Stranger Things: Season 1 ****SPOILERS**** Discussion Thread

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Does anyone know why when the monster attacked someone early in the season, both the monster and the person he was attacking would disappear instantly, presumably to the dark world?

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Maybe I don't completely understand the question, but it was kind of the same. The monster attacked and killed then brought back to the other dimension to feed. It didn't bring back to the other dimension if it wasn't able to catch the prey is the only difference with some of the later appearances.

There were only two exceptions otherwise. The very last scene with the monster is one where it is just going around killing people, but I think it was in a frenzy because of all the blood from Eleven killing people.

The other exception was actually from the first episode with Will because he was kept alive. I think that is a mystery to be solved in the next season and probably has something to do with the monster breeding. There were a couple of hints to this effect.

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Also, where did that girl go after she killed the monster? Did she end up in the dark world? Did she disintegrate herself in the process?

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Again, this is another mystery to be solved as to the specifics in the next season. It is suggested that she is still alive somewhere when the sherif puts the food and eggo in the box in the woods.

So Barb was really dead?
Curious as to why the sheriff got in the black car at the end and what was the purpose of the box.

Think of the acrobat and flee analogy. The monster is the flee. Everytime it appears it is climbing through some wall or something. Eleven touched the monster which originally broke the separation between dimensions and created the main "permanent" gate in the lab. But it also gave the monster that ability to cross between dimensions at will. It grabbed Barb back into that dimension. It wasn't just a random portal that time.

There were some random portals, but I just guess that was because of an instability of the original contact between dimensions spreading.

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The monster is the flee.

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Which makes sense but shouldn't that mean Eleven is also a flea of sorts (given that she started it all)? So shouldn't Eleven be able to open these portals? Maybe the explanation is that she could but, given that she's only a child, hadn't figured out how to do it just yet.

Yea, I kind of realized that this show is a little like Lost or True Detective. You just have to go with some things. It's more about the characters. Not everything is explained. You just have to use your imagination. At least in this season. Maybe things will be more explained in season 2. I read somewhere that season 2 will be a continuation. I think the possibilities are endless. The ending suggested 1) The monster was breeding. The egg and the kid vomiting. And 2) there could be other monsters. The D&D game kind of hinted at the possibility. They never explained what happened with the hole. They ended the season focused on the characters.

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Which makes sense but shouldn't that mean Eleven is also a flea of sorts (given that she started it all)? So shouldn't Eleven be able to open these portals? Maybe the explanation is that she could but, given that she's only a child, hadn't figured out how to do it just yet.

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This is my best guess right now and what I think. We just haven't gotten enough evidence to really know yet.

Eta: also, I think it is more likely that she was just too scared rather than too young. She put it together towards the end when she faced off with the monster.

Binged it all day today. Amazing show! probably second favorite Netflix show behind Peaky Blinders.

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This is how I interpret it. The government was doing experiments with this supernatural girl to use as a cold war weapon. They accidentally stumble upon this extra dimension in doing so. They order El to go back to investigate this out of excitement of making contact with extradimensional life. El touching the monster in this psychic plain forces the link between the two dimensions forcing open the gate between the two worlds and either giving the monster the ability to cross between the two at will or the monster already had the ability. It was just made aware of our dimension.

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Solid.
Just finished it with my wife and kid. Much wilder ride than I was expecting. The trailers hinted at the "strange things" but did a good job of luring you in without spoiling anything. We really enjoyed it, and this might be the quickest we've blown through any season of a show.

Really enjoyed watching this series, and I thought I would share some of my Season 2 plot line theories:

1) Eleven did not die
Yeah, this is kind of obvious.

- Eleven has ESP/Telekinesis but she is still human. There were no remains of her after battling the monster, and she was most likely dragged into the upside down.

- Her "goodbye" to Mike was her saying that she would not see him again or would not see him anytime soon. It was not an indication of sacrifice.

2) Chief Hopper's Daughter is in the upside down
His young daughter died from cancer. Through most of his plot line is season 1, he seems to be trying to save Will to make up for the fact that he was unable to save his daughter.

- When Hopper and Joyce are in the upside down looking for Will, Hopper sees his daughter's teddy bear. Later, there is a flashback scene that shows his daughter in the hospital with a breathing tube in her mouth...very similar to Will as the the host to the monster's parasitic offspring in his mouth/throat.

3) Will saves Eleven from the upside down
- In one of the final scenes in E8, Will fluctuates in and out of the upside down. He is the only one on the human plane that can do this, since Eleven is stuck on the other plane (See #1 above). Will learns to control moving between planes and brings Eleven back.

Just my theories, and they're probably completely off .

"I'm finding it impossible not to mention how deftly Stranger Things exploits our nostalgia for the '80s, and, indeed, I expect we'll be inundated with hot takes over the next few weeks questioning whether or not that's a good thing. Aren't we usually opposed to nostalgia porn? Well, yes, but that's only because so much of it is shallow and bad, surface-level nonsense that's meant to evoke a Pavlovian nerd-response in lieu of having anything new to say. I would argue that Stranger Things does nostalgia right, building on what's come before in interesting ways and sometimes using it to subvert our expectations."

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