All the way back in 2017, when it was first released on Netflix, the second season of Stranger Things was met with a bit more criticism than anticipated. After the first season of the show had been so rapturously received and launched the series to stratospheric new heights, many found the second season to be a bit of a sophomore slump. The majority of fans’ vehemence toward this second season found its way toward a single episode and character though, in the form of “The Lost Sister” and Kali Prasad a.k.a. Eight, as played by Linnea Berthelsen.
Kali's role in season 2 set up an entirely new angle of the series, and her relationship with Eleven was pivotal to that character’s emotional growth throughout the season. And yet, some viewers took umbrage with the way that this episode, which came late in the second season, paused the action of the main storyline in favor of cutting away to this parallel story. The character and actress were subsequently excluded from ensuing seasons, with the show rarely even delivering a passing reference to the character. That is until season 5, where Kali returned as a full-on featured player. At first, this seemed immensely exciting. But now, with Stranger Things 5 concluded, it’s safe to say that the Duffer Brothers and co. did Kali dirty.
After nearly a decade of having to put up with people constantly putting down the second season and pinning many of its shortcomings on this specific episode and this specific character, it was great to see Stranger Things bring Kali back into the fold for the final season. In fact, it initially felt like a joyful rebuttal to those bad-faith criticisms; Kali was back, highlighting once again just how crucial “The Lost Sister” really was to the larger story of the series. However, as the season wore on, it became increasingly apparent that Kali’s return might not be quite as triumphant as hoped for.
Instead, in narrative, the character had essentially been lobotomized by the military, and was now just a walking shell of her former self. As if that wasn’t bad enough, her biggest contribution to the season is endlessly insisting to Eleven that she needs to kill herself in order to stop Vecna. In fact, it feels as if time and again, the show actively encouraged the audience to distrust Kali, as if she may in fact be a traitor to the heroes. While Stranger Things 5 doesn’t ever fully go that route, it still manages to feel as if the Duffer Brothers are attempting to twist the outside-of-the-show distaste for Kali that many fans have into in-the-show disapproval. It’s a befuddling move that feels like it’s rewarding the very worst impulses of fans, allowing them to feel vindicated for not liking the character from the outset.
To top it all off, Kali is the sole character from the party who definitely dies during the finale. So, in essence, Stranger Things brought back this long-mistreated character and actress from its past to get practically lobotomized, encourage El to commit suicide, and then get shot in the gut and unceremoniously bleed out. For a show that has been so cagey about killing off characters ever since Barb’s death in season 1 earned them such backlash, the treatment of Kali here feels incredibly mean-spirited, and honestly just makes me wish they hadn’t brought her back at all.