We may be on season four of the juggernaut that is Netflix’s Stranger Things, but fans are still holding on to what they claim was the worst subplot of the series. Going way back to season two in 2017, episode seven, The Lost Sister, introduced a whole host of new characters that many are hoping they will never see again.
Episode seven revolved entirely around Eleven’s mysterious past, as she meets up with another of Dr. Brenner’s test subjects, Kali, or, as her tattoo shows, Eight. Kali seeks out anyone who had anything to do with the lab they grew up in and enacts her own form of justice, by murdering them. After bringing Eleven to the man that tortured her mother to insanity, Kali expects her to do the same, but Eleven refuses. It’s here that she learns that Dr. Brenner is still alive, as we are now well aware. After fleeing Kali and her “gang” she heads back to Hawkins, where all the characters that we actually care about have been fighting off evil demodogs in her absence.
The whole episode felt like it came out of nowhere, with cringe costumes and characters that got zero development, one minute they were there, and then they were gone and forgotten about. It felt completely out of the loop from the rest of the season, moving away from the small town of Hawkins into the big city just so Eleven could realize that Hawkins was where she actually wanted to be. Though it allowed Eleven a modicum of growth, it simply did not fit in with the overall tone of the show.
Many fans took an immediate dislike to the episode, voicing their disappointment on social media, and even now, five years on, they’re still hating on it.
Many users agreed with the post.
With many pointing out that it felt like the episode was a test run for a potential spin-off series.
One person couldn’t even make it through the entire episode, deciding to skip it after only 15 minutes.
This user forgot that this episode even existed, the brain perhaps protecting itself.
Quite a few however didn’t mind the episode but felt that its placement within the season and the pacing were completely off.
This user didn’t mind the premise too much but felt that it wasn’t well handled and that Kali’s gang just looked like a bad attempt at punk.
However, with the introduction of Vecna, aka Brenner’s first test subject, One, some are wondering if Kali will be brought back to help El fight against the monstrous being.
This user is convinced that Kali will be needed again.
Whether Kali returns is unknown, but the Duffer brothers are well aware that the episode was very much disliked by fans, so if they do bring her back they will have to do it carefully.
Stranger Things seasons one to four are available on Netflix, with the latter’s final chapters available to stream on July 1.
