The Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) viewers meet in Stranger Issues Season 5 would not really feel like the identical Dustin we have recognized since Season 1.
Gone is Hawkins’ resident ball of sunshine, changed with a sulking, indignant younger man who would sooner graffiti a bully’s locker than belt “By no means Ending Story” over walkie-talkie. But this transformation did not come out of nowhere. As a substitute, it stems from a transparent level of trauma for Dustin: witnessing the tragic loss of life of Eddie (Joseph Quinn) on the finish of Season 4.
Since then, Dustin has channeled his internal Eddie, rising out his hair, donning handfuls of rings, and rocking his Hellfire Membership shirt regardless of how a lot abuse it will get him from bullies. However whereas Dustin pays tribute to Eddie, he is been pushing away his different shut pals, particularly Steve (Joe Keery).
“He is actively attempting to chop himself off from the individual he is terrified of shedding probably the most,” Matarazzo advised Mashable throughout a Say Extra interview.
Dustin’s grief causes critical pressure in Stranger Issues Season 5.
Gaten Matarazzo in “Stranger Issues.”
Credit score: Netflix
Matarazzo knew the strained dynamic between Dustin and Steve can be polarizing, as the 2 had been mainly inseparable since Season 2. He additionally knew the identical can be true of Dustin’s emotional arc as an entire.
“I used to be type of hoping there can be a little bit of a conflicted feeling round it,” Matarazzo stated. “I did not need it to come back throughout as like, ‘Oh, poor him.’ As a result of as a lot as that is true, and I believe lots of people can clearly see he is going by means of loads, he is additionally being a dick. And I believe, regardless of how a lot one is grieving, it would not excuse your habits in direction of different individuals, particularly those that are in your nook, people who find themselves there supporting you.”
That tug-of-war between sympathy for and frustration at Dustin runs by means of a lot of Season 5, beginning with Dustin lacking episode’s 1 crawl to the Upside Down after selecting a struggle along with his tormentors. His absence jeopardizes the mission and additional strains his relationship along with his pals, a lot of whom have skilled their very own losses since Season 1.
He is going by means of loads. He is additionally being a dick.
“Dustin’s able the place there’s — it appears horrible to say — however there’s virtually greater fish to fry than you shedding your buddy,” Matarazzo stated. “Everybody’s misplaced individuals. Possibly it is the primary time it felt so current to Dustin, as a result of it is anyone so near him, and it occurs proper in entrance of him.”
Matarazzo contrasts Dustin’s personal grieving over Eddie with Lucas’ (Caleb McLaughlin) grieving over Max (Sadie Sink) being in a coma for over a yr.
“Lucas is clearly coping with one thing similar to Dustin, but in addition appears to be taking it in a route that is much less egocentric,” he stated, pointing to Lucas’ continued involvement within the Season 5 crawl and the buddy group general.
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The variations within the two characters’ grieving processes on display highlights that there is not any one option to cope with loss. Grief isn’t linear, and Dustin’s personal journey comes with no scarcity of mess and pressure. That is very true of his relationship with Steve, which hits its lowest level in Season 5.
Dustin and Steve’s extra contentious relationship this season altered the way in which Matarazzo and Keery approached key scenes collectively, because the pair’s friendlier, extra enjoyable dynamic as scene companions clashed with Dustin and Steve’s battle.
“Typically we would be goofing off earlier than takes and particularly early on, they might yell, ‘motion,’ and I am like, ‘Oh, I am not centered within the slightest,’ as a result of I am nonetheless simply joking round with him,” Matarazzo stated. “That was a special method. And so we’d take a look at issues and take a look at one another and be like, ‘Man, that is actually unhappy,’ as a result of we simply need to have enjoyable generally. That is the pure drive there.”
That is to not say there are not any enjoyable Dustin and Steve moments in Season 5. Matarazzo factors to the scene in episode 4 when Steve drives his automobile by means of a rift into the Upside Down, with a terrified Dustin, Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) hanging on for pricey life.
“[In that scene] there’s the conventional pleasure of us screaming and yelling and insulting one another, however with playful banter, and I believe it is a kind of moments the place in [Dustin’s] bizarre, little pent-up rage, when all is alleged and accomplished and when the whole lot else goes loopy round him, he would not actually have time to actively attempt to be imply to [Steve],” Matarazzo stated.
Stranger Issues Season 5, Quantity 2 facilities Dustin and Steve’s relationship.
Gaten Matarazzo and Joe Keery in “Stranger Issues.”
Credit score: Netflix
The Dustin and Steve drama involves a head in Season 5, Quantity 2, when the pair examine Hawkins Lab within the Upside Down. There, the 2 totally have it out about Eddie’s loss of life, with their reducing phrases culminating in a bodily altercation. In prior seasons, Matarazzo would have put a variety of strain on himself your complete day main as much as capturing that scene.
“However that day, I bear in mind I felt very regular till about 20 minutes earlier than we began capturing,” he recalled. “Typically I simply wander round in a nook with headphones on, probably not to construct up any feelings or something like that, however to only weirdly get the top fog out of it and simply be at a impartial place, as a result of then you definately may be open to discovering what occurs. There are a variety of totally different takes. There are takes the place we’re crying earlier than the struggle, there are takes the place we’re even angrier, and there is takes the place’s it simply at a impartial tone, the place we’re simply saying this stuff to one another after which seeing how naturally it digs in, they usually took loads from every of them.”
Nevertheless, one scene that Matarazzo did put strain on himself for was Dustin and Steve’s eventual reconciliation, which led to a hug so deep I felt it in my bones.
“I used to be so terrified of it the entire time,” Matarazzo stated. “I bear in mind the entire season, I learn it on the desk learn, and I used to be like, ‘Oh nice, it is a kind of.'”
A lot of Season 5 was shot chronologically, too, so Matarazzo and Keery got here into the scene having already gone by means of a lot of the emotional build-up. That simply makes the dialog all of the extra cathartic, as Stranger Issues‘ fan-favorite duo lastly lay all their feelings naked.
“I believe one of many healthiest issues to do in grief is unpacking it once you really feel the necessity to take action and diving in and feeling the whole lot that you just potential can really feel and that you just’re naturally inclined to feeling,” Matarazzo stated.
The reconciliation scene is that to a T, with Steve and particularly Dustin dropping any facades and simply permitting themselves to be open about how a lot they imply to at least one one other. It is a stand-out Stranger Issues second in a season filled with them, made all of the sweeter by the complicated twists and turns Steve and Dustin took to get there.
Volumes 1 and a couple of of Stranger Issues Season 5 at the moment are streaming on Netflix. The collection finale premieres Dec. 31 at 8 p.m. ET on Netflix and in theaters.
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