Stranger Things may be beloved by its sizeable fanbase, but the Netflix hit has a major issue with using fake-out deaths to artificially up the emotional stakes of its story. Debuting in mid-2016, Stranger Things soon became a huge hit for streaming service Netflix and the show’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, a.k.a. the Duffer Brothers.
It is easy to see why Stranger Things earned a huge fanbase. The show’s story of a ragtag group of kids from the small town of Hawkins, Indiana uncovering a government conspiracy and encountering all manner of paranormal monsters while navigating the tricky territory of adolescence recreates many of the elements of 80s pop culture that viewers are nostalgic for, from horror to sci-fi, to coming-of-age dramedy and romance. Speaking of 80s pop culture, Stranger Things also uses its setting to great effect, evoking nostalgia for the bygone era’s fashions and aesthetic trends while ignoring the harsher realities of 80s society explored by the darker likes of Stephen King’s It.
However, that is not to say that the action of Stranger Things is without stakes, although the show does have a recurring issue with artificially inflating said stakes. Stranger Things relies on fake-out deaths to provide instant, impactful emotional reactions, but these shocks are subsequently undone by the revelation that the vital character is actually alright after all. This has been an issue since back in season 1, but as Stranger Things progressed, the series has run into more and more trouble due to its tendency to fake major character deaths. Stranger Things is far from the only show to indulge in this tired trope, which is not uncommon throughout horror and sci-fi TV series. However, repeatedly faking the deaths of major characters is damaging the dark tone that Stranger Things is attempting to establish, as proven by the third season’s simultaneously sillier and gorier tone.
Season 1 “Killed off” Eleven and Will Byers
The discovery of Will Byers’ body, set to Peter Gabriel’s haunting cover of David Bowie's "Heroes," was a particularly egregious case of this as early agents of Hawkins Lab. It’s a silly reveal that cheapens the preceding scene and presaged a serious issue that would recur throughout subsequent seasons of Stranger Things.
The same thing happened with Eleven. Originally, the Duffers had pitched it as a limited series and planned for Eleven to sacrifice herself – seemingly exactly as she did – at the end. But when it was revamped as a multi-season series, Eleven had to be spared. Thus, her "death" was quickly reverted, with one of the final scenes of the first season showing Hopper venturing into the woods with a gift of Eggo waffles, indicating Eleven hadn't died, after all. While Eleven is the engine that drives the series and it made sense that killing her off would be unwise, the gut punch and heartbreak of her "death" were undermined. It would have been better had the series not framed it as her last moments at all.
The “Death” of Dr. Brenner
Killed off at the close of season 1 by taking a Demogorgon to the face, the nefarious villain Dr. Brenner is later revealed to be alive somehow during a throwaway line from Stranger Things season 2. This twist should be a shocking reveal, but thanks to the show’s cheapening of even onscreen deaths, it has been largely forgotten by many in the fandom. The revelation that Wrong Turn star Matthew Modine’s creepy villain is lurking somewhere in the world of Stranger Things could have been more effective if the series had not already established this disheartening tendency to ignore character deaths by bringing back both Will and Eleven after their apparent season 1 demise. This proves that the show’s dramatic momentum between seasons is compromised by relying on cheap fake-out deaths, but there are other issues with Stranger Things’ fake deaths.
Stranger Things’ Fake Deaths Cheapen Its Real Casualties
The deaths of the town bully Billy, Joyce’s short-lived love interest Bob Newby, and Nancy’s friend/fan-favorite Barb in seasons 3, 2, and 1 respectively were all made less impactful by the fact that they were buttressed by fake-out deaths like those of Eleven, Will, and Hopper. Billy's redemption and death in Stranger Things season 3 was a rare moving moment for the series but was immediately overshadowed by Hopper’s self-sacrifice—which was promptly undone, much like Eleven's death, with a final scene showing he was alive in Siberia. Meanwhile, Bob Newby’s demise was such a sudden shock that many fans thought it was a setup for a twist that never came, an assumption that came about because of Stranger Things’ loose treatment of death.
How Fake Deaths Make Real Deaths More Predictable
Odd as it may sound, the tendency that Stranger Things has to fake major character deaths makes it paradoxically easier for canny fans to guess which characters will be killed off. For example, the apparent death of Eleven at the close of season 1 made it clear that returning characters established during the action Stranger Things season 1 were less likely to die than newcomers since they were central to the show’s overarching plot. This cast suspicion on Bob Newby, local bully Billy Hargrove, and season 3’s Soviet spy Alexei, all of whom were given a lot of screen time for characters with a scant practical connection to the central plot. It is still not outright easy to guess which Stranger Things characters will be killed off, with Max being an example of a new arrival who became central to the main cast of the series. But by and large, if Stranger Things establishes an emotional connection with a seemingly unimportant figure, fans can be all-but-certain that they will be the next to go, thus sapping the series of any unpredictability.
How Stranger Things 4 Can Fix This
Actually killing off a major character could help Stranger Things regain some of its gravity, rather than killing off only characters who were introduced in the same season they died in. Killing off guest stars like Cary Elwes’ slimy mayor would give the show more of an edge in the immediate future, but a central character death would be necessary to truly force viewers to become invested in the supposedly life-or-death stakes of Stranger Things again. While viewers have grown attached to all of the central cast, culling one or two of Stranger Things' main players in season 4 could be just what the series needs to bring its darker, edgier side back into focus and make the threat of death matter again.