True Reviews, Updates and Common Sense Opinions
I found myself watching yet another movie buried in Netflix. This time, it’s a film titled Hurricane Heist. It was directed by the same direct of the Fast and the Furious and released in 2018 to a lukewarm reception from critics. But that’s not what we’re here to discuss. We’re here to figure out how the story flushed out.
Continue reading “Buried in Netflix: Hurricane Heist (2018)”
I never read the comic book series, but after seeing the pilot episode I thought Cannon Busters looked like a good animated series. I have to admit from the preview that I saw, I had Vash the Stampede vibes from Trigun, but after watching a hand full of episodes I realized that Cannon Busters is its own entity that is not as similar as it seemed at first glance.
Minor Spoilers
Story:
It’s a seemingly post-apocalyptic cowboy world where magic once flourished, but after the King of Botica put some sort of deal in place, it ended the sorcerers era and technology followed. The main male protagonist, Philly the Kid is a cursed renegade with a bounty on his head. He links up with two droid bots (Sam and Casey) on Sam’s mission to reach the Prince Kelby (heir to the Botica throne) after they were separated during an attack on the kingdom.
Cursed to be immortal, Philly the Kid seems to have an aimless path. He’s just dodging bounty hunters. Sam recruits him to help her find the prince based on his reputation alone. After a magical Fetter brings back repressed memories of Prince Kelby’s father killing his family, his motivations change, and he uses his relationship with Sam and Casey to find Kelby and eliminate him.
Why should you watch Cannon Busters?
They encounter bounty hunters, augmented subjects of Emperor Locke (the assumed dead child of the current king) and other zany characters. But out of all of the characters in the show, Sam is the most genuine and she’s a droid. More specifically she’s a War Golem created by Prince Kelby’s father to guard him as well as be a companion.
This is a fun series to watch. Philly the Kid has a cool character arc. You almost don’t know what to think about him. You hope he’s not capable of treachery, but you can tell he has a wild past and you don’t fully know what he is capable of even in last episode of the season.
The intricacies of Sam and her inner workings are interesting as well. Especially when you realize she is a war bot, but she has naive feelings as well. Plus, they set up the second season very well and the continuation of the story is hopefully going to produce more content for Philly the Kid and his group of allies.
Cannon Busters is available on Netflix now.
When I began to watch My First First Love on Netflix, I thought it was cringe-worthy. Honestly, I did cringe multiple times. The main male protagonist (Tae-o was self-centered and the main female protagonist (Song-i) was whinny. Both characters were annoying. I thought I wasn’t going to be able to get into this story. Once I reached the end of episode one, I began to see a story develop and it’s a story that we can learn a lot from.
Personal Growth
At its core, the first season of My First First Love is a story is about growing up and relying on your will versus depending on others to work through your issues with or for you.
There are sub-themes as well. The characters in this story deal with depression, selfishness (especially regarding their parents), the growing pains of friendship, and abandonment ( a lot of abandonment).
In this series, fathers take the forefront of parenting and are mostly stern. Most of the characters have a strained relationship or non-existent relationship with their mother. As a result of the difficult relationships with their parents, the main characters seem to struggle to find themselves healthily. They seem to go through a depression and only find happiness out on their own.
This series is very emotional at points. Especially during the transition from campy to serious. Characters deal with betrayal and misplaced anger.
For example, Song-i moved in with Tae-o (her best friend of 20 years) after she was evicted because her mother left in the middle of the night leaving her in a foreclosed home. However, she was reluctant to stand on her own feet willingly. She eventually began a romantic relationship with another man (a friend of Tae-o’s) and only moved out when he expressed his discomfort.
Song-i relied a lot on Tae-o at the beginning of the series. That fact is mentioned a lot. And before she was evicted and her mother ran away, she relied on her mother who ended up verbal asking not to be bothered.
Tae-o’s perspective is a little different. His main conflict arrives when he is faced with defining what his friendship means with Song-i versus a budding romantic relationship. He struggled with how to define the boundaries of his relationships. Plus, he had to come to terms with his blooming feeling about Song-i in the process.
