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Stranger Things

Burning questions we have after watching 'Stranger Things'

Kelly Lawler
USA TODAY
'Stranger Things'

We've seen some strange things. And we have a lot of questions.

If you haven't started watching everyone's new Netflix obsession, Stranger Things, you should update your queues, stat. The ode to 1980s classics like E.T., The Goonies and Poltergeist is an addictive and thrilling eight-episode ride that will satisfy your summer binge craves.

The show has its own complicated mythology involving secret government labs, parallel universes and rad G.I. Jane haircuts. And while making it all the way to the end of the season answers a lot of our questions, it does not answer all of them. And listen, we know the show joked about the fact that it couldn't answer every single question in the last few scenes of the finale (when the boys poke at the plot holes in their own Dungeons & Dragons game). But that won't stop us from obsessing about every detail. Here are the questions that are still puzzling us after our binge.

Spoilers for the whole first season of Stranger Things follow. 

What about Barb?

BARB IS BETTER THAN US ALL.

Can we talk about Barb for a second? Because the residents of Hawkins, Indiana, did not spend nearly enough time talking about Barb Holland (Shannon Purser). You'd think in a town where the crime rate is so low that the first missing person in decades brings ordinary life to a halt, another person going missing only days later would be a pretty big deal. But apparently Barb's disappearance was that old teenage flightiness, with Hawkins Lab goonies successfully ditching her car at a bus station to look like she ran away. Nobody found that odd? Barb would not run away. Not the Barb we know (even for just three episodes). The awkward, mom-jeans wearing teen deserved more than being the death that got Nancy to wake up and smell the face-less monster. We'll miss you Barb, even if nobody else does.

How was Mrs. Wheeler so clueless?

Mrs. Wheeler, sigh.

Listen. Listen. This is not a criticism of Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono), mother of Nancy and Mike and wear-er of the greatest Farrah hair in suburban Indiana. But one does have to wonder if the woman ever walks into her basement, or notices that some of her food is gone, or hears her children talking with other people in their bedrooms when they are supposed to be alone. Stranger Things is an exercise in 80s nostalgia, and that clueless parent figure is a big trope in movies like E.T. But still, we liked the Karen who stood up to Dr. Brenner better than the one who brought a casserole to a monster fight. And don't even get us started on Mr. Clarke's acceptance that a 10:00 p.m. phone call from a middle-schooler on a Saturday night asking for advice on creating a sensory deprivation tank was just for "fun." Good job, Teach.

What was Hawkins Lab actually trying to do?

Dr. Brenner you're the worst.

OK so from what we can discern from the Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce's (Winona Ryder) investigations into the lab, it seems that Eleven's mother took part in weird drug studies when she was unknowingly pregnant. Then the lab stole her child "Jane," and told her and her family she miscarried. They took the baby, raised her as "Eleven," made her believe that Dr. Brenner was her father (maybe that's true, we don't know) and performed experiments on her. Namely her ability to travel to a parallel universe, which accidentally opened a gate to that "Upside Down" and brought a face-less predatory monster to the other side. But, other than being evil, why? Are they trying to fight the Soviet Union? Can they profit from the slippery, slimey vines that populate the Upside Down? Is the Demogorgon (as we like to fondly call the tulip-faced monster) an effective weapon of war?

Is Eleven still alive?

Millie Bobby Brown from 'Stranger Things.'

Don't tell us that Hopper was leaving Eggos in a box in the woods just as a tribute to everyone's favorite little superhero. It seemed that, in order to destroy the monster forever (or perhaps banish him to the Upside Down forever), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) sacrificed herself. But did she? Hopper did, you'll recall, take a trip to Hawkins Lab right after they rescued Will from the Upside Down. Do they know something we don't know? Because we really only want a second season of this show if Eleven is in it. Speaking of which...

Are we getting a new season?

More of this please.

The show certainly left the door open for more in its final cliffhanger, showing that Will still has some of that slimey Upside Down snake stuff inside of him after he was trapped in the monster's lair (As an energy source or something? That's a whole other series of questions.). Netflix hasn't officially greenlit a new season, but the show's creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, haven't been shy about their hopes for more in interviews. So, what's up Netflix? We need some answers, ASAP. Also, we need more of Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo). Because everyone needs more Dustin.

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