#justine

It's become clear to me through the many interviews I've watched/read from the Duffers over the years that they put characters like Will and Billy into two separate categories. Will gets to be the "good victim" who is deserving of compassion, of being saved, of having friends and family who will fight for and support him. Billy on the other hand is forever categorized as the "bad victim". The one who lashes out in anger (and pain) because that's all he's ever really known but still in the eyes of the Duffers it would seem that makes him a bad person who isn't worthy of support and love.

They even had the nerve to say (in that video I linked) that Billy wasn't redeemed. So in other words Billy fighting back as hard as he possibly could against the Mind Flayer so he wouldn't hurt people (like he did at the pool when it wanted to hurt Karen) or even just to warn them (like he did when he was revving the engine at the mall) and even him full on sacrificing himself for El and Max was somehow not enough to make Billy's life matter. Got it.

It's crazy to me the way Billy is discussed by people involved with show (apart from Dacre) because for the most part he's either talked about as a villain or just not spoken about at all as if he's irrelevant. This video where the cast react to scenes from season 3 was released today and there's very few mentions of Billy in it even though he played a pivotal role in that season. Even the scenes they talk about where Billy is in them the focus isn't really on Billy. Like Millie talks about the scene in 3x06 where the Mind Flayer talks to her through Billy and she mostly talks about the stunt she did in that scene. At the end of the video Caleb talks about the scene where Billy dies but there's no real focus on Billy. He mostly talks about how all the actors filmed their scenes in different locations. It also would have been nice to hear Dacre's thoughts on these scenes though I assume he's probably too busy right now to have joined in on something like this.

Earlier in this video was also a part where Cara Buono reacted to the pool scene with her and Billy. I'm sorry but I just find the way this show treats Billy (who is still a teenager when we see him again in season 3) pretty disturbing. They play up his sexualization by much older women for titillation and laughs. When I 100% bet they would never have done the same kind of scene with Nancy (or any of the other teen girls) and a group of middle aged men drooling over her and worse one making plans to sleep with her.

Going back to what I was saying about the good victim vs the bad victim with Will and Billy. Season 2 the main focus was on Will and his possession by the Mind Flayer, season 3 it was a similar story only this time with Billy. Yet in season 3 there was little to no concern over what was happening to Billy and really no talk about how to rescue him. This is a stark contrast to everything the group did to help Will in season 2.

Why was Will more deserving of being rescued and shown love than Billy was? Billy definitely was an asshole at times (particularly in s2) but really what single thing did he as himself (and not when he was possessed) ever do that was so awful he deserved to be tortured by the Mind Flayer and eventually die in the horrific way he did?

I hate how Billy died. I hate that he died period. I cried so much when it happened. I don't think I've ever cried before or since like that over a fictional character's death but I think part of it was how I saw myself in Billy. I grew up in an abusive home. I too was an angry teenager who often lashed out at the people around me because being angry was a way to mask the pain. And like Billy I also didn't have anyone I could have really gone to and told what was going on or who could really be my safe space.

I knew going into season 3 there was a chance Billy was going to get killed off but I hoped somehow that he was going to make it and get away from his pos father. I hoped even more after watching 3x06. I thought surely they wouldn't build on Billy's story even more just to kill him off. But nope the Duffers literally confirmed to the audience that Billy had been being abused by his father since he was a little boy and that his mother had abandoned him. Then they showed no one in the party trying to save Billy instead they showed them attacking him with no real concern if he was killed or not and finally showed him sacrificing himself for El and Max.

After all that the Duffers still have the nerve to say Billy wasn't redeemed. No one should have to die to be redeemed especially not an abused scared teenager but the least they could have done was given him that. Tbh Billy's story at this point feels like some kind of twisted torture p*rn. Like the Duffers somehow got off on torturing this (fictional) teenager who reminded them of their childhood bully. (They talked in interviews a few times about how Billy was based on a bully/bullies they had.)

It hurts seeing the way the show continues to treat Billy without a single care for the message it sends to real abuse victims especially kids who relate to him. The Stranger Things fandom as a whole isn't much better either. I still come across posts where people are happy he was killed off yet some of those same people will defend Jason, Henry, Brenner, etc. But no you're right. Billy is definitely the worst person to ever exist in Stranger Things. 😒

I will always be grateful for Dacre because without him I'm not sure what would have become of Billy. He's the main person who gave Billy his humanity and depth. He advocated for Billy when the Duffers were really hell bent on turning him into this racist 80s cardboard villain. To this day Dacre still talks about Billy and us fans with so much love and sensitivity. We were incredibly lucky to have him.

Sorry for the long rant. It's just seeing the way the Duffers talked about Billy really bothered me and I needed to vent. Thanks for reading if you made it down this far. ❤️ Please don't respond to this if you're not a fan of Billy. You're entitled to your opinion but kindly express that somewhere else. Thank you.