I also liked how they turned the usual horror movie trope of the virgin being the one to survive on its head. Barb wants to play it safe and keep Nance from sleeping with Steve and she's the one who gets offed while Nance and Steve survive.
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Stranger Things [SPOILER THREAD] We're All Fleas Now
- Thread starter JoeBoy101
- Start date
Heckler456
Banned
So the second season has pretty much been confirmed, and it seems to be a direct sequel, right?
Loved the show. I had the same issue as I had with Uncharted 4 a while back, in that I somehow thought there were more episodes than there actually were, so that sucked. But other than that, what a great experience.
What I'm guessing for next season is that El is alive (the eggos seem a pretty strong hint *crosses fingers*), that the monster part of the story will revolve around Wil, that Hopper has some Fed stuff going on, and that there will unfortunately be SOME kind of love triangle between Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy. We'll see!
Loved the show. I had the same issue as I had with Uncharted 4 a while back, in that I somehow thought there were more episodes than there actually were, so that sucked. But other than that, what a great experience.
What I'm guessing for next season is that El is alive (the eggos seem a pretty strong hint *crosses fingers*), that the monster part of the story will revolve around Wil, that Hopper has some Fed stuff going on, and that there will unfortunately be SOME kind of love triangle between Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy. We'll see!
Nazgul_Hunter
Member
That + Steve having a character arc that redeems him vs. just being 'generic 80s bad boyfriend' were some of the nicest surprised about this show. God it was so good.
If they do a direct sequel I'd love to see some crazier entities that live in the Upside Down. I don't think there was only one single monster there, it was just the "closest" one that El happened upon in her remote viewing session. I'd love if they played with size and such like Stephen King's the mist. Giant tentacles you never actually see what they're attached to. That kind of stuff.
-ImaginaryInsider
Member
For me, the show is effectively a perfect mix of its influences. The deft subversion of various 80's tropes was a nice touch.
The (likely) next season time jump (high school?) is going to be delicious. I'm officially shipping Mike and Eleven.
Golden age of television.
The (likely) next season time jump (high school?) is going to be delicious. I'm officially shipping Mike and Eleven.
Golden age of television.
TwEE-N-Toast
Banned
I'll pick those nits too. Its stuff like this that has me wondering if the state of that realm was at least altered when El broke the wall separating that plain of existence from ours. Much like the creature, slugs and fungul guck aren't normally visible on our level of reality, physical objects here couldn't be interacted or seen there. And that a quick dirty frozen snapshot of our view of reality was super imposed over the upside down when El broke the barrier.
So that bear trap would be in the same place it was when El created the gateway. Instead of wherever it would be in the present, in the hallway or clamped to the Demogorgon.
They passed some cars when they were following the blood trail, just before that Hopper found a stuffed animal that reminded him of his daughter's toy and there were those blankets Mike was laying on. So small objects are all over the place.
Extra Sauce
Member
I hope that at some point during a future season, while exploring the Upside Down the kids encounter a survivalist human who has been stuck there for a long time...
FunkyPajamas
Member
Yes, correct. I'm still not sure that every object is represented 1:1 there though. And as I said, even if the creature was still caught in the bear trap, it could break free. It was strong enough to break doors, pull a grown man hooked to a steel cable, etc.
You bring a valid point. Was Castle Byers destroyed in our reality when the monster tore it down in the Upside Down? Was the hole in the Byers' wall present in the Upside Down?
Heckler456
Banned
My headcannon is that when El made contact with the being, the upsidedown was created sort of like a snapshot.
Calcium
Banned
That's probably going to be El.
Forsaken82
Member
Do we know that S2 is a direct continuation or is this going to be more of an Anthology show? New Horror/Sci-Fi mashup each year? I feel like the ending could go either way. It isn't like unresolved twist endings are uncommon.
Just finished binge watching and I absolutely loved it, think it did a good job with the ending as well a lot of times these shows put a massive cliffhanger at the ending but I thought they did a good job at wrapping up the main storyline while leaving a few threads dangling there for a sequel.
