Let’s catch up on Stranger Things (season 1 recap)

I know Stranger Things is a worldwide phenomenon at this point and everyone is excited for season 3 to release on July 4th on Netflix! However, there may be a portion of people who are interested but are too intimidated to start watching because they are two seasons behind.

Well, throw your fear in the Upside Down where it belongs because I’m going to help you catch up to season 3!

Of course, you can go back and watch seasons 1 and 2 are on Netflix right now if this rundown piques your interest. But for now, here is your Stranger Things recap simplified.

Season 1

The story takes place in Hawkins, Indiana in the year 1983. A little boy named Will Byers crosses paths with an unknown monster that we will come to know as the Demogorgon. The Demogorgon follows him home from a friends’ house and that’s the last you see of Will.

His mother, Joyce, tries to get the police involved to help find him, but unfortunately, the police chief isn’t much help.

Wills friends want to find him so they go to investigate at night time. Wills friends names are Dustin, Lucas, and Mike. While they are searching for Will they find a little girl named Eleven.

She escaped from a hidden government facility, Hawkins Lab. They’ve been testing on her since she was a baby. Initially, they experimented on her mother and somehow that caused the baby, Eleven to develop psychic powers. As a result of her powers, Eleven was stolen from her mother.

Like any hidden facility in a horror fiction story, the scientists at the lab are evil and chasing Eleven to bring her back. Luckily she’s avoided the authorities so far and can help Lucas, Mike and Dustin find Will.

Eleven explains that Will is trapped in the Upside Down, a parallel dimension that houses the Demogorgon that abducted him.

Joyce, Wills mom, is still looking for him and she starts to communicate with him using Christmas lights and the alphabet while he is still in the Upside Down. However, the Demogorgon is present too and attacks her, but she escapes.

Chief Hopper starts to be more effective when he investigates the lab Eleven came from and we find out that the head doctor, Dr. Brenner is a creep with a history of stealing children for experiments.

By the way, Eleven knows him as Papa.

While the investigation is getting red hot, Will’s body shows up in a lake. It’s just a red herring though because it’s a fake!

Will’s older brother, Jonathan and his crush Nancy are trying to find Will too. They realize another one of their friends, Barb is gone as well. They find a portal to the Upside Down in the woods, explore it, find the Demogorgon and then run away.

Since Eleven has powers, she uses them to talk to Will through a radio at the school Mike, Lucas, and Dustin and every other child in this show go to. But it doesn’t help because the connection isn’t the best.

Of course, the big bads from the Hawkins Lab are still trying to find Eleven and they find them while the kids are out and about. This forces Eleven to use her powers, but she starts to get fatigued.

Everybody links up together. Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Eleven, Joyce, Chief Hopper, Jonathan and Nancy to share information. We find out Eleven is the one who found the Demogorgon accidentally while spying for the government.

Yikes.

Another useful piece of information is that there is an entrance to the Upside Down in the Hawkins Lab. So Joyce and Hopper go to save Will. Jonathon and Nancy lure the Demogorgon to them to trap it while Joyce and Hopper rescue Will.

They find out that Barb was fully cocooned and didn’t make it. But, Will is okay.

Meanwhile, Eleven and the boys almost get captured by the big bads because she faints after overusing her powers. But the Demogorgon who escapes Jonathon and Nancy’s trap arrives just in time to eat Dr. Brenner and let the kids get away.

The Demogorgon goes after the kids next and Eleven snaps back in enough time to dust the Demogorgon away and save the day. Unfortunately, she has to self-sacrifice to save her friends and gets sucked into the Upside Down too.

Will seems to still be connected to the Upside Down because he’s warping in and out the Upside Down while he’s awake. Then he barfs up a monster slug and it goes down his bathroom sink.

Catch up on season 2 by clicking here.