STRANGER THINGS Episode 403, which has the great title "The Monster and the Superhero," is a big moment in Jane's story. Basically her struggle is right there in the title: is the the super hero she was in Hawkins, or the monster that she was in the lab.
The episode sets up the conflict/journey well. Having hit the horrible Andrea in the face with a skate, she begins fully believing she is a monster. And then we watch as reality at first confirms that--she's arrested; she's questioned; she's booked by the police.
Then suddenly a reversal: federal agents show up and take her from the cops. And at first their presence seems like a confirmation of her beliefs; they must be here to take her back to the lab, where they can make her into the weapon they need.
But then it turns out no, these are Dr. Owens' people. And he's come to Jane to convince her that Hawkins needs her, aka that she is still a superhero, which eventually she accepts.
The problem is, that change of heart doesn't feel earned. Everything in the episode has really confirmed her self-talk. So by the time she gets to Owens, she should be 100% on board with her belief. She should be resisting his alternate take with everything that she has. But instead she rolls over almost immediately.
This is the definition of a writing cheat, i.e. a moment when we the writers believe we need a certain something to happen, and so we step in and force characters to do what we want. It's not the egregious case by any means; in fact one strength of the Netflix binge approach is that viewers are likely to go right into 404, making this cheat is less likely to grate. You're thrown into all new challenges, so the past is quickly forgotten.
But not entirely. When writers cheat it does leave a bit of a bad taste, even if we're not fully aware of it. It can ripple forward, too. Jane's story ends up being the weakest of the first half of the season; we have multiple episodes repeating the same struggle for Jane to regain her powers and remember her past. And while all of that does fall under the umbrella of Jane deciding if she is a monster or a superhero, it also throws out everything that the first two episodes had built up--that world, those characters and the possible consequences of Jane's actions.
To give the audience a storyline and relationships to invest in and then just toss it out, it's never a good idea. If we liked what you were doing we now feel punished. If we don't like it, we're wondering what the hell is all this anyway.
I wonder what would have happened if the script had allowed Jane's story to continue; she refuses to leave prison because she knows she's a monster and she's not going to be used to hurt anyone. So they have to force her to go to the lab, which foreshadows her running like hell when Dr. Brenner is revealed. And then the struggle going forward is first and foremost built out of her refusal to be a part of all this--in other words, a conscious choice. After those first two episodes this season give us an incredibly passive Jane. Everyone else is making the choices (including her past self). Which again, is not where you want your protagonist. Characters are defined by their actions.
All of that could have made Jane's final discovery in 407 that she didn't kill everyone in the lab more meaningful, too. Having spent the first six episodes fighting being here because down deep she knows she's the bad guy, that becomes the point that she finally has to face what Owen and her friends have been saying: she's good. She's the hero. It's an upside down kind of a low point, but then that's perfect for this show.
Instead, that final reveal ends up feeling like another cheat, an unearned twist that is only there to get Jane to where we need her for later.
No one lands every twist or plot line. Every writer cheats at some point. Highlighting it when it happens to others is a way of becoming more aware of its presence in our own writing.
It's very much in keeping with the premise of this blog: we learn by doing, but also by observing.
