| 1 | %% As there is a Season 5 confirmed, do not add Seasonal Rot examples specific to Season 4 until one year after Part 2’s release. (July 1, 2023). |
| 2 | ---- |
| 3 | !YMMV Tropes For ''Series/StrangerThings'' |
| 4 | ---- |
| 5 | !!YMMV tropes with their own pages: |
| 6 | |
| 7 | * [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation/StrangerThings Alternate Character Interpretation]] |
| 8 | * [[BaseBreakingCharacter/StrangerThings Base-Breaking Character]] |
| 9 | * [[FriendlyFandoms/StrangerThings Friendly Fandoms]] |
| 10 | * [[HarsherInHindsight/StrangerThings Harsher In Hindsight]] |
| 11 | * [[HilariousInHindsight/StrangerThings Hilarious In Hindsight]] |
| 12 | * [[Memes/StrangerThings Memetic Mutation]] |
| 13 | * [[SpiritualAdaptation/StrangerThings Spiritual Adaptation]] |
| 14 | * [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter/StrangerThings They Wasted A Perfectly Good Character]] |
| 15 | * [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic/StrangerThings Unintentionally Unsympathetic]] |
| 16 | * [[Woobie/StrangerThings The Woobie]] |
| 17 | ---- |
| 18 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 19 | |
| 20 | [[folder:A-B]] |
| 21 | * AbandonShipping: Shippers of Steve and Robin began from the instant the Starcourt Mall promo was first posted nearly a year before Season 3 was released, but then support for the pairing went down significantly with the reveal in "The Bite" that [[spoiler:Robin is a lesbian]]. That said, some hold out hope that [[spoiler:it will be revealed that Robin is actually bisexual so she can still be paired off with Steve even though both Hawke and Keery don't feel the characters should be anything more than friends]]. |
| 22 | * {{Adorkable}}: |
| 23 | ** Dustin is a cheerful DitzyGenius who plays ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' and is a member of the Hawkins AV Club. On top of that, he has next to no social skills, finds himself in socially awkward situations frequently, and has a lisp. He's one of the sweetest characters and probably TheHeart of his group of friends. |
| 24 | ** When he isn't focused on trying to be a walking stereotype, Steve actually lets a little of the inner-dork shine through -- particularly alone with Nancy. This is only accentuated when he becomes a BigBrotherMentor to Dustin and best friends with [[BrainyBrunette Robin]]. It's admittedly a very good look on him. Pity he's spent a lot of time trying to bury it. However, not with as much success as he'd want: he projects the physically-capable-anywhere-Jock, but his occasional goofy nature prevents him from fully following through. |
| 25 | ** Rarely shows up with Jim Hopper due to his manly nature but his dad dancing in Season 2 in front of Eleven has to be seen to be believed. |
| 26 | ** Bob Newby is a very friendly, well-meaning but delightfully nerdy man with a low self-esteem. On Halloween, he dresses up like classic Dracula, complete with cheap-looking plastic fangs and a bad [[VampireVords Bela Lugosi impression.]] |
| 27 | ** Upon being taken out of (or perhaps finally reaching) 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. |
| 28 | ** Eddie Munson doesn't have an ounce of shame regarding his atypical interests and hobbies, making his enthusiasm for them quite infectious. He cranks this trope up hard enough that he manages to make dealing drugs to Chrissy downright sweet. |
| 29 | * AlasPoorScrappy: Many fans loathed [[spoiler:Jason and his hunt against Eddie.]] However, plenty of those same viewers were upset by [[spoiler: his anticlimactic death, given he died wanting to save Max and never learned what was actually going on, which might've been able to redeem him.]] [[https://www.indiewire.com/2022/07/caleb-mclaughlin-stranger-things-4-spoilers-1234739587/ Even Caleb McLaughlin felt sorry for his fate as he revealed in an interview.]] |
| 30 | -->'''Caleb:''' His girlfriend died, he thought Eddie killed her, and then he was just trying to be the superhero but [[spoiler: ended up getting cut in half, sadly.]] |
| 31 | * AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: Every network the Duffer Brothers pitched this show to before Netflix rejected it unless they removed the kids and focused entirely on Hopper. With how well-loved the kids were in the end, it's safe to say Netflix made a good gamble by letting the Duffers keep their creative control. |
| 32 | * 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, most of the gang seems to always bounce back without much psychological trauma. Eleven and Will do show clear signs of trauma because of what they've endured and Max also averts this in Season 4, 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. |
| 33 | * {{Anvilicious}}: |
| 34 | ** The show is rarely subtle with its messages about the importance of [[ThePowerOfFriendship friendship]] and family. |
| 35 | ** The later seasons frequently have characters talk about the importance of Eleven having agency and making her own decisions, with Max bringing this up several times in Season 3, then Season 4 having Dr. Owens make the same point when arguing with Brenner. |
| 36 | * ArcFatigue: The Russia arc in Season 4 was criticized for being overly long, lasting until the end of the very last episode and involving multiple repetitive plot points ([[spoiler:Hopper escaping, then being arrested again after being ratted out by Yuri, then being rescued by Joyce and Murray, then deciding they had to go back to the prison to help fight Vecna)]]. The last point in particular is contentious, as though the characters argue that [[spoiler: the Upside Down's HiveMind means hurting it in Russia will help the other protagonists in Hawkins, no obvious results of them doing so are depicted]], making it come across as [[TrappedByMountainLions only existing for the sake of giving those characters something to do]]. While the arc itself was something of a necessity due to the way Season 3 ended, and there were some good character moments sprinkled throughout, it overall came off feeling like the amount of time spent there could be cut in half without losing much. |
| 37 | * AssPull: Hopper [[spoiler: surviving the explosion at the end of Season 3]]. While fans were happy that [[spoiler: he wasn't KilledOffForReal]], the explanation given for it is pretty poor as he simply [[spoiler: jumped off the platform, which somehow allowed him to survive the very same explosion that graphically vaporized the Russian scientists who were in the room with him at the time]]. |
| 38 | * AwardSnub: |
| 39 | ** Despite the first season being the frontrunner at that year’s Emmys, the show left the main ceremony empty handed, with Series/TheHandmaidsTale sweeping. |
| 40 | ** Despite acclaim and the narrative of her CareerResurrection, Creator/WinonaRyder was ultimately snubbed at the Emmys for the first season even though she managed to get in at the Golden Globes and SAG. |
| 41 | ** Many had hoped and predicted that Creator/DavidHarbour would win the Emmy for his performance in the second season, but but instead he joined the ranks of actors who lost that category to Creator/PeterDinklage. |
| 42 | ** After proving SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct, Noah Schnapp had a lot of people rooting for him to be nominated, which unfortunately didn’t happen. |
| 43 | ** Overshadowed by Schnapp's snub, Creator/SeanAstin and Creator/JoeKeery also weren't nominated for Season 2, despite widely winning over audiences with their work that year. |
| 44 | ** The third season was nominated for Drama Series, but didn’t get a single nomination for the performances, direction, or writing. |
| 45 | *** Amongst the actors, in addition to the previously nominated David Harbour and Creator/MillieBobbyBrown, Creator/DacreMontgomery and Creator/MayaHawke were seen as deserving of such recognition. |
| 46 | ** Season 4 Vol. 1 took after its predecessor in only managing a series nod above the line. |
| 47 | *** Joining the ranks of snubbed actors was Sadie Sink after earning wide praise (and predictions by the trade press that she would nominated) for finally taking center stage on the show. There was also support for both newcomers Jamie Campbell Bower and Creator/JosephQuinn for their instantly popular performances. |
| 48 | * SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: The Drew Struzan–style poster displayed on the main page for this show looks just like an 80s movie poster, as it should. |
| 49 | * BigLippedAlligatorMoment Dustin and [[spoiler:Suzie's]] rendition of the Neverending Story's theme song can come across as this, though it does get referenced later on. |
| 50 | ** A more direct example would be in the penultimate episode of S3 while the group is trying to hide from the Mind Flayer and help with El's bite in the store. The plot stops dead in its tracks to have Lucas suddenly comment on New Coke's bold, new flavor compared to the classic, with Mike and Max even arguing about it. This scene only really serves to poke fun at New Coke's ad campaign in the same year and to [[ProductPlacement bring some attention to the real world re-release of New Coke as a tie-in to Stranger Things.]] |
| 51 | * BrokenBase: |
| 52 | ** While many like the show for its nostalgia appeal, others feel it relies too much on this at the expense of the story, or that it makes the show harder to get into for those who didn't grow up in the 80s. |
| 53 | ** "The Lost Sister" is far and away the most divisive episode of the series. Some fans loved an episode all about Eleven, her development, and were intrigued by what it set up. Others hated it for being so far removed from the rest of the story and derided the final product as boring and cliche. And then there's the third camp that believes the idea of the episode is strong, but the execution was weak. |
| 54 | ** Hopper surviving the Season 3 finale was a hot button ever since TheStinger hinted at him being NotQuiteDead. Some fans were overjoyed and relieved that a beloved protagonist hadn't bitten the dust. Others criticized it as completely undermining the season's heartfelt ending and tribute to him. There are also fans stuck in the middle of this issue, agreeing that Hopper being alive noticeably hurts the season's ending, but admit to still wanting him around regardless, and feel that his character and arc weren't resolved enough at that time to suddenly kill him off. The hint and later reveal that he was alive also led to criticism that the show is too afraid of lasting consequences, as only three main characters ([[spoiler:Brenner, Bob, and Billy]]) in the continually growing cast had died up to that point, and not only [[spoiler:were two of those three casualties villains, but Brenner turned out to be alive the next season -- at least before dying for real]]. |
| 55 | ** One of the highly debated issues regarding the show post-Season 4 is the continued survival of the main cast. Some fans like it, as it allows the characters to interact more with one another and continue to undergo more CharacterDevelopment to make them even more interesting. Others argue that most of the main characters (''especially'' where the teens and adults are concerned) are as fully-developed as they can get, and that the lack of change to the status quo makes the cast seem more bloated and subsequently harder to focus on and/or care about. This got to the point where some of the cast members themselves have expressed irritation with this. |
| 56 | ** 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 the development of all three characters (Nancy and Steve in particular have grown a lot since their breakup while Jonathan spends nearly the entire season in a different state, making the [[ShipToShipCombat rivalry]] between him and Steve come off as rather one-sided and unfair). Others (mostly Stancy shippers) welcome the storyline and are eager to see it finally get resolved in Season 5. |
| 57 | ** The show's frequent use of evil bullies as antagonists. Some feel that they have a good LoveToHate appeal and their comeuppances are enjoyable to watch, while others feel they're too cartoonish to take seriously, especially [[AlphaBitch Angela]] in Season 4, and are just being used to artificially increase sympathy for the main characters. |
| 58 | ** [[spoiler:Eddie's HeroicSacrifice at the end of Season 4 is quite contentious. Some fans felt that Eddie's actions were brave and noble of him after spending most of the season running away from his problems, with the implication that what he did bought precious time for the characters in the Upside Down to take down Vecna before they alert him to their presence. Others felt that what Eddie did bordered on being a SenselessSacrifice and made all the effort put into rescuing him and clearing his name a ShaggyDogStory that didn't need to happen.]] |
| 59 | ** TheReveal at the end of Season 4 that [[spoiler:[[TheManBehindTheMan Vecna was behind the Mind Flayer the whole time]]. Some fans are perfectly fine with it, due to Vecna embodying EvilIsCool and being an interesting enough villain to warrant his position as the BigBad. Many, however, criticize the twist for replacing an EldritchAbomination DimensionLord with a mere (superpowered) human, viewing Vecna as inherently less [[NothingIsScarier frightening and mysterious]] than the Mind Flayer itself.]] |
| 60 | [[/folder]] |
| 61 | |
| 62 | [[folder:C-D]] |
| 63 | * CaptainObviousReveal: |
| 64 | ** The end of "The Mind Flayer" builds up a lot of tension [[spoiler:as to ''what'' just arrived to scare the Demodogs away and is slowly opening the door to reveal itself to the characters, when pretty much every viewer would have figured that it's Eleven.]] |
| 65 | ** The crew seems to have been caught off guard a bit by how just about everyone immediately figured out that [[spoiler:Hopper was still alive and the "American" referenced in TheStinger for Season 3]], and wasted no time just openly revealing the "twist" in the very first teaser for Season 4. |
| 66 | ** In Season 4, [[spoiler:the twist that The Orderly was Vecna was pretty obvious. [[NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognize If being played by a famous actor wasn't a red flag]], once he began taking a bit too much interest in El, coaching her on how to use her powers and how to escape, and telling her that Doctor Brenner wants to kill her, it becomes obvious that this dude is up to no good, and him being the BigBad was the most likely route. Once they reveal his own psychic powers and his identity as One, it then becomes a matter of waiting for the episode to spell it out because we can tell the way he kills is the exact same way Vecna does. Although the full extent of the reveal to his character (namely that he was also Victor Creel's son) was a genuine surprise to many.]] |
| 67 | * CatharsisFactor: |
| 68 | ** 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. |
| 69 | ** Also, the one attack by the monster that's more satisfying than scary? [[spoiler:Its attack on Dr. Brenner.]] |
| 70 | ** 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]]. |
| 71 | ** 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.]] |
| 72 | ** 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.]] |
| 73 | ** [[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.]]]] |
| 74 | ** 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.]] |
