Stranger Things Creators Defend Divisive Season 2 Episode
Warning: This post contains spoilers for Stranger Things season two.
The internet erupted in excitement on Friday when the second season of Stranger Things finally hit Netflix. Binge-watching sessions soon commenced, but once viewers got to the seventh episode of the new season, it seems their happy chatter fell to silence.
Entitled "The Lost Sister," episode seven sees Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) venture to Chicago to locate her so-called "sister" Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), the leader of a gang who exacts murderous revenge on those who captured and imprisoned her and Eleven at the laboratory in Hawkins. "The Lost Sister" is a "bottle" episode, meaning it takes place in a single setting, never cuts back to the main action of the series, and mostly centers around brand-new characters the audience has never seen before. Fans are split on what to think about the episode, with some suggesting that it could be the worst one in Stranger Things history and others feeling that it just doesn't work.
Stranger Things creators Ross and Matt Duffer opened up to Entertainment Weekly to discuss and defend the polarizing episode. The pair stated that they knew "The Lost Sister" would cause debate amongst viewers, but it was necessary.
"Whether it works for people or not, it allows us to experiment a little bit," said Matt Duffer. "It's important for Ross and I to try stuff and not feel like we're doing the same thing over and over again. It's almost like doing a whole little other pilot episode in the middle of your season, which is kind of a crazy thing to do. But it was really fun to write and cast and work on."
He continued, explaining why the episode is crucial to the overall Stranger Things narrative. "Our test of the episode was we tried to pull it out of the show just to make sure that we needed it because I didn't want it in there as filler–even though some critics are accusing us of doing that. But Eleven's journey kind of fell apart, like the ending didn't work, without it," he noted."So I was like, whether this works or not, we need this building block in here or the whole show is going to collapse. It's not going to end well. The Mind Flayer is going to take over Hawkins."
Ross then chimed in, comparing Eleven's journey to that of Luke Skywalker's in the Star Wars saga. "That Eleven story line overall is sort of the biggest risk we took. We're going to continue to do risks moving forward to keep us on our toes," he said. "I didn't want her to just magically save the day. Just like Luke Skywalker, she needed to go off on her own and learn something about herself."
Hopefully this divisive episode won't spoil the rest of the new season.