10 Years Later, Stranger Things Season 1 Still Hides A Hard Truth

Although Stranger Things has a massive fan base, ten years after the show’s season 1 debut, it has become increasingly difficult to hide from one difficult truth about the series. From Hulu’s 2023 revival of the RL Stine adaptation Goosebumps to Prime Video’s Paper Girls to Netflix’s own I Am Not Okay With This, Locke & Key, and iconic slasher series the Fear Street trilogy, there have been plenty of attempts to replicate the success of Stranger Things in the last decade.

This makes sense, since Stranger Things was one of the streaming service’s breakout hits back in July 2016. By then, earlier critical successes like House of Cards, Orange Is The New Black, and BoJack Horseman had already made the streaming service a hot commodity, but it was mainstream smash hits like Stranger Things that made Netflix a household name. The Stranger Things franchise was a massive global pop culture phenomenon that spawned tie-in comics and novels, an animated spinoff show, and more merchandise than anyone could have predicted.

However, the sprawling success of Stranger Things has always been bittersweet for one awkward reason. The show’s first season proved so popular precisely because its eight-episode run, which was released in mid-July 2016, was a perfect, self-contained story. Originally intended to be a standalone miniseries, Stranger Things season 1 focused on El’s escape from her shadowy captors in Hawkins Lab, Will’s time trapped in the Upside Down, and Mike, Lucas, and Dustin’s attempts to save both of their friends.

Stranger Things Never Topped Its Season 1 Success

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From Charlie Heaton’s Stranger Things supporting character Jonathan to Shannon Purser’s infamously doomed sidekick Barb, season 1 was filled with believable minor cast members who fleshed out the world of the series. Although much was made of the show’s debt to Steven Spielberg’s Amblin movies from the ‘80s, a re-watch of season 1 proves that Stephen King’s output from the same era was arguably the show’s biggest influence.

From its unflinching portrayals of violent bullying to the incidental homophobia of supporting characters, Stranger Things season 1 offered an unvarnished depiction of the ‘80s that didn’t gloss over the ugly sides of the decade. For every sequence that made viewers nostalgic for John Carpenter movies, there was a moment of ugliness that reminded the audience this was the era of Reaganomics, of economic devastation throughout middle America, and of stifling social conservatism.

This critical lens was shared by the show that best emulated Stranger Things season 1, HBO Max’s later Stephen King adaptation IT: Welcome to Derry, but it was filed down as the series itself progressed. Stranger Things season 2 was the best follow-up to season 1, but it very much felt like more of the same, and made a point of toning down the uglier elements of ‘80s culture in favor of a cheerier, less morally murky depiction.

It was in season 2 that Joe Keery’s bullying jock Steve became the cuddly hero fans adored, and the same season turned David Harbour’s Hopper from a deeply troubled, traumatized protagonist into a standard surly television father. In terms of pacing, Eleven and Mike’s reunion took forever, and the less said about “Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister,” the better. Suffice to say, while season 2 worked fine, it was far from flawless, and a harbinger of things to come for the series.

Stranger Things Hurt Its Legacy With Its Later Seasons

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Now that the dust has settled six months after the show’s series finale, it is fair to say that Stranger Things season 3 has aged the worst out of the show’s five outings, despite a killer villain performance from Dacre Montgomery as Billy. Broad, cartoonish, and outright silly, season 3 became a tongue-in-cheek celebration of ‘80s pop culture complete with one-dimensional Soviet stock villains, secret labs hidden under the mall, and a gargantuan blob eating half the people of Hawkins.

The fact that season 4 managed to use the in-universe games of Dungeons and Dragons to ground its action and return to a more mature story with tangible stakes was a minor miracle, and season 4 is undeniably a great comeback. However, with Mike, Will, Argyle, and Jonathan aimlessly road tripping across America throughout most of its runtime, it is also fair to say even this outing has a lot of plotting and pacing issues.

Meanwhile, season 5 was just a completely different show, an effects-laden, quip-heavy blockbuster that traded in the human drama of seasons 1 and 2 for constant action set pieces and a convoluted plot about dimensional wormholes that could have come from the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Multiverse saga. None of the main characters of Stranger Things had a chance to grow or change amid the final season’s costly CGI-heavy din, and this proved once and for all that the show would have been better off as a one-off miniseries.

Stranger Things Season 1 Is A Better Self-Contained Story Than Seasons 1—5

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The grounded darkness and subtle social commentary of Stranger Things season 1 was completely gone by season 3, replaced by sitcom-level characterization and jingoistic patriotism. Even though season 4 was admittedly scarier and heavier, and even included some of the best sequences in the series as a whole, the show still never retrieved the pathos and believability of its original outing after bringing back Eleven in season 2.

While it is tough to imagine a version of the show without Eddie’s iconic Stranger Things sacrifice, it is still worth critically re-evaluating the endings of season 1 and season 5 to see where the series should ideally have wrapped up. The season 1 finale is more tonally consistent, it has a more moving ending that is basically the same in terms of plot (in that Eleven is possibly alive, but can’t be with Mike), and, unlike season 5’s coda, it doesn’t struggle with a gargantuan cast.

It was hard to feel like Stranger Things season 5 had any meaningful stakes when Dustin, Mike, Will, Lucas, Max, Robin, Jonathan, Steve, Hopper, Murray, Nancy, Holly, Mrs. Wheeler, and Joyce all survived the events of the finale, whereas season 1’s ending packed a real punch thanks to Eleven’s ambiguous fate. Ultimately, with fewer stakes, none of the show’s original sharp critique of ‘80s nostalgia, and a less original, unique vision, the Stranger Things series finale was proof that the show should always have remained a one-season miniseries.

Release Date

2016 – 2025-00-00

Network

Netflix

Showrunner

Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer

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