‘Stranger Issues’ Deaths, Ranked by How Unhappy They Are

Will wasn’t the one child to go lacking in season one in every of “Stranger Issues.” There was additionally Barb Holland (Shannon Purser), Nancy’s finest buddy.

Shortly after Will’s disappearance, Barb accompanied Nancy to hang around with Steve (Joe Keery) at his home — begrudgingly, sure, however out of affection and help for her finest buddy. It wasn’t lengthy earlier than Nancy requested Barb to go away so she and Steve could possibly be alone.

Barb, left stranded and bleeding by Steve’s pool, grew to become a straightforward goal for the Demogorgon.

The creature dragged Barb into the Upside Down and killed her, leaving her rotting corpse for Eleven to seek out later. Barb’s dying grew to become a catalyst for Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve to hitch the combat in opposition to the supernatural evils in Hawkins — however in any other case, it did not obtain a lot screentime.

Barb’s dying struck a nerve when the primary season aired. Followers demanded justice, enraged by the truth that nobody in Hawkins aside from Nancy appeared to care about Barb as a lot as Will. The present’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, had been bowled over by the fervour.

“The one word that we constantly obtained again was, ‘What about Barb?’ And we’re like, ‘It is a present about Will,'” Ross just lately advised Time.

“Netflix saved harassing us about it,” Matt added. “And it seems they had been proper.”

Time of dying: Season one, episode three, “Holly, Jolly.”

Reason behind dying: Killed by the Demogorgon.

Disappointment rating: 9. Barb’s grisly dying was made much more distressing by Nancy’s grief.

Suffering from survivor’s guilt, Nancy made #JusticeForBarb her mission in season two. She enlisted Jonathan and Murray, a journalist-turned-private investigator with a penchant for the supernatural, to publicly blame Hawkins Lab for Barb’s dying. Even when it wasn’t the entire reality, it at the least gave Barb’s grieving mother and father some closure.

Nonetheless, the dearth of consideration paid to Barb’s disappearance in season one — and the truth that she mainly died as a result of she was pressured to be a 3rd wheel — made her dying one of many present’s most memorable so far. With out Barb, “Stranger Issues” would have had rather a lot much less coronary heart.