| 75 | ** [[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.'']] |
| 76 | ** 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).]] |
| 77 | ** 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]]. |
| 78 | ** 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. |
| 79 | ** 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]]. |
| 80 | ** [[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.]] |
| 81 | * ClicheStorm: |
| 82 | ** The series intentionally draws tropes and plot elements from many 1980s works of fiction. As is usually the case with these kinds of works, opinions vary as to whether the loving homages enhance the story or cause it to feel too predictable and derivative. Max lampshades this in Season 2 when Lucas recaps the events of Season 1 to her and she believes he is making it up. |
| 83 | ** "The Lost Sister" plows through every single "main character falls in with a new group but they turn out to be too zealous for her liking" plot beat with a machine-like determination. [[spoiler:Main character walks in on lower-rung lackeys who try and scare her off? Check. Main character will not be deterred and leader makes a grand entrance with superfluous display of powers? Check. Main character demonstrates she belongs in group and leader gushes over how happy she will be? Check. Very next scene is leader revealing to lackeys she plans to exploit main character? Check. Main character has fun/looks stylish with newfound friends? Check. Main character tempted by the power and freedom the new group offers, but finds the price of that lifestyle (morally and otherwise) too high to pay? Check and check. Group takes main character on a mission but are overly aggressive and push main character past comfort zone? Oh, you better believe that's a check. Main character is morally superior and decides not to go through with it? Check. Main character and leader have a confrontation on the streets in which leader urges main character to come with them or promises they'll meet again? Check. Main character returns to her old friends with new insight about herself, while the leader is left feeling hurt and betrayed? Check, check, and check!]] |
| 84 | ** Mike and Nancy's father is this in character form. The clichéd dialogue, such as "if your friends jumped off a cliff, would you do it too", is perfect for him, because it emphasizes how detached he is from reality. It makes a nice callback for fans, since Mike actually did jump off a cliff for his friends before. |
| 85 | ** Season 3's depiction of the Soviet Union and Russian agents is unashamedly reminiscent of RedScare [=80s=] movies like ''Film/{{Red Dawn|1984}}''. Dustin even lampshades it at one point. |
| 86 | * CompleteMonster: |
| 87 | ** [[Series/StrangerThings Show]]: Season 4: [[WardensAreEvil Warden Melnikov]], the dictator of Kamchatka prison, is a petty {{sadist}} who enjoys having his inmates subjected to horrible labor with regular beatings and tortures. Those who are condemned or "worn out" are [[FedToTheBeast thrown to a captive Demogorgon]]. Deciding on a new spectacle, Melnikov organizes [[GladiatorGames gladiator matches]] for the sick thrill of watching the prisoners try to fight back against the Demorgogon before being torn apart. |
| 88 | ** ''[[ComicBook/StrangerThingsKamchatka Kamchatka]]'' comic, written by Michael Moreci: [[MadScientist Dr. Karine]] is a sadistic scientist researching the Demogorgon for the Soviet government. [[FedToTheBeast Feeding it prisoners]], Karine seeks a psychic device invented by Dr. Boris Orlov to strengthen the dying monster's connection to [[Characters/StrangerThingsTheUpsideDown the Upside Down]]. Letting the Demogorgon devour Orlov's pupil to punish his betrayal, Karine eventually retrieves his device, boasting of the prestige she will gain before attempting to kill Orlov and his son. |
| 89 | * ContestedSequel: While each season after the first one has been generally well received, the second and third seasons were not ''as'' well received as the first one. Season 2 faced criticism for hitting similar beats and Season 3 faced criticism over the characterization of some characters.%%Don't add Season 4 until 6 months after release. |
| 90 | * CrossesTheLineTwice: |
| 91 | ** The Mind Flayer's flesh proxy grabbing the Party's radio when they get a call from Dustin? Pretty terrifying. The Mind Flayer looking at it for a moment and then roaring like it's telling Dustin SilenceYouFool? Pretty hilarious. |
| 92 | ** The famous "Neverending Story" duet between Dustin and Suzie, with the former going from embarrassed at first to blatantly enjoying himself while the fate of every major character hangs in the balance. |
| 93 | ** Eleven attacking her bully in a public space is treated as horrific in-universe by everyone...except for Jonathan and Argyle, who were stoned at the time and musing on how gnarly it would have been if she got hit with an ice skate. |
| 94 | * CryForTheDevil: |
| 95 | ** The adolescent Demogorgon that the Soviets vivisected. Despite its parent being a serious threat, Hopper can't help but feel bad for its predicament, which is why he performs a MercyKill. |
| 96 | ** ''The First Shadow'' reveals that [[spoiler: Season 4's BigBad Vecna was once an odd but otherwise decent kid with powers named Henry Creel who got possessed and manipulated by the Mind Flayer into killing his family which caused him to spiral into nihilism and misanthropy. After this reveal, you can't help but feel bad for Henry in spite of the horrors he does later in life.]] |
| 97 | * DiagnosedByTheAudience: Nothing is ever explicitly confirmed, but a number of viewers have picked up on the fact that quite a few moments in the show -- especially in Season 4, once she becomes closer to the rest of the gang and starts to open herself up more -- hint that Robin is neurodivergent in some capacity; more specifically, that she could be autistic or have ADHD (or both, as they tend to be comorbid). Examples include: |
| 98 | ** She rambles constantly; she knows she should stop but it feels like the words keep spilling out of her, describing it as feeling like “[her] brain is moving faster than [her] mouth... or rather, [her] mouth is moving faster than [her] brain.” |
| 99 | ** When talking to Nancy, she has a hard time reading her expression and worries about coming off as mean or condescending, highlighting that she “doesn’t really have a filter or a strong grasp of social cues.” |
| 100 | ** When the gang looks around in Nancy’s room, Robin’s immediate instinct is to look around and touch everything she sees. |
| 101 | ** She likely has sensory issues related to texture; when she and Nancy go undercover as college students, she spends several minutes complaining about being itchy and unable to breathe, and how the bra she’s wearing pinches her boobs. |
| 102 | ** She also mentions having terrible coordination; many of those who are autistic and/or have ADHD have trouble with balance, coordination, and/or motor skills; often referred to as vestibular dysfunction. |
| 103 | ** She’s incredibly bright for her age; she’s fluent in four languages, she translates a coded message in a language she ''doesn’t'' speak just by listening to it, she figures out the meaning of said coded message all on her own, and she even comes up with a passionate speech on the fly to get her and Nancy authorization to speak to Victor Creel. ''And it works.'' |
| 104 | ** In the ''Rebel Robin'' podcast, she refers to herself as “the weirdest girl in Hawkins” and mentions that she has trouble keeping friends and believes that it is because something is “wrong” with her; this may hit close to home for those who grew up undiagnosed and knew there was something different about them but didn’t know what (or even those who ''were'' diagnosed, and therefore knew for a fact there was something different and grew up with the sense that they would never truly fit in). |
| 105 | ** Additionally, her more introverted traits from Season 3 have been interpreted as her masking before feeling comfortable to start showing her true self to Steve and other people. A real-life therapist [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZFydOBkH90 brought this up]] and believes the character to have ADHD. |
| 106 | * DracoInLeatherPants: |
| 107 | ** Billy Hargrove had fans from the get-go due to Dacre Montgomery's status as a MrFanservice, and also won sympathy with the reveal of [[spoiler:his father being abusive]]. In Season 3, his popularity became more widespread due to more information about his FreudianExcuse; [[spoiler:it's shown that he was a [[UsedToBeASweetKid friendly and happy kid when he was younger]] due to the presence of his loving and supportive mother, but his father's constant abuse drove her away, and Billy being left alone with his toxic father ultimately led to him [[TheChainOfHarm mimicking Neil's behavior and turning his own pain against weaker targets]]. In general, Billy's behavior in Season 3 is more nuanced and portrayed more sympathetically (particularly through his connection with Eleven and his seemingly improved relationship with his step-sister Max), and his arc's culmination in a [[HeroicSacrifice heroic]] [[RedemptionEqualsDeath death]] protecting El from the Mind Flayer has led audience opinion of him to soften somewhat (although [[BrokenBase not in all quarters]]).]] |
| 108 | ** Jason Carver. While he is an AntiVillain who's girlfriend was brutally murdered in a horrifying manner, which makes his rage somewhat understandable, a number of people seemed to think he was justified in his RoaringRampageOfRevenge and merely had the wrong target. This ignores he was a violent VigilanteMan who already had his own biases against "freaks" to begin with, and who organized a WitchHunt against a bunch of innocent youths (which included an eleven year old girl) without caring about the collateral damage his actions would cause, or even considering the idea that his assumptions about Eddie and the Hellfire Club were wrong (which they were) and that he might be putting innocent people in danger. While some argue he only looks bad because of the AudienceAwarenessAdvantage and the evidence he witnessed supporting his beliefs, (such as [[spoiler:Patrick]] being Vecna'd right as they cornered Eddie, that Chrissy was in Eddie's home when she died, and [[spoiler: coming across Max in a trance while alone with Lucas in the abandoned Creel house]]), it overlooks how Jason [[IRejectYourReality repeatedly ignored anything that went against his assumptions]] to the point he became angry and violent when contradicted: He vehemently refuses to believe Chrissy was buying drugs even though she was, he insists that Hellfire is a cult and that D&D turns people into killers based purely on hysteria while completely dismissing Erica when she tells him that isn't the case, and he grows increasingly unstable when its pointed out to him Chrissy was dealing with trauma as he believes she would have come to ''him'' if that's what was going on while being unable to accept that his girlfriend wasn't completely beholden to him. Even his one PetTheDog scene in the finale - expressing concern for Max's trance-like state - is muddied by the fact he uses it as an excuse to point a gun at Lucas's head, ignores his explanation outside of the parts that support his version of events, and as soon as Jason and Lucas start fighting, he completely ignores Max's state and even attempts to ''strangle Lucas'' during their fight. And remember, the only reason why Jason was there in the first place was because he got tipped off about Erica being there and had one of his friends (Andy) [[WouldHurtAChild chase down Erica]] to interrogate her because she was associated with the Hellfire Club. Ultimately, while Jason may have been guilty of ignorance, he certainly wasn't innocent of malice, and he still used his ignorance to justify a shocking amount of violent extremism. |
| 109 | *** Creator/CalebMcLaughlin himself got in on this, favorably comparing Jason to Billy (which didn't help with keeping people who downplay Jason's actions under control at all), calling the latter a much worse person and pushing the idea Jason was misunderstood: |
| 110 | --->'''Caleb:''' I love Dacre, he's an amazing actor, his character Billy is amazing, but Billy really isn't a great guy. Jason is actually a better guy; Jason was just misunderstood. Jason took Lucas in, was trying to show him the ropes - maybe he was arrogant, a little obnoxious, but he wasn't racist. He wasn't really that bad. His girlfriend died, he thought Eddie killed her, and then he was just trying to be the superhero but [[spoiler: ended up getting cut in half, sadly. Lucas' girlfriend's brother hated him because he was black and threw him up against a wall in Season 2 and was like, "Stay away from her!"]] |
| 111 | ** After having a limited presence in Season 1, Martin Brenner began to gain this reputation in the show's fourth season, with many fans interpreting him as [[ParentsAsPeople a flawed, but nonetheless loving father figure to Eleven]] who only wanted to expand upon her potential by training her how to use her psychic powers. This is ignoring the fact that Brenner himself was responsible for several atrocities leading up to the show's events, which includes the lobotomization of Eleven's mother, and his abuse of several of the children under his care, including Eleven herself, Two and [[spoiler:[[BigBad One]]]], the last of whom would become responsible for basically ''everything'' in regards to the horrors at Hawkins. It doesn't help that Brenner himself admitted that he and the people at Hawkins Laboratory were primarily interested in using the children for America's self-interests (namely, as spies/living weapons against the Soviet Union), and not necessarily out of love for them as a whole, Eleven notwithstanding. And while Season 4's humanization of Brenner does ''not'' whitewash or justify his actions in the slightest, it didn't stop fans from trying to excuse his actions online. |
| 112 | * DryDockedShip: Some fans believe Joyce and Hopper may have had a thing in high school, especially considering that they used to cut class and smoke together, as well as the tension between them in the present. Statements from [[https://twitter.com/DavidKHarbour/status/925041946992799744 David Harbour]] have only added fuel to the fire. [[spoiler: By the end of Season 4 they're an official couple.]] |
| 113 | [[/folder]] |
| 114 | |
| 115 | [[folder:E-F]] |
| 116 | * EndingFatigue: Given that the fourth season finale runs for a feature-length two hours and twenty minutes, it understandably has this issue. The episode runs ''over thirty minutes'' after the end of the climactic battle as every loose end (bar the resolution of Nancy's love triangle and the uncertain fate of [[spoiler:Doctor Owens]]) is tied up while setting the stage for the fifth and final season. |
| 117 | * EnsembleDarkhorse: |
| 118 | ** For a minor character, Barb gathered a substantial fan following for being a kind, loyal, and dependable friend to Nancy. It also helped that she was played by the very curvaceous and full figured Creator/ShannonPurser, who is outspoken about body image, sexuality, and mental health. |
