Spoilers in the following look at the latest season of the Netflix series.
A Christian take on the new season of Stranger Things begins and ends with Eleven and her relationship to Hopper. That relationship—its ups, its downs, and its upside downs—becomes the beating heart of this season.
When we last saw El, she’d proven herself a worthy Jesus figure. She was mysterious, a charismatic mediator between the known and the unknown. What’s more, in the first season finale, she sacrificed herself to the Demogorgon before a well-placed box of Eggos hinted that the tomb was empty. But at the risk of sounding cynical, all of those subtle hints of the old, old story became—emotionally speaking—minimized amid a slew of other likewise provocative references. The death and resurrection of Eleven-Jesus was just another in a sea of symbols, drifting alongside the bikes of ET and Sean Astin from The Goonies. This year, the Christian imagery packs a greater emotional punch, because it’s not exclusively “Christian”—it’s human. Personal, concrete, real.
Eleven begins Season 2 having broken out of the relatively weak mold of “Christ figure.” Her status, now, is smaller, less epic—an orphan. Even less, a tween orphan. She is taken in by Chief Hopper, who continues to grieve the tragic passing of his real daughter, Sara, and the basis of their relationship—secrecy, stoicism, and rules—quickly proves faulty. Hop commands Eleven to stay inside at all times, for almost a year…and understandably, she just can’t obey.
After their relationship bottoms out, Hop is moved to apologize. “There are a lot of things I shouldn’t have done,” he says. “Sometimes I feel like I’m just some kind of black hole or something.”
Eleven looks confused. “Black hole?” she asks.
“Yeah, it’s this thing in outer space. It sucks everything towards it and destroys it… And somehow, somehow I’ve just been scared, you know? I’ve been scared that the black hole would take you, too. I think that’s why I get so mad. I’m so sorry for everything. I can be so… so…”
“Stupid.”
Hop laughs. “Yeah. Stupid.”
In Stranger Things 2, black holes are everywhere, riddled throughout the show, first and foremost in the Hawkins Lab, then tunneling underneath the idyllic town, and finally—and most importantly—running among the characters themselves.
Last year I hypothesized that Stranger Things blew up because viewers longed for its purity. We were enamored of a simpler time, a time without cell phones, without social media, without fake news; a time of board games and yellow shag rugs; a time when kids could walk around safely at night; a time when the worst call the police ever got was when an owl landed on Eleanor Gillespie’s head because it thought that her hair was a nest. We longed for a time that never existed. But in Season 2, that illusion of purity is torn down—time after time.
In one clever scene, Lucas recaps the entire first season for his new crush, Max. She obviously doesn’t believe him (in her life, apparently, stranger things have not happened), and she says, “I really liked [your story], but I had a few issues. I just felt that it was a little derivative in parts… I just wish you’d have had a little more originality, that’s all.” By and large, these were the (rare, outlying) criticisms of the first season—that the characters leaned too heavily on clichés: Steve, for example, was the classic hotshot boyfriend, the bullies were, well, bullies, and Barb (poor Barb) was the sanctified best friend. By the end of that season, however, those clichés had either been shaken up or outgrown or…killed off (it still hurts).
Season 2 continues in that vein, developing and challenging the characters into newer, stranger places. While the show proceeds to delight in genre references—I nearly choked when Sean Astin said, “What’s at the X? Pirate treasure?”—this time, those references are less the show’s building blocks and more a fun game of “I Spy,” leaving room for more nuanced conflict and character development. Where in the last season so much of the trouble involved the cold, evil world, or the corruption of the scientists, the characters are now fighting among and within themselves. They shuffle around, leave the comfort of their cliques, and rub shoulders with people who are not like them.
Similarly, so much classic horror involves the loss of innocence. We saw this most explicitly last season when Barb’s death coincided with Nancy’s loss of virginity. This season, the innocence question is raised, but with greater intensity: Will is not merely physically lost, but spiritually. Possessed, he becomes a spy for the Mind Flayer—he becomes untrustworthy, and dangerous. That he happens to be in middle school during all of this is no coincidence…this is his coming-of-age. He’s not just escaping the Upside Down; he is becoming it in order to get through it.
