Stranger Things Season 1 recap: Everything you need to remember ahead of Season 2
Over a year since Stranger Things debuted and with less than a week until the new season (finally) arrives, you might be in need of a recap.
Well look no further, PinkNews brings you the ultimate recap of Season One of the Duffer Brothers’ hit.
Warning: Spoilers for Season One of Stranger Things below (as if you haven’t watched it already)
Trailers and posters for Season Two have got us very excited for what lays on the other side of the upside down, and where the new season will take us.
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The trailer shows the whole gang back together with Will, who has a vision of the Upside Down. It also features Eleven, who appears to break through from the other world as well as other fan favourites such as Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers.
Netflix has confirmed that Stranger Things 2 will be released on 27 October, just in time for Halloween.
So let’s recap.
The disappearance of WILL!!!???
Will Byers disappears early on in the first season of Stranger Things after the gang play Dungeons and Dragons. We later discover that Will has gone to the Upside Down and needs rescuing, but in the meantime the town’s chief of police, Hopper, arranges a massive search for the missing kid.
This is not before Will’s mum Joyce, played by Winona Ryder, gradually and dramatically breaks down, realising something isn’t right in that scene with the fairy lights and the alphabet on the wall, and that other scene where she uses an axe to put a hole in the wall. But Will can communicate from the Upside Down a whole lot better using the lights than he does over the crackly phone (of which Joyce goes through a few).
Will’s friends, Mike, Lucas and Dustin begin to poke around after also believing something isn’t right with Will’s disappearance. They come across Eleven, a badass softly spoken girl with her head shaved who can do awesome things with her mind like telekinesis. After hiding her away in Mike’s house, and feeding her Eggos, it becomes clear that Eleven is key to finding WIll and defeating the monstrous demogorgon.
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Meanwhile, Will’s older brother Jonathan searches the woods for his kid brother, takes slightly creepy photos of other kids from his school and inadvertently witnesses the abduction of Barb. (#BringBackBarb)
The manhunt eventually leads Hopper to the secret laboratory in Hawkins, despite that Will’s ‘body’ is found at the quarry. Joyce refuses to accept that it is her son and it’s a good thing too as the Hawkins Lab holds a lot of answers to a lot of questions which you definitely had at this point.
The Hawkins Lab
The secret lab which Hopper finds himself at after breaking into a morgue to discover that Will’s body was faked, also contains the character Brenner, who runs the facility.
Brenner is seen in flashback sequences using Eleven to attempt to crush a Coke can and sometimes accidentally killing multiple guards.
Despite trying to put of Hopper, the plucky cop eventually finds his way to the portal to the Upside Down, managing eventually to save Will, although there is nothing that can be done for Barb. (WE WERE ROBBED).
Meanwhile, Will’s friends also find their way to the portal, despite Eleven, out of fear, attempting to throw them off the scent.
Jonathan and cool girl wannabe Nancy who form an unlikely bond, eventually also find their way there and Nancy discovers more about the Upside Down.
Eleven
The character Eleven, who calls Brenner ‘poppa’ is central to the story in Stranger Things and is also key to finding Will and the Upside Down, and defeating the Demogorgon.
As well as being seriously kick-ass, Eleven has been through a pretty rough time, since being secretly abducted from her mother.
Her powers include telekinesis which leads to pretty serious nosebleeds and worse, being able to repurpose the boys’ walkie talkies as inter-dimensional devices and travelling to the Upside Down in her mind to defeat the demogorgon.
Eleven uses sensory deprivation tanks to hone in her powers and communicate with the demogorgon and find Will. This means the boys, Joyce and Hopper have to improvise a tank in the school’s gymnasium.
Despite the demogorgon escaping and looking like it was going to threaten everything, Eleven appeared to sacrifice herself to destroy it after a fleeting kiss with Will – worry not, however; as she is seen escaping the Upside Down in the trailer for Season Two.
The end
So the Byers are seen enjoying a Christmas after Will is returned, Hopper remains the police chief although his curiosity is definitely piqued after the events of season one (and possible links with the tragic disappearance of his daughter). Nancy and Jonathan don’t get together as she remains with Steve and the four friends are reuinted over yet another game of Dungeons and Dragons (didn’t they learn their lesson the first time?)
The demogorgon looks like it is dead (but is it?) and Brenner is long-gone, hoisted on his own petard.
BUT THERE ARE STILL SO MANY UNANSWERED QUESTIONS.
But it is clear from the Season Two trailer that despite Will being returned home to Winona, oops I mean Joyce, there is much more to be seen of the Upside Down, which looks like it will kind of spill out and take over Hawkins somehow. BRING. IT. ON.
And if you can’t wait until Friday – here is everything we know so far about Season Two (SPOILERS).
BUT REMEMBER WHEN THAT SLUG CRAWLED OUT OF BARB’S MOUTH?
Enough – we are ready for Friday.