| 119 | ** Benny the diner owner is also well-liked despite his small role. [[spoiler:Fans were sad to see him killed so quickly after having shown kindness to Eleven.]] |
| 120 | ** Scott Clark, the science teacher. A friendly, knowledgeable man and enthusiastic nerd. Incredibly supportive and likable. [[spoiler:Also survives his encounter with the company and turns out to have a girlfriend!]] |
| 121 | ** While the episode she's in is fairly divisive, Kali/8 herself is considered a fascinating character by many due to her unique powers and vengeful personality, with a number of fans hoping for her return. |
| 122 | ** Alexei, the Russian scientist Hopper and Joyce find during their arc in Season 3. Despite speaking entirely in Russian, his snarky but genuinely curious behavior about American lifestyle is pretty endearing. [[spoiler: His death scene is equally ''devastating'' especially considering Murray showed him the 4th of July fair and was given him a taste of American "fun" in comparison to how Soviet Russia is]]. |
| 123 | ** Chrissy Cunningham, who like Barb was immediately well-liked by the fandom, owing to her being a NiceGirl who's a {{Moe}} and TheWoobie, but in particular Grace Van Dien's charming performance and her cute dynamic with Eddie, which manages to turn a ''drug deal'' into a surprisingly cute moment. Unfortunately, like Barb, she doesn't live very long, but some were quick to headcanon ways she could somehow come back to life. Notably, the Duffer Brothers themselves [[https://tvline.com/2022/06/05/stranger-things-season-4-death-duffer-brothers-regret/ admitted]] to having had regrets about killing the character after filming all her scenes and seeing the finished product. |
| 124 | ** Unnamed Hero Agent Guy[[labelnote:actually]]Harmon[[/labelnote]], as the Party calls him. He's well-remembered for ''single-handedly'' protecting the kids from the US Army, and managing to give them the means to warn Owens before [[spoiler:dying]]. |
| 125 | ** Unnamed Hero Agent Guy's partner, Agent Wallace, is also one. Despite [[spoiler:eventually breaking from the ColdBloodedTorture Sullivan put him through, many fans respect him for lasting for an implied lengthy period of time. The fact that he begs Sullivan to not hurt Eleven when he finally breaks gives him some sympathy points as well.]] |
| 126 | ** Wayne Munson, despite not having as much screentime as Eddie, has been very warmly received for steadfastly believing in his nephew's innocence. The ''incredibly'' emotional scene where [[spoiler:he breaks down in ManlyTears after Dustin informs him of Eddie's HeroicSacrifice]] certainly helps. |
| 127 | * EpilepticTrees: |
| 128 | ** Some fans started a joke that Steve is the father of Jean-Ralphio from ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'', due to the strong resemblance between the actors. Creator/BenSchwartz is a big fan of ''Stranger Things'' and was quick to give his support to the theory, and even poked fun at it alongside Creator/JoeKeery for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUd8yZlZxII a sketch]] on ''Series/TheLateLateShow''. |
| 129 | ** Likewise, a lot of people theorize that Jonathan Byers grew up to become Daryl Dixon from ''Series/{{The Walking Dead|2010}}'' due to Charlie Heaton's startling resemblance to a young Creator/NormanReedus. |
| 130 | ** Max inexplicably has her own psychic powers in the video game. Just a random quirk because they had to give some kind of benefit to how hard it is to add her to the team, or a genuine sign of what's coming on the show? [[spoiler: Given she never shows any superpowers over the next two seasons and is left broken and comatose at the end of it all, it doesn't seem likely.]] |
| 131 | * EvenBetterSequel: Season 4, particularly Vecna's storyline, has generally been met with great praise and is considered by many to be a stronger season than both Season 2 and 3, which many had considered a step-down in quality from Season 1. Season 4, however (while not without its own flaws), has many agreeing that it strongly improved its writing in many areas over its two preceding seasons, with some considering it on par with Season 1. |
| 132 | * EvilIsCool: |
| 133 | ** After most of the show's human villains being [[HateSink simply despicable]], we finally get one of these in Season 3 with Grigori, the main muscle of the team of Russians in Hawkins, a BadassNormal and {{Determinator}} modelled after the Terminator himself. |
| 134 | ** Vecna, being a send-up of horror movie baddies like Freddy Krueger, Pinhead, and Pennywise, does a great job of it. He looks like an [[CreepyAwesome undead monster]] made of Upside-Down vines, [[EvilSoundsDeep speaks with a creepy voice]], has powerful psychic powers, and is an [[ManipulativeBastard expert manipulator]]. He makes for a great follow-up antagonist to the Mind Flayer. |
| 135 | * FanDislikedExplanation: |
| 136 | ** TheReveal in Season 4 that [[spoiler:Vecna created the Mind Flayer and turned the once barren Upside Down into a dark reflection of Hawkins]] is contentious as many feel like it robs the place out of its mystery and [[spoiler: gives an underwhelming human origin to an EldritchAbomination.]] |
| 137 | ** ''The First Shadow'', a theatre production written by the Duffer Brothers that serves as a prequel story for Henry Creel, reveals that [[spoiler:Henry Creel's StartOfDarkness was actually caused by the Mind Flayer possessing him in his youth, rather than him being a sociopath from the start as was implied in Season 4. Quite a few fans didn't appreciate this reveal, as it once again attempts to portray an antagonist as more sympathetic after giving several other characters in the show the same treatment, thus making Vecna feel far less distinct as a villain.]] |
| 138 | * FanficFuel |
| 139 | ** As you'd expect from a series with significantly long time skips between seasons, fans frequently take it upon themselves to fill in what the characters have been up to during those breaks in the narrative, guided by throwaway lines and {{Noodle Incident}}s. |
| 140 | ** Also popular for fanfic writers are the breaks between the climax of each season and the "epilogue." Fanfics that take place after the climax of Season 2, particularly, are quite popular and known in the fandom as "post-Gate" fics. |
| 141 | ** The dynamic between Eddie, Chrissy and Jason is often explored throughout fics, courtesy of the characters' likeability and the actors' chemistry. |
| 142 | * FanNickname: |
| 143 | ** Fans call Bob Newby "Sam Gamgee" for Creator/SeanAstin's portrayal of the character in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' movies. |
| 144 | ** Going along with the kids giving the antagonists ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''-[[ThemeNaming themed names]], fans took to calling the Shadow Monster "The Thessalhydra" based on the monster appearing in the D&D campaign ending the first season. Ultimately, the fans were close -- the entity is actually dubbed "The Mind Flayer" in the show itself. |
| 145 | ** Emo Mike is a name that comes from the cast themselves which fans have adopted because of Mike's more, well, [[ShapedLikeItself emo behavior]] in Season 2. |
| 146 | ** Do to Enzo's nickname being so radically different to his actual name Dmitri, many fans go ahead and call him "Jaqen H'ghar" instead as a nod to Tom Wlaschiha's previous role in ''Series/GameOfThrones''. |
| 147 | ** In season 4, Robin, Nancy, Steve, and Eddie are the young adults in the Hawkins group. People who ship Robin/Nancy and Steve/Eddie sometimes refer to them as the "Fruity Four". |
| 148 | * {{Fanon}}: |
| 149 | ** It seems that many fans have interpreted Will as being gay. This theory was addressed by Noah Schnapp, who made an Instagram post arguing that the question sort of misses the point because it doesn't ''matter'' if someone is gay or not – even if he was gay, it would change nothing about him, and that one of the show's biggest messages is that we should treat people with kindness regardless of who they are. His bullies calling him several gay slurs is only meant to depict an accurate portrayal of bullying at that age and era (as TheEighties wasn't exactly the most LGBT-friendly of times). [[spoiler:Season 3 seems to confirm this, with Mike directly calling him out on the fact that he's never been into girls, although we still haven't directly seen Will get romantic feelings for a boy. At least until Season 4, where it's made clear (albeit implicitly) that Will is in love with Mike but doesn't have the courage to tell him.]] |
| 150 | *** A less prominent but still fairly common theory is that Will is asexual, with the same basic notes as above applying to this theory. |
| 151 | ** Along the same lines, not long after it was shown that Neil Hargrove was an AbusiveDad towards Billy, speculation started to spring forth whether or not Billy is an ArmoredClosetGay. Between his constant [[HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday bragging of his sex life]], inability to actually hold down any type of long-term relationship, his [[HoYay obsession with Steve]], and his dad demeaning him with homophobic slurs, it's led to some taking this stance with this character. |
| 152 | ** Jennifer Hayes cries at Will's funeral during season 1 and never appears again. Many fans portray her as [[PuppyLove having secretly had feelings for Will for years but never confessing]]. She's also commonly portrayed in fics as a LovableAlphaBitch and a TokenGoodTeammate among the popular kids who either acts as a potential love interest for Will or a [[TheBeard Beard]] who helps him hide his sexuality. |
| 153 | ** Joyce Byers maiden name is commonly assumed to be Horowitz, the last name of her actress Creator/WinonaRyder. |
| 154 | * FanPreferredCouple: |
| 155 | ** The [[PortmanteauCoupleName Steddie]] Ship. Lauded newcomer Eddie Munson is shipped heavily with Steve due to their friendly interactions throughout ''4'' and Creator/JoeKeery's chemistry with Creator/JosephQuinn in various Netflix promotional clips. Despite the fact that Steve is being set up to rekindle his romantic relationship with Nancy and Eddie having an affectionate crush on head cheerleader Chrissy Cunningham, both before and after she's Vecna's first victim. The amount of stories, art work, and other fan works dedicated to the pairing saw a meteoric rise between the release of Vol. 1 and 2 and overtook previous favorite Harringrove ''three months'' after the season premiere. |
| 156 | ** The [[PortmanteauCoupleName Harringrove]] ship (Steve Harrington and Billy Hargrove) was at one time far more popular than most of the show's other ships due to the HoYay type vibe displayed between the two in the show as well as the chemistry between Creator/JoeKeery and Creator/DacreMontgomery. Fans express more interest in the two of them than they do Steve with Nancy or Robin and Billy with Heather or Karen. It reached number 68 on [[https://fandom.tumblr.com/post/669380161647591424/2021-ships Tumblr's top ships of 2021]] (while no other ship from the show appeared). |
| 157 | ** Given their budding and friendly interactions in ''4'' that begins as most of the Hawkins section of the party starts working together, Nancy and Robin instantly developed a very strong ship following with the chemistry between the two actresses praised highly by the fans. When it comes to this pairing, no second thoughts are given to Nancy's deteriorating romantic relationship with Jonathan, as well as the likely rekindling of her relationship with Steve, nor are they given to Robin having feelings for fellow band geek Vickie. |
| 158 | ** Robin and Heather, despite [[ShipsThatPassInTheNight neither ever meeting]] in the show and the latter dying, ended up pretty popular with the fanbase after Season 3, specifically with the reveal of Robin being gay. The pair noticeably exceeds the popularity of both Robin's canon ship with Steve and Heather's with Billy as well. |
| 159 | * FansPreferTheNewHer: |
| 160 | ** Eleven gives herself a punk makeover as part of joining the gang in "The Lost Sister". Despite her soon being disillusioned with the gang, and turning her back on them (with the look going away by the end of the season), many fans actually ''preferred'' it. |
| 161 | ** Hopper ends up getting his hair and mustache shaved off as part of a TraumaticHaircut upon entering a sadistic Russian prison. It turns out David Harbour looks great bald. Additionally, while the character's weight loss may reflect his awful conditions in prison, it also makes him look like a chiseled {{Hunk}}. Joyce certainly appreciates it. |
| 162 | * FirstInstallmentWins: While both Seasons 2 and 3 have generally been received well, they're subject to far more criticism, leaving an almost unanimous opinion that the first season is the strongest and most iconic one, with many feeling no other season will live up to its quality. Some will even argue that ''Stranger Things'' should only have been that ''one'' season for how great it was and simply stopped there, or alternatively been an anthology series where each season focused on entirely new characters and storylines. For the latter, the show would not even need to rid of all the characters or even switch the setting. Though see above for EvenBetterSequel. |
| 163 | * FoeYayShipping: Something of an underground shipping community has emerged for Billy/Eleven after the release of Season 3, based mostly on El's very sympathetic response to Billy [[spoiler:and his [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice of himself to save her,]] in addition to certain elements of their relationship having clear romantic or sexual coding]]. Given that fandom has recently become a more hostile space for ships considered "problematic" (see NoYay), most people tend to be somewhat secretive about actually liking the ship. |
| 164 | * FranchiseOriginalSin: |
| 165 | ** Hopper gets a lot of flak for his actions in Season 3. While it is true that he was always a hothead, this was treated as a realistic character flaw that was part of his CharacterDevelopment arc. His blowing up at Eleven in Season 2 was a result of extenuating circumstances — she had endangered her safety by leaving the house and using her powers in public, and he had the realistic fear that the GovernmentConspiracy would take her away — and after a night to cool off, he realized he was out of line and left a message to apologize. In Season 3, with much lower, more mundane stakes, he blows up at Mike, bullies him into hurting Eleven, and gloats about it the next day. Moreover, his dismissive treatment of Joyce is in marked contrast to the supportive way he treated her in the previous seasons. |
| 166 | ** Many complaints arose about Season 4's rather gratuitous use of FourLinesAllWaiting, with many groups of main characters being spread out and doing different things all at the same time. That said, earlier seasons had constantly set up multiple arcs within a season with the intention of having them all separate parties come together at the end of the season. However, unlike in previous seasons where every subplot ties into what's going on overall, [[RescueArc Joyce and Murray's trip to the USSR to rescue Hopper]] and [[RoadTripPlot Mike, Will, Jonathan and Argyle's crosscountry road trip to find Eleven]] were both accused of bogging down the story since they felt completely superflous and irrelevant to what was going on, [[TrappedByMountainLions since both events barely have anything to do with the rest of the main characters stopping Vecna.]] |
