25 'Stranger Things' Questions After Watching Season 1
If you haven’t binge-watched Stranger Things on Netflix yet, you need to stop everything and do so immediately. The sci-fi series is filled with ‘80s nostalgia, a killer soundtrack, and a lot of mind-blowing moments (you’ll be frantically googling “how to travel to an alternate dimension” throughout the entire show, we promise). But after finishing season 1, we’re feeling more perplexed than anything else. While the main storyline was wrapped up in the finale, and Will (the boy who disappeared in the first episode) returned home, we’re still left with a LOT of questions.
Luckily, Netflix has already announced a second season, and that the next installment will act as a sequel. Season 2 of Stranger Things will include the same characters as Season 1, and the writers have revealed that important new characters will also be introduced. At least we can sleep a little easier knowing that we’ll eventually get some answers. In the meantime, we’ll just keep wondering about these 25 questions:
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY1/25Is Eleven still alive?
This is undoubtedly the biggest question that anyone will have after finishing the first season. Eleven seems to spontaneously combust after she defeats the monster inside the classroom, but the finale ends with Hopper stashing Eggo waffles in the woods...and we only know one child who obsessively eats Eggos on this show. EL? ARE YOU OUT THERE?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY2/25Does Will have special powers?
K, so...Will briefly flashes back to the Upside Down at the very end of the finale. Was that some sort of traumatic image that just flashed in his mind? Or did he somehow transport himself back to the Upside Down for just one moment? And if that’s the case….
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY3/25Does the Upside Down give its visitors special powers
If somehow visiting the Upside Down causes people to return with special powers, does that mean that Nancy, Joyce, and Hopper will all have powers too? Granted, none of them were there for as long as Will, but still….
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY4/25Wait, what exactly is the Upside Down anyway?
Yes, it’s alternate dimension, and yes, the boys’ science teacher gave that great analogy to explain it. We’re picturing that tightrope, and we’re imagining the acrobat going back and forth and the flea going underneath the rope, but like, what IS it? Does it span throughout the entire world, or just their small town? And if parallel universes are “theoretically” possible...is there a chance there’s an Upside Down IRL too? Whoa.
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY5/25Who controls the gates into the Upside Down?
It seems like the first gate appeared by accident, when Eleven made contact with the monster when she was in the sensory deprivation tank (we’ll get to that later). But where did all the rest of the gates come from?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY6/25Do the gates still exist?
With the monster defeated, did all the gates close up? Or, contrarily, are there more gates now because of all the energy that Eleven had to spend while defeating the monster?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY7/25Why did that gate randomly appear in that tree?
The tree gate seemed to be open just long enough for Nancy to visit for a hot minute. It closed back up once she was pulled out of the Upside Down. Was the monster able to open and close gates at its will?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY8/25Okay, enough about the gates. What about those slugs?
Will coughed up a slug (gross) at the very end of the finale, and a slug slithered out from Barb’s face when Eleven made contact with her in the Upside Down. Were those bugs just byproducts of the Upside Down? Or were they side effects from whatever the monster had done to them?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY9/25So, like...is there more than one monster?
If there was just one monster in the Upside Down, it seemed to be very busy. It kidnapped Will, traveled to Steve’s house to snatch Barb, hung out in the woods, and it also spent a lot of time with Russian military personnel (we’ll get to that, too). Are there other monsters out there?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY10/25What exactly does the monster want?
We know that the monster was attracted to blood. But it seemed to be interested in more than just feeding. When Joyce and Hopper found Will, it almost appeared as though the monster was harvesting him. But for what?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY11/25Why was Will taken to begin with?
Again, the monster didn’t eat Will. And Will wasn’t seen to be openly bleeding when he was taken, unlike Barb, and unlike the deer. Is there something about Will that caused him to be taken in the first place?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY12/25One more question about the monster: How did it escape the bear trap?!
That monster was literally shot, trapped inside steel claws, and then set on fire. Does it also have magical powers that help it survive all of that?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY13/25Let’s talk about Eleven. Who is her biological father?
First of all, we just have to say that Eleven is one of the most badass female characters that has ever existed and we love her. When we meet the woman who is assumed to be Eleven’s mother, it’s left unclear as to who would have been her father. It’s hard not to theorize that Dr. Brenner is her father, and that he deliberately impregnated Eleven’s mother for his experiments. What a creep.
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY14/25What’s the deal with that weird black space that Eleven visits?
We’re led to believe that when Eleven visits this black abyss, she ends up accidentally opening up the portal into the Upside Down. But is there any rhyme or reason to who she contacts while in that black space? Which brings us to….
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY15/25Why was the monster even there with the Communists in the first place?
When Eleven first goes to the black space, she’s making contact with a Russian Communist. The second time she visits, she stumbles upon the monster. Why are they in the same realm?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY16/25Are there ten other kids with special powers out there somewhere
Eleven, or El, got her nickname because the boys see her tattoo that reads “011.” Does that mean that there’s a 001, a 002, a 003, etc all the way up to 010? Are we going to meet them in season 2?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY17/25What exactly was Dr. Brenner’s long-term plan for Eleven?
From all the flashbacks, it seemed like Dr. Brenner was building up Eleven’s powers. He instructed her to crush a soda can with her mind, and later wanted her to, um, make a cat explode. (We’re glad she didn’t do that). We eventually figure out that Dr. Brenner wants to use her psychic power to spy on the Russians, but did he have even bigger plans beyond that? Eleven is also really dangerous, so did he intend to eventually use her as a weapon?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY18/25Did Dr. Brenner do something to Eleven’s mom in order to keep her quiet?
Back to Eleven’s mother for a second. We’re given the impression that she doesn’t speak due to the trauma of losing her daughter, and/or the drugs that were given to her during the experiments. However, if Brenner is also Eleven’s father, is it possible that he did something to this woman to make sure that she never could tell anyone? We know that’s pretty dark, but Brenner’s definitely not the nicest guy.
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY19/25What else goes on at the Hawkins Lab?
The show would have us think that the only thing that happens at the Hawkins Lab is experiments on psychic children and the chasing of aliens. But if it really is run by the CIA, what else do they do there?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY20/25What deal did Hopper make with Dr. Brenner
At the end of the finale, we see Hopper get into a dark car. It's easy to assume that he made some kind of deal with the folks at the lab, but it’s hard to understand what that could be. It does seem unlikely that Hopper and Joyce were able to escape the lab without consequence, so whatever arrangement Hopper made, it must have been a big one.
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY21/25Are Hopper and Joyce ever going to date?
Come on. That needs to happen in Season 2. They’re meant for each other!
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY22/25We need to talk about Joyce for a second. How did she afford all those Christmas lights?
Early in the season, Joyce struggles to pay for a new phone. She has to ask for an advance for her boss in order to scrape together the cash for a telephone. But then, just a couple episodes later, she buys literally every box of Christmas lights that the store owns. Did she get another advance?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY23/25And how exactly did the lights trick work?
When Joyce was in the Upside Down, it didn’t seem like she could control the flickering of the lights that Jonathan and Nancy saw in the real world. So how was Will able to target specific lights to send messages to his mother?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY24/25How is it possible that the dog escaped unscathed?
Don’t get us wrong, we’re pretty glad that the dog didn’t die. From the second he appeared in the first episode, we were pretty worried that the monster would have him for a snack. But considering the monster hung out at Will’s house for the majority of the series, why did it leave the dog alone?
GIF: Courtesy of GIPHY25/25Most importantly: IS MIKE GOING TO HAVE TO ATTEND THE SNOWBALL ALONE?!
This is keeping us up at night. We hope Eleven comes back in time to be Mike’s date.
