Kinfolklore: Stranger Things Sn.1 (Chapters 1-4)

Andrea: 00:00:09

l the way back to the fall of: 1983

Paul: 00:00:20

Yum.

Andrea: 00:00:22

The hangout. Mike's Basement.

Paul: 00:00:25

Musty.

Andrea: 00:00:28

That's right.

We're starting at the very beginning of Stranger Things, where a missing boy and a mysterious girl and a town full of secrets set off an unforgettable story. I'm Andrea.

Paul: 00:00:42

And I'm Paul. And for those of you who are new here, we're cousins who dive into fantasy and sci fi worlds we love.

And few shows capture our hearts and the collective anxiety. Quite like Stranger Things.

These early episodes introduce us to the party, the town of Hawkins, and of course, the Demogorgons lurking in the shadows.

Andrea: 00:01:07

In order to prepare for the final season coming out this November, we're rewatching the entire series from the very beginning. Today, we'll be covering season one, chapters one through four. So if you haven't seen up to chapter four, hit pause, binge, then come right back.

And spoiler warning. This podcast is not spoiler free. We'll be discussing all four seasons of Stranger Things.

One small caveat is we will not be talking about Stranger Things the first shadow, which we'll do a separate mini episode on, because not everyone has access to the play. Everyone has net.

Well, if you're listening to this, you have Netflix, so you can watch all the seasons, but the play is only available in New York, so we won't spoil that.

Paul: 00:01:55

I really want to see the play. I'm excited about it.

Andrea: 00:01:58

It's really good.

Paul: 00:01:59

Says the person who's seen it twice. I love it. I love it.

Andrea: 00:02:01

No, I only saw it once. I only saw once.

Paul: 00:02:03

Okay, all right, all right.

Andrea: 00:02:04

I have tickets to see it again. Plan on seeing it twice. I've only seen it once.

Paul: 00:02:09

I may have to crash that party. But you know what?

Kinfolklore will also have adult content, thanks to Steve Harrington's party of five and his binge drinking hijinks, Nancy's peer pressuring to do bodily harm to herself, and of course, Jonathan Byers being an unpaid paparazzi of one, there will be.

Andrea: 00:02:32

Why?

Paul: 00:02:32

Why are these children having sex anyway? There will be adult content. Let's go.

Andrea: 00:02:39

Terrible, terrible, terrible. So in each episode, we're going to summarize the chapters that we're covering. So I'm going to talk about the first two chapters.

The Vanishing of Will Byers and the Weirdo on Maple Street. We open in Hawkins Lab, where something escapes into the night in a the flickering light of Mike Wheeler's basement.

Four boys huddle around the table, dice in hand. Suspended in a world far away from Hawkins, Mike, the dungeon master, spins a tale of danger.

The party is in a deep, shadowy cave, stopped by a monster beyond the imagining. The Demogorgon. And we'll talk more about that D and D game, which I think may have had a little foreshadowing in it for sure.

By morning, one of that party, Will Byers, has vanished after a really scary encounter. On his way home from Mike's house, his mother, Joyce, Frank, Dick, the police chief Hopper. Well, let's just say he's not on top of things.

Paul: 00:03:50

No, not in the least bit.

Andrea: 00:03:51

Not on top of things at all. And Will's friends decide to search for themselves, only to discover a young girl, 11. The hero of our story. Maybe.

Paul: 00:04:06

Maybe. Maybe.

Andrea: 00:04:07

Maybe. Maybe. Meanwhile, Joyce refuses to give up. In despair, she strings up some Christmas lights. Because that's totally normal, totally rational.

All over her house. It's Christmas. You know, it's only a month early. You know, this is just November. It's Okay.

Paul: 00:04:28

Listen. Never too early to be festive. Some people are putting out, you know, she was ahead of the curve when it came.

She works in a store, so she's already thinking about decoration.

Andrea: 00:04:38

I know, she. Exactly. She's trying to get everyone in the mood for the holiday season, Right? It's nothing strange about it.

Paul: 00:04:45

Nothing strange.

Andrea: 00:04:46

At the same time, Nancy, Mike's sister, she's going through some teenage things. Going through some teenage things. She has a boyfriend, maybe, right? A situationship.

Paul: 00:05:00

I don't know, what.

Andrea: 00:05:01

With the hottest guy in school, Steve Harrington.

Paul: 00:05:04

The best. Here.

Andrea: 00:05:06

He invites her over to a party at his house. She lies to everybody. Like she tells her mom she's going to study.

Paul: 00:05:16

It's a party. Sans party. There is no party. There's four other people. There's no party.

Andrea: 00:05:22

That's. That's true. There really is. There really aren't. There's only four of them. @ the end of that party, Nancy's friend Barb, who she bullied to be there.

Paul: 00:05:31

Yeah.

Andrea: 00:05:33

Disappears.

Paul: 00:05:34

Oh, Barb.

Andrea: 00:05:35

Which draws Nancy deeper into the mystery.

Paul: 00:05:40

So let's talk about chapters three and chapters four. Holly, Jolly and the body. Joyce has turned her entire house into a glowing web of Christmas lights.

She's unraveling before our very eyes, creating some sort of code to talk with Will. She can hear him, you know. She's heard his voice through the phone. She's communicating somehow, intuitively knows that Christmas.

Andrea: 00:06:06

He's busted up. Two. Two phones have been Busted up two phones.

Paul: 00:06:10

She's like. She's taking advances out at her job. She is. It's hilarious. So she's unraveling when the wall itself bulges out.

She knows that he's alive, but trapped somewhere dark and dangerous. So there's a monster break trying to break through.

And Joyce's insistence that the supernatural stops sounding like grief and starts sounding like the truth at the same time. Elle, our, you know, friend that we found, Elle, is giving me ET Vibes during this season. I'm just gonna be honest.

