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Stranger Things season 5 needs to remember that Jonathan Byers exists

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The close camaraderie between Will, Jonathan and Joyce contrasts the stereotypical family of children and teenagers. Parents and children are expected to fight and bicker on television and other media, often to build up the story’s main conflict, but the Byers family has already suffered that trauma off-screen.

Lonnie Byers (Ross Partridge) makes a brief cameo in the first season, adjusting his aloof attitude and abusive nature. It’s clear that the Byers patriarch doesn’t have much empathy for his ex-wife or his sons. Jonathan bravely steps into the role of father, husband and big brother, merging into a combination of responsibilities that no other character on the show could dream of.

Jonathan ties the Byers family together

Jonathan’s multi-faceted story in the first two seasons made him one of the show’s easiest characters to parse. Stranger things often differentiates itself from other shows by keeping the antagonists separate from the main characters. There are no Walter White or Tony Soprano style anti-heroes where fans have to compromise some part of their moral compass in order to appreciate the character.

You might think this makes the series boring, but the opposite is true. Jonathan was proof that a near-perfect brother and son can still be fascinating to watch. After Will was found in the climax of Season 1, he was taken over by the Mind Flayer in Season 2. Jonathan once again stood by Will’s side when his little brother felt left out by friends and society at large. The chemistry between Schnapp and Heaton often leads to tender, humorous conversations like this one, in which the boys remind the audience that being weird can itself be a human superpower.

These moments became few and far between in seasons 3 and 4. Will and Jonathan were relegated to minor supporting characters when the aforementioned new additions took center stage. At least Will can go with Mike, Dustin, Lucas and the other younger friends. Jonathan often only appears in a few small scenes with his girlfriend Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and the writers even flirted with pushing Nancy back into Steve’s arms last season. Jonathan spent most of season 4 high on marijuana and romping around in a fake buddy comedy routine with one-off character Argyle (Eduardo Franco).

The decision to waste Heaton’s work from the first two seasons with a 180-degree personality change made no sense. Jonathan suddenly seemed careless, distant, and uninspired, but not in a dense way that could be unlocked through further character development. Little to no time was spent on him. While some fans agree that taking away older characters’ screen time is a necessary evil when expanding the world of Hawkins, it certainly transforms Stranger things from a show about family to a show about monsters and romances.

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