Acceptance of Truth
Season two became a story about acknowledging one’s feelings no matter how painful they may be. At this point, both Song-i and Tae-o were in romantic relationships with other people. However, the relationship that they built of 20 years never allowed them to fully invest in their partners.
For example, Do-Hyeon (Song-i’s boyfriend) had to figure out what being with Song-i meant to him versus accepting that she would never be fully his. Was holding on to her worth being a nervous wreck all the time?
Ryu Se-Hyeon (Tae-o’s girlfriend) also suffered from this realization. However, because she was never truly invested in her relationship with Tae-o, she was able to let go.
There are several other examples of acceptance in this series. Both O Ga-rin and Choe Hun came to terms that being with their parents hindered their ability to thrive and be happy. And Tae-o had to accept this his parents made a decision that they thought was best for him and despite how hurtful it may have initially felt.
Power of Friendship
Lastly, friendship is a key theme. Through the entire story the friendship that Tae-o, Song-i, O Ga-rin, and Choe Hun have carried them through their tribulations.
In this series, the power of friendship encouraged each character to be better than they were before. Many great moments showcased the importance of friendship in this series.
The story of My First First Love may have centered around Tae-o and Song-i realizing their feelings for each other, but the overarching themes of relationships, self-worth, growth, and acceptance are what made this series worth watching.
In the final episode of Stranger Things season 3, Max, Lucas, Erica, Will, Jonathan, Nancy, Dustin, Steve, Robin, Mike, and a completely exhausted EL meet up at Starcourt Mall. They all start shouting the information they know. When El’s leg starts to pulsate.
Remember, the Mind Flayer injured her leg during their fight at Hoppers cabin in the woods and now she’s infected!
Jonathan runs to grab a hot knife to remove the little flayer out of her leg. El, exhausted and in immense pain, decides she is going to use her powers to remove it.
She’s been overdoing it all season, to be honest.
Anyway, she throws the little flayer across the floor and who steps on it but Hopper!
Yay!
Joyce, Hopper, and Murray made it to Starcourt. Everyone is accounted for and they commence plan “get the keys, turn off the Russian power beam, and close the portal to the Upside Down”.
Dustin and Erica convince Hopper and Murray that Alexei’s plan is too dangerous. They should know because they’ve been in the secret facility. Hopper agrees that they can navigate but they can’t go down into the hive.
So Dustin, Robin, Erica and Steve drive off to the hill where Dustin set up his satellite earlier in the season to make sure they have a dependable signal and connection with Hopper’s group.
Hopper can tell that El is out of energy and tells her to rest rather than come down into the base with his group. His group leaves the mall and El’s group of Mike, Max, Lucas, Nancy, Will, and Jonathan prepare to take a separate car (Nancy’s mom’s car), but the car doesn’t start.
Unfortunately, Billy is still connected to the Mind Flayers conscious from when she looked at Billy’s memories. Billy sits in his car and scares them back into the mall and the group tries to flip over a car into order to scavenge a part for their car. El once again tries to use her powers but they don’t work.
Just as El is realizing her powers have taken a nap, the Mind Flayer comes crashing through the roof of the mall.
Mike, Max, and EL get separated from Lucas, Will, Jonathan, and Nancy. They try to escape through the gap, but the Mind Flayer so close to catching them that Lucas has to use his slingshot to distract it.
Off the back of the distraction, Lucas, Will, Jonathan, and Nancy escape out of the door to fix the car.
In record time, might I add.
Billy, still in his car, drives full speed ahead and tries to crash into their car. He fails because Steve manages to make back to the mall in time to save the day!
Let me back up.
Steve left with Robin, Erica, and Dustin but while they were sitting on the hill, but Mike sent a distress call to the Scoop Troop due to Billy’s arrival, so Steve sped back to the mall, in the same yellow convertible that Hopper stole, to help. Good thing he did because the Mind Flayer was about to ruin everyone’s life.
His actions allowed Lucas, Jonathan, Will, Nancy, and himself to get away in Nancy’s mom’s car. The Mind Flayer chases after Nancy’s car. But Billy, who is clearly superhuman right now, spots El, Mike, and Max trying to get out of the mall and chases them into the back area.
Meanwhile, Dustin and Erica are navigating Murray, Joyce, and Hopper without a hitch.