Like, they found her and they're, like, trying to, like.

It feels very ET But Elle grows closer to the boys, proving her powers by tapping into a school radio and finding Will's voice singing from the other side.

Andrea: 00:06:55

Do I say or do I go?

Paul: 00:06:59

I love it. We'll talk more about that song, too. Lucas doesn't trust her. Lucas is not. He's not trusting l. At all. But Mike is smitten. He's all in.

Andrea: 00:07:10

He's. Oh, he's all.

Paul: 00:07:11

He's all in. He's all about.

Andrea: 00:07:13

That's his girl.

Paul: 00:07:13

All about.

Andrea: 00:07:14

He just decided. He took one look at Elle, actually. I think it was really when she closed the door for power.

Paul: 00:07:21

Yeah.

Andrea: 00:07:22

Then he was like, oh, I like a powerful woman.

Paul: 00:07:24

Like, superpowers. Let's go. I'm in. So Hopper, suspicious, and his suspicions are starting to grow too.

He's starting to think something weird is going on, especially after they pull a body that's supposed to be Will's from a quarry. So he's like, wait. He says, let me just look a little deeper, see what's happening.

Only to discover that the corpse that was made of Will, for some reason, he just knows, cut this body open, and it has cotton.

Andrea: 00:07:54

I was, like, the most horrified. I was like, what are we doing? Yeah, why are we. Hopper, why are we cutting. Why are we cutting the bodies of small children open?

Paul: 00:08:04

Because he's unhinged.

Andrea: 00:08:05

It worked out for him, right? It worked out.

Paul: 00:08:07

But he's unhinged. He's unhinged. Unbelievable. You know, like. And this time, he finds out that maybe. Maybe Joyce is right.

Because the body's full of cotton, and there's a cover up, and it's real. And Hawkins lab is at the center of this cover up.

Andrea: 00:08:24

Yeah. So at the end of this. This block of episodes, we. We lost quite a few people. That's. That's standard for this show.

Paul: 00:08:32

We lost a few people. But let's start off with the guy who we lose right away. Unnamed lab Tech. Right away. He's hitting the button. He's clicking on it.

Andrea: 00:08:45

I mean, technically. Technically, we don't see him die in this episode. I'm. He could still be out there. He could still be out there.

I don't think he is, but he could technically still be out there.

Paul: 00:08:57

And then I'm gonna say one of the shortest lived characters. But honestly, a kind soul. He's had a heart of gold. Benny Hammond. Friend of the show, Friend of Hopper. Yeah.

He was the proprietor of Benny's Burgers, and so rest in peace, Benny. And. And last but not least, she's missing right now. We don't know whether she's truly gone.

Andrea: 00:09:23

I said this was not a spoiler free podcast. Let's just call it Barb is Dead.

Paul: 00:09:31

She's dead.

Andrea: 00:09:33

Golly, Barb is gone. Okay, I know we don't technically confirm that Barb is gone. So.

Paul: 00:09:41

As is a kin folklore traditional. Take a minute. Pour one out for the unnamed lab tech, Betty Hammond and Barbara Holland. This goes out to all our fallen homies. Yo, Liquor.

Andrea: 00:10:04

Don't let the kid get like that, y'. All. We're not right. He may have had a name in the script.

Paul: 00:10:11

I just.

Andrea: 00:10:11

I'm not looking it up.

Paul: 00:10:13

Running from a Demogorgon never works out. It just never seems to work out. Oh, my God. So let's. Let's talk about some noteworthy things. Let's start with chapter one.

So what do you think about this DND game? You said you want to talk about the D and D game. Let's talk.

Andrea: 00:10:26

All right. All right. Here's where I put on my tinfoil hat. I may actually make a tinfoil hat for the podcast.

Paul: 00:10:31

At the end of this, we both may need one.

Andrea: 00:10:34

So. All right. We have this.

This DND campaign that they're doing for 10 hours, which I'm just like, I don't know, is that cool that they were there for 10? I guess kids today probably spend 10 hours scrolling through, you know, tick Tock or, like, playing video games. So it's probably fine.

It's probably fine. So they have this game, and Will has to. It's all up to Will's actions. He has to roll a 13 or higher.

And what I think is most interesting about this game, if you listen to the dialogue, we have them telling him what to do. Cast Protection or Fireball the Demogorgon. Right. I think it's Lucas who wants him to cast protection, and Dustin who wants him to use Fireball.

He chooses Fireball, but he rolls a seven. But Mike never Sees that and they decide that Mike runs upstairs to see his mom because she's being a mom.

Like, she's like, y' all been down there so long.

Paul: 00:11:45

Time to do something. What the hell is going on?

Andrea: 00:11:47

Like, what are we doing here? Why are we. Why are we doing this?

So he actually thinks that, you know, like they have a discussion about whether or not it counts because he wasn't there to see that it was a seven. But Will loses, right? And he. He comes clean to Mike and he says, the Demogorgon got me foreshadowing for sure. I mean, so that piece is foreshadowing.

But I just want to put a pin in the fireball or cast protection too. Because a lot of the lead up to season three in the fan community is. Does Will have latent powers? Is what's going on with Will.

Will has been connected to the magic in this story from the very first episode. So I'm wondering what was telegraphed in this D and D campaign that might happen. Can. Can will protect.

And it might be metaphorical, can will protect or can will destroy Vecna, who I guess is their big bad now. So just want to put that out there.

Paul: 00:12:56

It's a good. It's a good catch.

Andrea: 00:12:58

I mean.

Paul: 00:13:00

Yeah, it's a good catch. I'm. What I'm wondering too. I'm wondering too, because he starts. We start inching towards something happening with Will near.

I mean, something's always happening with Will, but like, powers wise, it's feeling like. Like there could be something happening in the. In the last season that we've seen so far. Maybe, maybe in this upcoming season we get Will's powers.