Even the kids who aren’t possessed by the Mind Flayer are possessed by themselves: Dustin, for example, selfishly harbors what is quite obviously a baby Demogorgon in order to impress a girl; likewise, Lucas breaks the party rules in order to impress that same girl and to, worse, stiff-arm Dustin; Nancy (thankfully, finally) faces up to her culpability in Barb’s death and its subsequent cover-up; Hopper has become a jailer full of empty promises, while Eleven throws regular temper tantrums and breaks the three simple rules of safe living, going all the way to Chicago to totally lose (and thereafter find) herself. We begin to clearly see that the perceived innocence of this show is—once again—an illusion. Whatever innocence the characters may have enjoyed last season was a grace of circumstance; left to their own devices, we now see that they crumble and are corrupted as easily as the rest of us. All of which suggests that the characters in Stranger Things 2 are not the only ones maturing. The story itself is growing up, becoming more nuanced, more perceptive of what it means to be a person in the world. If there was one character who fell flat this season, it was Jonathan. His defining character trait is being tortured and misunderstood. But this season everyone is tortured and misunderstood, so he doesn’t stand out anymore.
At this point, we begin to see that the name Stranger Things really works for this show. It’s a show about the stranger things that have happened. The showrunners are pointing at an element of truth in their twisted and dark underworld…and that twisted darkness is not (mainly) an unfortunate side-effect of a science experiment. It is, first and foremost, being human.
Eleven’s final task is to close the gate between Earth and the Upside Down. In order to do so, she must get in touch with those experiences that have caused her the most pain. Just as Will became conflated with the dark shadow from the Upside Down, Eleven must directly engage what her sister Kali calls “the wound inside her.” In that climactic moment, it’s almost as if Eleven is in the depths of hell, at her very bottom—she looks scary, as well, two streams of blood pouring from her nose. Here, at her worst, in the pit of her despair, she is able to look directly at her life’s problems and begin to, at last, deal with them honestly (by telekinetically forcing shut an interdimensional gate and levitating; seems easy enough). All that to say, if you’re unfamiliar with a theology of the cross, this is a wonderful place to start. Furthermore, when Eleven descends into the pit in a rickety elevator, the man who will eventually adopt her is there, with her—police chief Hopper, the black hole himself.
In the final sequence, Hop acquires a birth certificate stating that Eleven is his daughter. In its final moments, Stranger Things 2—the show about the wild things that have happened, the things that are so absurd you wouldn’t believe them—becomes the story of a girl, lost and alone, orphaned and hungry, who, in the end, finds a home. Not only that, but she finds a home and receives a name. Jane Hopper. As with all things in this universe, nothing is simple. The final eerie shot shows Hawkins flipped upside down, suggesting that there is trouble ahead. But at least for now, together, they are home.
Stray thoughts:
- On explicit references to religion: there just aren’t very many. The closest we get (it seems to me) is in the final episode when we’re given what essentially amounts to an exorcism…sans priest. I’ve wondered a lot about this. Perhaps it’s a “secular” show, speaking a secular language, to a secular audience…but all the while casting doubt on that framework. Obviously the supernatural elements challenge the imminent worldview. Likewise, the science v. faith conflict is somewhat obliquely evoked, simply because the scientists have failed and mismanaged their power. In Season 1 they opened a wound; now only the supernatural can heal it.
- Steve is the real MVP this season. I’ve been racking my brains for what to write about him. Just…great job, Steve. Dunno if he’s the right guy for Nancy, but I don’t really care anymore. I think that’s the point. He’s a sufficient character on his own.
- Jonathan’s failure as an outcast was confirmed for me when he mistook Siouxsie Sioux for Kiss.
- It seems to be an open question about whether or not this is a horror show. There are some irrefutably disturbing visuals throughout, not the least of which was Bob the Brain getting eaten alive…RIP :’( Overall, though, this show is such a seductive, endearing experience that you can’t really put it alongside, say, Penny Dreadful. I would love to read some comments about this. To me, the defiance of category keeps this show fresh.
