Discussion Fridge / StrangerThings

Taking this to discussion to prevent any further edits:

The points about "Every Breath You Take" are two completely separate observations. One is that the meaning of the lyrics make it the Mind Flayer's Villain Song, as effectively confirmed by the Duffer Bros.

However the other point is about perception, and how listeners who don't know the song frequently mistake it for something sweet and romantic until they listen to the lyrics more closely, and realize there's a darker meaning. Likewise, someone watching the episode for the first time will see the sweet and romantic moment at the end — particularly between Mike and Eleven — and only upon watching further the scene turns into something much more sinister. It's a comparison of the dichotomy of the song itself to that of the scene.

These are two completely separate points, and trying to conflate these into one entry only confuses the observations.

Removed:

• The revelation at the end of the second season that The Mind Flayer is still stalking the kids from the Upside Down. Sure, it lost the portal and its army, so it doesn't really present a threat to the characters any more, right? Except we never found out why Will started flickering into the Upside Down in the first place. The connection appears to be more than just visual since the monster was able to possess Will during one of his episodes, implying that his mind actually travels to the Upside Down during his visions. The odds of Will slipping into the Upside Down and getting caught and possessed by The Mind Flayer again are still very high.
  • Not to mention that while the Mind Flayer needs a portal to get through, the adult demogorgan was able to freely move between dimensions. Assuming there are other demogorgans in the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer could just possess more and send them after the kids.
    • There is also the idea that being infected by the Demogorgon MADE WILL A LIVING PORTAL. Joyce starts realizing Will is NOT suffering from PTSD after watching the camera footage when Will has an episode on Halloween. The outline of the Mind Flayer APPEARS ON THE CAMERA. IN FOOTAGE OF AND FROM OUR WORLD. Do people affected by Upside Down beasts offer Another type of conduit of entering our world?

Most of this looks like it's just speculating about what's going to happen next season, which will become moot the moment the third season airs. Doesn't really seem to be fridge horror. If this entry is deemed fit for reposting, it still needs to be rewritten to conform to Example Indentation. The all-caps should also be avoided.

Removed the following from Fridge Brilliance:

• When Lonnie tells Jonathan to take down the poster because it's inappropriate, at first, it appears that he's just an out-of-touch deadbeat dad who's throwing his weight around just because he can (which he otherwise is). His reaction makes a bit more sense if you recognize what the poster is of: Evil Dead — not something a family who had just lost a child would care to see.

You don't need to have watched the film to see what the father finds objectionable about the poster.

• Mike's dad. It's been said that Hopper is in a conspiracy thriller, Joyce is in a psychological horror movie, the kids are in a Spielbergian coming-of-age dark fantasy and the teens in a John Hughes movie with horror elements. Mike's dad is in a sitcom. When everyone else storms out of the dinner table, he even looks at the little girl like he's expecting a cute one-liner.
  • Likewise, Mike's mom is in a soap opera. Consider the series from her perspective: She's having a nice and normal life then, one day, her son's friend goes missing and her daughter starts acting distant. Any attempts to connect with these family members backfire miserably, and the suspicion only increases when her son's friend's mom starts acting off as well and suddenly throws her out of the house. Then, her daughter reveals that she slept with her boyfriend, and she learns that her son is harboring a dangerous individual underneath her nose.

This isn't fridge brilliance. It's just analysis of the show's style. The show never makes any direct reference to characters residing in different genres.

• When the boys call up Mr. Clarke and ask about sensory deprivation tanks, he hesitates before answering. Clarke is depicted as equally geeky as his students, and was just watching The Thing and discussing its special effects, marking him as a movie geek, too. Stranger Things takes place in 1983, and the most prominent place in pop culture for sensory deprivation chambers is Altered States, another horror film. Clarke didn't hesitate because he was bothered by the boys (he gives up details quickly after), he hesitated because he was in the frame of mind for a horror film already, and went back to the other one at their suggestion.
  • Or, more likely, he had a stunning lady friend curled up against him on the couch and Dustin was salting his game.

As the natter points out, the most obvious explanations for his hesitance are all the readily apparent reasons. No one mentions Altered States.

• When Billy is drugged unlike Will he doesn't go unconscious. But Billy is the exact person who would take drugs. He just developed a resistance to them
  • Billy is also almost twice Will's size. If he was given the same dosage, it would have a lesser effect on him.

Billy does pass out at the very end. And like the natter states, he's much larger than Will. There is also no evidence that I recall that Billy takes downers.

• Why is Lucas the only one willing to let Max in on the group's secrets? Because he was the only one last season who didn't trust Eleven, and he regrets it and doesn't want to make the same mistake again.

This is never established. On the other hand, Lucas's romantic interests are very established, so he has a very readily apparent reason to want to keep Max in the group by telling her their secrets.