If we haven't seen hints of it already.

Andrea: 00:13:25

Will already has some powers, right? We know from season two and three that he can. And four, frankly, he can kind of detect. Yeah, when fair the Mind Flayer slash Vecna sl.

Like, I think all of that still seems to be. Need to be sorted out. But he. He does. You know the thing where he rubs the back of his neck. He can feel.

He can sense that the veil between the worlds is coming down. So that is a power. But is that it? Is there more to it? I have questions and we'll. We'll talk more about some of my questions from the first.

These first four episodes.

Paul: 00:14:07

Well, he does have one power that nobody's ever quite explained. And maybe it's because like in the Upside down, just like when you go away, like you get one phone call. You know what I mean? Like, how.

How does how does he call Joyce? Like, is there a payphone in the Upside Down? Do you get one phone call before you get sentenced to Demogorgon purgatory? Like, what is happening?

We never really established what's happening. How does Joyce get the phone call?

Andrea: 00:14:34

So do we want to.

Paul: 00:14:35

I want to. Yes.

Andrea: 00:14:36

So I keep. Should I keep my. My tinfoil hat?

Paul: 00:14:39

Well, very present. Let's go.

Andrea: 00:14:42

Okay. I got questions then. All right. So how is he making phone calls from the Upside Down?

Paul: 00:14:47

No clue. But.

Andrea: 00:14:49

But my first question comes before that. When Will runs into his house to get away, something unlocks the door from. From the inside. Like the little chain lock slides, Right.

As far as we know, Demogorgons can't move things with their minds. So who did that?

Paul: 00:15:10

L does else.

Andrea: 00:15:14

I think we have to beg the question. Was L present at the buyer's residence when Will went missing? I think we have to ask that question.

It is an uncomfortable question for me because I have questions about what that might mean for L. But was L there? Because the only person we're aware of who can move things with their mind. I mean, Vecna can. Right? So maybe Vecna was there. Maybe.

The story they will tell us is that Vecna was always there, always present, always facilitating this. But other than Vecna, Ella is the only candidate. And the reason, I think it's especially interesting, and I'd love.

I'd love to hear the story of what happened that night. And I think we will, because I've seen some. Some still shots from. From season five, and it's clear that they are flashing back.

And there's also that line from the teaser where Joyce says to Will, I think about that night. So I think we'll get some of these answers. But who unlocked the door? Who opened the portal?

Paul: 00:16:20

Yeah, I think it because. Because how does Will get into the Upside down unless El opened the portal, and maybe it was to fight the demog. Maybe it was to do something else.

Andrea: 00:16:30

Maybe she was tracking it.

Paul: 00:16:32

But, like, it doesn't make sense. The.

The opening of the door, Will getting to the Upside down, like, on his own, and then her identifying him, like in the picture, without us ever seeing her cross paths with him. So she obviously saw Will before they met her. You know what I mean? Like, so.

Andrea: 00:16:52

Right. Because I don't think I have a theory. And this. We can talk more about this when we.

We cover the back end of the season, but we never quite get an explanation for how Elle got out of the lab fully either. And I've always wondered, did l leave the lab through the Upside down and then end up at Will's house somehow?

So I think there's some unanswered questions. I mean, some of this is going to be flatly false. You know, we're just speculating.

But some of it, I think these are questions that I think we still have to answer. And I think it's crazy that we're almost 10 years into the show and we don't have answers.

Paul: 00:17:30

Mortgages, they've gotten married, they're doing rock albums. They, like, got everything going on. It's kind of crazy.

Andrea: 00:17:38

She just, yeah, she just had a baby. So I, I, it's crazy how long this show has been on. I still love it. But this is, you know, these are questions we've had for, like, you know what?

Paul: 00:17:49

We don't question that Elle has, in this show, met her one true love. She is, she is. She is. Echoes all about those, those Eggos.

Andrea: 00:17:58

If she had to choose between Mike and an Eggo, what do you think she would do?

Paul: 00:18:02

I think it's Eggos hands down.

Andrea: 00:18:06

I mean, if I have to choose between Mike.

Paul: 00:18:10

Yeah. And an Eggo, Eggos have been the source of comfort.

I'm just saying she, listen, she has, she's hurt some people on behalf of Mike, but she has, like gone on whole crime sprees over Eggos. She has taken stores down. She's gone to like, she's gone on missions with like her long lost sister and stole Eggos. She is about the Eggos.

She is definitely. She doesn't even steal money. She cares less about money than she cares about Eggos. Eggos have more value.

Andrea: 00:18:42

Yeah. 100 think if it's between Mike and Eggos. Eggos. When if someone came to Ellen was like, you can never have another Eggo again.

Paul: 00:18:53

If.

Andrea: 00:18:54

Or you can never see Mike again. I think that's an easy trade for her. That said, I know people are going to get into my DMs talking about Mike. I don't care. Okay. Right.

I don't like Mike. After season four, I don't care for Mike.

Paul: 00:19:11

Break that down, please.

Andrea: 00:19:13

I stand on business about Mike. I like the Wheeler family. Overall. I, I will ride for, for Mrs. Wheeler and for Nancy. Mike gets on my nerves.

Paul: 00:19:25

He gets on everybody.

Andrea: 00:19:27

We all get to dislike at least one kid, right?

Paul: 00:19:30

Mike is, Mike could be annoying. No question about it. He's definitely annoyed.

Andrea: 00:19:34

He's, I will say this in my rewatch. So I left the end of season four really being angry at Mike. I just felt like in season four, he was so harsh on everybody on L. A little bit on Will.

Like, he just. He just really annoyed me on my re. Watch. Mike is a ride or die.

