8 Stranger Things Scenes That Have Aged Like Milk

Published Aug 22, 2026, 10:30 AM EDT

Adrienne Tyler is a movies & TV features writer, with a focus on horror. She has written for Netflix, FanSided, & more. She was a regular guest on the Netfreaks podcast and was a YouTuber at some point. Guillermo del Toro said “hi” to her once.

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Stranger Things is now one of the best fantasy TV shows of all time, but that doesn’t mean it’s a perfect show, and some scenes have aged quite badly. Thanks to its original TV shows, Netflix has brought some of the best TV shows of all time across different genres, and one of its biggest hits to date is the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things. The show debuted on the streaming platform in 2016 to great success, quickly becoming one of Netflix’s strongest and most popular shows.

Stranger Things took viewers to the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, where disturbing experiments took place at Hawkins Lab for many years. Stranger Things built its own world with parallel dimensions, monsters, people with different psychic abilities, and many secrets that were uncovered by Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and her friends and chosen family. After five seasons of mysteries, action, and a good dose of humor, Stranger Things ended in 2025, though with a very divisive and controversial finale.

Despite the quality of the final season and the criticism it received, Stranger Things is still one of the best Netflix shows of all time and made history as one of the streamer's biggest hits. However, as good as the show is, it has to be said that there are some scenes that have aged badly, whether due to controversial themes, moments that never paid off, unsatisfying explanations, or just how bad those scenes are now in retrospect.

Dr. Owens’ Fate

Out of the core Hawkins group, Eleven and company didn’t count on many allies, but season 2 gave them one in Dr. Sam Owens (Paul Reiser). Dr. Owens replaced Dr. Brenner at Hawkins Lab but actually helped Will recover after his traumatic experience in the Upside Down. Brenner was fired from the lab at the end of season 2, but continued working on his own and helping the Hawkins crew in any way he could, such as providing Hopper with a birth certificate for Eleven.

In season 4, Owens was revealed to be working with Brenner on a project that, ultimately, was the one that restored Eleven’s powers. Despite his work with Brenner, Owens remained on Eleven’s side, which Brenner didn’t appreciate when Eleven wanted to leave to stop Vecna. Brenner left Owens handcuffed at the Nina facility, where he was found by Lt. Col. Sullivan’s people. Unfortunately, Stranger Things season 5 never revealed what happened to Owens after that, and his fate is unknown.

It’s an unfair ending for a character who was key to helping the Hawkins crew despite his past links to Hawkins Lab and Brenner, and who genuinely cared about using his knowledge and the lab’s experiments for good.

Suzie & Dustin’s “NeverEnding Story” Scene

In Stranger Things season 3, Dustin surprised his friends by revealing he had a girlfriend named Suzie. Dustin and Suzie met at camp during the summer, and he spent some time in season 3 trying to communicate with her, as they were long-distance, so much so that Dustin built a ham radio for that. Dustin realized he needed her help to get Planck’s Constant so that Hopper and Joyce could unlock a safe in the Russian underground base.

Unfortunately for the Hawkins team, Suzie wasn’t going to give the number right away, and questioned Dustin for only contacting him for a mathematical equation. Suzie forced Dustin to sing the theme song for The NeverEnding Story with her, after which she finally shared the number. Not only was the scene quite cringey, but it also failed to add suspense and wasted time that, as many viewers argue, could have been key to Hopper's rescue. On top of that, Suzie ended up being nothing more than a “deus ex machina” type of character, as she and her relationship with Dustin weren’t explored.

De-Aging Scenes In Seasons 4 & 5

CGI de-aging is a practice that has caused a lot of controversy when used in movies and TV shows. A notable example of bad CGI de-aging can be found in Netflix’s The Irishman, and, unfortunately, Stranger Things has now joined that group. Season 4 used this in flashback scenes to Eleven’s time at Hawkins Lab, but it got a lot worse in the flashback scenes in the first minutes of season 5.

Stranger Things’ final season begins with a flashback to Will’s time on the Upside Down, showing him running away from the Demogorgon and being captured by the monster. As these scenes take place four years before the events of season 5, de-aging was used to show a younger Will. Unfortunately, the result is a character that doesn’t look like a young Noah Schnapp and even looks uncanny at different moments.

