Murray was so flanderized that by season 5 he communicated exclusively through quippy one-liners.

My boy Jonathan deserved better than being turned into a stoner for a season and then a nothing character onwards. He was phenomenal in season 1.

once i learned the creators had chatGPT open while writing the script because “everyone does that”, everything started to make sense.
what a mess.

So glad you brought up the sassy black girl trope with Erica, everyone always says “it’s not that deep” but it really is 😭 I was glad to see she became more nerdy but it was still sad to see

I think it’s worth noting that Joyce was flanderized not by isolating her traits more and more but by cutting her screen time down into where she just gets to be “concerned mom” at the end of the

your criticism on Robyn’s character is spot on. Especially her cringey sexual innuendos that not even middle schoolers would find funny. I’ve been saying this!! When she was first introduced, she gave me edgy but cool vibes who’s also a more-than-meets-the-eye with how smart she is. But she somehow turned into the most annoying character who’s only there to make corny jokes and have panic attacks. Out of all characters, I think she was the most flanderised. Next is Nancy who turned into Rambo.

I don't even consider myself a huge ST fan, but the decision to kill off Eleven for the sake of some selfless act of heroism while also hinting at the copium ass possibility of "hey guys she MIGHT actually have survived and is just chilling on some other part of the world! we don't know for sure that she's dead!!" still absolutely pissed me off so bad 😭

For me the most egregious of these HORRENDOUS character changes was Jonathan, he want from a flawed, weird, and ok slightly creepy kid that's doing everything in his power to keep it together because he loves his family, selfless to a fault to.... Nancy's jumpy boyfriend. That macho competition in the final season was so painful to watch, and Steve said it better than I ever could.

They ruined Hopper so much in ST3, I didn’t feel anything when he “died”, which wouldn’t have been the case in the previous two seasons

Thought you were funky frog bait 😭

I think it’s especially upsetting how  many times they fell into the trope of resetting character development at the start of new seasons, especially after season 2, it’s one of the most frustrating things done in TV shows in general. My opinion is that if you can’t figure out an interesting plot without undoing the effects on the characters and the world that you put in place at the end of your previous work (like how Max is just completely fine, Will is completely fine, despite both of them undergoing insane shit), you should probably just drop the sequel idea altogether.

I was EXTREMELY excited for season 5, but when i actually sat down to watch it, it was like i was watching a completely different show. It didn’t FEEL like i was watching Stranger Things if that makes sense to you guys

When Robin was introduced, her character was SOOO cool. She was the definition of cool, sarcastic and intelligent girl, who’s fun but she’s quite mysterious still. Don’t get me wrong, she was by far one of my top 3 favourite characters, but I really think they dumbed her down after season 3. Even if I love her character, I don’t think they NEEDED to make her such a big character (specially if they are just gonna get rid of half of her personality). Like if you don’t know how to integrate a character into the group without messing them up, then just don’t do it

I hate that they made Dustin be an obnoxious know-it-all in ST4 before Eddie’s death and then ST5 acts like the behavior was due to Eddie’s death, even though it was prevalent before that.

Finally, an analysis that actually uses the term "flanderize" and not "lobotomy".

Y'all, I mean, analysis of this season, sorry. Lol.

You know there’s way too many characters when EVERY SINGLE ONE gets reduced to just one trait. Eleven’s whole character arc/death revolved around her wanting to put an end to Henry just so she can be happy with Mike (her final scene couldn’t even focus on her own development but instead a relationship we barely see all season) which is so stupid. Even Lucas (arguably a fan favourite) hasn’t had a single plot line that isn’t about max (excluding season 4 but they entirely disregarded his wanting to grow in social standing in s5)

The moment that really sticks with me was when Jonathan said he donated Nancy’s sweater because he hates pink.

You're so correct about Robin. Season 3 Robin was the absolute best version of her. She was a well-rounded, smart, sarcastic but also kind and funny character. I simply don't buy the whole "she's neurodivergent, she's not masking anymore" thing...It's a popular headcanon but I don't believe the Duffers purposefully wrote her like that. I have my theory that Season 3 Robin acts so different (compared to Seasons 4-5) because she was initially written as Steve's girlfriend so she was supposed to be cool, charming, very appealing to the audience (so that ppl would fall in love with her and like her as Steve's love interest). Then halfway they decided to make her gay (which I have no issues with, it was a great idea) and after that maybe they thought that there was no reason for them to write her as this charming and charismatic girl since she stopped being a potential love interest for Steve. I could be wrong...but that's how I feel. I don't hate her but I miss her original Season 3 personality/vibe. I don't mind her being a bit hyper and talkative and dorky, she even had a few moments when she was acting like this in Season 3...but in Seasons 4-5 her behavior just seemed a little over the top and exaggerated, she felt more like a caricature of herself. Although the way she looked and behaved in the epilogue scene with Steve, Jonathan and Nancy reminded me of Season 3 Robin for some reason..

I liked how in the early seasons they did the whole thing with Hopper being reminded of his own daughter by El but then growing to let her be more independent despite his worries due to losing his original daughter...and then they kept resetting his character and did that again several more times

Too many characters not enough time for them to be useful to story