So even though he gets on my nerves, I'm pretty sure he's gonna redeem himself because he's just a. The kid is just. He. He learned Will was missing. Right. So in the back to the.

If we circle this back to the first episode, he learns Will is missing, and he refuses to just sit there. Right?

Paul: 00:20:15

Yeah. 100 he refuse.

Andrea: 00:20:17

He has to take action. Then he finds this girl who can. He believes can help him find Will. And it's like love at first sight. Ride or die. Mike is.

Mike and Nancy both are like. They're. They're your day ones. Those. You want them in your corner, which is more than we can say for Lucas.

Paul: 00:20:40

Oh, damn. Look. They have all of the stick to itiveness, resilience, and major focus that their dad lacks. And their mom. Their mom longs for.

Andrea: 00:20:55

I knew Ted was going to catch astray. I knew that Ted Wheeler was going to catch astray.

Paul: 00:21:00

Yo. Ted Wheeler is lacking on many, many levels, as we will get into throughout the show. But let's see, maybe he redee herself later too.

So let's talk about Elle in Nancy's room. As she's in the room, she's. You can see that there's something that's not familiar about it. Right.

But there's a part of her that longs for normal girlhood. Like, she normally. She wants to be like, you know, she wants to feel what that feels like. And it's the beginning. It's like the entry level.

It's like the entry point to El's search for her identity.

Andrea: 00:21:36

Yeah. So the. Like this first. The first two episodes really do such a good job of establishing our characters and telling us sort of what their arc will be.

And I was really struck in the rewatch that that Finding identity piece that's El is still doing that in season four. She still. The lab took so much away from her. She never. She never got to know her. Her mother.

We don't know who else dad is to this day and maybe never will.

Paul: 00:22:14

Papa. I'm sorry. I couldn't help it.

Andrea: 00:22:17

I cannot stand that man.

Paul: 00:22:19

Oh, I hate him. I so hate him.

Andrea: 00:22:21

I cannot stand him. I see him and my back is up immediately.

Paul: 00:22:26

Oh, it's terrible.

Andrea: 00:22:27

I want to fight him. I'm. I'm very protective over Elle, even though I'm. I'm not always sure that Elle is Not a villain, but I'm very protective over my girl.

But I just want to back to Elle's identity. Like it's. It's one of this is a thing her that tie her and Will together. Right. They both have this in between worlds.

Not really sure where they fit in. Seeking self arc. Right. And I think that they're both still going through it.

Like in I. I found season four really frustrating because Will is going through it in a lot of ways that bothered me. But I think they're intentionally setting up an arc there. And when we get to that season, we'll talk more about it. But it.

I was just struck because I, you know, I'm watching the whole thing together. Right. I was just struck and by how consistent these themes and these character themes and characterizations of them stuck with them.

This is who Ellen Will are. They're both always grasping for something. And we will talk about the. The song Should I Stay or Should I Go a little bit later? But like that.

That seems to apply to both of them constantly. Like, do they belong in Hawkins? Do they belong with this group of friends?

Like, you know, and for different reasons, but for both of them, it's not by choice. They don't choose to be in. In an in between space. They don't choose to be outsiders. They both really want to be normal, to fit in, to find community.

And like, I think that's what's so interesting is like Will has an established community in this event, pulls him out of that community and puts her in a community for the first time. And then they both kind of struggle to figure out where they fit. Do they fit? So it's like a beautiful story in that way.

Paul: 00:24:30

I know we have some other things we want to cover first, but I really like talking about that. And since we're here, we should talk about the song. So the song is by the Clash. This version of it is by the Clash.

And I think, you know, music on my rewatch, you and I were talking about it, you know, offline is I think like, music really plays a key role in this series in general. I think we noticed it with running up that. Running up the hill. But going back and watching you start realizing that this is.

This is like an important part of. Of the whole entire thread of what's going on. Yeah. I think a hint that music kind of tethers us to memory in the connection is. And also love.

There's some love there. It helps the characters stay anchored in their world. Like every time it's like something's happening.

We see that or something that's important in the narrative, even up to moments in season four, you see where music comes into play. What do you think they're trying to show us with this? Or how do you think that this is gonna play out long term?

Andrea: 00:25:40

First of all, I love it. I love that, like.

I mean, Lucas, I think, is the one who comes up with this idea when it comes to Max later, but he kind of spells it out for us, which is that, like, music reaches parts of our brain that, like, are different from our vision, from, you know, other arts, like visual arts. And so I think that. I think that it's really beautiful that we get to see the origin of where this stor.

This song bonds Will to Jonathan, a character who we haven't really talked much about so far, but is one of the most important characters in the series. Right.

Paul: 00:26:29

Truly.

Andrea: 00:26:30

But like, that brotherly bond they have. The. The music was used to cover up a trauma that Jonathan knew that Will was experiencing.

He played it for him when their parents were fighting, which doesn't actually seem that long. Right. I was struck by. I had the sense that Joyce and Lonnie had been separated for ages, but actually, when.

When you see that flashback, Jonathan and Will don't look that much younger than they are when the show starts.

Paul: 00:27:04

Right.

Andrea: 00:27:04

So they haven't been separated that long. And so I think. And this song came out in a year before. Right. So it's not. Obviously it's. It's pretty close.

I just think that that connective using music is sort of the. It's the thing that binds you and keeps you tethered to your world. And I think in this story, your world is not just the dimension you're in. Right.

This is a story where there are multiple dimensions. I think there four dimensions total. But we, at least in season one, know about two. Right.

I. I think that it's not just about being tethered to your dimension. It's about being in. In that community that we were talking about earlier. Like, Will doesn't just have Mike and Lucas and Dustin.

He also has his mother, who is. Is like one of the bravest characters in the series and never gives up on him and his brother, who would do anything for him.

