Was anyone else just really depressed by the Wheeler family in season 2?

Ted is the most useless human being alive who has no emotional interest or affection for his kids and their struggles and has definitely checked out of his own life.

Karen has become something of a Stepford Smiler who has, for some reason, has taken a huge step back from her kids. She was desperate for them to talk to her in season 1 and now she doesn’t seem to notice or care that she hasn’t seen her son and daughter for days? and seems a little relieved to have them gone? she just assumes they’ve been at friends’ houses for that long? Her marriage is clearly on the rocks and judging by the wine glass in most of her s2 scenes, she seems to spend her time drowning her sorrows??? Everything about her seemed really out of character this season.

Ted’s comment to Dustin of “our kid’s don’t live here anymore” an how he and Karen both seem so casual about their kids being gone for such long stretches of time indicates to me that Mike and Nancy are gone quite a lot and this isn’t a one-off thing.

The parents seem blissfully unaware of the grief their children are still going through and they both seem more annoyed by it than anything. Mike’s troubling behavior changes are met with a numb, unhelpful attitude like it’s just something they have to deal with but they’re not addressing the real problem at all. They’ve clearly swept the events of season 1 under the rug and have never talked about it again. I’m sure Ted made it clear that everyone in that household was to act like none of it ever happened. 

Nancy and Mike are both having their own similar but separate issues and struggling with everything that happened but still don’t really seem to have much of a relationship? They had exactly one exchange in season 2, and it was not friendly (”I’ll pay you back!” “Asshole!”). There was no bonding. no apparent comaraderie between them like we saw at the end of last season.  

Holly was in one scene and we never saw her again.

The Wheeler house felt like such a much colder place this season, especially in comparison to the other boys’ warm, loving households. They didn’t feel like a family but just people under a roof. 

And this change in the Wheeler family dynamic, especially that in Karen, is intentional. It’s set-up for S3. In this article (https://www.glamour.com/story/stranger-things-season-three-cara-buono-karen-wheeler), Shawn Levy explains, “We have much more story for Karen that is linked to her discontent and her dissatisfied sexuality. In the end, there wasn’t room [in season two] to service all the ideas. Some ideas got punted to next season and maybe beyond, but we’re not done with Karen Wheeler and her failing marriage.”

Then, Cara Buono adds that she is excited to see S3 delve into who Karen really is and her growing tension with Ted.

If this is the case, if there is indeed relationship trouble/arguments between the two of them, it’ll for sure take a huge toll on the Wheeler siblings, especially Mike. He has always been emotionally vulnerable, and who knows how much this added family drama will affect his mental health? From this, we’ll also definitely get a lot more character development from Mike that was largely absent in the past two seasons, as well as many chances to expand on what thay entails for his and Eleven’s relationship. Will it strengthen their bond? Or will Mike withdraw and push her away? On another level, Ted is the sole income provider for the Wheelers. If they were to get a divorce, that will strain them significantly.

Anyway, the coldness of the Wheeler household this season is far from flawed writing. It perfectly sets the stage for what is in store for us in the future, and I can’t wait to see where this storyline will lead to!