Billy Hargrove, portrayed by actor Dacre Montgomery, is a character from the popular Netflix series “Stranger Things.” Throughout the show, Billy is presented as a complex and troubled character, but despite this, there are several reasons why he deserved better.
Firstly, Billy’s backstory is tragic and disturbing. We learn that he has been physically and emotionally abused by his father, who is an alcoholic and verbally abusive. This trauma has clearly had a significant impact on Billy’s life and behavior, yet he is never given the opportunity to receive proper help or support to deal with these issues. Instead, he is demonized and ostracized by the other characters in the show.
Additionally, Billy’s character is never fully explored or developed beyond his role as an antagonist. Despite being a central character in the show’s second season, we are given very little insight into his motivations or inner life. We are left with only a surface-level understanding of him as a character, which is a disservice to both the actor and the audience.
Billy’s arc is rich in potential, but his character was done the most injustice. In the show’s third season, he is possessed by the Mind Flayer, a malevolent entity that uses him as a vessel to carry out its nefarious plans. While there is some exploration of Billy’s internal struggle against the Mind Flayer’s control, ultimately his character is reduced to a disposable villain who is quickly dispatched in a heroic sacrifice. This feels like a wasted opportunity for the character and fails to provide closure or resolution to his story.
It is worth noting that there are several hints throughout the series that suggest that Billy was more complex than we thought. Firstly, it is important to note that Billy’s character is much more than just a one-dimensional antagonist. Throughout the show, we see glimpses of his troubled past, including an abusive father who physically and emotionally abuses him. This backstory provides context for Billy’s behavior and helps us to understand that he is not simply a “bad guy” who deserves to be punished. Instead, his behavior is a manifestation of his own personal issues and trauma. Instead of taking him at face value and throwing all nuance out the window, anyone can see that his volatile moods and quick reactions are exactly that: reactions.
Billy is damaged, functioning from a wounded place with distrust of everyone around him. His mother abandoned him as a child, escaping an abusive marriage to Neil but leaving without him and ghosting him. Society failed to protect him from not only his father, but from adults who groomed and were willing to take advantage of him, and from the supernatural horrors piercing a hole through this dimension and literally taking his autonomy away from him. He wanted any attention he could get, even if it was from somebody who could be his mother because it filled a void.
We could see the effect his father had on him, threatening him and holding him responsible for Max’s whereabouts. Billy was parenting her more than her own mother was at that point, an unfair burden forced onto him. When Neil had Billy up against a wall, calling him slurs, we all saw just how broken and in pain he was when he was alone and crying. That was the Billy nobody saw because he hid that part of him so well behind his edgy attitude and even violent disposition.
On violence, Billy was definitely physical with other characters. Think of the car scene where he grasped and held Max’s wrist to get her attention while emphasizing that she should stay away from Lucas, and his unhinged aggression toward Steve in the scene where he didn’t seem to know when to stop. From a psychoanalytical perspective, Billy was displacing his anger onto others and projecting his trust issues onto Max (while also being fiercely protective of her in many ways, misguided or not). Abuse and physical violence were all Billy knew from his own experience, watching his father punch his mother and his mother throw dishes at Neil. Eerily, he paralleled this memory that’s been deeply scarred within his mind by doing the same to Steve. This also indicates repressed trauma.
But do “antis”, or the population of the Stranger Things fandom ever give him credit for anything else he did? We need to take his job choice into consideration: a lifeguard. Lifeguards are there to look out for others and keep them safe in the pool and in the wild and unpredictable ocean. He also worked as a swimming instructor, which not only indicates his love of water and how it more than likely makes him feel close to California, but his altruism and the fact that he cares for others.
Furthermore, Billy’s character arc in the third season is particularly tragic. After being possessed by the Mind Flayer, Billy is forced to do its bidding and become a “monster” in his own right — part of the “flayed”, the victims forming the psychic hivemind of Vecna’s evil design. He did not choose this, and during the moments he could break the psychological restraint and come through, he tearfully expressed that he didn’t want to do the things the Mind Flayer made him and the sickening guilt he was carrying with no way to resist or take his life back. Even then, Max and her new friends in Hawkins deliberately understood the situation and still chose not to help him.
However, in a pivotal scene, Eleven was able to reach out to the real Billy and break the Mind Flayer’s control over him... with a simple moment of compassion that had a profoundly emotional effect on him. That one small connection and breadcrumb of understanding was everything Billy needed, but he was denied such kindness throughout his whole life. Billy then sacrificed himself to save her, Max and their friends, showing that he is capable of heroism, altruism, and that despite his volatile temper, he had a good heart all along. He literally gave up his existence to ensure their safety, even though it would never be appreciated, and his memory would be disrespected even after death, and he used his last breath to apologize for everything he had done wrong in one word. Sorry.
Is that not enough? Did he not do the unthinkable and show the greatest display of his true colors? Those who are willing to look past the –isms and the accusations from social media’s vicious little echo chambers could see Billy’s nature all along, and it shouldn’t have had to come to that in order for him to “redeem” himself. Maybe Billy wasn’t a sweet little sugar cookie. So what? A lot of people aren’t. It wasn’t necessary to be one of the good guys and someone millions of fans can empathize or even see themselves in. Billy’s reality was heartbreaking, but it’s not that far from what happens to abused children every day no matter the decade. He represents a lot of us who are misunderstood by society, preyed upon and sexually objectified, judged and not accepted because our personalities might be a little too intense for the marshmallows of society.
Young people, especially teenagers are known to be all kinds of chaotic and even edgy. Does it mean they’re bad people, or villains? Absolutely not. Can you say you were a perfect little angel when you were a hormonal teenager with rollercoaster mood swings, trying to navigate life? Honestly? He’s a lot more like us than we’re willing to acknowledge. But instead of jumping on the bandwagon and joining the “hivemind” of fandom hate, try giving him a chance.
Consider why he is just as beloved throughout the Stranger Things fandom as he is hated: He is raw and authentic, deeply emotional and he gave us plenty of chances to see who he truly was and multifaceted humanity if we paid attention. No “redemption” was needed when Billy wasn’t a bad person.
