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"Stranger Things" Has An Ensemble Problem

SEASON 4 SPOILERS

By Jessica ConawayPublished 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 5 min read
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Photo attribution: أشياء غريبة (الموسم 4 via Wikimedia Commons

A stoner, a cheerleader, a nerdy weirdo and a friendly Russian walk into the fourth season of a popular TV show…

Isn’t that how the old joke goes?

Since its debut in late 2016, Netflix’s Stranger Things has captivated a worldwide audience desperate for 80s nostalgia. At the forefront of the phenomenon was the show’s main cast; a rag-tag group of middle-school misfits who always seem to find themselves in an upside-down world full of trouble. But as is the case with most shows, the more popular it gets, the more it grows. Everything gets bigger when you’re a streaming service darling; budgets, sets, effects…

And casts.

The Stranger Things character hierarchy was pretty simple in the beginning. In season one, the main cast members were five prepubescent kids (Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Eleven), hot mess mother Joyce, Hawkins Chief of Police Jim Hopper, and Dr. Brenner, our sadistic villain. We’re also introduced to a few secondary characters — teenagers dealing with their own B story — and perhaps a few tertiary adults scattered about to move the story along.

Season two bumped the teenagers — Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan, that is (RIP Barb) — to the main plotline, while siblings Max and Billy, scientist Dr. Owens and lovable shlub Bob Newby slipped into the B story. And who could forget Murray Bauman, the new secondary adult? Definitely not the writers and showrunners, because by the third season, Murray jumped right into the main storyline as Joyce and Hopper’s third wheel, all existing TV story formulas were ignored, and the lines between the A, B, and C were completely erased. Even though our beloved characters are grouped separately, each story was its own integral part of the plot. So, our season three main characters are Joyce, Hopper, Murray Bauman, Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, Max, and Billy (because he’s the villain now).

But wait! There’s more!

Season three also brought us four brand new first-string characters to join our main cast on their adventures. We meet plucky Robin — a new proverbial Abbot to Steve’s proverbial Costello — and sassy voice-of-reason Erica. On the other side of town, an adorable Russian scientist named Alexi joins the adult trio, and possessed lifeguard Heather teams up with baddie Billy to do the Mind Flayer’s bidding.

So to recap, our 14 main characters thus far are Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max, Joyce, Hopper, Murray, Steve, Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, and Erica.

This brings us to season four. The first seven episodes debuted on Netflix on May 27th after a very long, two-year wait (thanks, Covid). The forced hiatus has given us fans many gifts; super-sized episodes, amazing special effects, crazy action sequences…

And many, many new people to meet.

In Hawkins, there’s Eddie Munson, the punk-rock dungeon master at the forefront of the controversy who teams up with the gang. Elsewhere, charmed basketball jock Jason Carver leads a spiritual witch hunt with the help of his teammates. On the west coast, loveable stoner Argyle gets roped into a Byers Family rescue-pade (rescue + escapade. New word! I called it!), and Dr. Owens makes a triumphant return to top-billing. As does Brenner, the original Big Bad, and a helpful hospital orderly named Peter.

And, of course, we can’t forget our two new Russian friends Uri and Enzo, who join the literal American Recovery Mission.

So our main characters are Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Eleven, Max, Steve, Nancy, Robin, Jonathan, Erica, Eddie, Argyle, Jason, Joyce, Hopper, Murray, Enzo, Uri, Dr. Owens, Dr. Brenner, and Peter.

In case you’ve lost track, that’s 22 characters with major storylines.

22 characters that need to be so fleshed out and three-dimensional that we the audience can make immediate, emotional connections to them.

22 characters that need to be able to move the action forward in an organic way.

That’s a tall order for even the best of showrunners.

Thing is, between the writing team and cast, Stranger Things isn’t doing a terrible job keeping up. There are many lovely moments in which the cast — both new and old — get to flex their acting muscles and really dig into the meat of a scene.

But therein lies the problem. We only get these scenes in bite-sized portions.

Take, for example, a rather grown-up argument between Mike and Eleven. Just a few lines in, both actors (Finn Wolfhard and Millie Bobby Brown, respectively) seem to tap into some big feelings, and the scene suddenly becomes uncomfortably real. We’ve seen these two characters develop emotionally over a few seasons, and this should be a cathartic payoff for us all. But then it’s over just as quickly as it started, and now we’re back in a Russian gulag with Hopper and Enzo, because the story has to keep moving along.

In another scene, we see Eddie — who we’ve only just met — let his “crazy freak” guard down for a vulnerable conversation with a troubled cheerleader. We don’t even know Eddie yet, but we’re completely ready to watch his journey. And yet, in the very next scene, back to California we go!

It’s sort of like the TV equivalent of having to sneeze very badly, but then the feeling goes away.

There’s another issue here, too. Our new characters are so likable that we want to see more of them! But what will that mean for our original heroes? The show creators have said countless times that Stranger Things will end with season five. But each new season needs new characters, right? New characters are an easy and convenient way to provide the audience a recap of events. But frankly, some of our old buddies don’t seem to have much of a purpose lately (lookin’ at you, Jonathan Byers), and some of the new guys would benefit nicely from some additional screen time (because seriously, we’ve all known a loveable weed guy like Argyle at some point, right?).

So will each and every character get an ending that will satisfy even the most die-hard fan? Only time will tell.

Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait as long to find out.

This story originally appeared at: https://jalconaway.medium.com/stranger-things-has-an-ensemble-problem-4fac38b4751c

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About the Creator

Jessica Conaway

Full-time writer, mother, wife, and doughnut enthusiast.

Twitter: @MrsJessieCee

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