Amanda Platz

Stranger Things is the Netflix series that the world fell in love with during October of 2016. And with good reason—it is a marvelous piece of art, complete with fantastic characters, an engaging plot, a well-crafted setting, and a soundtrack that pulls every other element together into an artistic piece worthy of adoration. Okay, so that is rather high praise for a Netflix series, but just look around at all the other reviews for this show—everyone loves it! Every element of this show combines to create an artistic masterpiece.

One element of this show that trumps all the others is its characters. They are all unique, deeply developed, complicated characters who viewers can relate to, look up to, and admire. The character development in Season 2 shows a growing element of maturity on the part of our heroes. In the first season, they were children, teenagers, and terrified parents hopelessly scrambling for some sort of grasp on a jumbled reality. Now, the children, teenagers, and parents are more mature, calm, strong, and confident. They have a grasp on what they’re dealing with, and they find themselves more capable of handling the new trials of the second season. They are all dealing with the side-effects of what they suffered in the previous season, and are growing into more mature, capable humans in the process.

A specific character that receives a lot of development in the show is Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), the older sister to Mike Wheeler, girlfriend to Steve Harrington, and then Jonathan Byers. She turns from being a quiet, nerdy student who spends most of her free time studying, to being a tough, brave, cunning person who fights monsters and takes down corrupt governmental scientific research facilities. She is one of the characters who changes the most throughout the show, which makes her a fascinating character. In season one, she is calm, quiet, kind, studious, and an overall good person. She didn’t break rules, she didn’t get in trouble—until she started to date Steve Harrington. Not that it was Steve’s fault, however, Nancy changed as she started to date him. She became more risky, open, and confident. After the death of her best friend, Barb, she becomes ridden with grief, guilt, and anger: grief over her loss, guilt because she feels that she was the cause of Barb’s death, and anger towards the people who ultimately let loose the monster that killed Barb.

She at first tries to mask her pain. In the first episode or two, Nancy hides behind a mask of normality—she goes about school as normal, has dinner with Barb’s parents—all acting as though she is not grieving the loss of her friend. Part of this is due to the fact that the only people she can talk to or tell about Barb’s death are those involved directly with the incidents involving her death. So, Nancy is forced to deal with her emotions largely by herself. She doesn’t fall apart, but instead pulls herself together and becomes enraged by the death of her friend, and then directs her anger towards the scientists at Hawkins Lab.

In her anger towards the Lab, she joins forces with Jonathan Byers. The two of them try to determine how to take down Hawkins Lab and the government officials involved with running it. This is where Nancy and Jonathan’s cleverness comes in. Nancy and Jonathan call Barb’s parents, saying that they have something they need to tell them, and ask them to meet in a park. What Nancy and Jonathan both know is that the people in the lab are listening to their phone calls. So, they purposely get caught by the lab officials in order to record them confessing their mistakes and the role that they played in Barb’s death. Nancy records her entire conversation with the lab officials, and brings it to a local conspiracy theorist. This theorist listens to everything Jonathan and Nancy tell him, and believes them—but he knows that the rest of the world will not believe the truth of what happened in the lab. So, they hatch an even more cunning plan. They twist the story just enough that it’s something that people believe, while still revealing enough of the truth to get the Lab officials in trouble. Nancy’s cunning, brilliance, and determination show her character.

Nancy struggles with guilt about Barb’s death. She feels responsible for the death of her friend. In her guilt, she finds herself drinking at a party to forget the guilt and shame that she feels, and drunkenly argues with her then-boyfriend Steve over the fact that she believes they were responsible for Barb’s death. She then channels her guilt into—you guessed it—anger. Her anger directs her towards the destruction of the lab, which has already been discussed. But her guilt-fueled anger sends her towards solving the problems that she feels responsible for causing. She desires to tell Barb’s parents about their daughter’s death, and to destroy the people who loosed the monsters that killed Barb.

Nancy Wheeler doesn’t back down from a fight. She doesn’t give up, nor does she falter in hardships. Even in her guilt, shame, and grief, she channels her feelings into fixing the problems that caused these emotions in the first place. She finds her own way to fight against those who destroyed the things she loves, but she does it in a way that is smart, and that is not going to be ultimately destructive for herself or those she loves. She does not lash out, but carefully plans how she will cause the destruction of the people she hates. When another character points out a what he views to be a character flaw of Nancy’s, specifically that she retreats in certain situations, her response is to say “retreat? I don’t retreat,” and then to face the problem head-on. She was told she retreats from Jonathan, and in turn decides to face her feelings for him instead of running from them.

Nancy stands by those she loves, even when it is very difficult. When she was dating Steve, she always had his back, even when he was acting like a jerk. That doesn’t mean she didn’t call him out for being a jerk, or tell him off for some of the things he did, but she stood by him when it mattered, because she loved him. When she broke up with Steve and started dating Jonathan, she went with him and his mother when they went to do the hard job of purging an evil creature that was possessing Jonathan’s younger brother. She went not to help, but to provide whatever support she could for Jonathan, whom she loved.

So, Nancy Wheeler grows from being reserved and quiet, retreating from conflict and antagonism, to being confident, and standing up for herself and those closest to her. She ceases to retreat from fights, listens to herself, and doesn’t hide from her own emotions or feelings. Just watching the show, one can see her physically change from a wallflower to an amazing, outspoken, confident woman who stands up for what is right, doesn’t back down from a fight, cares deeply for those she loves, and fights for them resiliently. She deeply loves those she considers family, or close friends, and stands with them no matter what.

Nancy Wheeler proves to be a fascinating character for analysis, a wonderful character to look up to, and a very relatable character to watch grow. She is not static, but a dynamic character who grows and changes into a more mature human being. In the slew of Stranger Things characters, Nancy Wheeler proves to be one of the most complex and unique characters of the show. Her development contrasts with those of most of the other characters. Her overwhelming confidence and fighter-spirit make her just one of the many reasons why Stranger Things is one of the best shows on Netflix.