I worry about Jonathan more than any other character because I do think that if it comes down to it, Jonathan would literally give up his life for his brother. And so that music kind of ties it all together, and it's what keeps Will alive in the Upside Down. Will is in the Upside Down. For a week.

Paul: 00:28:22

Yeah. I mean, his mom. It's proof to his mom that he's still alive when she hears it through the walls. When. Like, when. Like when that's happening, when.

When Joyce hears that song bleeding through the walls, she knows, okay, my son's still here. Something. It's like a symbol of hope, the song. And then it's also.

It's also like Will's physically singing in the Upside down, right, as Eleven's looking for him, which lets you know, it's like a lifeline, and it's a symbol of, like, his own resilience, and it's his tie to it.

It's kind of one of those things, though, that when I keep seeing music like this and I keep seeing how, you know, music is a part of, like, even in this first season, it made me start questioning, okay, how much of what's happening Upside down and what we've established earlier, that maybe Elle was in the house and maybe she opened the portal while Will was there. How much of that is tied to, like, the Upside down and this connection to music, the Upside down itself tied to Will's consciousness.

Like, how much is it, like, tied to who he is? Because some of these songs keep coming up based on songs that he has a memory to.

And I think that's an interesting thing that we'll dissect, I think, over time of covering this show. But it just struck me in. In this first season very strongly that this could be. That there could be some tie there.

Andrea: 00:29:48

Yeah. I mean, going back to our earlier question, how did Will end up in the Upside down to begin with? We have to ask that question because it happens.

It happens, like, almost instantly. That's how it's played on camera. Right. There's a surge. Will is in the shed. He's scared. There's a surge of.

Of energy because the light bulb gets very, very bright. And when the light bulb gets back to its normal voltage or whatever, then Will is gone. So I think we.

I think we have to explore those ideas, that the Upside down is. Is somehow tied to Will's consciousness. But I'll say this. The.

The music goes beyond the Upside down because I actually don't think that Max is in the Upside down when she's running away from Vecna. I think. I think we're supposed to understand that she's in some version of Vecna's mind and the music is able to reach her then there.

So I like what they've done with. With this theme, and I like that it Came back. Right. Like, I. When I went back and watched season one, I was shocked.

I had forgotten about this, this song. Totally forgotten about it.

And I think for a lot of us, in part because the show has taken so long, the story's taken so long to tell, but also in part because we weren't experiencing the show as this, like, kind of layered thing. And because when they wrote season one, it wasn't supposed to be a multi season show. It was supposed to be an anthology season.

So it would have been like, we're introduced, you know, like American Horror Story. We're introduced to some elements of magic that would have appeared probably elsewhere outside of Hawkins.

But I like that they, they tied it all back together because it's beautiful. I think, I absolutely think that, like, music is a thing that triggers our memories and keeps us connected.

And I, I think we all have these experiences where a song that we haven't heard in years comes on. We remember every single word, but we also remember the moments that our brain has tied to that song. So it could be your first dance.

It could be, you know, an experience that you had with your parents. It could be a lot of different things, but it brings that connection. So I really liked it.

Paul: 00:32:09

Yeah, I often say that about music. Like, you know, no secret, we made, like parody songs. Everything else that I make music, and.

Andrea: 00:32:16

If you're new to the pod, you should go back in the feed and listen to the parody songs.

Paul: 00:32:22

It's one of my favorite things to do on the pod.

Andrea: 00:32:24

Right. Especially even if you haven't seen House of the Dragon, there's a very good parody song in one of those episodes. Just, just spoil the episode.

Spoil the show for yourself.

Paul: 00:32:36

Just do it. Just go, just go, go, go check it out.

But I, I bring it up, the making of music is because I often say this when I'm talking to other artists, is that that music is about experience and music is about, like, people ever say, oh, I want people to stream it, or I'm gonna share it on social media. The better way for people. I mean, social media has become a real mechanism for this, obviously.

But it's like more interesting to me when, like the songs playing in a coffee shop or the songs playing at a mall or the songs playing at a barbecue, or the songs playing. And it just keeps showing up in different places. You start thinking to yourself, oh, I've heard this song a bunch of times.

I'm gonna go check out who that artist is. And that's why apps like Shazam and all these things exist.

And I think the reason I bring up in that context is that as we're digging into the nostalgia of Stranger Things, you cannot ignore how pop music, rock music, all these different genres are embedded in even, like, the punk rock season.

Like, we'll get to, like, vibe in season two, how all of that is kind of like a callback to a time that of discovery for each of us that have grown up in those eras. Like, we're thinking about how we discovered those things for the first time.

Maybe it's new for people who are disability, but I think that happens every generation. That music helps you discover more about yourself, more about your world, more about your friends. And you hold on.

Like you said, you hold on to those memories forever. So I think, like, yeah, more to come on that. But I think this is going to be a running theme throughout the show.

Andrea: 00:34:15

Yeah.

Paul: 00:34:15

What do you think of Holly walking towards the light? What. What is. What is that? Let's. Let's cover that a little bit. It feels important.

Andrea: 00:34:22

You're just gonna. We don't know why the tinfoil hat the whole episode? Because this is another one of Andrea's crackpot theories.

Paul: 00:34:30

I like it. I like it, though. Let's go. Let's. Listen. You say you're gonna tie, like, get one and just fit.

Andrea: 00:34:35

Yeah, I think I have to make one now before we record the next episode. Okay. So I'm gonna be completely transparent. There's been a lot of chatter on the Stranger Things interwebs about Holly Wheeler.

I'm not gonna say why, because the creators of the show have gone out of their way to redact some of the stuff that. Some of it was fan theory. Some of it was maybe leaked. And we. We're not gonna share leaked stuff here.

If it's in the trailer, if it's in this promotional stills, it's all fair game. But if it's not, we're not going to share that kind of stuff here. We don't want those kind of spoilers.

