Stranger Things dominated Netflix for almost a decade, but it never quite outgrew its first season. To be fair, there are good reasons for that; the Duffer brothers originally envisioned that first season as a sort of “one-and-done,” a “long-form movie” about a child who’s kidnapped. Forget Henry Creel, the Mind-Flayer, and the idea of wormholes; they were never part of the original pitch. In fact, Eleven originally died at the end of the first season, because her story was thought complete.
Plans changed, of course, and Netflix and the Duffer brothers realized they had a potential hit on their hands (although nobody likely expected anything of this scale). But when the Duffer brothers returned for later seasons, they felt they had to consciously riff on many story beats – which made for a degree of repetition, albeit often well done. The problem, though, is that this was naturally always going to be forced. After all, they’d originally been done because they were part of the story, not because they were tropes. So here are three major repeats that were never better than Stranger Things Season 1.
Let’s start with the obvious: Joyce. In every season of Stranger Things, she notices an anomaly and starts focusing on something apparently quite insane. Sometimes it’s as incongruous as magnets falling off a fridge, other times it’s evidence Hopper is still alive. On every occasion, a ridiculous focus leads Joyce to take action, and it proves essential to the plot. It’s all inspired by Season 1’s Christmas lights scenes, where Joyce realizes Will is communicating with her from what she later learns to be the Upside-Down.
The problem, though, is that this becomes old pretty quickly. It doesn’t take long for viewers to conclude Joyce is unusually observant, and that any weirdness around her will turn out to be vitally important. Season 1 was magical precisely because it didn’t make sense, and we weren’t entirely sure it was ever going to; we had no idea what the Upside-Down was, what was going on with Joyce, or whether Will had been taken. The simple act of repeating this plot meant it lost its impact, because we knew the direction from the start.
Now let’s move to Nancy Wheeler, the teen who evolved into one of Hawkins’ greatest detectives. Sure, the Hawkins kids are always in the thick of it, but Nancy is the closest Stranger Things has to a real adult who’s always in the room. She’s whipcrack smart, incredibly observant, and – like Joyce – she had a habit of spotting the one odd thing that will make sense of the plot. Stranger Things even turned this into something of a repeated gag, with comments about her being the show’s version of “Nancy Drew.”
Now, let me be clear; I’m a huge fan of Nancy (and I love the Nancy Drew books). But the problem is, Nancy’s investigative role tends to come off a little artificial. She happens to be the one who gets a phone call, she happens to spot something odd… it’s a little repetitive. In contrast, back in Season 1, Nancy was drawn into the crisis by virtue of her guilt after Barb’s death. Her role is character-driven rather than plot-driven, meaning it works so much more effectively. After that, Nancy is involved primarily because that’s what always happens in Stranger Things.
Let’s end with Mr. Clarke, the iconic character who first explained the Upside Down to the Hawkins kids. He’s fantastic, far too smart for Hawkins, but he clearly loves kids – explaining his entire role in the show. Back in Season 1, Mr. Clarke happily explained how different dimensions could co-exist with our own. He postulated the existence of a tea in time and space, which ultimately became the basis for the gates to the Upside-Down. His lecture even told the kids how to track it down.
Mr. Clarke had a constant presence in Stranger Things, even eventually learning the truth about what the kids had been dealing with. Some of these plot beats were great; I particularly love Joyce’s decision to go to Mr. Clarke’s house, which led to a jealous argument between Joyce and Hopper. But, again, this was simple repetition rather than innovation; Mr. Clarke was loved, he was part of the formula, so he simply had to appear. In contrast, his role was fresh and original in Season 1, which is where it worked best.
