Season 2 of Stranger Things is fast-approaching, and fans can look forward to the end of the very long hiatus. We'll get to check back in with the Hawkins crew next week, and the footage released so far in trailers has revealed that we're in for some big answers and even bigger questions about what exactly is going on. We can be confident that Season 2 will give us some answers on what happened to Will, what's up with Eleven, and what kind of deal Hopper made with the folks at Hawkins Lab, but there are some questions that probably shouldn't be addressed in Season 2 or any subsequent seasons. Read on for our picks of Stranger Things questions we hope don't get answered!
How Will Used The Lights
For the first few episodes of Stranger Things Season 1, Joyce could only communicate with Will in the Upside Down via the blinking lights in the Byers home. The resourceful Joyce strung the whole house with Christmas lights and even painted the alphabet on the wall so Will could spell out messages. We just don't know how exactly Will was sending messages through the lights on his end.
When Joyce and Hopper were in the Upside Down Byers house, Jonathan could see lights twinkling where they walked, but it was never explained how Will was able to specifically and deliberately answer his mom. While it would have been nice to get an answer to this back in Season 1, the question probably isn't going to be relevant now that the story has moved on, and we can just chalk it up to an intriguing mystery of Will in the Upside Down.
Who Eleven's Biological Father Is
Eleven spent Season 1 referring to the immensely creepy Dr. Brenner as "Papa," but it was clear that theirs was no loving parent/child relationship. The show never gave a definitive answer about whether he was actually her father or if he simply stole her from her mom and conditioned her to think of him as a caregiver. Season 1 established that Eleven's biological mother is Terry Ives; the question of her biological father remains unanswered.
All things considered, it's also a question that doesn't really matter. Eleven was raised by Brenner and there's no connection to any different potential father. Stranger Things is all about the moms for these kids anyway. Joyce was a force to be reckoned with, and Karen Wheeler was strong (if somewhat oblivious) in her own way. Terry is the parent that matters in Eleven's story, not the biological father.
How Exactly The Void Works
We had three different realities in Stranger Things Season 1: the Hawkins filled with people, the Upside Down, and the Void visited by Eleven whenever she entered a sensory deprivation tank. She was able to use this Void to spy on Russians for Brenner and later to find Will and what was left of Barb. It would absolutely seem just like a place accessible only to Eleven in her mind... if not for the Demogorgon.
Eleven came across the Demogorgon without looking for it or even knowing that such a thing exists, so we don't know for sure if the Void is a separate dimension or a shared psychic plane of existence or simply a place of Eleven's own making. Given that the scenes in the Void were some of the most memorable (and creepy) of Season 1, explaining how exactly the Void works could ruin the mystery for any and all future seasons.
How Will's Death Was Faked
We know that Will's death was faked by the folks at Hawkins Lab/Department of Energy, and we got a super creepy sequence in the Hawkins morgue as Hopper worked up the nerve to slice open the chest of what could have been the corpse of a real dead boy. What we didn't get was an explanation of how the Hawkins Lab crew was able to fake a body so convincingly.
The corpse looked like Will, from the outfit he was wearing when he disappeared to the birthmark Joyce asked about. If fake Will hadn't had the birthmark, Joyce would have used it as evidence that he was still alive. All things considered, the practicality of the fake body probably wasn't meant to be pondered by viewers, and there simply might not be a believable answer. Do we really need one?
How The Kids Explain Their Antics
Mike, Lucas, and Dustin spent the majority of Season 1 going on unsanctioned bike adventures across Hawkins, including sneaking out at night and disappearing for hours at a time. Ted and Karen Wheeler didn't even know that Mike was hiding a 12-year-old girl in the basement for the better part of a week. They had to be told by the feds!
The kids were able to take off on their own a lot, and the trailers for Season 2 indicate that they'll be going off on their own with no parental supervision all over again. The boys look like they'll even be venturing into the Upside Down! Any explanations they give to their parents on screen would probably be totally inadequate, and they're best left to our imaginations.
What The Commies Are Up To
Considering everything that happened with the Demogorgon and the Upside Down in Season 1, it's easy to forget that the whole reason Brenner and the other government men were exploiting Eleven was to try and spy on the Russians and communists. The Cold War was still going in the early 80s, and the chicken-loving Ted Wheeler was aghast when it occurred to him that Mike's secret friend in the basement might be a Russian. Oh, Ted.
That said, Brenner seemed to lose interest in using Eleven to spy on the Russians once she stumbled on the Demogorgon in the Void. Stranger Things is interesting enough without bringing 80s politics. We don't need to know how the characters are responding to the Cold War. We do need to know if Will is a villain, if Eleven will make her way back to her friends, and if the Upside Down is permanently invading Hawkins.
Where Mike Got That Sweater
In the footage for Season 2 that has been released so far, Mike Wheeler can be spotted wearing a sweater that has to be the very best and very worst of 1984 fashion. The fact that he is wearing this sweater and looking surprisingly neat compared to his much more casual friends raises big questions: does Mike's mom pick out his clothes every day before school? Is it school picture day? Has Mike dealt with the loss of Eleven by branching out in the sweater sphere? Did mouthbreather Troy have any comments?
Honestly, joking about that ridiculous sweater is much more fun than any in-universe explanation could possibly be. If anything, it's a sign that Stranger Things isn't holding back from the highs and lows of the 80s. Once the Stranger Things drought finally comes to an end, we'll have much bigger questions to ponder.
All nine episodes of the new season of Stranger Things will debut on Friday, October 27 at 12:01 a.m. PT on Netflix. Head to our 2017 Netflix schedule and our fall premiere schedule to see all the other new and returning shows coming to viewers soon.