| 167 | ** Around the time Season 4 wrapped up, many fans began deriding the creators for being too afraid to kill off any of the protagonists, instead sending [[DevelopingDoomedCharacters newly-introduced characters to the chopping block before the season ends]]. This is something that has happened since the series' beginning, with the likes of Barbara Holland, Bob Newby, and Alexei perishing in the seasons that they were introduced in, all of which played a role in motivating the main characters to fight the main threats. This was acceptable for most fans at the time, due to the lack of familiarity or established status quo. By Season 4 however, it became downright ''frustrating'' due to how much the main cast has grown since then, almost all of whom have been pushed to the limit in terms of character development. Meanwhile, many fans were upset that brand-new characters such as Eddie Munson, Jason Carver and Chrissy Cunningham didn't survive, despite being interesting and having further potential for characterization. |
| 168 | [[/folder]] |
| 169 | |
| 170 | [[folder:G-L]] |
| 171 | * GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: The show is a surprisingly big hit in France, with reports indicating that demand for the show is [[https://tv.parrotanalytics.com/FR/stranger-things-netflix around 80% higher than most TV shows there]]. Paris also has a [[https://strangerthings-store.com/fr/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=sc&utm_campaign=112128_par&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI9-e_9e7U-QIVyAwGAB18tg-_EAAYASAAEgIAtvD_BwE store]] that sells ''Stranger Things''-related merch, including Hellfire Club T-shirts. |
| 172 | * GeniusBonus: Although we never see Will present his hero report at school in Season 4, we can see from his visual aid that he's chosen Alan Turing. The nerdy Will is heavily implied to be in the closet, while Alan Turing was a brilliant scientist who was persecuted for being gay. |
| 173 | * HeartwarmingInHindsight: For Barb fans who felt that her death wasn't given the attention it deserved, the film ''Film/KnivesAndSkin'' can feel like a SpiritualSuccessor. |
| 174 | * SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: |
| 175 | ** Some fans wondered how good an actor Noah Schnapp actually was after Season 1, given that he has little screen time despite Will's large role in the story. Season 2 puts that to rest as he ably handles a ton of intense emotional scenes and was made even ''more'' with Season 3 having him undergoing an emotional arc of [[spoiler: dealing with his circle of friend's slowly drifting due to their relationships and how he wishes things were what they used to be, along with his ''own'' trauma thanks to the Upside-Down]]. |
| 176 | ** Dacre Montgomery had also earned a lot of praise for his performance as [[HateSink Billy Hargrove]] with many impressed that he was able to play so heavily against type and make Billy genuinely frightening. He gained further praise in Season 3 when Billy was made into a more complex character. |
| 177 | ** Jamie Campbell Bower was associated with either [[Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows minor roles]] [[{{Film/Twilight}} in 2000s franchises]] or else [[Literature/TheMortalInstruments poorly received performances]] in {{Stillborn Franchise}}s - the lowest of which was his lead role in ''{{Series/Camelot}}'', in which his character was [[TheScrappy especially despised]]. Come TheReveal [[spoiler: that he is actually Vecna, he gets to cut loose with a legitimately creepy MotiveRant, and confirming that he is quite a good actor after all]]. |
| 178 | ** While never considered 'bad', Sadie Sink never got much to do in Seasons 2 and 3 beyond the odd focus scene. Fans of ''Film/FearStreet'' had seen what she was capable of with more screen time, and she demonstrates that within the show itself in Season 4. The scene in which Max reads a posthumous letter to [[spoiler: Billy's grave]] is a particular standout. |
| 179 | ** Caleb [=McLaughlin=] is by all means not a bad actor, but he wasn't given many opportunities to show off his skills during the show's first three seasons like the rest of the main cast. However, Season 4 really showed his acting chops, notably with showing Lucas's growth with Max in "Dear Billy" and ''especially'' [[spoiler: in "The Piggyback" when Lucas tearfully begs a dying Max to not go]]. When the Duffers said [[spoiler: Caleb was going to give a very heart wrenching performance]], ''they meant it''. |
| 180 | * HesJustHiding: |
| 181 | ** Following the third season, [[spoiler:many fans believed that Hopper somehow survived the explosion and is currently being held prisoner by the Soviets, due to a Russian prison guard saying ''"Not the American"'' in TheStinger. A big clue is that Creator/PeterGabriel's cover of Music/DavidBowie's [[Music/{{HeroesDavidBowieAlbum}} "'Heroes'"]] plays in the aftermath of Hopper's death. This is the same song that played when Will's fake body was fished out of the quarry in Season 1. This would be later confirmed in Season 4.]] |
| 182 | ** Some fans seem to believe that [[spoiler:Eddie]] survived getting [[spoiler:mauled by a horde of Demobats, despite dying in Dustin's arms]]. Fans point to reports that [[spoiler:Creator/JosephQuinn]] might be returning for the fifth season and the presence of an extra in the background of the [[spoiler:devastated Hawkins]] who seems to resemble [[spoiler:a bedridden, but seemingly still alive Eddie]]. |
| 183 | * HollywoodHomely: |
| 184 | ** Somehow Joyce Byers and Barb Holland are supposed to be less attractive and feminine than [[StacysMom Karen]] and [[DudeMagnet Nancy]] Wheeler, yet they are played by Creator/WinonaRyder (who, even with the necessary BeautyInversion to make her look like a stressed out single mom in an impoverished home, still looks gorgeous) and Creator/ShannonPurser (who is a natural redhead with classic features and a BigBeautifulWoman who does modeling in real life). It could be a reflection of of how shallow and narrow-minded their town is to not recognize the worth of people, inside and out. |
| 185 | ** By the same token Jonathan Byers is treated as an awkward loser by PrettyBoy and JerkJock Steve Harrington and the "cool kids" clique, despite Charlie Heaton looking like a young Creator/NormanReedus. This is probably just shallow bullying due to his alternative appearance and second-hand clothes, since Nancy falls for Jonathan, his estranged father's girlfriend Cynthia thought he was attractive, and Samantha, [[PerkyGoth a random girl]] from the Halloween party, started flirting with him. |
| 186 | ** Mike Wheeler has been called "Frog Face Wheeler" by bullies and even his father cannot believe he would be hiding a girl in his room for a week, yet Mike has attracted the psychic Eleven, and he is played by Creator/FinnWolfhard, who has a legion of fangirls in real life. |
| 187 | ** Max is also portrayed as an unattractive teen outcast who only Dustin and Lucas are crushing on, despite being played by the very good-looking Creator/SadieSink. |
| 188 | ** Eddie "The Freak" Munson is treated like Quasimodo by the social elite of Hawkins and Jason is adamant his girlfriend Chrissy would never even talk to him let alone hang out with him. This despite the fact Eddie is played by the good looking Creator/JosephQuinn, and who clearly charmed Chrissy even in her depression (her actor Creator/GraceVanDien even confirmed she would’ve left Jason for him if things had turned out differently). There’s some DeliberateValuesDissonance by today’s standards as someone like Eddie would be the coolest and probably as popular as Jason or Steve, but in the 80s the small town kid who’s into both HeavyMetal and D&D is simply gonna be regarded as a weirdo. |
| 189 | ** Season 4 does its hardest to make Eleven out as someone who would be unpopular and mocked in high school. But baggy clothes are simply not enough to make Creator/MillieBobbyBrown unattractive. |
| 190 | * HoYay: |
| 191 | ** Billy seems a bit obsessed with Steve. He frequently finds excuses to get in Steve's face, licking his lips, looking Steve up and down, and even calling him a "pretty boy" while they're showering together after gym class. It reaches the point where the last episode of the second season even [[HangingALampshade hangs a lampshade on it]]. |
| 192 | --> '''Billy:''' Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?\ |
| 193 | '''Steve:''' Yeah, it's me. Don't cream your pants. |
| 194 | ** Mike is extremely protective of Will, and the most persistent in their search in finding Will in Season 1. Even in Season 2, Mike remains concerned for Will's well-being, and is the only one Will confides to about his visions. Their scenes in Season 4 add plenty of subtext as well, with Mike admitting wondering if he had "lost" Will in a way that can easily be interpreted as a love rather than friendship way, and Will seeming close to coming out to Mike. And during their conversations, the soundtrack plays what closed captioning dubs "tender, emotional music". |
| 195 | ** Season 3 has Max and Eleven develop a much closer friendship. Several scenes feature them doing things like holding hands and sleeping in the same bed. Another has them denounce men and basically say they only need each other. Nope, definitely no LesYay there. |
| 196 | ** In Season 4, when Robin and Nancy are investigating together and the former is insisting her and Steve are JustFriends, it plays very much like BelligerentSexualTension (especially with [[spoiler: Robin's confirmed attraction to girls]]). |
| 197 | ** Also in Season 4, the usually dry-witted Eddie practically gushes over Steve [[spoiler: biting the head off a demobat]], while the two walk ''very'' close together. Steve also spends most of the midseason finale wearing [[HerBoyfriendsJacket Eddie's vest]] after leaving his shirt behind while going into the Upside Down. Eddie also calls Steve "big boy"[[note]]The line was [[https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/stranger-things-4-volume-2-eddies-dont-ya-big-boy-other-memorable-lines-improvised.html/ improvised]] by actor Creator/JosephQuinn [[/note]] which many interpreted as flirting. |
| 198 | * HypeBacklash: |
| 199 | ** Being essentially the KillerApp for Creator/{{Netflix}} at this point, a fair amount of this was inevitable. The most common opinion by people who end up underwhelmed by the show is that the story is an amalgamation of many popular eighties movies and cliches, with no substance or identity of its own, or that its setting is the TheThemeParkVersion of the 1980s. |
| 200 | ** In a character-specific example, Barb has become this. Barb became a huge EnsembleDarkhorse after a hashtag (#[=JusticeForBarb=]) that started on Reddit trended on Twitter, to the point she acquired actual fans, and even Jimmy Fallon did [[http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/videos/a48259/stranger-things-kids-jimmy-fallon/ a sketch]] featuring Barb coming back from the Upside Down, chewing out Mike and his friends for forgetting about her [[note]]("No one even cares I was missing! No search party for ''Barb!'' No fake corpse stuffed with cotton for ''Barb!''")[[/note]]. However, the fact that Barb's popularity is ''vastly'' disproportionate to her screentime and started as [[ComicallyMissingThePoint a joke meme that was accidentally taken seriously]] has [[http://www.hollywood.com/tv/sorry-stranger-things-fans-but-barb-kind-of-sucks-60624575/ led]] [[http://decider.com/2016/08/03/stranger-things-barb/ to]] [[http://www.vice.com/read/fuck-barb criticisms]] that the fans' love for her stems more from them projecting themselves onto her rather than her value as a character. The backlash was well and truly in place by the time Season 3 came out, most of the fandom moving onto [[spoiler:#[=JusticeForAlexei=]]] instead. |
| 201 | ** In terms of the show’s actors, Finn Wolfhard started to experience this. As Wolfhard became more successful and appeared in more films, more and more people started to believe that his acting has gotten worse since his well received performance in the first season. By the time of the third season, many fans started to call Wolfhard out as a weak link in an otherwise strong ensemble. |
| 202 | * IKnewIt: Very few fans actually believed that [[spoiler:Hopper was really dead]] at the end of Season 3, and moreover, many of them also believed that [[spoiler:he was somehow transported to the USSR by the explosion that closed the Gate and seemingly killed him]]. Sure enough, the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oB2GYwbIAlM first teaser]] for Season 4 revealed that [[spoiler:he's actually still alive at a Soviet labor camp, even though the show itself reveals he survived the explosion and was captured, not transported by the explosion]]. |
| 203 | * InformedWrongness: |
| 204 | ** Yes, Billy is an asshole, but you can't really fault him for confronting Steve about Max when she snuck out of the house without permission while he was supposed to be watching her, leading to him getting [[spoiler:beaten by his father and forced to cancel his date to look for her]]. As Billy himself points out, his 13-year-old sister hanging around an older teen like Steve in a strangers home, with Steve trying to hide her presence from him, is a pretty suspicious situation for someone who [[LockedOutOfTheLoop doesn't know anything about the Upside-Down]] to come across, making his initial attack on Steve a pretty reasonable move despite the villainous way it's framed. |
| 205 | ** Joyce standing up Hopper seems irresponsible, but Hopper knows by now that they're living in a town that's like a lightning rod for eldritch activities that are attracted to her youngest son. That's not getting into the typical stresses of being a single mother of two. Hopper should have at least considered picking her up to make sure things went smoothly. |
| 206 | ** Likewise, while Hopper's jealous sniping at Joyce may have been a bit over the line, she still broke off arrangements without calling ahead to let him know things had changed. Even in a pre-cellphone era there's little real excuse for this, since even at the time the restaurant would have a phone number she could easily look up. And Joyce's observations with the magnets are pretty innocuous even as things in Hawkins go. At the same time, in Joyce's defense, she had no idea that Hopper intended for that to be a date. |
| 207 | ** In Season 4, Eleven [[spoiler:assaulting Angela with a roller skate]] is treated as a shocking display of violence, which the narrative directly compares to [[spoiler:the massacre of the other experiments and Hawkins lab staff as a child]], and other characters act horrified by it as though she's never done something like this before. Yet it honestly pales compared to what [[LaserGuidedKarma Angela did to Eleven beforehand]], which was publicly humiliating and traumatizing, not to mention seemingly had the full support of the roller ring's crowd who enabled it. There's really nothing psychotic here, even a person who doesn't have Eleven's traumatic and disturbing childhood would likely lash out in a similar manner, especially with how cruel a bully Angela had been prior. Given what Eleven had been through, it's a miracle she hadn't lashed out violently before that point. However it is worth noting that so far barring her stint with Kali's gang, all her moments of violence have been clear cases of self-defense or defense of another, this, however understandable it is was, just straight up revenge, and what's more being done in public rather where the backlash could, and for a time did land her in incredibly serious trouble with the law. |