- The Snow Ball was exactly what was needed to close out this wonderful season. I loved seeing the characters living life away from the perils of that rogue science lab, away from demodogs and nosebleeds, and coping with what amounts to a roller coaster of a middle school dance. Dustin becomes a mini-Steve, not only because he uses his hair product (!!!), but because, despite sharing a dance with Nancy, he cannot ultimately be with her. I wonder what will happen with Mike and Eleven/Jane? Which name will he call her? How many episodes before they break up next season? “You’re just too weird, El, I’m sorry!”
- Favorite moments: when Hopper finds himself in the tunnel and the frame turns upside down; when Bob the Brain figures out the “map”; when Eleven finally appears at the end of “Chapter 8,” at just the right moment; when you realize Nancy will dance with Dustin.
COMMENTS
16 responses to “Secret Demodogs and (Spiritual) Black Holes: Stranger Things 2 Loses Its Innocence”
Leave a Reply
Beautiful bit of prose, this: “Whatever innocence the characters may have enjoyed was a grace of circumstance; left to their own devices, we now see that they crumble and are corrupted as easily as the rest of us. All of which suggests that the characters in Stranger Things 2 are not the only ones maturing. The story itself is growing up, becoming more nuanced, more perceptive of what it means to be a person in the world.”
Awesome recap. One of the things I keep going back to is the level of empathy each character seems to get from the showrunners. Even Billy has a backstory!
Favorite scene (before the damn phone rang) was the love-purge on Will Byers in the shed with all the lights. I loved that that was their way of helping Will remember who he was–how much THEY loved HIM. And geez, what acting by that kid!
Also, did anyone get Jurassic Park/raptor vibes when the lab got ransacked? The plotline (turning the system back on) but also the setting (the flashing lights, the hiding spot, etc.)…felt like a hat tip to me.
Totally got the JP vibe from that sequence, right after the deliberate echo of Aliens vis-a-vis the soldiers in the hub becoming surrounded by demodogs and the radar screen readout showing them getting pulverized. But back to Jurassic Park, Bob kinda became Ellie and Muldoon both, all the while summoning up the ghost of Quint, albeit a more immediately likeable Quint. I love that Bob proved wrong Jonathan’s maxim from the first ep, that normal people never do anything of consequence. Bob wasn’t that remarkable of a guy because being a solid dude who esteem others more highly than yourself doesn’t advance you in the world economy, but that same un-remarkableness fitted him to do the remarkabke thing and make the sacrifice play.
One of the more memorable references to religion was when Lucas responds to Max’s concern about being found by the Demodogs as “judgement day”.
It was also a cool nod to Ghostbusters, as it was the same thing Winston elicits from Stantz while discussing the Book of Revelation while driving through New York.
I’m with you COMPLETELY on Steve Harrington. The new tortured soul who can fight Demogorgons but can’t seem to get the girl.
Surprisingly responsible and brave, my new fav character in the Stranger Things universe.
Perhaps he’ll run for office in future installments or spinoffs!
Straight for the jugular here: ST *is* horror precisely because it draws back the veil to reveal the shadow intelligence underneath and alongside and at right angles to the little-d dramas of human life. We’re all Barbs in danger of being ravaged while our friend stupidly acts out and does precisely what we cautioned them not to do, or Bob the Brains summoning our nerdified expertise to save the plebs and getting devoured because we pause at precisely the wrong moment. The juxtaposition of gore and dread with the quotidian and commonplace is genuine horror, because it is reality.
☝ was in response to “I would love to read some comments about this,” just to clarify. I think the show’s freshness is found in inhabiting that tension between liget, dark, grey, grim and jovial and somber that good horror is. I guess I see it as a witness against how rotten most horror is. (Come at me, Blake!)
Ian! Thanks so much for responding about this. It’s a conversation I’m really interested in having. My only hesitation in categorizing ST as horror is, I have a hard time imagining that the creators are really trying to horrify us… They definitely want a spooky atmosphere, but it’s almost like Hocus Pocus or when a Disney villain has a solo, in that it mostly feels innocuous…EXCEPT for those few moments when ST “crosses the line” (and it does!!), e.g., when Will is consumed by the dark shadow at the end of episode 3 and is thereafter “possessed,” and, as you mention, the fates of Bob or Barb are certainly horrifying and left all of us shook (but note: they’ve killed off 2 side characters in 2 seasons…it’s like they’re hitting the minimum quota, just enough for it to feel a liiiiittle unsafe (off the top of my head, even Jane the Virgin killed off more characters in her first 2 seasons haha…I suppose good horror a death does not make…)). In the end, I guess it depends on who I’m recommending it to haha. If they don’t like horror, I won’t call it that, since I know they’ll probably enjoy it regardless.