But I've been thinking more about Holly's character in part because we do know from some of the stills that we've seen that Holly plays a role in this season, and she's been very minor in the rest of the show. And so I've been paying close attention to her because I'm like, what possibly could they have Holly doing in season five? Right.

Like, she's only had a few moments. Well, I was struck in episode three, or chapter three, rather, that Holly notices something about the lights right away.

The lights are calling To Holly when her mother and Joyce are in the other room. And I have questions about this.

There's another Holly moment that I have questions about that is in a later season, and we'll talk about when we get there. But it feels important that she was walking towards the lights, that maybe Will was trying to communicate with her. That could be a Will thing.

Like, Will. Will figured. You know, I know Holly. I've known her since she was born.

Probably him and Mike have always been friends, but it could mean something else.

Like, maybe Holly is special, maybe because she's younger, and younger children do tend to have more open minds, and so maybe she's able to interact with magic a little bit because she still. She doesn't have the skepticism that an adult would.

Paul: 00:36:43

Look, this is a time where we just pause and say, people, we are Jamaican. And in the Jamaican culture, you truly believe when a baby cross over into this part of life, that they can still see duppy. All right?

And Duppy are ghosts, all right? They can still see the Duppy, the dumping them floating around their head. This is what's happening. Wow.

Andrea: 00:37:02

Okay.

Paul: 00:37:02

That's what Andrew is saying.

Andrea: 00:37:03

I almost. Please don't do that while I'm drinking my tea. That spit out tea on the podcast. That would have been very inappropriate.

But, yeah, like, in a lot of cultures, children are considered to be more sensitive to the supernatural. I mean, the 80s tells us that with so many movies. So many movies in the 80s are about kids who saw strange things or children haunting places.

Paul: 00:37:32

Is like. Like the girl from Poltergeist. You know what I mean?

Andrea: 00:37:35

Honestly, she kind of also reads like the little girl from Poltergeist, which was a movie I watched a lot when I was probably too young to watch it, which is a theme that's come. No, that wasn't you. That was my mother.

Paul: 00:37:46

No. Was it?

Andrea: 00:37:49

So just for.

Paul: 00:37:50

For everyone, I was Nightmare on Elm.

Andrea: 00:37:51

Street for everyone's knowledge. Paul made me watch Nightmare of Elm street when I was like, I don't know, four.

Paul: 00:37:59

I'm sorry. I've heard about this many times. I. I apologize. But since we're Talking about the 80s, we should talk about it all. Yes. Night.

Red Elster was one of them. It was big.

Andrea: 00:38:08

This is about their trauma, not mine. But. But, yeah, I. Holly does kind of read like the little girl from the Poltergeist. And I wonder.

I do wonder if they were trying to make a point about children being sensitive to the magical elements of the show, even though the writers of the show don't. They don't consider this to be a fantasy. They consider this to be sci fi. But I'm gonna go ahead and say that this is magic stuff. Erica's right there.

And Erica doesn't really. She's more on the logical, skeptical end of things.

So I think if they were trying to make that point, they could have made it with Erica, who, as we know, takes on a bigger role in season three, but also is quite present in season two as well. So, I don't know, just something to keep in mind. We should keep an eye on Holly.

I. I think some of this stuff is like, they were inspired by their own work. Like, maybe Holly's gonna play a bigger role because they're going back to the beginning in order to tell the end of the story. And they.

That scene where Holly sees the light stuck out to them too.

Paul: 00:39:13

Yeah. Yeah. I think there's some things that I. In the season that, like, we're drawing the thing around Holly and Poltergeist.

I think they wanted us to believe. To look at certain things. I thought that when they're being chased through the street and everything around elle felt very E.T.

it felt like you should remember and think about E.T. and also the connection between Elle and Eggos or we're making jokes about. It felt very much like ET And Reese's Pieces.

Like, let's take a very big, like, food, like, iconic thing that people advertise and let's like, tie it to the main character.

So I think, like, there's like, some real key things that were devices in early Spielberg work and early, like these things that I'm sure that they grew up loving. You know what I mean? Like, like we all love. And so, like, it's. It's pretty cool to see them do those kind of things.

Andrea: 00:40:07

Totally. Yeah. There's so many Easter eggs and, you know, they're pulling from the whole body of horror and sci fi and fantasy from the 80s.

I mean, clearly they. They watch the fantasy movies that were popular then because we will get a never ending story. We'll enter the chat in a couple seasons.

Paul: 00:40:29

100%.

Andrea: 00:40:30

Yeah. I think they're definitely trying to make those connections with what's on screen, for sure.

Paul: 00:40:35

So let's. Let's talk about what we learned. Let's talk about what we learned this in these four episodes. So, I mean, the upside down.

Does it equal the veil of shadows?

Andrea: 00:40:46

Yeah. So, like. Well, we should say what this section is.

So this what we learned section is where we're gonna pull some of the, like, rules that they tell us because often Dustin or Mr. Clark or, I don't know, somebody else, Hopper, Joyce, whoever, will stumble upon a rule. And so we're gonna kind of collect those here just to keep in mind because we might need them for season five.

Paul: 00:41:16

Shout to Mr. Clark. Always makes time.

Andrea: 00:41:18

Joyce shows up in his crib too.

Paul: 00:41:21

Like, hey, it's wild. Yeah, he makes time. He's here. As my boy Tony Baker would say, he's in the community, all right. He's in the community, all right.

So is the Upside down the Veil of Shadows? Is it the same?

Andrea: 00:41:38

I think. I don't know that it is the same exactly. But the Veil of Shadows in D and D lore is a parallel dimension which is full of decay and darkness.

It kind of is a stand in for the Upside Down. It helps them understand sort of what's going on.