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Joyce and Hopper go to get the keys from a safe and Murray climb the vents to reach the generator for the beam. When it’s time to open the safe, there is a discrepancy with Plancks Constant, which puts the entire operation in danger.
However, Dustin is finally able to get in contact with his girlfriend Suzie using his satellite. After a sweet and precious moment of them singing ‘Never Ending Story’, Hopper and Joyce are able to open the vault. Which allows Murray to fry the servers powering the beam.
Back at the mall, Bill catches up with Mike, Max, and El. He punches his sister (Max) and knocks out Mike too! He picks up El and takes her to the middle of the mall just as the Mind Flayer arrives to FLAY HER!
All seems well with Hopper’s group though, until the terminator shows up. He knocks out Hopper and Joyce just as they are about to turn the keys to shut down the beam.
He and Hopper get into a huge brawl that takes them down into the area of the beam. Joyce has to turn the beam off on her own, but she tries to wait for Hopper to get back to safety. He’s too engaged in his fight with the terminator. He slams the terminators face into the beam effectively sawing him into pieces, but this forms an electric fence of sorts.
Hopper’s inability to get passed the electric fence causes him to self-sacrifice staying put in the room him the beam explosion while Joyce turns the keys.
“…the wave was 7 feet.” – Eleven
Once again, Lucas causes a much-needed distraction by using the fireworks he and Will took from the supermarket to bomb the Mind Flayer. Billy is trying to pen El down but she uses the pleasant memories of his mother to break the mind control that the Mind Flayer had on him.
Billy is freed from the Mind Flayer and stands up to fight it. Unfortunately, he gets killed in the process.
As the night ends, the government finally arrives HOURS after Hopper and Joyce called and everything gets locked down. Three months later, Joyce follows through with moving out of Hawkins.
I’m not surprised. She loved two men and they both died due to conspiracy.
Wrapping things up, El still can’t use her powers. Mike and El are back together. Will is okay with growing up now (per his temper tantrum about Dungeons and Dragons). Larry Klein got arrested! Joyce moves with Will, Jonathan, and El, while Lucas, Dustin, Nancy, Max, and Mike stay behind in Hawkins.
El also reads a heartfelt letter from her father, Hopper, who is presumed dead. And everyone breaks off into their new directions.
However, in an end-credit scene, we are shown another underground facility in Kamchatka, Russia. Prisoners are being held and used for testing and food.
You see two guards trying to choose who to pick for this round. One guard says, “Not the American”. They do choose another prisoner and of course, he’s thrown in a cage where a hybrid Demo-dog/Mind Flayer thing most likely consumes him.
Thoughts and Questions
Was Jim Hopper sucked into a vortex when the beam exploded? Is he the American that the Russians are holding prisoner at the end of Stranger Things?
Also, will Eleven every be as strong as she was at the end of season 2? She literally exhausted herself throughout the entire season. Honestly, Max made Mike feel like he was wrong for managing her power use, but in the end, he was right. El ended up overdoing it.
How will season 4 bring El, Joyce, Will, and Jonathan back to Hawkins?
Season 3 of Stranger Things was amazing. I was on the edge of my seat from episode one. Even though you don’t have to have seen seasons 1 and 2 to understand what’s happening. I appreciate callbacks to those seasons that reward you for following the series.
Each character served a purpose. Of course my favorites Dustin and Steve stole the show. But, the addition of Erica and Robin was great their plot. Plus, I really enjoyed the quarreling between Hopper, Joyce, Murray, and Alexei as well.
Previous: Let’s catch up with Stranger Things episodes 5-7 (season 3)
Previous: Let’s catch up on Stranger Things episodes 1-4 (season 3 recap)
Previous: Let’s catch up on Stranger Things (season 2 recap)
Previous: Let’s catch up on Stranger Things (season 1 recap)
In the recap for season 3 episode 1 through 4, we left Dustin, Robin, Steve, and Erica locked in a secret elevator disguised as a storage room. It took them down into a secret hive facility full of Russian soldiers and scientists. There’s a lot of screaming and dangerous circumstances. The door doesn’t open until morning when guards come to pick up a load of the vials filled with green liquid.
Let’s catch up on Stranger Things episodes 5 through 7 in season 3.
