Stranger Things has featured a couple of pointless subplots over the season, however, the show’s forthcoming season 4 can still save among the show’s worst diversions. Debuting in 2016, Netflix hit Stranger Things started life as a small-town mystery mixed with horror and sci-fi elements. The show was an immediate word-of-mouth hit for the platform, and thanks to a great cast and strong writing, the last three seasons have noticed Stranger Things develop into a pop culture phenomenon.
The show is also partly responsible for the present wave of 1980s nostalgia on both big and small screens. Stranger Things gained acclaim as a result of its Amblin Entertainment-style experiences, gory horror, and intriguing central puzzle. But throughout its three seasons, Stranger Things has not been without some weak subplots. Like every series, it’s featured some obvious filler episodes along with unexpected story diversions that received a mixed reception, with probably the most famous example being El’s missing sister in season 2.
But, no Stranger Things subplot has shown as pointless as Jonathan and Nancy’s stint working for small-town newspaper The Hawkins Post. The series can still cure this dilemma in the upcoming fourth year, adjusting both the season 3 subplot and yet another season 4 issue in one move.
At the start of Stranger Things season 3, things finally appear to be searching for Jonathan and Nancy. Due to their earlier adventures, they have now secured #Justice4Barb, solidified their standing as a couple, and even ended up reaching an understanding with Nancy’s ex Steve. However, despite the duo being established as a rare stable pairing in the world of Stranger Things, their period at the Hawkins Post watched Jonathan ignore Nancy’s persistent harassment by co-workers and even tell her to do the same. It’s an out-of-character second that does not fit with the Jonathan established in prior seasons of Stranger Things, along with the scene feels supposed to lead Nancy to rely upon her mother for support.
Said mother soon provides a rousing speech about female empowerment, a recurring theme of this show’s third season. The only trouble for this subplot is that said mother is Karen Wheeler, which was notable for indirectly leading to Billy’s Mind Flayer possession by nearly having an affair with the high schooler. Despite Karen never being a particularly heroic character, Stranger Things tried to give her a moving moment with her daughter and devolved Jonathan from the process. The scene goes contrary to both Jonathan and Karen’s established personalities, but that’s not the only problem…
Tom and Bruce, the editor-in-chief and sleazy columnist of The Hawkins Post respectively, were both worst perpetrators of Nancy’s workplace harassment. This Stranger Things subplot had the capability to operate, as Tom is an effective representation of subtle office misogyny in his dismissal of Nancy’s contributions to the paper, while Bruce plays with transparency for this, behaving like a more openly boorish, mean-spirited harasser. However, prior to the series could address Nancy’s quandary, the harassment storyline gets redundant since Tom and Bruce progress to attempted murder.
It’s a tiny egregious the once-grounded Stranger Things expected season 3 audiences to accept that the denizens of Hawkins were overly distracted by a funfair to notice a monster rampaging through the woods, or the city’s many missing folks do not raise any red flags. However, the fate of the Hawkins Post is just one of Stranger Things’ largest plot holes yet. Two of the newspaper’s leading members, the editor-in-chief and columnist, were killed by their own interns and turned to goo. What happened to the newspaper at the wake and did their co-workers notice? Are they showing up to do the job? Reporters are the type of people who would interrogate such a puzzle.
It’s a subplot whose story is not properly resolved, and the more Stranger Things viewers unravel the question of how the public did not notice the Hawkins Post evaporating immediately, the more season 3’s far-fetched events look hard to suspend disbelief for. Stranger Things has always been a series that featured sci-fi and horror elements, but it is mostly a relatively grounded small-town mystery and drama, so this narrative makes it impossible for the series to maintain this element unless viewers are to believe Hawkins has the least curious people – and by extension, paper staff – on earth.
Jonathan and Nancy’s stint in the Hawkins Post didn’t add up to much in terms of character or narrative, but season 4 might address this in a way that also answers the query of whether the Byers will return to Hawkins. The paper subplot seems pointless in hindsight, but a project in the now-reopened paper could give the Byers – or at the very least Jonathan – an excuse to return to the city in Stranger Things season 4.
This would explain the way the central team reunites and rescue the romances of the two Mike and Eleven and Jonathan and Nancy. Not only that but a brand new newspaper owner – perhaps one that would like to record on the regular absurd goings-on in the town of Hawkins instead of dismissing them – could be a lot more believable and engaging. A story that sees Jonathan and Nancy conflicted over what elements to pay up and everything to reveal could also offer these Stranger Things supporting stars the characters that they deserve from the sequence.