Of Robert Scucci
| Published
Season 5 of Stranger Things boasts a significant number of stylistic changes from previous entries, but there is one change in characterization that needs to be evoked more than the rest. Joyce Byers has been written as a form of boring comic relief that undermines her obvious intelligence.
Season 1 introduced us to a frenetic yet resourceful lower-middle-class single mom who found herself in an extraordinary situation. When Will mysteriously disappears, the whole town thinks she’s losing her mind in grief. She ignores the naysayers and puts up the Christmas lights anyway. She figures out a way to communicate with Up and Down through the electrical disturbances she notices, tracking down her missing son in the process.
Flash forward to season 5, and Joyce is still a great mom. The shift in characterization is not about her intentions or her unwavering love for her family, but her situational awareness. This can be traced to a single joke in “The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler”, when Robin makes an obvious reference to Back to the future as a lure, and Joyce completely falls for it.
How could Joyce possibly miss a Back to the Future reference?
I could read too much, but the whole “Flux Capacitor” exchange between Joyce and Robin, which was meant to be a light moment of comic relief before it gets heavy again, doesn’t work in Stranger Things’ fiction.
Here’s the most basic summary of the situation, and why the writing of this exchange is a disservice to Joyce as the character we’ve been rooting for since Season 1. Will has a clue about Vecna and his hivemind after Robin makes an analogy likening his brainwaves to a radio antenna. Will subscribes to this theory because it makes a lot of sense. Joyce, rightfully protective of her son, who has been to hell and back for the previous four seasons, doesn’t want him to go on yet another dangerous mission. Robin points to the red light on Joyce’s HAM radio, suggests that the Flux Capacitor is out, and uses this lie as a way to take Will on the mission anyway.
Later, after Robin and Will are far away and well into their theory, Joyce sends Jonathan, who is riding around in the Squawk Van with Steve and Dustin, and asks him about the Flux Capacitor. This tips the gang off to Mike and Robin’s woes. Furious, Joyce tears out of the radio station and searches for her son, as any good mother would. But here’s the problem: Joyce is a lot smarter than this.
A mother of geeks who has a bunch of geek friends
Like I said before, Joyce Byers is a great mom who will chase her kids to hell and back if she has to. Is she spread thin with parental and professional obligations like any single, working parent? Absolutely. More importantly, she’s quick-witted, resourceful, and clearly has a handle on various forms of complicated analog gear that the average Hawkins resident doesn’t, thanks to being surrounded by a bunch of nerds. This leads me to believe she is more than familiar with Back to the future lore, making this moment with Robin and Will meaningless to her character.
Let’s break it down. Will first disappeared and returned in 1983. Back to the Future came out in 1985. The flux capacitor, and its primary function, is an integral part of the film’s plot. Joyce, whose youngest son likes to dress up as a wizard, is fluent in Dungeons and dragonsand eats, sleeps and breathes sci-fi with the rest of his friends, must have talked about the movie at some point. If I had to venture a guess, Joyce, the great mom that she is, probably spent what little disposable income she had to take her kids to the theater and see the movie. At least there must have been a worn VHS copy of Back to the future lies around the house.
It is quite possible to Duffer Brothers wanted to use a well-known movie reference for mass appeal in an attempt to land a joke that the entire audience would understand, but they couldn’t have picked a worse title for Robin to use to fool Joyce. The fact that she didn’t immediately shut down Robin’s ruse doesn’t hold up under scrutiny because it doesn’t fit her character. Despite Joyce’s eccentricities, she’s so much smarter than that. Writing her stupid is an incredible disservice to her character because it undermines not only her intelligence, but how attuned she is to her son’s interests.
Relax, it’s just a joke
There have been many characterization changes since Season 5 premiered, but Joyce’s shift toward silly comic relief is the most noticeable. She’s still a set, situational supermom, but somehow played dumber. It’s hard to tell because she’s still the same Joyce Byers from season 1, but lacks the skepticism and curiosity that once drove her character. Now she’s just fiddling with knobs in the background, missing obvious sci-fi references that she of all people should know given her involvement in her children’s lives.
Either she never saw the movie, or Vecna is manipulating her behind the scenes and letting Will and Robin walk right into the danger he’s laying out for the finale. Most likely, though, it was simply a faux pas in the writers’ room for an ill-informed throwaway joke.