Somehow, Steve, Dustin, Erica, and Robin manage to hide on top of the elevator until the guards leave. As the elevator door starts to close. Steve manages to lodge one of the vials until the door giving them enough time to escape into a corridor clearly not meant for walking.
Back with Hopper and Joyce, they’ve arrived at the final address that they acquired from Larry Klein (the mayor). They hear a pulsing underground which helps them find a secret tunnel under a bed. Two scientists are underground trying to fix their machine.
Bonus, they only speak Russian.
In the midst of Hopper failing to threaten the scientist he’s interrupted by a man I am referring to as the Terminator (the man from the motorcycle attack). He is so similar to the T-100 from the 1984 version.
They definitely didn’t do this by accident.
This Russian assassin character barely has any personality, he seems to have superhuman strength, and he’s very good at tracking. Not to mention, he wears all dark colors and a black t-shirt. All he’s missing is the sunglasses and the Exo-skeleton!
Hopper manages to steal one of the scientists, Alexi. He, Hopper and Joyce escape while dodging a “kill spray” from the terminator. They end up stealing a yellow convertible at a 7/11 gas station and head to Illinois, where the closest Russian translator lives (an acquaintance of Hopper).
After Nancy and Jonathan link up with Eleven (EL), Mike, Will, Lucas, and Max to tell them about the return of the Mind Flayer and the information they know, the group determines that Billy, Heather, Doris Driscoll, and Tom are “Flayed”.
El uses her powers to find out where Hopper is and see’s him heading to Illinois. Because Hopper and Joyce are busy, they decide to go look for Tom (Nancy’s former boss at the Hawkins Post and Heather’s father) at his home.
Somehow, Nancy is able to deduce the exact events of Tom and his wife’s “Flaying” as they walk through the house. And El determines they must have a home base for Flay because – reasons. They go to check on Doris Driscoll in the hospital to release her and let her lead them back to the home base.
While Dustin, Erica, Steven, and Robin are walking down the long corridors of the Russian base, Dustin and Steve figure out that the Russians know about the Mind Flayer and are trying to open a portal to the Upside Down again. They get spotted, but Robin and Steve are the only ones that get caught and get tortured by the General from the very first episode.
They break into the Russian command center, Steve legitimately knocks out a Russian agent and discovers a huge beam trying to rip a hole into the Upside Down.
“You know the rule, 2 at a time!” – Nurse
When Nancy, El, Mike, Max, Lucas, Will, and Jonathan arrive at the hospital only Nancy and Jonathan make their way to Doris’s room. However, she’s not there.
She’s gone!
They get attacked by Tom and Bruce from the Hawkins Post. They’ve killed everyone on the floor, including nurses and other patients. Jonathan gets completely destroyed, but Nancy manages to bus Bruce in the head which also injures Tom and allows Jonathon to kill him.
I have a question about proximity here. Did the injury to Bruce hurt Tom because they were near each other? Or are all of the Flayed affected no matter the distance?
After the hosts die, the Mind Flayer’s goop slugs toward itself and forms into one huge Flayer that tries to kill Nancy. Jonathon tries to save her, but they both almost die. El comes to the rescue and manages to save them for the moment.
“You remind him of a fat Rambo” – Murray
Finally, Hopper, Joyce, and Alexei meet up with Murray to translate. We find out that the Russians are using the transformers in Hawkins to power the underground facility that Dustin’s group stumbled into. They tried to do it in Russia but were unsuccessful therefore they came to the place of origin to complete the process.
Joyce, Murray, Hopper, and Alexi plan to break into the underground facility to blow up the laser machine opening the portal. They call for backup from the government and head back to Hawkins.
“You let us in and now you’re gonna have to let us stay.”
– Flayed Billy
Meanwhile, Billy traps El in his mind while she’s using her powers to search his mind and find the “Flayed” hideout. She sees a bunch of childhood memories before arriving at the Hess Farm location. But now every flayed can see El because she opened Billy’s mind.
Bummer.