And I like that the show uses dungeon dragons so that the kids have vocabulary to talk about the magic. They don't have to make up words. Right. You know, eventually they figure out the Upside down because Elle turns over the. The board and.

But it's similar to the Veil of Shadows, which is a DND term for this place that is, you know, essentially a dimension that runs parallel to the main dimension, but is a place of just like, you know, decay. Everything's falling apart. Darkness and monsters lurk there. So, yeah, I just, like, really like that the show introduces that.

Not because I think they thought that, like, the show, the show was going to be a hit with just D and D fans, but because it's. It helps give the kids, who are quite young. Right. I think they're 10 in the first season, a framework for all the crazy shit they're about to see.

Paul: 00:43:04

Yeah, no, no question.

And I think, like, yeah, we talked about Holly still being open, but they're not quite closed yet because of this connection to their belief in, like, these magical things in this magical world. It's like their idea of, like, we're too old for that hasn't kicked in quite yet.

Andrea: 00:43:23

No. You know, I think.

And I think we're supposed to understand that, like, Nanc and Jonathan have reached that stage of like, there's a lot of skepticism for them. Hopper is like, you know, middle aged skeptic, not buying any of it.

But the kids are a little bit easier to pull along because they're already kind of half in that fantasy world. They have these big imaginations. They're already. They're already thinking about this.

Paul: 00:43:54

No, 100%. We also learned that the Demogorgons are drawn to blood and that they can cross between worlds. I still don't. Well, I guess we'll find out later in.

In another season how they cross between worlds. You know, we would think, but the Demogorgons like being drawn to blood.

Early on, we learned that when blood is spilled, it's like a beacon for a Demogorgon. Like, they just come to that blood and it's pulling it. Like, it pulls it across dimensions. And it doesn't just lurk in the Upside down.

Which is fascinating because you would think that, like you said, there's like, beast inside the veil of shadows. It can push into Hawkins when the conditions are right. And that hunger makes it a threat. So it feels immediate when also.

And it feels like it looks like it looks for injury and. Or blood and. Or vulnerability and that then summons the monster. It feels like. So I think that that's one.

And the last thing I think that we learned is that, man, it's a tough one. Is that. Because I think we're going to see a lot of grief throughout the show. But where we find Hopper in the beginning is crippled by grief.

He's crippled by the grief of losing his daughter Sarah. And we see Hopper's transformation slowly from, like, checked out cop.

Like, you know, he has, you know, one of my favorite lines about coffee ever, like, in the first season to a believer who we root for, we root for him through the tragedy of the loss of his daughter. There's that scene where they're out in the woods and they're looking for Will.

And, you know, he just makes up a lie to somebody so he doesn't even have to talk about it, about what, you know, what happened to his daughter. And his grief initially is like, he's trying to numb out. It makes him numb. He's numbing out. And he's even numbing to Joyce's panic.

He doesn't really want to, like, accept what Joyce is talking about because he doesn't want to see. I think he just doesn't want to see Joyce go through what he's going through. I think that's what drives him.

I think that's what wakes him up, is like, oh, my God, I'm seeing someone that I know experience that same level of loss, even if it's under different circumstances. But once the conspiracy starts to unravel, man.

Andrea: 00:46:24

And I also think the reason, I think that this is a thing we need to remember about Hopper first and foremost is that in a way, this horrible thing that happens to the Byers family Will going missing almost forges a new family because Hopper is more of a father to Will and Lonnie than. I mean, Will and Jonathan, than Lonnie ever could be. And you see it very early on when he talks to Jonathan and he's like, I got this.

Like, you can be a kid. I have got this. I will find your brother. I promise you. And that loss of Sarah, I think, follows Hopper through the entire series.

El eventually becomes his daughter, and then El becomes Will and Jonathan's sister. And it's like they have this initial loss that drove him so much, ended up being part of the reason that a whole new family formed.

Now him and Joyce haven't made it official.

And I swear, I swear to God, if I do not get an official Joyce and Hopper, we love each other moment in this season, I'm going to find the Duffers and I'm going to have mean words for them. Okay, look, these two need to get together. They're already essentially a family unit. He treats her kids like they're his kids. He.

The way that he will fight for Will, and I'm assuming Jonathan as well, and the way that she just automatically takes an L and adopts her when Hopper is. This is his family. And that loss of Sarah, as tragic as it was, it couldn't be stopped. But it kind of drives him to create a found family.

And I think that's truly beautiful.

Paul: 00:48:16

And to. And to be fair, I think, like, it also does it for Joyce, drives her to find, like, this whole situation. You saw it when she first.

How compassionate she was towards Elle and how grateful she was for her risking herself to go find Will in season one, in this season. And we'll talk more about it later on. But I really love. I agree with you. I love this family group.

So let's close out with talking about what themes we liked. What themes did we like and did we see in. In this episode? In this run of episodes, yeah.

Andrea: 00:48:51

So chapters one through four, if I have to pull out some themes, there were two that kind of stood out to me. One was the relationships between mothers and children. Winona Ryder was obviously the top, and I think still is the top billed actress on the show.

I think her name appears. I think it's like her and then David Harbour and so on and so forth.

Joyce was such a pivotal character to pull us into the story right away with her urgency, her determination, the fact that she believed herself in that very first scene when her and Jonathan are realizing that something has gone terribly wrong. She says to Jonathan, I know he's still here. I can feel it. And the way that everyone else is like, this woman is nuts.

And including Jonathan, who is like, okay, mom, all right.

Paul: 00:49:46

Yeah, he's.

Andrea: 00:49:47

You.

Paul: 00:49:48

He's like, you got to stop this, Mom. Like, this is not healthy.

Andrea: 00:49:52

Like, everyone thinks this woman is nuts, but it. It sets the tone for the whole show because she believes right away, she. She's a she.

