TV

All The Burning Questions We Have After Watching ‘Stranger Things 3’

Number one, how dare you?

by Jenna Guillaume  22 July 2019
Stranger Things season 3

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

Stranger Things is a show centred on mystery and surprise, with a lot of characters and subplots to keep track of.

Related
Let's Hear It For The Girls: Women Were The Real Heroes Of 'Stranger Things' Season 3

One of the best parts of the show is the sense that there’s something huge and unexplained at the heart of it all (or perhaps underneath it all), so we’re always looking for clues about the greater plot.

While the end of Season 3 was overall incredibly satisfying (and also totally heartbreaking), there are still a bunch of questions left hanging.

From the trivial issues that will probably never be explained, to the bigger questions which another season would hopefully provide answers for — here’s what’s left lingering after Stranger Things Season 3…

1. Where the hell did Max and Eleven get money to go shopping?

Neither of them work and they went to the mall without their parents knowing. Did they swipe some money from Hopper, or Max’s parents? Does Max have a massive allowance? Did she treat Eleven to all those Gap clothes? Sure, it’s not a hugely important point, but it will haunt me to the grave.

2. How did part of the Mind Flayer survive in Hawkins after the gate was closed in Season 2?

It’s suggested that when Eleven closed the gate, she shut part of him on their side — seemingly the part that was attached to Will. But if everything else connected to the Mind Flayer died, how did that piece of it survive? And why is Will still connected to the Mind Flayer if Joyce, Nancy and Jonathan managed to burn the beast out of him?

3. How much did Alexei know about the Demogorgon and the Mind Flayer?

He knew that he was helping to build a machine to open the portal between worlds, but did he know that other world was inhabited by DEMONS? I sure hope not, because I love that cherry slurpee king.

4. Didn’t Max absolutely hate Billy?

It was kind of surprising how devastated Max was by what happened to Billy. I’m not saying she shouldn’t have cared about him being possessed or, you know, dying, but her level of emotion didn’t feel earned off the back of their previous on screen interactions.

5. Why is Nancy still with Jonathan?

Sorry, but that guy is the worst and she deserves so much better. He spied on her and took photos of her changing without her consent! And in Season 3 he totally treated her like she was a crazy person and a troublemaker, and made her work situation harder than it already was!

She needs to cut ties.

6. Is Hopper actually dead?

They’re totally playing us, right? I mean, we see the Russians get liquified, but we don’t see what happens to Hopper. There has to be a reason for that. Of course, I don’t know how he would’ve survived that blast, but this is Stranger Things after all.

7. Who is “the American”?!

This one is really bothering me.

Who is the American that the Russians have locked up? It’s got to be someone significant. Is it Hopper? If it’s Hopper, again, how the hell is he even alive? And what are they doing with him? If it’s not Hopper…who else could it be? Dr Brenner, perhaps?

8. Where the hell did that Demogorgon come from?

The Russians are keeping a Demogorgon captive — but how did they get it, and how is it alive?

Supposedly when the gate closes, all the creatures powered by the Mind Flayer die. So does the Demogorgon being alive mean the gate is still open? Or another gate is open, at least? I NEED ANSWERS.

9. What are the Russians planning to DO with the Demogorgon?

They’re currently just feeding it prisoners, but they must have bigger plans for it.

The Department of Energy kind of accidentally stumbled into the Upside Down thanks to Eleven’s powers, but the Russians seem to deliberately be going after it. Is it all just part of an arms race, or do they have something else planned?

10. Have the Russians been involved all along?

They were only introduced to the plot in Season 3 (unless you count Murray’s conspiracy theories from Season 2), but they seem to know a lot. Were there Russians spies embedded in previous seasons, and we didn’t even realise it?

11. Where did the Byers and Eleven move to?

It’s understandable they want to get the hell out of Hawkins. But can they really escape their trauma?

Will the Mind Flayer still be connected to Will, wherever he goes? I mean, there’s a parallel for everything, not just Hawkins, in the Upside Down, right?

12. What’s up with Eleven’s powers?

Why exactly did she lose them? And will she ever get them back? Does she even want them back? Is she okay?!

13. What happened to Eleven’s “siblings”?

We met Eight, aka Kali, in Season 2, but we still haven’t learned a thing about the other gifted individuals who must have been held and experimented on by the Department of Energy.

Season 3 gave us nothing! Are some of them dead? Are they free, or being held by the government — or the Russians? Will we ever learn more about them?

14. Can this show stop taking away every soft and pure character we care about, please?

First they came for Barb, then Bob…and now Alexei. HOW MUCH PAIN DO YOU THINK WE CAN HANDLE, DUFFER BROTHERS? Please, no more.

15. When is Stranger Things season 4??????

We need it.

Stranger Things is currently streaming on Netflix.

Jenna Guillaume is a Sydney-based writer who loves all things TV and pop culture. She tweets @JennaGuillaume, and her new book, ‘What I Like About Me’ is available now.