There are several characters on Stranger Things that have great character developments, including Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), and Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer). However, one of the most impressive character arcs on the show was Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery).
He starts out as the enemy in the show’s second season. Everyone hated him and he was downright revolting. However, during the third season, viewers learn more about him and his dark past. He has redeeming qualities and you feel bad for him. Let’s take a look at the moments where you felt bad for Billy and other moments where you hated his character.
10 Felt Bad: Abused By His Father
Towards the end of the show’s second season, it's revealed that Billy has a difficult relationship with his father. Billy is angry and hateful because his father is domineering and abusive.
When his stepsister, Max (Sadie Sink), goes missing at the end of the season, Billy’s father is furious with his son. Billy’s facial expressions reveal so much more than words ever will: He’s scared of his father. This provided more insight into the kind of childhood Billy had and everyone felt bad for him.
9 Hated Him: When He Mistreated Max
While it’s revealed why Billy is angry, it’s still unacceptable behavior when Billy mistreats Max. From the first time they’re introduced to the show, it’s obvious they have a rocky relationship. The tension is high between them and Billy takes out all his frustrations on Max.
Max didn’t deserve this treatment. Billy yelled at her, grabbed her hand, and scared her on numerous occasions. You feel bad for Max for being the victim of this form of abuse. Billy might have been abused by his father, but he turned it around and made a new victim out of Max.
8 Felt Bad: His Sad Childhood Flashbacks
Every antagonist has a heartbreaking backstory that reveals why they are interrogating the main characters. In Billy’s case, his past is revealed in the show’s third season after his body has been consumed by the Mind Flayer.
El uses her powers to witness flashback scenes of Billy’s childhood. Billy was happy with his mother until his father started abusing her. When she left the family, everything turned upside down for Billy. His father married Max’s mother and Billy was forced to stay in an abusive situation. You have to feel bad for Billy while watching these flashback scenes. You finally understand why Billy grew up to be a villain.
7 Hated Him: Flirting With Mrs. Wheeler
One of the more frustrating things about Billy is that he flirted with Mike and Nancy’s mother, Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono). This flirtatious behavior started towards the end of the second season, but it continued in the third season. It’s worse when he works as a lifeguard at Hawkins Community Pool. He flirts with Karen and he had every intention to have an affair with her, even though she’s a married woman.
You have to place some blame on Karen in this scenario for even getting involved with Billy. But, the young man was fine with having an affair with a married woman and mother, possibly destroying a family.
6 Felt Bad: He Didn’t Want To Hurt People
In the show’s third season, Billy’s body is occupied by the Mind Flayer. He has a monster controlling his body, forcing him to hurt and potentially kill people. At first, viewers didn’t really care that it was happening to Billy because no one liked him. However, this changed in the episode “The Sauna Test.”
Eleven and the young teenagers lock Billy in a sauna room to try to burn the monster out of his body. During this emotional scene, Billy breaks down and starts sobbing. He says, “He [the Mind Flayer] made me do it.” You have to feel bad for him at this moment, knowing that deep down, Billy doesn’t want to hurt anyone. He’s not the monster.
5 Hated Him: Almost Running Over The Kids
In the season two episode “Trick or Treat, Freak,” Billy is furious with Max while they’re driving home from school. Once again, he’s mistreating her and she has to be the victim. He notices the new friends she has been hanging out with—Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), and Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo). They’re riding their bikes.
Suddenly, Billy is overcome with rage and he decides to taunt the new friends. He speeds and almost runs over the young teens. Max is frantic and the viewers couldn’t believe what they just witnessed.
4 Felt Bad: Sacrificing Himself For Eleven
Throughout the show’s third season, the Mind Flayer is ready to attack Eleven. The ultimate goal is to take over Eleven’s body and destroy Hawkins. During the season finale, “The Battle of Starcourt,” Billy is controlled by the monster and he’s ready to assist in taking over Eleven’s body and powers.
Just before this is about to happen, Eleven reminds him of his childhood memories—the happy ones with his mother. This speaks to Billy’s soul trapped inside the monster and he decides to sacrifice himself to save her. No one saw this coming and viewers loved him for saving one of their favorite characters.
3 Hated Him: Bullying Steve
At this point, every season of Stranger Things has to involve Steve getting into a serious fight. He gets beaten up, and this also happened in the show’s second season by Billy. From the first day the two met, Billy bullied Steve. Things got worse in the season two finale, “The Gate.”
When Billy is interrogating Max and her friends, Steve steps in and defends the young teens. Billy starts beating up Steve and it’s nasty. He nearly kills Steve until Max saves him. With every punch Billy threw, viewers hated him even more.
2 Felt Bad: Choosing To Be The Hero
After Billy sacrificed himself to save Eleven from the Mind Flayer in the season three finale, he’s the hero. Spoiler alert: He dies. However, before he dies, he apologizes to Max, sobbing as he dies in her arms.
Billy was the unlikely hero. You never would have expected him to sacrifice himself to save everyone else, but this demonstrates his incredible character development. He died as a hero and he mended his broken relationship with Max. Rest in peace, Billy.
1 Hated Him: Threatening Lucas
From the very beginning of the show’s second season, Lucas had a crush on Max. She was the cool new girl from California. She was interested in the same things as him and the two had undeniable chemistry.
However, Billy wasn’t too happy about this friendship. Throughout the season, he threatens Lucas, even making racial references about him. He attacks Lucas and it’s the worst thing about Billy. Everyone hated him. He might have had redeeming qualities in the show’s third season, but it’s still hard to overlook how he treated Lucas.
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