There's some issues with Joyce in the first season, especially in her parenting for Jonathan, who routinely disappears for long stretches of time, and she has no idea where. But I'm one. I think that's just, like, the nature of the 80s.

But in contrast to Mrs. Wheeler, who seems to keep a tight leash on Nancy, you know, it's not the best, but in. In a. Yeah, yeah.

Paul: 00:50:26

So when you guys. You guys are out here asking, like, what happened to, like, older millennials and Gen X, that's what happened. We were feral. We looked like.

We did what we wanted to. We drank from fire hoses. They did it. They had commercials at 10pm to see if they knew to remind our parents that we. A lot.

We were alive and existed, literally. Look it up. There's a commercial that asked them, it's 10pm do you know where your children are? It's a real thing.

Andrea: 00:50:49

That's so crazy that they had to remind people to check on their kids.

Paul: 00:50:52

I know it's nuts, but.

Andrea: 00:50:54

But, you know, I think that Joyce, Karen Wheeler, there's trying really hard to be good parents. Good mothers especially. I don't think the dads have such a great showing in this first. First few episodes. Lonnie is garbage. Ted is completely aloof.

Hopper is spiraling like. But Joyce and. And Karen really try to connect to their children and hold on to them tightly. And I. I think that's worth noting. It. It really.

Paul: 00:51:28

Fathers at all fantasy shows, huh? Like, really bad. Really bad.

Andrea: 00:51:31

I mean, also, we didn't even mention Brenner, who. You know, papa's not the best dad either.

Paul: 00:51:40

We got Asriel. I mean, who's who? All right, you gotta choose Adriel or Brenner. Who you going with? Boy, that's rough.

Andrea: 00:51:50

I think I'm wrong with Azrael because.

Paul: 00:51:53

That'S saying a lot about.

Andrea: 00:51:55

Asriel would never. I don't think he would have ever made light. We're talking about his dark materials, by the way, in case you have no idea.

He would have never made Lyra, I think, do the types of things that Brenner made El do.

Paul: 00:52:10

Yeah, I'm with you.

Andrea: 00:52:11

I don't think he would anyway. Maybe. But I don't think so. Maybe actually, they were both men of science.

Paul: 00:52:17

I don't know if he had to bring down the Magisterium or he had to, like, go against, you know, Mega Metatron. He might. He just might.

Andrea: 00:52:30

Yeah. I'm not. I. I don't know. I hope not.

Paul: 00:52:33

Now, Mrs. Coulter, that's different story. All right, listen, Mrs. Culture of a story. Talk about mothers and children. Mrs. Coulter, ride or die.

Andrea: 00:52:42

Yeah. Karen and Joyce are. Are 10 times better than Mrs. Coulter is. Moms just put that there.

Paul: 00:52:47

Yes. 100. Way better. Like, are you kidding me? 10 times better. Yeah.

Andrea: 00:52:52

So, yeah. I just want to note that there's such a strong. A show like this could have, like, de. Centered the adults immediately. Like, immediately.

And they didn't. They. I mean, Joyce is still a main character.

Karen Wheeler is not a main character, but she's a character that we know that has her own storyline that we've gotten to know better over the years. Like, and then, you know, later we will meet Terry, who is Elle's mom, and that's a different story of a different type of tragic motherhood.

So I just thought that that came out really strong in these first few episodes as mothers trying to protect their children, trying to connect with them.

Paul: 00:53:37

Yeah. And I think that, you know, you mentioned two themes. I think the other one would be isolation and communication.

You know, Will's super isolated in the Upside Down. He's. He's trying hard to send signals through lights, through music. Elle is super isolated by her trauma. I think she's isolated by the trauma.

I think she's isolated by her limited speech. I think as she's. As she's slowly learning new words, new phrases, new ideas from the. You know, from the party.

Andrea: 00:54:09

Friends don't lie.

Paul: 00:54:12

Friends don't lie. Friends.

Andrea: 00:54:17

I love season one El so much.

Paul: 00:54:19

Yeah, it's good. It's really good. And I think even Nancy, to me, she feels isolated. She doesn't quite know how to fit in the way she wants to.

She's trying to make this move into, like, you know, this relationship, maybe, but maybe it doesn't fit. Maybe that's not the right vibe for her.

And when no one else takes Barb's disappearance seriously, I think she really feels isolated because she cares about her friend, and she knows that it's important.

So these early chapters, I think, are setting up some recurring themes that we're going to revisit, and I think one of them is about communication and the need to reach across barriers. I think that's a big one.

Andrea: 00:55:05

Yeah. I mean, Will spends all of these episodes trying to reach across dimensions.

Paul: 00:55:13

Yeah.

Andrea: 00:55:14

Just to. Just to speak to his mom, you know, just to have his mom come and talk to him, to be able to hear her voice.

So that isolation that he must have felt and the needing to reach across, reaching over those, through those barriers, to connect. Super important in these first four chapters. I think it's one of the main themes of this first season.

Paul: 00:55:42

Yeah, totally agree. So that will do it for us on this first episode covering Stranger Things. You know the drill. Check us out.

Kinfolklore.com Kinfolk Folklore pod on Instagram. Kinfolklore pod on TikTok. Yeah, Twitter.

Andrea: 00:56:06

Yeah, we're not calling it that other name. It's still Twitter to us.

Paul: 00:56:10

It's still Twitter. We're still. We're still calling it Twitter. And yeah, hit us up at our. At our email kidfolklore gmail dot com.

We are so happy to be back hanging out with y' all inside the Upside Down. Yeah, it's been a minute and so we're. We're happy to be doing. Happy to be doing this with you, cuz.

Andrea: 00:56:28

I'm delighted. I'm so happy to be back.

Paul: 00:56:31

So we'll see you next time.

Andrea: 00:56:32

Bye, everyone.