| 208 | * ItWasHisSled: |
| 209 | ** Barb gets killed by the Demogorgon, and that's all you probably know about the character if you haven't watched the series. |
| 210 | ** Eleven not only being [[spoiler:still alive]] but definitely returning in Season 2, which was ''originally'' meant to be ambiguous back before the showrunners anticipated the show's explosive popularity. It was heavily implied by the scene with [[spoiler:Hopper leaving behind Eggos in the woods]] at the end of the last episode of Season 1, but by the time Millie Bobby Brown was found to be part of the cast for Season 2 during pre-production, nobody really made an effort to hide it and the trailer outright confirmed she would be back. |
| 211 | ** Hopper surviving Season 3. TheStinger's hint quickly caused the majority of viewers to lose any and all doubt that he'd be back, and a few months later the next season's teaser confirmed it to very little surprise. |
| 212 | * JerksAreWorseThanVillains: In a show about paranormal monsters attempting to take over Earth from another dimension, these few sometimes prove that HumansAreTheRealMonsters. There's even a specific one from each season. |
| 213 | ** From Season 1, The Demogorgon is merely a predator looking to survive. Troy Walsh, on the other hand, is a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racist, homophobic]] [[TheBully bully]] who tries to make Mike commit suicide out of a [[EvilIsPetty petty desire]] for revenge after being humiliated. To a lesser extent theirs also Lonnie Byers who is also homophobic and only comes to Hawkins not to comfort his family but only so he can get the money . |
| 214 | ** From Season 2, The Mind Flayer is a giant EldritchAbomination, so there's a chance it may not be able to be [[BlueAndOrangeMorality judged by human standards.]] On the other hand, Neil Hargrove is nothing more than an [[AbusiveParents abusive,]] [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain homophobic, misogynistic]] father to Billy and the cause of his actions. |
| 215 | ** From Season 3, there's the [[{{Slimeball}} slimy]], [[CorruptPolitician corrupt]] Mayor Kline, as well as the [[RedScare stereotypically evil Soviets]], compared to the aforementioned alien Mind Flayer. |
| 216 | ** From Season 4, there's AlphaBitch Angela, who's cruel even by school bully standards and is quite possibly the most hated character in the ''entire series''. She's definitely more hated than Vecna, who's the BigBad but is considered an interesting EvilIsCool villain, as well as Jason, who is an AntiVillain, and Sullivan, who is at the very least a WellIntentionedExtremist. |
| 217 | * KarmicOverkill: [[spoiler:How some people feel about Jason's fate. Instigating a lynch mob and assaulting innocent people definitely warranted punishment, he was still, at worst, a WellIntentionedExtremist. His girlfriend and friend were both murdered by Vecna, the most likely suspect, Eddie, didn't help his case by running in fear, and from his point of view, he thought Max was being sacrificed for a ritual. Some felt that getting ripped in half by the Upside Down opening was too harsh of a fate for him, especially when you remember that Troy held Dustin at knifepoint and forced Mike to jump off a cliff, and the worst he got was a broken arm.]] |
| 218 | * LauncherOfAThousandShips: Steve may be the best example of the show. There is his canon relationship with Nancy and then we have [[SensitiveGuyAndManlyMan Jonathan]], [[FoeYayShipping Billy]], [[VitriolicBestBuds Robin]] and [[FanPreferedCouple Eddie]]. The fact that the latest three were introduced in different seasons could make a RunningGag that every new character is expected to be shipped with Steve somehow. |
| 219 | * LGBTFanbase: While [[spoiler:Robin]] is the only canonical LGBTQ+ character thus far [[note]]At least on the show. The novels ''Suspicious Mind'' has Ken, a gay medium and ''Rebel Robin'' has gay teacher Mr Hauser[[/note]], the show has been popular from the start with gay, trans and gender-nonconforming audiences for its familiar themes of social rejection, nonconformity and abuse. The young cast is largely comprised of women with masculine appearances (Barb's "{{Butch|Lesbian}}" fashion sense, Eleven's [[BaldHeadOfToughness shaved head]], Max being a {{tomboy}}) and boys who are bullied for having un-masculine interests, and there are increasingly unsubtle hints that Will might be gay (in Season 1, his mother mentions that he's often called "queer" as an insult and in Season 3, Mike outright asks him why he's not interested in girls). [[spoiler:Practically confirmed in Season 4, as Will gives Mike subtle hints about his feelings for him. Mike doesn't pick up on it, as he believes Will is talking about Mike and Eleven's relationship, but the audience gets a few more clues.]] |
| 220 | * LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: |
| 221 | ** Very few fans genuinely thought [[spoiler: Hopper died at the end of Season 3, as not only would it be a strangely sudden end for one of the most popular main characters, but we [[NeverFoundTheBody never actually see him die]], and TheStinger drops a very hard to miss hint towards his survival. Sure enough, he showed up in the trailer for Season 4.]] |
| 222 | ** Similarly, how many people really believed [[spoiler: El would turn out to ''actually'' be responsible for the lab massacre, rather than suffering a nasty bout of NotWhatItLooksLike?]] |
| 223 | ** Despite the buildup to [[spoiler: Max dying]], many doubted that the show would actually [[spoiler: kill off one of the main kids, and indeed she wound up surviving her encounter with Vecna.]] The fact that such a big deal was made out of [[spoiler: Max's survival]] also caused several fans to be confident [[spoiler: she'd be fine when going up against Vecna again in the season's climax.]] Of course, in the finale, [[spoiler: Max actually ''does'' die... for about a minute, and is then promptly revived by Eleven. However, Max is left crippled, comatose, and potentially brain-dead afterwards. At the same time though, most expect her to make some kind of recovery, given how unlikely it is the character would survive only to be sidelined as a vegetable in the final season, especially after she just skyrocketed in popularity.]] |
| 224 | * LoveToHate: |
| 225 | ** Dr. Martin Brenner is a [[CreepyAwesome memorably nightmarish]] baddie in large part due to Creator/MatthewModine's [[FauxAffablyEvil calm, yet chilling portrayal.]] |
| 226 | ** Billy Hargrove. Creator/DacreMontgomery's [[AxCrazy unhinged,]] [[LargeHam entertaining performance]] solidified him for instant fan approval. |
| 227 | ** Vecna quickly caught on with fans, with the combination of his [[EvilIsCool gravitas, memorable design, vileness, powers,]] and [[spoiler: Creator/JamieCampbellBower's performance]] causing him to be dubbed the series' [[NightmareFuel most frightening antagonist]] yet. |
| 228 | ** Jason Carver, whenever he's not being [[DracoInLeatherPants fitted into a pair of leather pants]], is considered to be an effective satire of SatanicPanic mixed with JerkJock. It helps that Creator/MasonDye's performance manages to balance him as both a KnowNothingKnowItAll who is easy to root against and a TragicVillain struggling with the deaths of those around him. |
| 229 | ** Angela is widely considered to be the [[HateSink most loathsome character]] in the ''entire series'' due to her [[AlphaBitch absolutely despicable treatment]] of Eleven, although many have acknowledged that this just [[CatharsisFactor makes it all the more satisfying]] when Eleven finally gives her some [[LaserGuidedKarma very well-deserved comeuppance]]. |
| 230 | [[/folder]] |
| 231 | |
| 232 | [[folder:M-N]] |
| 233 | * MemeticBadass: |
| 234 | ** 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 final season. |
| 235 | ** Despite being a minor character, Unnamed Hero Agent Guy has achieved this status thanks to holding his own solo against the US Army with the added disadvantage of having to save a group of kids at the same time. |
| 236 | * MemeticBystander: Mike has started to gain a reputation for being oblivious to Will's increasingly obvious feelings for him. |
| 237 | * MemeticLoser: |
| 238 | ** Barb is occasionally portrayed as a ButtMonkey in various fanworks, due to her being a socially awkward girl whose disappearance and death becomes completely overshadowed by the search for Will Byers. |
| 239 | ** Steve is often this due to the one-sided beatdowns he has been subjected to in the first two seasons (from Jonathan in Season 1, from Billy in Season 2). His beating from Billy in particular was huge blow to him since he had to get saved by a bunch of middle school kids. It's [[AscendedMeme commented on]] in Season 3, when he [[spoiler:knocks out the Russian guard with a telephone]], Dustin cheerfully shouts "[[LampshadeHanging Dude! You won a fight!]]" |
| 240 | ** Will on account of his apparent UnrequitedLove for Mike, constantly being OutOfFocus, his horrifically unfashionable bowl cut in Season 4, his birthday seemingly being completely ignored by his friends and family (due to the shows' creators ''themselves'' forgetting it) and just generally being the subject of misfortune on fronts supernatural and grounded in reality. |
| 241 | ** Jason, due to his ultimate status as a PaperTiger. For all his bravado and grand speeches, at the end the only thing he manages is inadvertently helping Vecna complete his plan, which means he ends up (accidentally) being the "helper of the devil" he was chasing all along. Then he gets beaten up by Lucas, who's younger and smaller, [[spoiler:and then is killed, entirely by accident, by Vecna.]] |
| 242 | * MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: The character of Eddie Munson was very well received by '80s metalheads, both for his charming DarkIsNotEvil persona as well as for giving heavy metal a voice on the show. The fact that both Music/{{Metallica}} and Music/IronMaiden expressed support for the character had a hand in this as well. |
| 243 | * MisaimedFandom: |
| 244 | ** [[spoiler: Billy and Max's father Neil is a [[AbusiveParents horrendously abusive jerkass]], and a parent violently slapping their child around is, y'know, [[AndThatsTerrible not cool.]] But considering it was the first time in the whole season that Billy had faced ''any'' repercussions for his actions whatsoever, Neil's criticisms of Billy were [[JerkassHasAPoint quite apt]], and attacked Billy in that moment because Billy [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic was insulting his sister and stepmom]], some fans were less horrified by a cruel parent pulling a vicious EvilerThanThou moment on his son and more begging him to hit Billy harder.]] |
| 245 | ** On the other side of the spectrum, some fans who ''were'' horrified by the cruelty shown to Billy by his father took the scene as reason to look at Billy in a more sympathetic light, absolve him of all his bad behavior, and believe he should be excused, forgiven, and redeemed because the parental abuse he's suffered [[FreudianExcuse justifies his villainy]], despite the Duffer Brothers making it very clear that his actions are not to be excused and he's a terrible person who chooses to take his frustrations out on undeserving targets in order to make himself feel powerful. |
| 246 | * MoralEventHorizon: |
| 247 | ** Dr. Brenner crosses it by [[spoiler: kidnapping the newborn Jane Ives (creating a story that the child was stillborn); stripping her identity and renaming her "Subject Eleven", raising her as a prisoner in Hawkins Lab and callously forcing her to cruel tortures and experiments]]. Likewise when he [[spoiler:electrocutes Terry's (Eleven's mother's) brain by setting the device to 450- thus leaving her brain dead, just as she was about to save her child, and also when he tries to make Eleven murder a cat]]. |
| 248 | ** [[TheBully Troy]] crosses it by [[spoiler:threatening to cut Dustin's teeth out if Mike doesn't jump in the lake, a jump that would ''kill'' him]]. He already shows what an awful person he is before that by [[SpeakIllOfTheDead laughing and loudly talking shit with his friend about Will during a school service commemorating Will's "death"]], and earlier calling Lucas a racist nickname, but [[spoiler:trying to '''murder''' Mike and threatening to mutilate Dustin with a knife really takes the cake]]. |
| 249 | ** Agent Connie Frazier near-instantaneously crosses it by [[spoiler:murdering Benny, the diner owner, in cold blood]]. |
| 250 | ** Neil Hargrove is implied to have crossed it long ago with his [[AbusiveParent constant abuse of Billy and his mom]], molding Billy into the bully he's shown to be in Season 2. |
| 251 | ** The Mind Flayer [[spoiler:[[DemonicPossession using Will's body]] for its plans.]] And it gets ''worse'' in Season 3 when [[spoiler:it uses Billy to capture people and make ''them'' into its puppets all while turning them into simple parasites that ''melt the human's body'' to add onto its form]]. The most horrifying part is that [[spoiler: it's doing all of this simply to get back at Eleven for closing the Gate (and to possibly kill her and absorb her powers)]]. |
| 252 | ** Grigori was already crossing the MEH due to working with the Russians to open the Gate ForScience, but [[spoiler: heavily crossed it when he murders fellow comrade Alexei for being a "traitor".]] |
| 253 | ** At first, it was believed that Vecna crossed it when he [[spoiler: murdered Chrissy Cunningham. But in reality, he crossed it back in 1959 as Henry Creel, when he not only murdered his own mother and sister out of little more than sheer sadism, but did so knowing his father Victor would take the fall for it.]] |
| 254 | ** Jason crosses the horizon when he barges in on Lucas and Max while the latter is under Vecna's curse. [[spoiler: He gets into a brawl with Lucas and outright tries to shoot him before beating him down and nearly killing him. What's more, his actions lead to Max temporarily dying and the Upside Down breaking into Hawkins.]] Even worse, [[WouldHurtAChild the reason why he went there in the first place was to attack Erica, who is eleven.]] |
| 255 | * MorePopularReplacement: |
| 256 | ** This is a given since Lonnie is a full blown HateSink, but [[NiceGuy Bob Newby]] is a much more popular character with the fandom. Even disregarding the fact that he's played by [[Creator/SeanAstin Samwise Gamgee himself]]. |
| 257 | ** While Brenner has fans for being a strong villain, many like Dr. Owens more for for acting like the complete opposite of his predecessor, being a compassionate, caring, and selfless person who prioritized the well being of Will and Eleven over the facility and its goals. |
