here’s a harsh breakdown of why stranger things failed jancy in s4 (and the answers i hope we get in s5)
no sugarcoating, no niceties — let’s get into it
okay. i think most of us can agree that season 4 was rough for jancy fans. if not rough, then at least deeply awkward. it felt like the entire show hit rewind back to s1 — back when nancy looked at steve with wide-eyed adoration — completely ignoring the growth she had between s1–3.
by s3, jancy were a solid unit with two full seasons of build-up. even when they fought, they communicated. they understood each other. the duffers framed them as “the nice girl and the freak who become more than stereotypes,” the doomed, trauma-bonded duo destined to end up together despite the odds.
and then s4 happened. the whiplash was insane.
add to that the s5 marketing leaning aggressively in stancy’s favor and the GA suddenly treating jonathan like he’s disposable — some wishing he’d die, sacrifice himself for the “nuclear couple”, that stancy will name their child after him (like wtf is wrong with people? do they really think that’s an emotionally fulfilling arc?).
so yeah, it makes sense why jancy fans felt gutted.
but on rewatch… i finally pinpointed why the whole thing gives me the ick. even as someone who never cared for either ship.
and it’s actually very simple:
nancy is in an impossible situation… and steve’s storyline only made it worse.
let’s talk about the “pathetic steve” trajectory. sure, we love seeing him a bit pathetic, we want to see him as a hopeless loser in love — we saw seeds of it already with robin in s3.
but don’t overdo it. at some point he becomes unlikeable, and s4 just pushed it too far.
the writing leaned so hard into the lovestruck-idiot trope that it broke his character logic. in the first scene we see of him in s4, he proved he loves robin as a person and wants her in his life without a romantic aspect — that’s a huge character development for anyone, especially steve!
he spent three seasons going his own way, and became a better person for it. why should it be discussed positively in a scene and then later in the same scene ignored when steve shoots his shot, knowing nancy’s relationship status?
the timing is insane. at first steve is saying the four of them should hang out, a few hours later he’s talking about his life long dream of wanting six kids, and then he confesses he wishes he had a second chance with her, and that his dream always included her as well.
steve thanking nancy for “giving his head the biggest thump of his life” and in the same breath confessing his feelings is… what’s the word?
bullshit.
it’s not fair. and it’s hard seeing how suddenly he’s back to mooning over a girl he dated three years ago — a relationship based entirely on nancy trying to be someone she wasn’t.
it makes him look lost. and it blind-sides nancy during a moment where she’s already overwhelmed.
but the real heart of the issue is jonathan.
jonathan is terrified of repeating the worst mistake of his life.
during s4, in contrast of nancy’s concerns, jonathan loves her still and misses her a lot. the problem is that he’s staring down a dilemma that hits at the core of who he is:
— he knows nancy wants emerson
— he knows their talks about their future were always more of a fantasy on his end
— he knows his family’s economic disadvantages compared to her’s
— he knows his family depends on him due to trauma
— and he knows what happened last time he chose nancy over will
because yes — we have to talk about s2.
jonathan’s entire arc begins with failure: he wasn’t there when will was taken (taking an extra shift), then again when he followed nancy to murray’s and will gets possessed. he gets two seasons of guilt tied to the fact that he failed to protect his little brother.
jonathan can’t live with repeating that.
so when nancy pushes toward her future, he pulls back. not out of lack of love — but because he cannot fathom the idea of abandoning his family again. nancy doesn’t see this, not because she doesn’t care, but because her trauma shaped her in a different direction. she became fiercely independent because no adult ever protected her. she doesn’t understand why leaving is impossible for him.
nancy’s s4 arc is her coping mechanism.
nancy throughout s4 is anxious, lonely, and unsure where she stands with jonathan. hawkins is falling apart around her.
so what does she do? the only thing she knows to. she throws herself into problem-solving, leadership and action — the places where she feels strong.
but the writing frames her glances at steve as if she suddenly regressed to s1. that’s the part that feels wrong. not because she can’t look at him with warmth — but because the show framed it as romantic tension instead of anything else.
and here’s the harsh truth:
if stancy is endgame in s5, then nancy’s entire arc collapses.
because it means:
— the steve/nancy tension in s4 was romantic, not contextual
— nancy did emotionally reciprocate it while still with jonathan
— and that crosses the line into active betrayal
which would break a character who has been built on integrity, loyalty, and hard-won moral clarity. that’s why it’s so hard to watch her scenes with steve, because she was always the character that knew right from wrong.
nancy describes jonathan as loyal early on in s4 and adds that it’s the reason she loves him so much — if she does this to him, what does it say about her?
(that’s partly why i think stoncy — nancy/jonathan/steve ship — is so strong right now, because at least with nancy having feelings for both of them, and them being reciprocated and accepted by all three, it becomes okay.)
it would also destroy jonathan’s arc — turning his trauma, guilt, love for nancy and growth into a punchline for a ship the show already deconstructed back in s2.
what i hope s5 answers:
— how does nancy truly feel about jonathan once she understands why he pulled away?
— will jonathan finally verbalize the weight he’s been carrying?
— will the show address that he can’t just leave his family again?
— will nancy’s independence and jonathan’s caretaking arc finally meet in an emotionally realistic way? or are stancy endgame?
because at the end of the day, s4 didn’t “ruin” jancy for no reason — it set the stage for a conversation they’ve never had. one that could either mend their arc… or end it for good.