Shame about Barb but I figured she had gotten killed after she was dragged into the pool, Will kept making contact with them either through the lights or the radio but you didn't hear a peep from her.
Also that kid who gets his arm broken by El looked like a minature Shane from Walking Dead.
Shame about Barb but I figured she had gotten killed after she was dragged into the pool, Will kept making contact with them either through the lights or the radio but you didn't hear a peep from her.
Also that kid who gets his arm broken by El looked like a minature Shane from Walking Dead.
Extra Sauce
Member
Well fuck, you're right. So much for my idea of an old crazy dude who hunts Demogorgons for sustenance using a bow made from the bones of the first one he killed.
Lan Dong Mik
And why would I want them?
As I said in the main thread, best thing netflix has ever done. Fucking amazing first season.
I thought I would be a little bit bothered by the fact that they never really explained the lore or reasoning behind the portal into the USD and how it came into existence in the first place, but it really doesn't at all, at least not yet.
I would so be on board with season 2 being something like 10 years later, but if they stick with the same cast and timeline, I'm totally okay with that too.
I also think that is the real Will, but he's definitely been affected by the USD.
had them tears rollin when 11 sacrificed herself man. that shit was rough. hard to say if she's still alive though.
ugh...i need season two like right fucking now.
I thought I would be a little bit bothered by the fact that they never really explained the lore or reasoning behind the portal into the USD and how it came into existence in the first place, but it really doesn't at all, at least not yet.
I would so be on board with season 2 being something like 10 years later, but if they stick with the same cast and timeline, I'm totally okay with that too.
I also think that is the real Will, but he's definitely been affected by the USD.
had them tears rollin when 11 sacrificed herself man. that shit was rough. hard to say if she's still alive though.
ugh...i need season two like right fucking now.
The creators have said if there's more it will be a sequel.
Rockin' Ranger
Member
Even if Brenner is dead if El is still alive Brenner would probably be in her flashbacks in season 2.
Heckler456
Banned
Regarding the reasoning, just to state the obvious perhaps, but the portal originated from the first contact event between El and that being while she was "expanding her mind" in that watertank.
And El just HAS to be alive, right? The show was kind of gloomy at some points, but surely not gloomy to the point where they're not going to give that poor abused thing a happy ending! And I don't think they'd put the eggo hint at the end either if it didn't mean anything.
Calcium
Banned
Yeah, I think the Eggo was them saying she survived somehow. How Hopper knows she is alive and how they orchestrated this drop off location is something I'd really like to know.
Lan Dong Mik
And why would I want them?
Ahhh i see, that makes sense. I didn't actually pick up on that when she was in the flashbacks expanding her mind, but thinking about it now it makes sense for that to be the cause of the portal that originated in facility.
Yeah I'd be shocked if they actually kill her off, she has a lot of story left to tell.
Heckler456
Banned
He did step into that car right before the 1 month skip, didn't he? Might be he learned something thanks to those people.
Also, I heard people say that this was the first place where she appeared. I should check if that holds up.
they said a follow up would feel more like a "sequel" than a "season 2", whatever that means
traditional horror sequels keep the villain / setting and change the cast except maybe the surviving hero from last movie, might be a "years later" type scenatio, who knows
Heckler456
Banned
Well, they did specifically say that it wouldn't be an anthology, didn't they?
Also, we have hoppers daughter and that toy thing unresolved. The Mike thing unresolved. El's storyline is unresolved. They seem to be setting up Steve-Nancy-Jonathan as a love triangle type of deal. Hopper's doing the whole secret agent thing apparently.
Point being, I don't think there is any way that they're not bringing back the original cast.
Calcium
Banned
Yeah, but why would the company keep her in the Upside Down? Surely she is worth more to them as a lab rat. She missed the Snow Ball. Damn them.
I'm team "he didn't sell the kids out" and El knew that they would come to her in the School.