| 258 | * {{Narm}}: Creator/CaryElwes does a fine job as the slimy mayor Larry Kline, but his reaction to Hopper breaking his nose stands out as hilarious in an otherwise intense scene. His delivery is definitely what sells it. |
| 259 | --->'''Larry:''' MY NOSE! YOU BROKE MY GODDAMN NOSE! |
| 260 | * NarmCharm: |
| 261 | ** You'd never think that a woman talking to a ball of Christmas lights would create a genuine TearJerker of a scene. |
| 262 | ** The Soviet villains of Season 3 are a gloriously over-the-top homage to the antagonists of 80’s spy and military thrillers. |
| 263 | ** The big climax of Season 3 stops dead in its tracks so two kids can do a mediocre cover of the theme song from ''Film/TheNeverendingStory''. But the whole thing is played so straight, complete with the original orchestration backing it, and combined with the song being such a beloved piece of nostalgia for the show's main audience (and the completely in-character "WTF?" reactions from everyone listening), that it becomes hilarious and heartwarming in equal measure. |
| 264 | ** Sure, the circumstances of Vecna's MotiveRant are ridiculous, but [[spoiler:[[Creator/JamieCampbellBower Jamie Campbell Bower]]]]'s [[EvilIsHammy intense performance]] and [[SuddenlyShouting line delivery]] manage to make the monologue effective in spite of that. |
| 265 | ** Hopper hacking the Soviet Demogorgon to pieces with what appears to be ''Conan's sword'' manages to look both comical and utterly badass at the same time. |
| 266 | * NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognize: In Season 4, [[spoiler: Creator/JamieCampbellBower plays a seemingly unimportant flashback character merely listed as "Friendly Orderly" in the credits. Surprise, surprise, he turns out to be the mysterious One, the one who committed the Hawkins Laboratory Massacre and Vecna himself.]] |
| 267 | * NauseaFuel: |
| 268 | ** In Season 3, the Mind Flayer's physical form is made up of [[LudicrousGibs a bunch of human and rat corpses]], and it's often as stomach-turning to watch as it sounds. |
| 269 | ** In the same season, ''something'' is inside Eleven's leg after the Mind Flayer bites her, so Jonathan gives her a wooden spoon to bite and starts cutting with a kitchen knife. Its exactly as horrific as it sounds and Eleven is quite audibly in agony. |
| 270 | ** Additionally, the mall which was used as a stand-in for Starcourt was the scene of a real-life murder in 2017. The victim was left in the back room of one of the restaraunts in the abandoned food court, and was not discovered for nearly a MONTH after the murder took place. |
| 271 | * NightmareRetardant: [[spoiler: While One's murderous rampage through Hawkins Lab is terrifying, his MotiveRant about humanity being vermin is undercut by the fact that it is given to an eight-year-old who likely has no idea what he's talking about.]] |
| 272 | * SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The Netflix-produced app game is beautifully {{Retraux}} and features a very fun blend of fighting and puzzle-solving, all while making great use of the show's various characters and what abilities they could have, plus the entire town of Hawkins and locations from the show. And of course, the fact that it was ''entirely'' free to play despite its size is a huge plus. It got a paid-for sequel, based on the third season. Since 2021 both games have been delisted and as of now, are only available for users subscribed to Netflix. |
| 273 | * NotSoCheapImitation: The series was heavily influenced by the works of Creator/StephenKing, particularly ''Literature/{{It}}.'' In fact, this was because the Duffer Brothers were originally going to direct ''Film/It2017.'' Not wanting to let their vision go to waste, they reworked the concept into their own. While the 2017 ''It'' movie was highly successful, ''Stranger Things'' ended up being a huge KillerApp for Netflix. This influence was so strong that the 2017 ''It'' faced a lot of [[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/sep/08/now-youve-seen-it-pennywise-stranger-things-stephen-king comparisons]] to ''Stranger Things'' upon its release (and it didn't help that the two productions shared [[Creator/FinnWolfhard an actor]]). |
| 274 | * NoYay: |
| 275 | ** Some viewers were very put off by the vague romantic undertones between El and Mind Flayer!Billy in Season 3 due to their four-year age difference and some of the interactions being read as [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything rapey.]] [[FoeYayShipping This was not a universal response, however.]] |
| 276 | ** Likewise, during Season Two some viewers felt that Billy’s behavior regarding Max— specifically, forbidding her from spending time with Lucas, even reacting violently toward her and toward Lucas whenever he finds out they’ve been together, and insisting that Max [[NotBloodSiblings is "not [his] sister"]]— bordered on IncestSubtext, made {{Squick}}ier by the visible age difference of the actors, Billy’s abusive nature, and the racism he directed toward Lucas. The final episode of Season Two thankfully quelled most of these concerns by showing Billy’s "protectiveness" over Max was merely him obeying his abusive father’s demands that he look after her. |
| 277 | [[/folder]] |
| 278 | |
| 279 | [[folder:O-R]] |
| 280 | * OneTrueThreesome: |
| 281 | ** For some, Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan, mostly due to their takedown of the Demogorgon in the last episode of Season 1. |
| 282 | ** In Season 3, Joyce/Hopper/Murray became quite popular possibly because they're are the most action-involved adults among a bunch of preteens and teenagers (plus Erica). |
| 283 | ** In Season 4, Steve/Robin/Nancy became a favorite trio, particularly due to events that occurred during the Season 4 finale, citing both the platonic friendship between Robin and Steve as well as the chemistry between Robin and Nancy. |
| 284 | *** By extent, many fans add Eddie in the pairing when he becomes involved in the events of Hawkins and teams up mainly with the three above through Season 4. |
| 285 | * OneSceneWonder: |
| 286 | ** Benny, in Season 1, for being kind and caring towards Eleven. [[spoiler:And getting killed ruthlessly for it.]] |
| 287 | ** Lucas' father's only scene in Season 2 when he commented, "Your mother is never wrong, son", made him immediately popular with fans. |
| 288 | ** Suzie, Dustin's Mormon-raised genius girlfriend from Utah has so far only appeared once in a single scene in at the climax of Season 3 but she made quite the impression when she makes Dustin sing the theme song from ''Film/TheNeverendingStory''. |
| 289 | ** After playing a variety of 80's villains, particularly Freddy Kruger, Creator/RobertEnglund turns in a memorable and sympathetic performance as Victor Creel. |
| 290 | ** As of Season 4, Suzie's house full of kids is a standout. It's not clear if they're just a huge family or if those are foster children or a daycare or what, but every one of them has a ridiculous personality, one in particular seems to idolize ''Creator/JohnWaters''. Argyle's fellow pizza boy and borderline clone is another notable bit character. |
| 291 | * PortmanteauCoupleName: |
| 292 | ** Mileven: [[PuppyLove Mike/Eleven]] |
| 293 | ** Stancy: [[FirstGuyWins Steve/Nancy]] |
| 294 | ** Jancy: [=Jonathan/Nancy=] |
| 295 | ** Jopper: [=Joyce/Hopper=] |
| 296 | ** Lumax, Mayclair, [[AffectionateNickname Mad]][[AffectionateNickname Stalker]] and [[{{Pun}} Mucas]]: [[PuppyLove Lucas/Max]] |
| 297 | ** Byler: [[ShipTease Byler]] |
| 298 | ** Ronance: [[LesYay Robin/Nancy]] |
| 299 | ** Steddie: [[FanPreferredCouple Steve/Eddie]] |
| 300 | ** Elmax: [[LesYay Eleven/Max]] |
| 301 | ** Jargyle: Jonathan/Argyle |
| 302 | ** Stobin: [[SorryImGay Steve/Robin]] |
| 303 | ** Madwheeler: [[VitriolicBestBuds Mike/Max]] |
| 304 | ** Eddissy: [[BroodingBoyGentleGirl Eddie/Chrissy]] |
| 305 | * PlatonicWritingRomanticReading: |
| 306 | ** Even though Robin is a ShipperOnDeck to push Nancy and Steve back together, the amount of LesYay between the two girls, and their OddFriendship makes it look more like Nancy should fall in love with Robin instead. The two actually have more screen time together than Nancy does with Steve. |
| 307 | ** Due to the checkered and adversarial relationship that Mike and Max have had ever since ''2'', a niche romantic pairing in the form of Madwheeler (whcih isn't necessarily a romantic pairing, but could be depending on who you ask) developed. This was specifically because their interactions especially in ''3'' came off as BelligerentSexualTension, Mike didn't want Max to replace Jane "Eleven" Hopper in their group, Finn and Sadie's (Fadie) own on and offscreen chemistry and given Max's the first normal girl Mike interacted with after El—and even El mistook a moment they shared together as being romantic—it implied the idea of a stronger LoveTriangle developing between the three beyond that—especially with Max's own romantic pairing with Lucas Sinclair in ''2'' being reduced in ''3'' to her constantly being annoyed with his dumb and immature antics. It seemed to open the door to the two finding their way to each other while El went off in her own direction. Given ''4'' had a minuscule amount of interactions between the two though—with Mike going to visit El in California and help her through her arc while Max is back in Hawkins avoiding becoming a victim of Vecna while trying to repair her broken relationship with Lucas, the idea of the two ever becoming a thing seems just about dismissed at this point. |
| 308 | * RealismInducedHorror: Jason of Season 4; whereas Vecna is a SerialKiller with PsychicPowers utilising an entire dimension of BizarreAlienBiology to wreck havoc, Jason stands out for being an entirely realistic threat. As a deconstruction of ProtagonistCentredMorality, Jason is a terrifying VigilanteMan willing to do a lot of horrible things, from torturing innocent musicians to threatening children with a firearm, ultimately planning to lynch NiceGuy Eddie Munson over misplaced retribution and SatanicPanic. What makes him so concerning is that he's RippedFromTheHeadlines, as during the 80s there was indeed people like Jason who led crusades against completely innocent American citizens over the fact they listened to metal and/or played ''Dungeons and Dragons'', as well as any other "non-conforming" behaviour that was blamed on Satan. Combined with his charismatic ability to sway crowds to his side, refusal to accept his own shortcomings and adamant denial of evidence that disproved his assumptions of guilt, Jason demonstrates ''exactly why'' vigilantism isn't OK in reality. |
| 309 | * RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: |
| 310 | ** Despite his HeelFaceTurn at the end of Season 1, a lot of fans still didn't like Steve. The second season amended this big time by giving him what many consider arguably the series' best CharacterDevelopment (in the form of having to deal with his end of [[spoiler:being responsible for what happened to Barb]] and his buried insecurities about his relationship with Nancy) in addition to having a lot more funnier and charming scenes, showing him to be a more heroic and admirable person, making him one of the most popular characters. His charming relationship with Dustin and his BigBrotherInstinct towards Dustin, Lucas, and Max definitely help cement it. His popularity only continued to grow in the following seasons, to the point where he's now quite possibly the most universally beloved character on the show. |
| 311 | ** Lucas was the most controversial of the boys in the first season, owing to his distrust of El and his tension with Mike, though it never got worse than BaseBreakingCharacter. Like Steve, though, he got redeemed in the second season with his CharacterDevelopment, his attempts to welcome Max and their budding PuppyLove, no longer having any of his earlier animosity towards Eleven, and generally becoming a much more likeable kid. |
| 312 | ** Though a massive fan favorite, Hopper in Season 3 was criticized for coming across as a short-tempered brute. Season 4 saw his stock go back up with fans however, due to a combination of his violent anger greatly mellowing out, his endearing growing friendship with a [[TokenGoodTeammate token good Soviet]], and the sheer amount of crap he's put through earning him a lot of sympathy points. |
| 313 | ** Some fans didn't like Max due to feeling she added little to the show, consistently playing a supporting role to the other main kids instead of driving forward her own story. Though she was agreed to be better utilized as the show went on, this criticism didn't go away until Season 4, where she got much more of a developed arc in addition to a significant role in the plot, resulting in her being considered one of the season's biggest highlights. |
| 314 | ** While never an outright [[TheScrappy scrappy]], Erica Sinclair's popularity in the fandom diminished significantly after becoming an AscendedExtra in Season 3, as her BrattyHalfPint behavior became significantly more obnoxious when it was directed at anyone other than [[SiblingRivalry Lucas]], especially since she didn't contribute nearly as much as the other main characters. Season 4 rectifies this by toning down her {{Jerkass}} tendencies amongst the main characters and redirecting them towards people who actually deserve it, making her presence much more tolerable. In addition, she also helps defend Lucas and Max from Jason Carver's gang in the season finale without any complaint, upgrading her to a LittleMissBadass and solidifying her place within the main cast. |
| 315 | ** Powell and Callahan weren't well-liked in Season 1 due to coming off as insensitive jerkasses. However, in Season 4, Powell [[spoiler: becomes chief of police after Hopper's "death",]] and starts taking his job more seriously. Likewise, Callahan starts showing more empathy, as he is just as horrified at [[spoiler: Chrissy's corpse]] as everyone else at the crime scene. |
| 316 | * RetroactiveRecognition: [[Creator/ChrisSullivan Benny]] is now much more recognizable as Toby from ''Series/ThisIsUs'' and Taserface from ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2''. |
| 317 | * RomanticPlotTumor: |
| 318 | ** Season 3 falls features a lot of drama throughout the season stemming from characters' romantic relationships, especially in the cases of Mike/ Eleven and Joyce/Hopper. Many have also noted that a lot of the show's familial relationships have taken a backseat to the romantic ones, and it doesn't go unnoticed since Jonathan is reduced to being Nancy's sidekick with minimal interactions with either his mother or with Will. Likewise, Joyce is relegated to being Hopper's sidekick and Mike and Nancy meanwhile are so isolated that casual viewers might not remember that they're siblings. Tellingly, in Season 4, virtually all the couples are separated for the most part possibly in response to this. |
| 319 | ** Despite its retaining popularity, the ShipTease of Nancy/Steve in Season 4 annoyed fans rather than pleasing any, largely because it came somewhat out of left field that they'd still have feelings for one-another and the fact she was still with Jonathan when this was happening. That Nancy and Jonathan's relationship is suddenly strained didn't help matters, as it came off as bordering on DerailingLoveInterests. Weirdly, despite this teasing [[spoiler:nothing comes of it and Nancy and Jonathan remain together by the end despite the fact they both appeared to desire a break-up, making it feel that the teasing was all for nothing.]] |