That said, I love that your definition of horror revolves around what it means to be human and how a show/artwork taps into that low anthropology. Super interesting idea…I think I agree but I have to mull it over. 🙂 Either way, I too had a similar experience when comparing this show to so much other horror—it really outshines most stuff. The most scary stuff definitely needs some light in it, to make the dark darker.
High Point: When you just knew that Bob was going to go into the dark and turn on the lights, and that there was no way he would make it back. Mikey & Samwise would have been so proud.
Low Point: The entirety of Episode 7. I realize we needed a way to keep Elle away from the gang until that great moment in Episode 8, but I found all of the misfit-Chicago gang to be way too much like typical network TV. Like we were watching a potential spinoff; burning an episode to meet a count from the network; et cetera. Anybody else have a thought about E7?
Jay, so good to hear from you on here! Yes—I felt the same way about Bob’s death. That was a huge adrenaline rush, even though we all knew exactly what was going to happen… It’s almost like the Duffers were trying to outdo the drama of Barb’s death. Bob was just so great…there was no way he wasn’t going to die
And yeah, ep7 was super weird/disappointing …for some reason, I was able to forgive them for it. I guess I liked the idea behind it. I was glad to see Eleven on her own, and to be reminded that she is not inherently a “good person” or a savior, that she, like everyone else, has her own problems to work through. It was her opportunity to get prodigal. But yeah, it was almost like they were trying to make that episode as hackneyed as possible. no idea why. I hope she keeps up her edgy punk look for next season… 🙂
While I’d agree it was the weakest ep of the season, I think that based on execution and not in concept. I like having the wayward fork in the road for Eleven, a fork that permits Eleven a glimpse of becoming the monster some see her as, but more importantly as the monster “Papa” is. I’m glad we got a “mercy triumphs over judgment” moment in ST, and as long as a spin-off doesn’t materialize, I really like having a sideways glance into the hidden history of other numbered kids that have been experimented on. So yes, I agree it could’ve been done better, but on the whole I like the Dickensian turn Eleven entertains but abandons. And it gives us that wonderful exchange:
“I can’t save you.”
“I know. But I can save them.” [cue tears]
Totally agree about the “sideways glance.” Emphasis on sideways. (And glance…) I hope the numbered kids stay mostly a mystery in future seasons. I have total confidence in the Duffers by now, but my fingers are crossed against an x-men/avengers development
Loved the mercy/justice moment of them arguing over the man, holding the gun. And the “I can save them” line at the end. In that sense, we needed SOMETHING to get Elle from her mom’s house running away back to Hawkins to the people that love her (and need her!). So, yeah: maybe execution and not concept. Elle is on a journey, and we want to see how and why she changes; a sideways glance at her “sister” isn’t a bad idea.
It just felt clumsy to me, I think, over two thirds of the way through the season to totally shift gears. Everything had been so well integrated, switching arcs seamlessly–to be in Chicago the whole time felt like a time drag.
I’ll go on record here and say that if they spinoff like The Avengers (or, like The Flash if you watch that; another great show that suffers from character glut) I will be more than a little disappointed…
I think that’s the main thing for me, that the Chicago episode was 100% Eleven away from everything else and stopping the main story dead in its tracks. And yet perhaps that’s the only way to replicate the Hawkins crew’s tension/terror in the viewer: forcing us to wait, making us pound the arm of the chair and shout, “GET BACK TO HAWKINS! HURRY!” Maybe that’s the only way to arrive at the eucatastrophe of Eleven arriving home utterly unexpected.
And while I love the Avengers and the MCU , that just isn’t what this show needs at all. I’m all for shadowy, nefarious screwings around with human nature for arcane purposes of international intrigue, but do that without making an unlikely superhero team.
☝”*You know they* can’t save you.” Sheesh!