FlashbladeGAF
Member
Has it been confirmed for a sequel.
Just finished my binge last night. Only meant to check out the first episode with some friends. Ended up finishing it after they were long gone.
The casting was perfect. Cant wait to see more of this group.
Nancy looks like an adult version/older sister of The Tomorrowland girl
robot
Calcium
Banned
I think he absolutely sold the kids out. Striking that deal was the only way they'd have the chance to save Will. He knew from what the company did with Benny that they would have no problem killing them and making it look like a suicide. Getting them to allow them to enter the Upside Down was his only play.
There is no thing with Hoppers daughter. I think people are reading way too much into that. It was a scene juxtapositioning the death of his daughter and how it haunted him with the fact he was finally able to save a child. I also don't think the toys looked that similar but maybe that's just me
Heckler456
Banned
I don't think it's a case of them keeping her there, but rather them not being able to get her out of there. Who knows what even happened with El after she did whatever she did with the monster (that should be answered next season, hopefully), but maybe her sacrifice was her keeping the monster at bay from the upsidedown world. My guess is that whatever is happening with Will will be the impetus to get El back to the real world.
Well, regardless, there are too many short-term character bound loose ends for them to wipe the slate clean in terms of the cast, or even to jump TOO far ahead in time. I mean, one month out, and Mike was already phaseshifting uncontrollably. I don't think we'll be seeing them jumping 4+years ahead in time.
I read somewhere that the creators really liked Harry Potter, in that it revisited the cast every year as they grew old. I'm guessing it'll be similar.
I was actually going to say the same, you beat me to it.
Calcium
Banned
Wasn't one a lion and the other a tiger? Wasn't there also a lion in El's room in the lab?
Yeah, I could see that. Maybe they don't know that the creature is dead so they don't want to risk more lives going after her.
Heckler456
Banned
Are we sure the creature is dead? It just went up in those ash-like things right? I don't think we've actually ever explicitly seen the monster phaseshifting with or without a victim, so we don't really know what that actually looks like, but we do know that the upsidedown and the area surrounding the tears have those ash-like particles in the air. So yeah, I don't think El killed it, but rather just went with it to the upsidedown to keep it there.
TwEE-N-Toast
Banned
I don't think they showed the normal fort again after the upside down one was destroyed.
As for the hole in the living room wall of the Byers, you can see it in the real world just to the left of the window, boarded up in the scene were camera spins right before the fight scene with the monster at the 20 min mark, and in the upside down on the 23 min mark it's missing. Of the last episode.
Actually I think the biggest loose end isn't Will or what Hopper got into the car for but... did they ever close the damned Tear? We saw Hopper and Joyce go into it to save Will but that's about all we got. We never really see what happens to the portal and if anything at all was done about it, especially after it seemed like Brenner and all his cronies bit the dust.
For a dimension with a poisonous atmosphere and seemingly populated by horrible monsters you'd think they'd want to do something about that.
For a dimension with a poisonous atmosphere and seemingly populated by horrible monsters you'd think they'd want to do something about that.
Calcium
Banned
I'd like to think she killed it when she went all Jean (or Jane in this case) Grey on it. It'd be pretty anti-climatic if all she did was teleport them to the Upside Down.
Heckler456
Banned
If we're going off of the assumption that she isn't in fact dead, then her disappearing together with the being can only mean a limited amount of things. I think it's far more plausible that the being teleported them both to the upsidedown than it is that her killing the being somehow results in both of them going up in smoke.
Besides, what's anti-climactic about her potentially being in a constant struggle to keep that thing under control on the other side!
Jest Chillin
Member
The insinuation in the scene is that she uses so much of her power she destroys herself as well. But since there's no sign of her remains, the no body trope kicks in, which states that unless the body is shown and confirmed dead in tv or movies, there's a chance they're still alive. So that's where the theory that she's in the upside down comes from. The Chief leaving the food also suggests it though he could just be acting on hope. It's ambiguous.
