Favorite Characters: Dustin Henderson (Stranger Things)

Even at the height of the Stranger Things craze when it burst onto the scene in season 1, I’ve always enjoyed rather than adored it. It’s fun, it’s entertaining, and it’s creepy, but I also recognize the places where the plot is clunky and where it trades more on nostalgia points than storytelling. That said, the parts of the show I love?  I love pretty wholeheartedly.  And I definitely love Dustin (premise spoilers.)

The first, and perhaps main, thing to know about Dustin is how unabashed he is.  That’s fantastic to me – I love unapologetic weirdos who don’t feel bad about being themselves because they know how awesome they are, and Dustin fits that bill pretty well.  Even though all four of the boys are major geeks in an era before nerdiness became more mainstream – joyfully reading comic books, playing D & D, and dropping Star Wars/Lord of the Rings references – I feel like Dustin, more so than the others, never considers any of that to be a bad thing.  He doesn’t self-deprecate about it, and when the bullies have a problem with that, he doesn’t try to demure.

He tacks the same tack with his physical disability, albeit with less nerdish enthusiasm.  Dustin (like Gaten Matarazzo, who plays him) has cleidocranial dysplasia, a genetic disorder that affects his skeletal and tooth development.  It’s not something that factors significantly into the show, but I appreciate Dustin’s no-big-deal attitude toward it when his disability comes up in the pilot.  He dutifully shows off his “trick” of making his bones crack to Mike and Lucas, and when the bullies (yep, those bullies again) harass him about his dental plate in season, he simply tells them his teeth are coming in soon and it’s none of their business. Side note: when his teeth do come in, I love how adorably proud he is of showing them off.

But if Dustin is gleeful about his geeky pursuits and nonchalantly open about his disability, he is virtually vibrating with excitement when Eleven shows up at Mike house and a bunch of crazy sci-fi/conspiracy stuff starts going down.  He’s of course thrilled at the idea of Eleven having telekinetic powers and immediately tries to test them by urging her to make a Millennium Falcon model float, and he dives enthusiastically into any and all plans involving Will, the Upside Down, and the Bad Men.  It’s not that he isn’t aware of the stakes, because he very earnestly wants to find Will and he isn’t blind to the danger that’s involved, but even amidst all that, he loves the idea of a real-life adventure and throws himself into it.  And he’s helpful, too – whether it’s working some mad compass fu, doing the awkwardly-annoying job of pestering his teacher on a Friday night for some all-important science details (that said teacher just randomly knows, of course,) or, importantly, bringing the friends back together when tensions run high and it seems like the mission might be abandoned, Dustin is a major asset to the group.

It’s a little odd, because season 1 positions Dustin as kind of the glue of group, but both seasons 2 and 3 separate him to an extent from the other boys and Eleven (and later Max.) The whole thing with Dart comes between Dustin and his friends a little early in season 2 – and his and Lucas’s respective crushes on Max spark a feud between the two of them – and in season 3, Dustin spends the lion’s share with Steve, Robin, and Erica. Not that I’m complaining, really, because the weird burgeoning friendship between Dustin Henderson and Steve Harrington is the best thing to come out of season 2 and I was thrilled to see more of them together in the more recent season. But it is unusual to have Dustin so central to the group’s cohesiveness in season 1 and then see him move into more of a different sphere as the show goes on.

Still, whether he’s in amongst the core kid group or palling around with Steve, Dustin is a keeper, practically everything you want in a good supporting character.  He brings humor, energy, skills, and heart, and he can shine in little moments without needing a spotlight on him.  How could I not love this kid?