| 320 | * RonTheDeathEater: |
| 321 | ** Some fans who shipped Steve and Nancy give this treatment to Nancy after she [[spoiler: breaks up with him in Season 2, calling her a bitch and a terrible person, and even copying the "Justice for Barb" meme with "Justice for Steve", as if suffering from a break-up equates to being killed. This ignores the legitimate reasons Nancy had for leaving Steve, and Steve's own bad behavior as her boyfriend that he himself fully acknowledges by the end. Seasons later, some fans still declare that Steve "deserves better", forgetting just how much of a dick he was in the first season.]] |
| 322 | ** Billy gets a more sympathetic portrayal and character development in Season 3, but is often vilified by viewers who hated him for his behavior in the previous season and refuse to acknowledge anything good about him. |
| 323 | ** After Season 3, it didn't take long for fans to paint Dustin's girlfriend Suzie as evil (or at the very least, incredibly needy) due to [[spoiler: her requesting an impromptu singing duet with Dustin so they could get the code needed to open a safe that contained the keys needed to shut off the Russian collider, [[SenselessSacrifice indirectly causing both Billy's and Hopper's demise because of the delay that was enough to force them to sacrifice themselves.]]]] This, of course, ignoring the fact that Suzie (or any sane person for that matter) [[CassandraTruth had no reason to believe Dustin]] [[spoiler: when he was talking about the secret Russian underground base and how she'd "save the world"]] and just assumed that he was either doing a D&D session with his friends or playing pretend or something, hence the lack of urgency on her side. Nonetheless, you'll find no shortage of people who blame her for [[spoiler: indirectly allowing two major characters to die. Of course, being one of the flayed means that closing the Gate would have killed Billy anyway, and TheStinger suggests that Hopper may still be alive, which is later confirmed in Season 4.]] |
| 324 | ** Mike has been hit by this a fair amount in later seasons. While Mike does have his fair share of {{Jerkass}} moments, a vocal subset of fans dismiss Mike as a complete asshole and cite said {{Jerkass}} moments as proof while ignoring scenes where he apologizes for those exact moments. He tends to get it the worst from fans who ship him with Will, who blame him for being the unintentional cause of a lot of Will's angst by being oblivious to Will's feelings for him. Even his speech to El in Season 4 about how much he loves her gets stretched into evidence that Mike is a bad person: he mentions feeling like his life started the day he met her, which some fans took as a slight against Will because they misremembered the line as Mike calling it the best day of his life and incorrectly thought that Mike and El met the same day Will went missing (they actually met the day after). |
| 325 | [[/folder]] |
| 326 | |
| 327 | [[folder:S-T]] |
| 328 | * SalvagedStory: |
| 329 | ** Barb was rather infamously subject to a particularly gruesome death, and there grew a perception amongst her fans that [[ForgottenFallenFriend she was mostly forgotten about]] in subsequent episodes of the first season, which is something that didn't sit well. The second season actually spends a good amount of time addressing the fallout her death caused amongst her friends and provides a proper closure to her story. She also receives a brief callback in Season 3. And in Season 4, when the villain who targets people with particularly traumatic memories [[spoiler: ends up face to face with Nancy, Barb's death is what's used]]. |
| 330 | ** A lot of fans were put off by Eleven acting frosty towards Max in their first meeting seemingly just to force her into being a ClingyJealousGirl for Mike. Season 3 has them become friends, with Max encouraging El to try new things in her life (like shopping), and El spending more time with Max as opposed to just Mike. |
| 331 | ** Many fans were unhappy with the cartoonish, ''Film/RedDawn1984''-esque Russian villains in Season 3 and the [[PatrioticFervor highly nationalistic tone]] of the season. Season 4 significantly tones down the Russians' campiness and adopts much more of a BlackAndGrayMorality which shows that both the Russian and American governments are willing to kidnap, torture, and murder innocent people, with the closest thing to a "good" faction being [[spoiler: the agents led by Owens and Brenner who keep El captive[[note]]Technically they claim that she's free to leave, but every time she attempts to do so, they have armed guards chase her down and block the exit.[[/note]] and brutally experiment on her to the point of ''repeatedly driving her to cardiac arrest'' in an effort to bring back her powers]]. |
| 332 | ** Hopper's CowboyCop behavior and being prone to aggression a lot more in Season 3 was met with lots of criticism (see below). In Season 4, Jason and the rest of the {{Jerk Jock}}s resort to this kind of behavior, and it's used to frame them as going off the deep end; heavily contrasting to the legitimate investigation the police are doing. |
| 333 | ** On a related note, Hopper received harsh criticism in Season 3 for his aggressive and outright toxic behavior, with some fans arguing the writers took it too far and made him UnintentionallyUnsympathetic. [[spoiler: Season 4 drastically toned this down, with Hopper acting more level-headed and introspective due to his time in the Russian prison.]] |
| 334 | ** For those who felt Max was underutilized in Season 3, Season 4 puts her at the forefront of the Vecna storyline - where one of the first major plots is [[spoiler:saving her from becoming its next victim, and she becomes the first character to ''survive'' an encounter with it]]. She's also given lots of scenes detailing her complicated relationship with Billy, complete with an extended sequence where [[spoiler: she reads a letter to his grave, talking about how she still hated him and wished they could have been friends. Suffice to say, many people became much more invested in Max, and were nothing short of devastated to see her end the season being gravely injured and close to death.]] |
| 335 | ** After the contentious reaction to "The Lost Sister", Season 3 completely ignored the potential characters and plot points set up there, which was criticized by both the episode's fans and detractors for seemingly leaving the whole thing unresolved and making its events feel pointless. Though it's still yet to be acknowledged, Season 4 does at least follow up on one idea introduced in the episode; [[spoiler: Dr. Brenner is revealed to be alive]] and Kali is briefly mentioned, though she doesn't appear. |
| 336 | ** After accusations that Season 3 might be downplaying toxic masculinity via Hopper's jerkish shift in personality and Billy having his own loathsome traits overshadowed, Season 4 goes in a different direction. The finale has three moments where male characters express their love in different ways; Jonathan expresses brotherly love for Will, Mike expresses romantic love for El and Dustin and Eddie express platonic love towards each other. |
| 337 | ** After many complaints that Billy's abuse towards Max was glossed over by her concern for him in Season 3 and the wording of her letter in "Dear Billy", Max's monologue to Vecna in "The Piggyback" makes it clear that he did indeed make her miserable, and she'd often wished for something horrible to happen to him, only to be horrified when it ''did'', making her depression more the result of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor rather than a {{Retcon}} of their dynamic. |
| 338 | * TheScrappy: Powell and Callahan during Season 1, due to their LackOfEmpathy and incredibly tasteless jokes from Callahan. Powell at least garnered more likability due to being less of a {{Jerkass}} and more of a typical lazy cop. It seemed that the writers noted this too, as their roles were noticeably reduced in the second and third seasons. |
| 339 | * ShippingBedDeath: While it was a popular ship in Season 1, some fans were rather displeased with how [[spoiler:Jonathan and Nancy]] got together in Season 2, thanks to [[spoiler:Murray acting as a ShipperOnDeck until he practically prods them into it. It makes their hook-up a lot more stilted than it could've been]]. |
| 340 | * ShipMates - Post Season 4, many fans of the Teens ship Steve/Eddie, Nancy/Robin and Jonathan/Argyle as a way of ensuring no one gets left out (and helped by the fact that these are the groups interacting the most over the Season) |
| 341 | * ShipsThatPassInTheNight: |
| 342 | ** The pairing of Steve and Kali has amassed a surprisingly big number of shippers for two characters who have never even interacted. |
| 343 | ** Will was frequently shipped with Jennifer Hayes early on in the fandom, mainly because she cries at his funeral. |
| 344 | * ShipToShipCombat |
| 345 | ** Hoo boy, the amount of hatred between Jonathan/Nancy and Steve/Nancy shippers on Reddit and elsewhere could power a small country. Not at all helped by [[spoiler:Steve's CharacterDevelopment making him much more likable in Season 2, while Jonathan is mostly OutOfFocus.]] |
| 346 | ** Tensions between Byler (Mike x Will) and Mileven (Mike x Eleven) shippers exploded following the premiere of Season 4, which not only focuses on both relationships being strained in light of the Byers moving away, but also all but confirms that Will is gay and has feelings for Mike. That Mileven has been an OfficialCouple since the first season only adds fuel to the fire. |
| 347 | ** There's also a fair amount of animosity between Steddie (Steve x Eddie) and Hellcheer (Chrissy x Eddie). This unfortnately became a case of WhyTheFandomCantHaveNiceThings when the Steddie shippers harassed and abused Chrissy's actor over it, scaring her. |
| 348 | * ShockingMoments: |
| 349 | ** The Season 2 Super Bowl trailer foreshadowed the larger stakes of the season, with the story transitioning from the search for a single missing boy to [[spoiler:an apparent EldritchAbomination attempting to enter our world from the Upside-Down]]. |
| 350 | ** Just about anytime someone's eyes roll back, as that's the indication they've been ensnared by Vecna and will soon die a grisly death. Not helping is how they happen completely at random. |
| 351 | * SignatureScene: The climax of Season 4's "Dear Billy", in which Max breaks free of Vecna and runs to escape his clutches when Dustin, Lucas, and Steve begin playing Music/KateBush's "Running Up That Hill" on her walkman. It is considered by many fans to be the iconic scene, not just of Season 4, but of the ''entire series''. |
| 352 | * SignatureSong: |
| 353 | ** Season 1: "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" by Music/TheClash, which is Will's favorite song and played multiple times throughout the first season. |
| 354 | ** Season 2: "Every Breath You Take" by Music/ThePolice, which is played [[spoiler:during Mike and Eleven's first dance]] at the Snow Ball. A song about stalking seems like an odd choice [[spoiler:to be Mike and El's "song", but it's not referring to them. It's referring to the Mind Flayer, who is watching the Party from the Upside Down]]. |
| 355 | ** Season 3: The theme song from ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'', sung by Dustin and Suzie during the finale battle with the Mind Flayer. To say there was SoundtrackDissonance is an understatement, which made it all the more memorable. |
| 356 | ** Season 4: "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" by Music/KateBush, identified as Max's favorite song when Lucas and Dustin are trying to [[spoiler: free her from Vecna's curse. A smart choice, as Kate herself noted in an ultra-rare 2022 interview with BBC that the song is primarily about men and women swapping roles -- swapping places; an allusion to the parallel world of The Upside Down]]. It shows up throughout the later episodes to help keep her centered before coming up in the season's climax as a triumphant anthem. |
| 357 | * SlowPacedBeginning: |
| 358 | ** Some thought Season 2 took a little while before kicking off, as the first few episodes are mainly used to build tension (while the first season had a slow pace at first too, it's usually considered justified seeing as it built up to the reveal of the Upside Down and the Demogorgon, while we're already aware of this in Season 2, making the pacing seem more unnecessarily slow). At least one critic argued that the main plot of Season 2 could have been boiled down to a two-hour movie. |
| 359 | ** Some criticism was leveled at the first half of Season 4: For some, besides Chrissy's death at the very end of episode one and then Fred's death at the end of episode two, little to nothing actually plot-relevant happens in the first two episodes. |
| 360 | * SoOkayItsAverage: |
| 361 | ** It seemed for a while, there were two camps on the "Lost Sister" episode: People who loved it and those that hated it. Both sides hyped up the episode as either being brilliant or as the absolute worst thing Netflix ever produced. As more people caught up with the second season, many of them sort of fell in the middle, appreciating the character development yet finding the story itself weak, but far from the worst thing. |
| 362 | * SpecialEffectsFailure: |
| 363 | ** While the Demogorgon looks pretty good for the first few episodes, as it is mostly kept in the shadows with quick glances, near the end of the first season as the actions scenes involving it ramp up, it really becomes obvious CGI. This is due to the CG effects having to be done on the quick when the original plan of using (80's-style) entirely practical effects turned out to be unworkable in a few scenes. |
| 364 | ** When Eleven is looking at her reflection at the water's edge, the CGI department forgot to flip the reflection left-for-right. Noticeable because she's strongly lit from one side when we see her actual face, and when we see her reflection, she appears to be strongly lit from the opposite side. |
| 365 | ** The dying deer that Nancy and Jonathan find in the woods looks obviously fake. |
| 366 | ** Eleven saving Mike from his fall in "The Monster", briefly leaving him dangling in the air, looks realistic enough in wide shots, but whenever the camera changes to focus on his face, it's clearly just Finn Wolfhard making awkward flailing motions in front of a green screen. |
| 367 | ** Some of the [[spoiler:Demodogs]] in the second-to-last episode of the second season look like noticeably unfinished CGI, which is surprising considering that the visual effects in the second season are leaps and bounds above what the first season was able to accomplish. |
| 368 | ** More like set design failure, but the Hawkins High School sign is very obviously a prop sitting on the roof and not an actual part of the original building. |
| 369 | * {{Squick}}: |
| 370 | ** Barb's fate. Being cocooned in slime after being eaten by the Demogorgon and then a big slug comes out of her mouth. |