El makes it out of Billy’s mind and tells her friends what’s going on and Will starts to feel the Mind Flayer getting closer. They barricade the cabin in the woods, but the Mind Flayer doesn’t care. It breaks open the roof and tries to kill everyone, most specifically EL because she’s the only one that can destroy them. During the attack, the Mind Flayer plants his cells in El’s leg and slowly begins to eat away at her power source.
El, Mike, Lucas, Nancy, Jonathan, Max, and Will run to the supermarket to get supplies to patch El up. Lucas and Will find some overpowered fireworks and then they leave and don’t notice that her blood is coagulating.
Dun Dunn Dunnnn!
Still underground, Steve and Robin are drugged with a truth serum so that the Russian General can find out who they work for because he doesn’t believe they work for Scoops Ahoy! Dustin and Erica make the save and they get out of the secret base alive.
They get back up to Starcourt and Dustin uses his walkie-talkie to get in touch with Mike. The signal is low but Mike figures out they are at Starcourt and both groups meet up.
Joyce thinks that the kids are at the Country 4th of July Carnival so that’s the first place she, Alexei, Murray, and Hopper go. Turns out the kids aren’t there and they have the worst timing because Larry sees them and tells the Terminator.
Next thing you know Alexei is dead and Hopper is being chased by a bunch of Terminators with less conviction. Hopper manages to meet up with Joyce and Murray and they speed away only to overhear a message across a walkie-talkie about kids being at Starcourt!
HEY! The gangs all here.
Previous: Let’s catch up on Stranger Things episodes 1-4 (season 3 recap)
Last season, Yumeko Jabami broke the wheel on the limits of gambling at Hyakkaou Private Academy. In the process of getting her gambling freak on, she empowered Ryouta Suzui with passion eliminating his destiny of mediocrity and broke Meari out of her pretentious shell using the power of friendship. She even pumped Itsuki Sumeragi up to high that she bit all of her nails off during an all in bet with Kaede Manyuda!
But most importantly, Yumeko reinvigorated Kirari Momobami (President of Student Council). The renewed excitement that Yumeko and Kirari shared set up season two for Kakegurui.
“Let’s get our gambling freak on!” – Yumeko Jabami
Story
A compulsive gambler, Yumeko Jambi, turned the status quo on its head at Hyakkaou Private Academy last season when she transferred in. As a result, the student council president was inspired to hold a gambling democratic election to potentially seat a new president.
The election included transferring all of the heirs to the high seats in the Bami clan so that they could try to dethrone her as the future leader of their clan. And the twist is that no matter who ends up on top, be it Kirari herself or someone outside the clan, they will be the undisputed president of Hyakkaou Private Academy.
Why should you watch Kakegurui?
Every episode is unpredictable. The gambles that the students take part in sometimes make no sense and are clearly cheating traps. Then again, most of the gambling encounters in this series are full of deception, wit, and at all times crazy.
There’s one game where the participants are poisoned. Tell me how that is even okay.
You’ll find yourself asking, why a character would even accept the terms of certain gambles. Or you may ask my favorite question of the entire series.
WHERE ARE THE ADULTS?
Good luck figuring that out. That question is answered, so good luck catching the explanation.
I’d say more than anything, Kakegurui is a battle of the wits between the strongest characters in the show with a little bit (at times a lot) of insane sprinkled on top. Plus you never really know if Yumeko has an end game or if she is strictly motivated by her gambling compulsion like the narrative would lead you to believe.
Sometimes when I log on to Netflix or any streaming service for that matter, I can get overwhelmed by making choice on what I want to watch. I’m not that old, but I am old enough to remember when the TV Guide channel had a set list of what was coming on that night.
And if you didn’t like it, maybe you’d read a book.
When I log on to my platform of choice now, unless I already know what I’m looking for, I need a magic 8-ball to tell me what to watch.
There are so many options and that’s great. But can somebody break things up for me?
I’m focusing on Netflix right now because I remember when the service offered Max.
Get the Max with Netflix!
There are so many options on Netflix. How am I supposed to find things when I don’t know what I’m in the mood for?
When I had my PlayStation 3, Max would always help me out.
Picture yourself on a lazy night. You want to relax so you turn on Netflix and prepare for a night of entertainment. But then, you see 18 different categories, a bunch of suggestions for shows or movies you’ve already seen, and stuff that you’re not even interested in.
