Where Is Will and Jonathan's Dad in Stranger Things?
Stranger Things: A Tiny Reminder That Will and Jonathan's Dad Sucks
Spoilers for Stranger Things season two below!
When the Stranger Things crew are trying to get through to shadow-monster-possessed Will, they take turns talking to him about important events in his life. Big brother Jonathan mentions two bonding moments between the brothers when their parents were having problems — one time when Joyce and Lonnie were fighting and another time right after Lonnie left.
Jonathan tries to remind his brother of the good things that came out of those incidents: the awesome mix tape he made Will and building Castle Byers just the way Will drew it. It took all night and they ended up getting sick because it started raining, but they "just had to finish it."
Lost in the big emotional ploys for Will's soul may be the fact that you're having trouble remembering just what happened to Lonnie Byers. Well, let's just say he's not off accepting a father of the year award.
In season one, Lonnie is revealed to be living in Indianapolis with his girlfriend, Cynthia. When Will goes missing, Joyce is positive he's not with Lonnie, but Chief Hopper makes her call her ex-husband and later Jonathan goes to see Lonnie in person to make sure he isn't hiding Will.
And what does Lonnie say about Will being missing?
"The boy never was very good at taking care of himself."
Real nice, pops.
Later, after Will's "body" is found in the quarry and everyone thinks he's dead (but he's not, it's a fake), Lonnie shows up to "comfort" Joyce and urge her to get help about the weird fixations she has about Will still being alive. But just as Joyce is starting to think her ex might actually have her best interests at heart, he reveals he's there to try to get money out of Stattler, the company that owns the quarry. In his mind, dead kid = lawsuit = cha-ching.
Joyce rightly kicks him out, and that's the last we see of him. Good riddance.
In season two, Joyce makes the outstanding decision to start a relationship with Bob Newby, who is the secret MVP of the latest season. RIP, Bob. You're way too good to be felled by a pack of Demodogs.
