Here’s what we’d love to see ‘Stranger Things’ address in season 2, Barb or otherwise

Culture

This shouldn't come as a surprise, but Netflix has formally renewed its beloved science-fiction series, Stranger Things, for a nine-episode second season that will premiere in 2017. While some critics have argued that the show would best be served as an anthology series — essentially, the American Horror Story of sci-fi — the Duffer Brothers have made it clear that the narrative will, at least in part, remain in the fictitious town of Hawkins, Indiana.  

However, speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the creators added that the series will also explore other settings, noting that the opening scene of the second season won't even take place in Hawkins. Therefore, while it's certainly not turning into an anthology series, we could see, well, stranger things in other places as well. 

With that in mind — and again, very little is known about season two — here's what else we'd love to see the show tackle after a somewhat ambiguous ending for some of its characters. 

We should explore more of the Upside Down. The Upside Down — the parallel dimension that housed (or houses?) the creepy-ass "Demogorgon" — was explored intermittently in season one, but it's where a lot of the show's inherent mysteries lie. 

It houses a faceless monster, sure, but it appears the reason the government began exploring the dimension was for the sake of espionage. Eleven's first trip to the Upside Down involved peeping on an unknown Russian military commander's conversation, after all. 

It's unclear how thoroughly the Hawkins Lab explored the Upside Down (it seems like Eleven was their first successful venture into the dimension), but the fact that Hopper and Joyce see a mass of human skulls when they enter the Upside Down in the season finale suggests it's had visitors before. 

The best — and most entertaining — solution is for Stranger Things to take viewers back into the Upside Down to flesh out some of these origin stories.

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Is Hawkins Lab the only place experimenting on kids? Hawkins Lab has a lot of PR explaining to do when the dust settles in Hawkins, with all the child kidnapping and torture. But it's possible that Hawkins — a subsidiary of the U.S. Department of Energy — isn't a one-of-a-kind place. 

If Stranger Things' second season does delve into other settings, it could mean other government labs are experimenting on children in a similar fashion. It has all the makings of an elaborate CIA or NSA cover-up — which, for an '80s Cold War-themed show, isn't unfamiliar territory: It's expected

Of course, the real Department of Energy has insisted that Stranger Things is rooted in fiction and they don't actually experiment on kids. Or is that just what they want us to think?

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What happened to Eleven? The last we see of Eleven, she saves Mike and the other kids from the Demogorgon, seemingly sacrificing herself in the process. But when Hopper leaves an Eggo waffle — her favorite snack on the planet — in a box in the middle of the woods, it prompts necessary speculation: What actually happened to her? 

There's plenty of ways the show could explore Eleven's narrative further. There could be a grand reveal for the popular theory that she and the Demogorgon are actually one and the same, with the monster existing as a twisted alternate persona of her telekinetic powers after visiting the Upside Down.  

However, regardless of the show's direction with the character, we'll settle for whatever if it brings us more from Eleven — so long as she gets her Eggos. 

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#JusticeForBarb. Stranger Things' biggest flaw comes down to its treatment of Barb, Nancy's friend and the closest thing modern television has got to Millie from Freaks and Geeks. The Demogorgon kills her, and yet Hawkins barely bats an eye over news of her disappearance, or even upon discovering her gruesome fate. This is unacceptable: We need #JusticeForBarb

Thankfully, the Duffer Brothers have insisted that the show will address Barb's death in the second season. Per Matt Duffer, since the events of season one take place over the course of about a week, the aftermath of her death hasn't hit the town yet. 

"Barb will not be forgotten," Matt Duffer told IGN. She better not be, lest he face the wrath of, seemingly, the entire internet. 

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