According to Michael Briers of We Got This Covered it’s still going to be a while until we get to see the next season of Stranger Things, but it is evident that come season 4 we’ll be seeing more of Maya Hawke as the always-sarcastic Robin, and people are loving the prospect. Maybe it’s atonement for Barb or maybe it’s something else, but the showrunners are definitely pushing her arc a lot further than the ill-fated redhead from the first season and thus far it’s been appreciated since she’s been immensely helpful and plays a great counter to Steve and Dustin’s strange but endearing bromance that emerged from the end of season 2. If anyone claimed to have seen this coming they were betting on some long odds since at the beginning of the show Steve was considered the popular, always in control cool kid, whereas Dustin was just one of the guys that everyone else looked at as a spaz among the D&D crowd. The fact that he and Steve actually bonded is hard to figure out, but it did manage to work in a big way, and Robin’s inclusion into the story somehow made it even greater despite her continuous sarcasm.
What’s going to be interesting is how the story will work at this point since the core group has been split up and is scattered now with the Byer’s having moved, along with Eleven, and Hopper being presumed dead. Plus, the boys are growing up and taking on different interests, so again it’s something that seems destined to either expand the story or force it down avenues that are going to introduce more newcomers and possibly fragment a bit further. Robin sticking around isn’t a problem largely since she became a big part of the story in season 3 and integrated fairly well into the group. The revelation that she’s gay wasn’t much to deal with really since seeing her and Steve get together might have been just a little too sappy for the show, and it does open up a new and interesting dynamic given the time period they’re in. Coming back to season 4 is going to be interesting in many ways, but exploring Robin’s life a bit further will definitely be one of them.
In a way though season 4 almost feels as though it should be a prelude to an ending since the story has been pushing for bigger and better things at this point and while it has been impressive some people didn’t enjoy season 3 as much. Seasons 1 and 2 were both unique in that we had a chance to see Eleven emerge and then flex whatever powers she has, taking on a creature that seemed nigh invincible in the Demogorgon and then in the Mind Flayer as she sought to close the breach between the Upside Down and her world. Where season 3 kind of fell flat is that the danger that was supposedly capable of wiping them all out only took out one individual when he chose to stand against it, and to be fair it didn’t appear as though Billy had much of a future on the show anyway. To be real he felt as though that he was the alpha male stereotype that came on strong, was there as a distraction, and then was finally used as a throwaway character that would usher in the big bad during the third season before he could be tossed aside. He just didn’t have the emotional impact since even the revelation of his troubled past and then his death didn’t really move fans all that much.
Robin however was brought out at the right time since her case is one that tends to reflect the era that we’re living in despite the difference in time periods. The prospect of making her gay isn’t a stereotype so much as it’s a way to make her a little more sympathetic to the audience, cynical as that might sound. She does turn out to be a fun and very engaging character, but her big reveal no doubt endeared her to many others that watch the show and gave them another reason to like her. In a big way Robin was a way to move on from the brief idea of Billy, though whether folks will see it like this is hard to say since there were so many different directions to focus on throughout the last season, especially given all that happened. At this point a lot of us are wondering just how the group will maintain contact and what might happen with Eleven now that she’s lost her powers. And yes, a lot of us are wondering if Hopper is ‘the American’ we heard about at the end of the season. Many people will probably be happy to hear that Robin is coming back, but it’s going to be a while until we get to see just how things turn out.
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