Then you click on Max, artificial intelligence embedded in Netflix and ready to help make your life simpler. You hear a cute little jingle, he asks you a few questions and BOOM, you’re watching a Korean drama that you didn’t know existed and you’re having a great time!
That’s why Netflix should bring back Max! There are so many choices and those suggestion categories do not help, but Max can. My experience with Max always positive and helped pinpoint a show or movie that I give a try without having to surf for an hour before starting to watch something.
So Netflix, feel free to bring Max back at any time.
This is the second part of the Stranger Things recap. If you weren’t aware of the first part, please click the following link so that you can catch up on season 1.
I wouldn’t want you to jump into season 2 without knowing what’s going on.
I know Stranger Things is kind of a big deal, but perhaps there are some folks who haven’t watched it yet. So with this post, I aim to give you the important plot points of season 2 and get you ready to enjoy season 3 of Stranger Things with the rest of the world.
Great! Here is the Stranger Things season 2 recap simplified.
Season 2
Will is still flashing back and forth from the Upside Down. So his mom, Joyce, takes him to Hawkins Lab to see a new doctor. Good news, he’s not a creeper who kidnaps children. But, he’s still involved him the experimentation surrounding the Upside Down.
Speaking of the Upside Down, Eleven escaped it! Remember, in season 1 she dusted the Demogorgon and they both were sucked into the alternate dimension. Luckily, she found another portal out of there and eventually crossed paths with Chief Hopper and starting living with him.
Will is still going through his problems when his friend Dustin finds the Demogorgon spawn that he barfed up at the end of season 1. Dustin makes it his pet and he names it Dart.
Mike wants to kill Dart, but when he tries it escapes. Dustin eventually finds it again and hides it from the rest of the group because they’ve bonded.
It turns out Dart has siblings and there are other Demogorgon spawns in Hawkins but they aren’t nearly as friendly as Dart. They’re known as Demo-dogs.
Let’s focus on Will. During one of his episodes, he’s approached by a shadowy monster that we later know as The Mind Flayer. He starts deteriorating soon after and drawing visions that he’s having of vines but the picture is segmented in a puzzle. Joyce can’t figure it out, but as luck would have it her boyfriend, Bob is into puzzles.
He figures out that it’s a map of Hawkins. Chief Hopper goes to investigate and finds a bunch of tunnels forming underneath the town. And those Demo-dog are all around. Hopper gets cocooned and almost dies, but is eventually found and saved.
Thank you for cracking the code, Bob.
A group of authorities go to investigate the tunnels further but the Demo-dogs prove to be too much for them and they are mauled to death.
Meanwhile, Eleven is having her own adventure. She finds her mom and discovers the truth about how Dr. Brenner acquired her. She also found out that when her mother came to save her, she was captured and Brenner had her brain electrocuted leaving her in a handicapped state.
Eleven ends up meeting another girl who was in the same situation. Her name is Eight and she is ready to help Eleven exact revenge. She teaches Eleven to use her powers more effectively and they even find the doctor that hurt her mother.
But, Eleven has a good conscience and decides not to go forward with the plan. She does have a psychic connection with her friends in Hawkins and realizes they are in trouble. So she goes back to help them just in the nick of time.
Will is being used by The Mind Flayer and a bunch of people die as a result, including Bob. Plus, the town is being overrun by the Demo-dogs. The group makes a plan to close the portal using Eleven’s upgraded psychic powers. But first, Joyce wants to exercise Will and separate him from The Mind Flayer.
The exorcism works because Joyce turns up a heater and The Mind Flayer does not like that so it runs away after coming up through Wills’ mouth.
Eleven and Hopper go to shut the portal on one end and the rest of the group goes to back her up from inside the woods. Remember, there is a way into the Upside Down from there as well.
They almost get devoured by Demo-dogs, but Dart happens to be around and his connection with Dustin still exists so he sort of causes a distraction for them.
Eleven zips up the portal right in front of The Mind Flayer, locks it away, and all the Demo-dogs die.
All seems well until we find out that The Mind Flayer is definitely plotting his return from the Upside Down.
Now that you are up to speed, I’ll see you for more Stranger Things recaps when season 3 starts on July 4th.
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.