Jonathan Spying On Nancy

Credit: Netflix

Jonathan and Nancy ended up becoming the main couple in the main group of Hawkins teenagers, but the road to that had a controversial moment. In season 1, Nancy was dating Steve, who, at the time, was more of a bully rather than the good-hearted guy with great hair everyone now loves. Jonathan never hid his attraction for Nancy, but in season 1, he entered stalker territory while looking for clues about Will’s whereabouts.

Jonathan ended up outside Steve’s house, where he was throwing a party, and Nancy was in attendance. Jonathan took photos of the house, Barb (who was outside), and Nancy in underwear in Steve’s room. Even though Nancy and Jonathan got together some time later, that doesn’t make Jonathan’s invasion of Nancy’s privacy any less concerning or uncomfortable to watch.

Barb's Death

Speaking of Barbara, her death in season 1 was one of the most talked-about moments. Barb was Nancy’s best friend, but Nancy pushed her aside to be with Steve at the party. While sitting outside by the pool at Steve’s house, Barb was kidnapped by the Demogorgon and taken to the Upside Down, where the monster killed her. This sparked the “Justice for Barb” hashtag on social media, which quickly went viral.

However, Barb’s death scene has become more and more irrelevant with time, and the “Justice for Barb” movement has become more unnecessary. Barb was never meant to be more than a one-season supporting character, and as such, she did a good job in season 1. Stranger Things gave in to pressure, and in season 2 it showed Nancy grieving her friend and using her death as the motivation to expose Hawkins Lab, so ultimately, her death did serve a purpose, but the reaction to her death was blown out of proportion.

The Upside Down Egg

As much as Stranger Things tried to give closure to everything, it ended up leaving many unsolved mysteries, some of them quite frustrating. One of them is all about the Upside Down egg from season 1, which was never shown or mentioned again. In Stranger Things season 1, a Demogorgon was shown hunching over a big egg, and later Hopper and Joyce came across a hatched egg in the Upside Down.

Stranger Things never explained what the Upside Down egg was, and it was even worse when the life cycle of a Demogorgon was revealed and had nothing to do with eggs. Either Stranger Things forgot about the egg or never knew what to do with it, and so those scenes are annoyingly frustrating when rewatching the show.

The Upside Down Bleeding Into Hawkins In Season 4

Image via Netflix

Stranger Things season 4 ended on a major cliffhanger as Max was left in a coma, the rest of the Hawkins crew reunited in town, and a massive earthquake hit Hawkins, resulting in massive cracks in the road. The Upside Down started to bleed into the human world through those cracks, with season 4 ending with spores falling from the Hawkins sky, very much like those in the Upside Down. This teased a merge of the Upside Down and Hawkins in season 5, but that never happened.

Instead, and with the convenient help of a time jump, Stranger Things season 5 simply revealed that the cracks had been fixed, Hawkins was on lockdown, and the Upside Down was stopped from taking over the human world. It was a very quick, disappointing, and a bit frustrating explanation, and now it feels like that scene at the end of season 4 was only to keep the audience hooked.

Eleven’s Sacrifice

Even though not even a year has passed since Stranger Things ended, the finale has a scene that keeps getting worse and worse: Eleven’s sacrifice. Eleven and the audience learned in season 5 that the only way for Hawkins Lab to stop its experiments was for all the subjects to be dead – which meant the end for Vecna, Kali, and Eleven. After Kali’s death and Vecna’s defeat, Eleven surprised her family and viewers by sacrificing herself in front of them and the military as the Upside Down was destroyed.

Despite seeing her disappear, Mike later shared his theory of Eleven faking her death and living in hiding for the rest of her life. The problem here is that both Eleven’s sacrifice and Mike’s theory have many inconsistencies and holes, so it’s hard to take a definitive side. Eleven’s sacrifice left many unanswered questions, and the scene keeps getting worse with time.

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  Jane 'Eleven' Hopper

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  Mike Wheeler

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