [[GroinAttack kicking him in the balls]]. The audience desperately needed that anger relief after [[spoiler:Alexei's death.]]
** [[spoiler:Hopper finally giving the impossibly strong and smug Grigori his complete dues by having him be ripped to shreds by the Soviet key attempting to open the Upside-Down is ''incredibly satisfying.'']]
** After cruelly rejecting Dustin at the Snow Ball, it’s extremely satisfying when resident Hawkins AlphaBitch Stacy have her drink explode in her face after sneering at Eleven and Max.
** After witnessing Angela constantly bully and humiliate El while also [[KickTheDog mocking the death of Hopper]], it is ''deeply cathartic'' when El finally has enough and [[spoiler: smashes the brat's face in with a roller skate. Some viewers will get dark satisfaction in watching Angela's SmugSnake demeanor disappear as she collapses into a puddle of tears (and blood).]]
** After violently murdering multiple characters, it is ''enormously'' satisfying to see [[spoiler:Vecna sustain his first injury as Max is able to escape from him with the help of her friends]].
** After all the crap Yuri put the adult characters through for his own petty gain, it's immensely satisfying when Murray turns the tables on and later impersonates him.
** [[spoiler: Although he probably didn't really deserve it, Number Two being tortured by Brenner can still be rather satisfying after the humiliation and bullying he inflicted on Eleven.]]
** [[spoiler:While he has yet to face the consequences of all the things he's done so far, seeing Sullivan stranded with his convoy at the base thanks to the copter crashing on the vehicles and being forced to watch El and the others escape is satisfying enough for the moment.]]
** After watching him threaten to break her arms, [[spoiler:seeing Andy gets hit in the groin and then face by Erica is deeply satisfying to watch.]]
** Even if he thought he was saving Max, seeing [[spoiler: Jason]] get beaten down by Lucas after all the troubles he caused throughout the show is immensely satisfying to watch. And considering even more so he was the reason [[spoiler: Eddie was labeled as the culprit in the first murders by Vecna simply because he was a nonconformist]], it's not hard to see why many people didn't cry when [[spoiler: Jason was disintegrated when Vecna's gate opened]].
** [[spoiler: Vecna being burned and shot several times after everything he did throughout the series might quite possibly be the most satisfying scene in the show, especially learning how he was responsible for many bad things that happened throughout the series.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:D-F]]

** Karen Wheeler in Season 3 falls into this since she considering cheating on her husband with Billy (who is roughly ''the same age as her daughter Nancy''). Granted her husband is lazy and unappreciative and she ''does'' ultimately change her mind, there's still the fact that she, a grown woman, thought about cheating on her husband with a high school student.

** Will tends to suffer from this a bit in Season 2 when it comes to scenes in which he is with the rest of the Party. While in Season 1, he is shown to have [[{{Adorkable}} plenty of]] [[DeadpanSnarker camaraderie]] [[TheBabyOfTheBunch with the others]] despite his lack of screentime, here he tends to be more or less [[OutOfFocus relegated to the background]] when the group is together. Granted, it could be chalked up to him still not quite recovering from his ordeal.
** Mike can feel this way in Season 2, where he spends most of his time either missing El, worried about Will, or rejecting Max. In the first season, he was the closest thing to a protagonist and leader of their group; in the second season, Dustin has picked up his slack with the group, and Lucas is the most proactive of them.

** Jonathan and Nancy fell into this in Season 3, the former especially being marginalized in favor of memeable moments from flashier characters like the Scoops Troop.

* TrueArtIsAngsty: As mentioned above under EvenBetterSequel, Season 4 has been generally considered the best season since Season 1. It is also the darkest, dealing with tramautic memories, PTSD, depression and suicidal thoughts, as well as showing the (surprisingly graphic) deaths of teenage characters.