Everything You Need to Know About Stranger Things Before Season 2

Hey folks! With Stranger Things coming into Season 2 pretty soon, we here at What’s Trending figured now is as good a time as any to remind you in our loyal audience just what happened on the last season of that daring new odd and inspiring Netflix hit — Stranger Things! So here we go— (ahem)—

In 1983, an unseen monster attacks the Department of Energy laboratory in Hawkins, Indiana.  The monster kidnaps Will Byers, who was on his way home from playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends.

The same night, Eleven escapes from the lab and hides in the woods. As the town searches for Will, his friends Mike, Dustin, and Lucas find Eleven instead. Mike lets Eleven hide in his basement. Dustin and Lucas want to tell Mike’s parents about Eleven, but she uses her telekinetic powers to stop them.

Mike’s older sister Nancy goes to a party at her boyfriend Steve’s house. Will’s older Jonathan looks for Will in the woods, but stumbles upon Steve’s party and starts taking pictures. Later that night, Nancy’s friend Barb is unfortunately taken  by the unseen monster to The Upside Down, a parallel universe that is dark, abandoned version of our own reality.

And she’s dead now. Barb’s dead.

Will’s mother, Joyce Byers, starts to see and hear things in the house. Hearing music in the walls and seeing the lights flicker, Joyce believes she found a way to communicate with Will. Sheriff Hopper investigates the laboratory, but realizes the director of the lab, Dr. Brenner, showed him fake security footage.

Hopper investigates deeper, and discovers a woman named Terry Ives who claimed her daughter was stolen by Dr. Brenner.

Then, Will’s body is unexpectedly found in a rock quarry.

However, Joyce continues to see Will in the house. Will speaks to his mom from The Upside Down, warning about the monster, nicknamed The Demogorgon. Joyce chops a whole in her wall with an axe to possibly free Will, but he’s gone.

Will’s friends have Eleven use a ham radio to try to communicate with Will, and hear him pleading with his mom.

Nancy notices in Jonathan’s photos a tall figure behind Barb. Jonathan recognizes it from his mother’s description, too. Hopper discovered the body was just a prop, and the real Will is still out there. 

Hopper busts into the laboratory and discovers a portal to The Upside Down which had been opened up by Eleven’s telekinetic powers. 

He’s knocked out, and later wakes up at home, and finds his house has been bugged.

The boys try to search for Will on their own, but Eleven throws them off course, afraid of the monster from The Upside Down. After getting lost, the boys fight while Eleven runs away, living off of stolen Eggos.

Nancy and Jonathan search the woods, and find a portal to the Upside Down in a tree. Jonathan stays the night with Nancy, but Steve spots them together from the street. Steve confronts Jonathan, thinking that Jonathan stole Nancy away. In the fight, Jonathan accidentally assaults a cop and is arrested.

Joyce and Sherriff Hopper track down Tracey Ives, who is now completely mute. Tracey’s sister explains that Tracey was part of Project MKUltra, a classified government program, while she was pregnant.

Tracey’s daughter Jane was kidnapped at birth. Joyce and Hopper conclude that Jane is actually Eleven. Mike and Dustin are searching for Eleven, when two bullies ambush them.

The bullies force mike to jump into the quarry that Will was found in, but when he does, Eleven levitates him back to safety. Lucas warns Mike that the Energy Department is on the way to their house.

During their escape, Eleven flips a van that block the path of their bikes. At the police station, Jonathan and Nancy tell Joyce and Hopper about the portal they found to the Upside Down.

Everyone convenes at the school, to build Eleven a sensory depravation tank so she can locate Barb and Will in the Upside Down. Eleven finds Barb’s corpse in the Upside Down

Told you: she dead.

Eleven also finds Will hiding in the Upside Down version of his backyard fort, However, the monster finds him. Joyce and Hopper break into the lab and venture into the Upside Down.  They find Will, remove a long slug-like tendril from his throat and give him CPR, which reminds Sheriff Hopper of the day his own child passed away.

Nancy and Jonathan booby-trap the house and try to draw out the monster. Steve arrives at the house just as the monster attacks.

Nancy shoots the Demogorgon and it quickly disappears, re-appearing at the school.

While the kids are hiding in wait at the school. Mike and Eleven talk about being more than friends. Mike asks Eleven to be his date to a school dance and then kisses her. Dr. Brenner arrived at the school with government agents to finally capture Eleven.

She kills all the agents that are with Brenner and collapses, and the Demogorgon shows up and attacks Dr. Brenner. Eleven then kills the Demogorgon by disintegrating it and disappears

And after a month, all seems to be OK in Hawkins. Will is back with his family and friends. However, he’s puking up slugs and getting visions of the Upside Down.

Oh, and Nancy got back together with Steve.

Wait, what?

Well, that’s all the important stuff from Season 1 of Stranger Things. Are you excited for Season 2? Let us know what you think is gonna happen in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.