With Netflix's Stranger Things only showing up with a new season after more than a year or even a couple of years at a time, fans have understandably been picky about what stories they liked and what they didn’t. Some have stood out as being especially hated since they supposedly weren’t worth the wait.
Storylines sometimes also steal focus from other more interesting arcs, while others were just never good to begin with. Reddit users have made their opinions known over this, with certain storylines pointed out as being the most hated due to a combination of factors.
Eleven And Mike's Separation
Mike and Eleven had become the best romance for fans by the end of the first season, which made it hard for them to accept a long separation between the two in the second. This fan pointed out how annoying it was to see them mope around about each other all that time.
Their storyline saw them pine for one another with the show avoiding their reunion the entire season by bringing in conflicts that kept separating them. Fans weren’t too keen on how long this stretched out, as it made Mike sit idle for the major arc of the season with nothing to do until Eleven arrived.
Joyce's Obsession With Her Magnets
Among all the disturbing things from the third season was the plot of Joyce obsessing over why the magnets on her fridge weren’t working. While it tied into a larger arc, this fan pointed out how Joyce’s story dragged on far too long in the third season.
The problem with it was how it turned into more of a joke than an actual storyline, as Joyce continued to bring the lack of magnetism her fridge magnets had while having pointless arguments over it. It also ended up including several other characters, which was a rather lazy way to get them involved in the story.
The Russians' Takeover Plan
The first two seasons showed a shadow government that manipulated the events of the town and served as antagonists, only for the third season to bring in Russians as the villains. This fan pointed out how counterproductive this was for the show.
It didn’t make sense for Eleven to keep hiding if the shadow government storyline was abandoned, along with the idea that thousands of Russians were hiding underneath the town. The plot just had too many holes in it and was at the expense of others to bring forward.
The Characters Moving On Too Quickly From Their Pasts
The show has been lauded for portraying individual character arcs, but this didn’t progress organically according to this fan. The issue in this storyline was how the characters moved on from their traumas in the second season to being someone else entirely in the third.
Characters moving on so quickly from stuff like Nancy’s sadness at Barbara’s death, Eleven plagued with being an experiment, and Hopper’s loss of his daughter were all things fans didn’t appreciate. Their gripe is how the moving-on storyline didn’t feel justified since it skipped so much of the characters dealing with their problems.
The Excessive Focus On The Dating Lives Of The Protagonists
Rather than focusing on the character traits, the third season’s choice to indulge in the protagonists’ dating lives wasn’t well received. This fan noted how the majority of the season had to do with the characters arguing over their relationships.
This was a correct assessment, as the beginning of the season was almost exclusively about this aspect, with the likes of Lucas, Max, Eleven, Mike, Nancy, Jonathan, and even Joyce and Jim arguing over their romances and relationship problems. This took the focus away from the horror elements while turning the protagonists into comic reliefs.
Max's Manipulation Of Eleven
Max and Eleven became a friendship duo in the third season after their initial problems. However, this fan and others weren’t happy about how this storyline was essentially about Max manipulating her new friends’ emotions and decisions.
The arc saw Max bond with Eleven over being the only girls their age in the group but also turned into one where Max influenced Eleven to consider Mike a bad boyfriend and turned her into another version of herself. The fact that it led to Eleven dumping Mike is also a sore spot for fans.
The Influx Of Demogorgons
The demogorgons make up for most of the scariest scenes in the series, but this was overdone quite a bit in the second season. This fan didn’t appreciate how the demogorgons took up so much screentime, to the point where the demo-dogs dominated the show.
What turned people off was how the storyline was too obvious in its horror, as the demo-dogs took away the mystery that Season 1 had presented. Instead, the plot was a bit too one-note to remain interesting.
Billy's Reversal Of Character
Billy isn't one of the most likable characters due to him being an abusive bully and showing racist tendencies. However, this fan pointed out the third season went for a redemption arc for him, which wasn’t deserved.
The story brought a backstory that showed how he himself had been abused as a way of garnering sympathy for him, but fans thought it was too late in the game for Billy’s character to be reversed since he had caused a lot of harm prior to that.
The Scoop Troop's Extended Infiltration Angle
The characters who completed the infiltration of the Russian base are known as the Scoop Troop by fans, although some have noted this became reminiscent of a Scooby-Doo angle than feeling realistic. The thing that made it hated was how overly long the arc went.
Fans didn’t appreciate how the characters were separated from the rest for so long. Not to mention how the story saw them go through droves of Russian soldiers and into the heart of the operation without being detected, which added to the exasperation the drawn-out scenario brought.
The Exploits Of Kali's Gang
This can be considered the most-hated story overall, with the seventh episode of Season 2 considered as the worst by fans, The storyline of Eleven’s sister Kali and her gang was seen as needless filler in the second season due to the characters being stereotypes of the gang mentality.
It was also weak in execution since the motivations of Kali’s gang were never truly mapped out and served as a big break in the story since the arc didn’t involve any of the regular characters other than Eleven.