| 371 | ** The way the [[EldritchAbomination Mind Flayer]] transforms its victims in Season 3 is this combined with NightmareFuel. [[spoiler: The Mind Flayer inserts a dark substance into the victim latching onto their face with a tentacle-mouth. This binds the victim to the Mind Flayer's HiveMind. The victim then gorges themselves on various toxic chemicals to make their flesh more suitable for the Mind Flayer's presence. Finally, when the victim has [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness served their purpose]], they explode into a gooey mass of flesh and bone and merge into the Mind Flayer's growing body.]] |
| 372 | ** Eleven gets some sort of parasite stuck in her [[spoiler:after being bitten by the Mind Flayer.]] Jonathan cuts her leg open with a knife, then ''reaches in and tries to grab it'' in one of the most horrifically [[NauseaFuel nauseating]] scenes in the entire series. |
| 373 | ** Hopper trying to remove his ankle cuff from his badly damaged ankle. The squishing sounds really take it up a notch. |
| 374 | * SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mHagQEL4-E "Outside the Realm"]] by Big Giant Circles playing in "Trick or Treat, Freak" and "The Lost Sister". |
| 375 | ** How does Max manage to fight back against Vecna? By tapping into memories of the good times she had with Lucas, Eleven and the others. |
| 376 | * SuspiciouslySimilarSong: The ThemeTune of ''Stranger Things'' [[https://twitter.com/alex_moukala/status/1345801368154628100?lang=en has been noted to resemble]] "J-E-N-O-V-A" from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. Given the Duffer Brothers confirming that video games like ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'', ''Franchise/SilentHill'', and ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' served as inspirations for the series, as well as thematic and plot-relevant similarities between ''Stranger Things'' and ''Final Fantasy VII'', one wonders if this was intentional or not. |
| 377 | * SweetnessAversion: For some, Eleven's overall portrayal can fall into this, as the show tends to play up how endearing, innocent, selfless, and tragic she is, with anyone who doubts her being portrayed as wrong. It also tends to amp up her trauma in order to make her even more pitiable, such as Season 4 turning her into a BullyMagnet both at school and in her flashbacks. |
| 378 | * TakeThatScrappy: |
| 379 | ** Ted Wheeler suggests actually sending the children to jail to ScareEmStraight after the murders in Season 4. Literally every other adult character in the scene, including his own wife, chews him out for wanting to send innocent children to jail. |
| 380 | ** Lucas overpowering and beating the shit out of Jason was a very welcome sight for fans sick of his idiotically irresponsible violence. And though it actually [[AlasPoorScrappy saddened a few detractors]], some fans were still all too happy to see [[spoiler: Jason's death by bisection.]] There's an odd sort of karma for a character widely believed to have taken up too much screentime [[spoiler: dying with little fanfare and not even being referenced again for the rest of the season finale.]] |
| 381 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: |
| 382 | ** Will seems to be the only one whom the monster attacks that anyone pays any mind to, despite having also claimed two hunters and two anonymous residents off-screen. Slightly justified in that Will, a young child, would garner more attention/sympathy. Also justified in that the main characters of the series include his mother, his older brother, his best friends and the sister of one of them (who, for her part, spends most of her time worried about another victim of the monster who was ''her'' best friend), who would naturally focus more on Will than anyone else. |
| 383 | ** Steve, Nancy and Jonathan have very little meaningful interactions as a group following their fight against the Demogorgon in Season 1, with their LoveTriangle resolving itself with very little fanfare. Fans of the so-dubbed "[[OneTrueThreesome Monster Hunting Trio]]" were left disappointed, as the three having become friends could have led to multiple interesting subplots, but in the next seasons Nancy and Jonathan have their own subplot, while Steve is roped into the Party's. |
| 384 | ** "The Lost Sister" is generally considered to be an interesting idea bogged down by a cliched execution (see ClicheStorm above). |
| 385 | ** Some desperate fans who wanted to see Neil Hargrove get his just desserts (possibly at the hands of the Mind Flayer while possessing 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. Season 4 further quashes any opportunity to deal with Neil, as he's revealed to have divorced Max's mother and left Hawkins off-screen. |
| 386 | ** Will's storyline in Season 3 was commonly criticized for this. In the first half of the season, he's going through a complex ComingOfAgeStory about how he [[GrowingUpSucks isn't ready to grow up]] and feels that his friends' newfound preoccupation with girls is causing their friendship to fall apart, a reaction which is implied to be rooted in both the TraumaCongaLine Will endured in the first two seasons and the fact that he [[AmbiguouslyGay might be gay]]. In the second half of the season, he... touches the back of his neck and announces that the Mind Flayer is coming. This is ultimately somewhat mitigated by Season 4 picking his Season 3 storyline back up and showing that Will is working on growing up, being more supportive of his friends' relationships, and [[spoiler: coming to terms with being gay]], though he's still struggling with all three by the end of the season. |
| 387 | ** Eleven's new life as a member of the Byers family doesn't get too much focus in Season 4, with her separated from all three biological Byers fairly quickly before we really get to see much of her dynamic with them. |
| 388 | ** The idea of Mike, Will, Jonathan and Argyle finding where Eleven is being captured and subsequently encountering Dr. Brenner is a rather interesting concept, especially since their road trip subplot seems to be hyping up them finding and confronting the people at the lab to find El. Unfortunately, by the time they manage to find the secret base, Brenner's practically on death's door, leaving his final moments to be entirely with Eleven before he kicks the bucket. |
| 389 | * TooCoolToLive: |
| 390 | ** [[spoiler: Eddie Munson.]] He literally sacrificed himself through [[spoiler:summoning a swarm of demonic bats by shredding Music/{{Metallica}}'s "Master of Puppets" on a rooftop in the Upside Down]]! |
| 391 | ** [[spoiler: Bob Newby.]] Quite possibly the most genuinely kind, pure hearted character in the entire show. [[spoiler: He goes out like a hero, but its far from pretty.]] |
| 392 | * TrappedByMountainLions: |
| 393 | ** The "road trip" subplot in Season 4, Volume 1. Mike, Will, Jonathan, and Argyle spend most of the time on the road looking for El and doing absolutely nothing plot-relevant. The writers apparently couldn't work them into any of the other plotlines, as the Hawkins plot was already overcrowded (by episode 6, there are ''eight'' people actively working on the Upside Down investigation) and their presence would be distracting for both El's plot and the USSR RescueArc, due to how personal the former is, and are completely irrelevant they are to the latter. So, they're out on the road, meet Suzie and her wacky siblings and... that's about it. Tellingly, in the [[WhamEpisode Whammy]] Chapter 7, where all other plotlines ([[FourLinesAllWaiting the two mentioned plus Joyce and Murray's rescue mission and Hopper's imprisonment in Russia]]) get to their climactic peak, all of the road trip characters are completely absent (being the first episode ''ever'' where Mike doesn't appear). More than a little disappointing to see [[TheHero Mike]] DemotedToExtra, as well as Jonathan ([[spoiler:whose relationship with Nancy is now being challenged by her and Steve's own subplot]]) and Will (who's birthday is completely forgotten by the other characters and plotlines) and [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter wasted]] again, after similar complaints in the last season. Luckily there's some payoff in volume 2 when their arrival manages to distract a soldier from shooting El, and they witness Dr. Brenner's death. |
| 394 | ** Also in Season 4 is the aforementioned Russia RescueArc, which isn't much better. Joyce and Murray end up spending the ''entire season'' trying to find Hopper and escape the Soviet Union with him, while Hopper himself spends much of his time in a Russian gulag having crossed the DespairEventHorizon while doing nothing plot-relevant. While it's implied that they do end up indirectly helping in the fight against Vecna by fighting some of the captured Demogorgons connected to his HiveMind, the fact that they're literally on the other side of the world far away from where the real action is happening, nor is there any indication that killing the Demogorgons is actually ''helping'' the kids in Hawkins harm Vecna makes the stakes feel a lot lower than they should be. |
| 395 | [[/folder]] |
| 396 | |
| 397 | [[folder:U-W]] |
| 398 | * UglyCute: Dart is strangely adorable for an otherworldly monster. |
| 399 | * UnconvincinglyUnpopularCharacter: |
| 400 | ** Robin is a self-proclaimed band dweeb despite being attractive, witty, and intelligent. This is deconstructed in-universe when Steve attempts to use Robin's "loser" status to justify why he can't date her. Dustin rebukes this by listing off her good points and telling Steve he'd be a fool not to recognize how awesome Robin is. |
| 401 | ** Eddie is charismatic, energetic, fun, loves rock music, and probably the least popular student in Hawkins High. |
| 402 | * UnintentionallySympathetic: Surprisingly, many viewers seemed to sympathise with Jason, thanks to his sympathetic motive for his evil actions, and were hoping he would see the error of his ways in the end and redeem himself. In particular, his actions in the final episode, many empathise with his perspective of events since, to him, he came across [[spoiler: Max in a trance-like state and had reasons to believe Lucas had her in a trance and was about to kill her.]] |
| 403 | * UnpopularPopularCharacter: |
| 404 | ** Dustin is considered an unpopular nerd in-universe, but he is loved by viewers for being one of the most {{Adorkable}} characters. |
| 405 | ** An extreme case is Eleven in Season 4 when she's shown to be bullied and hated by almost everyone at her new school in California, and she was also a BullyMagnet (as seen in the flashbacks) among the other kids at the Hawkins Lab. But she's still the face of the show and the main attraction for the audience. |
| 406 | ** Eddie Munson is a HeroWithBadPublicity hated by everyone except the main cast and his uncle. However, viewers love him for being a charismatic metalhead with HiddenDepths. |
| 407 | * ViewerGenderConfusion: In Season 1, the fact that many characters immediately recognize Eleven as female very quickly is slightly surprising, as children are fairly androgynous before puberty. Though Benny and the others at the diner initially mistook her for a boy and a few other characters described her as boyish, the main cast seemed to pick up on her gender right away. Then again, those who mistook Eleven for a boy probably barely saw her before leaving, but the main characters are able to see her close enough to notice her feminine features. This is obviously not the case in the later seasons, after Eleven grows out her hair naturally. |
| 408 | * SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The second season is much more cinematic than the first, and the upgraded quality of the visuals reflect that. In particular, the climactic scene in the second season where [[spoiler:Eleven closes the Gate]] has CGI that looks like something out of a big-budget Hollywood movie as opposed to something made for a streaming television series. |
| 409 | * WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: While the show seems at a glance to be fairly adult, what with the monsters, BodyHorror and MindRape, it is officially, per Netflix, appropriate for preteens and up. The presence of ''large'' quantities of kid-targeted merchandise and kid-targeted tie-ins supports this. |
| 410 | * WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: |
| 411 | ** Some of the subtext in Season 3, especially concerning Mayor Larry Kline (an [[SmallNameBigEgo egomaniacal]], performatively patriotic CorruptPolitician and [[RichBitch yuppie prick]] who sports a distinctive blond comb-over [[spoiler:and is in league with the Russians by way of a shady construction project]]), could easily be interpreted as a TakeThat at President UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump. Creator/CaryElwes has had to [[https://www.thewrap.com/stranger-things-3-season-3-mayor-kline-cary-elwes-starcourt-mall-july-4th-video/ step in]] and say that it was unintentional, even though he acknowledged that the similarities were real. |
| 412 | ** Jason's crusade has been viewed as a criticism of old-school American values, particularly the nation's role in the War on Terror and pro-Trump populism. Despite his positive image and sympathetic motives, he's far too eager to pick fights with anyone who isn't loyal to himself and mete out violent retribution towards his scapegoats or anyone even vaguely associated with them. In the end [[spoiler: his hotheaded actions cause far more damage than they were supposed to prevent, but he avoids all public accountability (though he does receive a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath Cruel and Unusual]] KarmicDeath) while the target of his hatred is vilified even further, his HeroicSacrifice going largely unrecgonized]]. |
| 413 | * WinBackTheCrowd: Within a week of it dropping on Netflix, critics were already hailing the first part of Season 4 as significantly better than the second and third - thanks to some much needed CharacterRerailment for Hopper, Max, Mike and Nancy, an intriguing new villain, several new well-received characters, and the longer episode time allowing each character and plot to get plenty of focus. Creator/StephenKing himself said it was "as good or better than the previous three". |
| 414 | * WTHCostumingDepartment: |
| 415 | ** By Season 4, many viewers have remarked that the child actors have noticeably aged too much (some even into their twenties) to be convincing as the younger kids they still have to play, with their youthful clothing only making their real ages more evident and awkward. |
| 416 | ** Especially bad is Will's hairdo, with the bowl cut that once looked cute on twelve year old Noah Schnapp circa Season 1 being very ill-suited to the now late teens actor; Schnapp himself tried in vain to get it changed. Making matters worse, it actually ''is'' altered from the prior seasons, being cut shorter, which makes it even more unfashionable and ill fitting on him. |
| 417 | ** Though it's a byproduct of Finn Wolfhard growing it out in real life, fans have noted that Mike's continually longer and messier hair gets more awkward looking each season and is an odd contrast to the character's original look. |
| 418 | ** Eleven's puffy pink socks, which the audience gets a good look at during an otherwise serious scene. |
| 419 | [[/folder]] |
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