**Spoilers ahead**
If you’re like me, you’re probably a little sleepy this morning having crammed in all nine episodes of “Stranger Things 2” over the weekend. The downside is missing last night’s epic World Series game between the Dodgers and Astros, but the upside is being able to talk about the second season of the Netflix hit and not having to worry about running into spoilers on social media. And as per usual, creators Matt and Ross Duffer have given fans a lot to talk about as they wait for season three.
The Duffers certainly took a few more risks with “Stranger Things 2.” Where they could’ve easily had Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and the gang scamper around on another adventure, they chose to keep her separate from Mike, Dustin, and Lucas for nearly the entire season. At first in hiding thanks to Jim Hopper (David Harbour), Eleven eventually runs away to meet her mother Terry, and then takes a trip to Chicago to meet her “sister” from Hawkins Lab, 008 aka Kali (Linnea Berthelsen). The latter unfolds in the season’s seventh episode, “The Lost Sister,” and arguably breaks the momentum heading into the finale. However, for the Duffers, they say it was a necessary detour both narratively and creatively.
READ MORE: Stream ‘Stranger Things’ Season 2 Soundtrack By Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein
“Whether it works for people or not, it allows us to experiment a little bit,” Matt said. “It’s important for Ross and I to try stuff and not feel like we’re doing the same thing over and over again. It’s almost like doing a whole little other pilot episode in the middle of your season, which is kind of a crazy thing to do. But it was really fun to write and cast and work on.”
The duo tested taking the episode out of the season entirely, but ultimately felt it was a key building block. “Eleven’s journey kind of fell apart, like the ending didn’t work, without it,” Matt stated.
For Ross, it was important that Eleven had an arc that was more than just arriving in the nick of time to help her friends. “I didn’t want her to just magically save the day. Just like Luke Skywalker, she needed to go off on her own and learn something about herself,” he said.
As for the ending, which reveals that the shadow monster still looms large over Hawkins in the parallel universe of the Upside Down, the pair is remaining tight-lipped, but clearly, the battle is far from over. “They shut the door on this thing but it’s still out there and it wasn’t aware of Eleven and now it very much is,” Ross said.
Aside from that battle, what else might season three tackle? One word: puberty.
“Stranger Things 2” is now streaming on Netflix. [Entertainment Weekly]