I've been rewatching Stranger Things with my girlfriend who hasn't seen the show. When we got to that episode she was so confused and calling out how much she hated some of the newly introduced characters.

She was so relieved when I said not to worry, we'll never see them again.

That was the worst part of the show to date.

The creators wanted session 2 to be a different cast and setting. A bunch of grad students that discovered the upside down. Netflix said no keep the kids they are popular.

So they used the original session 2 ideas for that episode.

Oof

I literally stopped watching because of that episode. It was so absolutely god awful. Maybe I should pick it up again, but eh.