Diksha Sundriyal
The final season of Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things‘ brings the final showdown between Vecna and the residents of Hawkins. While everyone is focused on saving their loved ones and the town, while also trying to survive themselves in the process, the characters also go through significant personal developments. One of the major relationships in the show has been Jonathan and Nancy’s. While they have been together since the second season, their relationship suffers a major jolt during the events of the fourth season. As the fifth season progresses, it becomes clear that the distance between them has turned into a chasm that cannot be resolved so easily. Before heading into the final fight with Vecna, they make an important decision regarding their relationship. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Cracks in Jonathan and Nancy’s Relationship Get Deeper
As Hawkins has been terrorised by Demogorgons and all the horrors that have emerged from the Upside Down, Jonathan and Nancy have been by each other’s side for the most part. While Jonathan had been infatuated with Nancy since the beginning, it wasn’t until the second season that the duo acted on their feelings. By this time, both of them had been through enough traumatic events to create a shared space of understanding between them. This trauma bonding continued over the years, which is why, when the time came for them to finally live a normal life, they found ways to stay away from each other, even if subconsciously.
In the fourth season, when the Byers family moves to California, Jonathan decides not to apply for Emerson, the college he and Nancy were supposed to go to together. His excuse is that he needs to stay back home to take care of his mother and brother, as well as Eleven, who lives with them at the time. Meanwhile, when Nancy has the chance to spend the summer with Jonathan, she makes an excuse about not being able to get away from her job. The thing is that, by that time, things have been relatively normal, and meeting Jonathan would, in a way, bring up their shared experience of surviving the monsters of Hawkins.
She needs some space, but she cannot say this to Jonathan because she knows that it will impact their relationship in a bad way. Moreover, before saying it to him, she needs to accept the reality herself, but she is in denial mode. Jonathan is going through pretty much the same thing, but like her, he hasn’t come to terms with his feelings enough to understand that he and Nancy cannot work anymore. It isn’t until they are trapped inside a room in the Upside Down and face imminent death that confess their feelings to each other.
A Close Call With Death Forces Jonathan and Nancy to Reevaluate Their Relationship
Despite a clear sense of disconnet between them, Nancy and Jonathan ignore their problems and focus on finding and killing Vecna. Their relationship goes on a permanent back burner when Holly goes missing and Nancy’s parents are almost killed by the Demogorgons. She and Jonathan join Steve and Dustin on a trip to the Upside Down with the intent to find Holly, but they take a detour when a mysterious wall appears in front of them. To find a way to cross the wall, the quartet goes to the Hawkins Lab, where they split up, with Jonathan and Nancy teaming up to find the generator that is keeping the wall intact. When they find it, Nancy shoots at the thing, which responds with a strong pulse of energy that melts everything around it. Jonathan and Nancy get caught in a pool of liquid, and as death seems right in front of them, they are forced to come clean to one another.
Prior to this, even after their reunion, Nancy shows passive aggressive disdain towards Jonathan. She explains it away with the fact that he didn’t tell her about not applying for college. She is angry at him for his secret, but this is merely a way for her to vent her own feelings. Meanwhile, Jonathan tries to fix things between them. He tries to blame the coldness between him and Nancy on Steve, but eventually, he is forced to admit that the problem lies with him. He believes that asking Nancy to marry him will solve their problems, but as they start talking to each other about it, they both realise that their feelings have changed too much for them to go back to the way they were.
Each accepts their mistake and their flawed approach towards their relationship, while confirming that it would be best for them to part ways once the dust settles on the war against Vecna. There is still love between them, and as a token for that spirit of friendship, Jonathan presents the ring with which he was supposed to propose to her. Since they are not going to be together anymore, he makes an un-proposal to her. By saying yes, she accepts the end of their relationship, and instead of putting the ring on her finger, Jonathan throws it away. Eventually, they survive the near-death experience and come out of the room where they thought they were surely going to die. Their relatioship, however, isn’t so lucky, and it is confirmed that while they still care for each other, they are no longer together.
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