Spoiler Alert: If you haven't binged on Stranger Things 2 then stop here. Please...
“If you’re lost you can look and you will find me, time after time” - Cyndi Lauper
By the time the gate closes, the Hawkins Lab shuts down and we reach the Snow Ball slow dance with Cyndi Lauper’s iconic refrain to “Time After Time” playing in the background, something is abundantly clear in Stranger Things 2: The real enemy to the Party hasn’t been the Demogorgon or the Demodogs, or the Shadow Government facility workers or even the all-powerful Mind Flayer. Rather, the greatest existential threat to Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas is Time.
“If you’re lost you can look and you will find me, time after time” - Cyndi Lauper
By the time the gate closes, the Hawkins Lab shuts down and we reach the Snow Ball slow dance with Cyndi Lauper’s iconic refrain to “Time After Time” playing in the background, something is abundantly clear in Stranger Things 2: The real enemy to the Party hasn’t been the Demogorgon or the Demodogs, or the Shadow Government facility workers or even the all-powerful Mind Flayer. Rather, the greatest existential threat to Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas is Time.
It’s the threat of growing up and leaving behind the things that at once made them (and really all of us) innocent, sweet, selfless, and brave.
It’s the difficult and confusing slow burn into their formative teenage years and the prospect of time changing everything they fundamentally know about themselves and each other. If life is like a string of movies then puberty is the horror genre.
That’s the truly scary thing about Stranger Things 2. That as we move through this world there’s a real chance we’ve seen the last of the Party as a true unit of friendship.
Stranger Things 2 is a lot of things. It’s a horror tale replete with all the things that go bump in the night, scaring the bejeezus out of us. It’s an homage to the eighties and all of the movies, music, Farrah Fawcett hairspray and style therewithin.
Stranger Things 2 is a lot of things. It’s a horror tale replete with all the things that go bump in the night, scaring the bejeezus out of us. It’s an homage to the eighties and all of the movies, music, Farrah Fawcett hairspray and style therewithin.
It’s a classic science fiction tale with mind-bending action, superpowers, and government testing. It’s a fantasy flick with Dungeons and Dragons at its backbone. But at its very core, it’s a coming-of-age story about friendship, growing up and navigating through the formative middle school years.
As the group slowly breaks off and dances their way through the Snow Ball we see the beginning of the end. They’re paired off rather predictably, but no less sweetly into Mike and Eleven, Dustin with a huge solid by Nancy, and Zombie Boy Will with a brave stranger, Lucas, and MadMax.
As the group slowly breaks off and dances their way through the Snow Ball we see the beginning of the end. They’re paired off rather predictably, but no less sweetly into Mike and Eleven, Dustin with a huge solid by Nancy, and Zombie Boy Will with a brave stranger, Lucas, and MadMax.
This is, more than any other time in Stranger Things, the ultimate turning point. This is where they’ve truly walked through a gate into a new world. The mystery that lies beyond here isn’t parasitic vines or ashy snowflakes but rather a teenage landscape that will ultimately challenge the bonds of friendship as strong in this group as any you’ll ever see.
Growing up is hard enough on its own without all-encompassing evil breathing down your neck, spreading like a virus underneath your town, possessing your best friend. And yet at no point does it feel like this is the ultimate danger to The Party.
Growing up is hard enough on its own without all-encompassing evil breathing down your neck, spreading like a virus underneath your town, possessing your best friend. And yet at no point does it feel like this is the ultimate danger to The Party.
We rarely remain friends forever with our best friends from middle school. Too much life happens during the in-between. While the Upside Down represents the true darkness on the other side of the world, the passage of time and growing up offers a greater threat.
We see this happening in stages. When the group shows up on Halloween in “Trick or Treat, Freak,” proudly dressed as The Ghostbusters, realizing they’re the only ones donning costumes, it's the beginning of the end of their youth. That moment you realize the world has grown up without you totally noticing.
And we see other threats to their Party. The decision about whether to add Max to the group threatens to divide them more than at any other point. Bringing Mike around to her Zoomer skills isn’t instantaneous and the reasoning from Lucas and Dustin bringing her on isn’t necessarily because she possesses any great immediate need to the group beyond those dudes crushing on her hard.
Even the simple act of Lucas and Max grabbing hands after the narrow Demodog dodge in the junkyard is painful in Dustin’s reaction. He sees it, he knows what it means and there’s nothing he can do to stop it (even if he wanted to). These are all little things, but when added together paint a picture of a group in serious pubescent flux.
Hopper and Joyce, as adults understand this. It’s why there’s comfort (even in their darkest hour) in looking back with fondness at stolen moments smoking cigarettes in stairwells while running from teachers. It’s their own look back at a more innocent time before they grew up and realized the world was kind of (seriously) fucked up.
I don’t think it was just overwhelming popularity that made “Time After Time” and “Every Breath You Take” the final two songs of the season. Sure, they were top of the charts in 1984 and 1983 respectively, but it’s the message of the two that really mean something here.
We see this happening in stages. When the group shows up on Halloween in “Trick or Treat, Freak,” proudly dressed as The Ghostbusters, realizing they’re the only ones donning costumes, it's the beginning of the end of their youth. That moment you realize the world has grown up without you totally noticing.
And we see other threats to their Party. The decision about whether to add Max to the group threatens to divide them more than at any other point. Bringing Mike around to her Zoomer skills isn’t instantaneous and the reasoning from Lucas and Dustin bringing her on isn’t necessarily because she possesses any great immediate need to the group beyond those dudes crushing on her hard.
Even the simple act of Lucas and Max grabbing hands after the narrow Demodog dodge in the junkyard is painful in Dustin’s reaction. He sees it, he knows what it means and there’s nothing he can do to stop it (even if he wanted to). These are all little things, but when added together paint a picture of a group in serious pubescent flux.
Hopper and Joyce, as adults understand this. It’s why there’s comfort (even in their darkest hour) in looking back with fondness at stolen moments smoking cigarettes in stairwells while running from teachers. It’s their own look back at a more innocent time before they grew up and realized the world was kind of (seriously) fucked up.
I don’t think it was just overwhelming popularity that made “Time After Time” and “Every Breath You Take” the final two songs of the season. Sure, they were top of the charts in 1984 and 1983 respectively, but it’s the message of the two that really mean something here.
“Time After Time” is about the unbreakable bonds of love and friendship, it’s about being with someone despite their flaws and how really nothing can come between people who love each other unconditionally.
This is analogous to the group’s bond. They’ve literally been to hell and back with each other. That simply can’t be undone.
But “Every Breath You Take” (while a perfect 80’s slow dance) is about something else. It’s about a breakup. It’s about the sadness and regret of moving on from a relationship. It’s about looking back at someone and knowing you won’t be with them again.
I think this is the ultimate lesson and enemy in Stranger Things 2: the Mind Flayer sits in the upside down waiting for another chance, the government is still tracking down Eleven, Billy the Bully stalks the halls and demodogs will eat your brainy boyfriend.
But “Every Breath You Take” (while a perfect 80’s slow dance) is about something else. It’s about a breakup. It’s about the sadness and regret of moving on from a relationship. It’s about looking back at someone and knowing you won’t be with them again.
I think this is the ultimate lesson and enemy in Stranger Things 2: the Mind Flayer sits in the upside down waiting for another chance, the government is still tracking down Eleven, Billy the Bully stalks the halls and demodogs will eat your brainy boyfriend.
But group friendship is only as strong as it’s weakest link. The real test for the Party lies ahead in the challenge of fulfilling the ultimate act of friendship that “If you fall I will catch you, I will be waiting, time after time”.
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