Steve Harrington was supposed to die in Stranger Things season 1. The beloved characterplayed by Joe Keerywas originally meant to complete his arc from pompous high school cool kid to genuine hero before meeting his grisly fate at the end of the Netflix show’s first batch of episodes. It was only after series creators the Duffer Brothers saw Keery in action that they expanded the role. Almost a decade latersomething similar happened in Stranger Things season 5.
Season 5 introduces a new character in Derek Turnbow (Jake Connelly)an obnoxious school bully. Derek is exactly the kind of character frequently seen in the work of Stephen King and Steven Spielbergtwo creators the Duffers liberally imitate to create their show. Derek originally feels like a pretty two-dimensional characterbut like so many others in Stranger Thingshe gets more fleshed out as he joins the Party in their fight against evil. Howeverwhile Derek’s arc is a highlight of season 5 so farit reveals a larger problem plaguing Stranger Things as the series cruises towards its ending.
[Ed. note: Light spoilers ahead for the first four episodes of Stranger Things season 5.]
If you haven’t watched Stranger Things season 5 (or just zoned out during some key Derek scenes)here’s a quick recap of his character’s story so far. While Dipshit Derekas his schoolmates call himinitially appears as a bully whose main purpose is tormenting Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher)we soon discover that he’s being targeted by Vecnawho appears to various children in Hawkins as the benevolent Mr. Whatsit.
Realizing that Derek is in troublethe main cast comes up with a plan to save him. The only catch isthey now have to babysit Dipshit Derekand he’s extremely annoying. Thankfullyit doesn’t take long for this paper-thin character to gain some depth. When the military starts rounding up kids after realizing that Vecna is kidnapping themDerek volunteers for a covert mission to infiltrate the army base and lead the kids to freedom. Suddenlyhe’s transformed into “Delightful Derek.”
“He was just so charming and hilarious that we started to gradually increase the size of his role throughout the season,” Matt Duffer told Netflix’s Tudum blog. “Sonot unlike Steve HarringtonDerek started out as a stereotypical bullybut grew into something much more compelling — all thanks to Jake.”
If you’ve been watching Stranger Things for the last nine yearsthis type of transformation probably won’t come as a surprise. The show loves to introduce a character as annoyingantagonisticor just basiconly to flesh them out a couple of episodes later. We saw it with Steve in season 1. And in season 3a bunch more charactersincluding Erica (Priah Ferguson)Robin (Maya Hawke)and Max (Sadie Sink) all got added to the cast in a similar fashion.
At the timeI noted in my season 3 review that this influx of new characters sometimes spread the core cast too thinsplitting them up and depriving Stranger Things of its original chemistry. By season 5this problem has only gotten worse. There are so many story threads and characters to keep up with — now split between multiple plotlines in both HawkinsIndianaand the Upside Down — that the original magic of season 1 seems like a distant memory.
After allhow can you recapture the energy of four friends playing D&D and fighting monsters when those friends barely even see each other across four hour-long episodes? Perhaps if the Duffers were willing to kill off more characters like they did with Eddie (Joseph Quinn) in season 4we wouldn’t be facing this issue in season 5. (It’s worth noting that the Duffers also did something similar in Season 3 with Max’s brother Billywho went from demented bully to heroically sacrificing his life in the span of just a handful of episodes. More of thisplease.)
The arrival of Dipshit Delightful Derek is just one more example of both Stranger Things’ greatest strength and its greatest weakness. The show’s most reliable move is introducing new characters and making the audience love them. But you can only repeat that trick so many times before the series starts to feel bloated with too many cast members to keep up with.
On the bright sidewith Stranger Things coming to an end in season 5we don’t have to worry about Derek taking up valuable runtime in season 6.
Stranger Things season 5 volume 1 is streaming now on Netflix. Volume 2 arrives on Dec. 25.