The creature, however, left remains behind so it's most likely dead. There are hints that it could have reproduced though, so there may be more of them.
Calcium
Banned
If we remember what Mr. Clarke said about creating a gateway to the other side it takes a tremendous amount of energy so when El used her powers to their full potential it's possible she killed the monster and accidentally transported herself to the Upside Down. I seem to remember a blue fire erupting from the monsters chest, which seemed more like El was killing it than taking it back to the Upside Down.
It'd be depressing if all she did was transport the both of them to the Upside Down and she is living in constant fear being hunted by that thing.
Heckler456
Banned
Just rewatched the scene, and yeah, it does look like it's dead.
bearythebear
Member
One thing that kinda bugs me. When Barb goes missing, why isn't Jonathan immediately the first suspect. He was creepily taking pictures of everyone that night...
Calcium
Banned
Yep, Barb too.
The company planted her car at a bus terminal to make it look like she ran away. Nancy was the only one suspicious about her disappearance and she simply didn't jump to that conclusion before she saw the monster in the woods.
Ash Sparrow
Banned
Excellent show
The only thing that bothered me was Nancy going into the tree on like episode 5. That just didn't seem believable to me.
I thought wouldn't it be cool if the tear isn't opened from another dimension, but instead a future where CERN has opened a tear up letting things into our world.
I do wonder if El is Hoppers daughter somehow.
I also was trying to recall if Nancy saying "I want to kill it' was a direct line from Stephen Kings It
The only thing that bothered me was Nancy going into the tree on like episode 5. That just didn't seem believable to me.
I thought wouldn't it be cool if the tear isn't opened from another dimension, but instead a future where CERN has opened a tear up letting things into our world.
I do wonder if El is Hoppers daughter somehow.
I also was trying to recall if Nancy saying "I want to kill it' was a direct line from Stephen Kings It
The tear was opened in the lab by El when she freaked out when Brenner made her make contact. Perfect for the story.
As for El being Hops daughter that makes no sense. He was married with his own kid who died. I don't think he would forget or miss impregnating a women who went on to be a lab rat who claimed her kid was stolen who he did not know when they looked her up all at the same general time he was married and having a kid by the general timeline of everyone's age.
I don't get where all these theories are coming from, not everything is convulted it was a pretty straightforward story. And this is not specifically aimed at who I quoted but as more people finish I keep seeing posts speculating answers for questions that either were answered or not asked in the first place.
Green Embers
Member
They're film mistakes, not really plot holes. The reason they are film mistakes is things have to show up on the Upside Down otherwise Joyce never would have been able to communicate with Will using the Christmas lights. So yeah, there should have been a bear trap on both sides and a hole in the wall on both sides.
I would like to posit the theory though that things in motion do not show up in the Upside Down until they are stationary (ignoring the fact that the earth is constantly in motion).
Hah I agree here. I think people are so conditioned by most modern TV shows to always searching for connections of seemingly meaningless things because so many shows like Breaking Bad did that and were so successful at it that other shapes copied that. Its great for a lot of shows but I find it also makes watching them a chore if everything might be Chekov's Gun. One of my favorite things about Stranger Things is how straight forward and up front it is with the story. Its just trying to weave a good tale, not a convoluted one full of twists, turns and unexpected events.
Forsaken82
Member
Wasnt it all but confirmed that El was the Daughter of the lady in the wheelchair who supposedly had a "miscarriage" but kept claiming she had actually gave birth to a child with telepathic abilities before she became mute?
Jest Chillin
Member
Because she goes missing early on and while a missing boy and a suicide are rare, the town isn't yet paranoid that any of it is connected. So couple Barb's known lack of popularity and getting told to leave by her only friend, the police go to the runaway theory, since it's more likely and more common. Then when they find the car, it's enough for people to think that's what happened.
Yes.
They were giving her LSD and putting her in the tank while she was pregnant, meaning El was getting LSD and in a natural tank( the womb) during development, likely being why she had powers when other testing had all failed.
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