The Stranger Things Podcast

Have you seen Heather? She's a lifeguard at the Hawkins pool. She didn't show up for her shift today. Come to think of it Billy isn't there either. Perhaps they are "sick" together? Their fate is concerning but it's far from the strangest thing to happen in this town.

Nancy continues to investigate the rat problem even though her coworkers continue to tease her about it. I mean it is weird. Why would fertilizer, cleaning fluid and diesel fuel go missing from several locations around town? Perhaps it is time to check back in with Mrs. Driscoll.

Meanwhile at Starcourt Mall Dustin and Steve are looking for Evil Russians. If only Steve could stay focused? Thank goodness they have Robin. She has cracked the code. The silver cat feeds is Lynx shipping company. A trip to China sounds nice is the Imperial Panda Chinese Restaurant. If you tread lightly leads to Kaufman shoes. When blue and yellow meet in the west. Perhaps this refers to the colors of the hands on the Starcourt clock. What is happening at 8:45? Who is meeting and for what?

Max and Eleven are having a sleepover. In a unique twist on spin the bottle they use the game to decide who to spy on. The bottle lands on Billy and El dives into the void to see what he is up to. She is immediately shaken when she hears screaming. Max is initially not phased by this revelation but agrees to go to her house to investigate further. The girls find a bloody whistle and a lifeguard pack in the bathroom. The search for Heather switches to high gear.

Mike and Lucas want to solve another type of mystery. The mystery of the female species. Will would love to distract his friends from their girl problems with a break from reality. He has created a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign. Will is soon moved to sadness and anger. It becomes clear that Lucas and Mike lack focus for the game. Dustin is nowhere to be found. Will storms off biking into the pouring rain.

Max and El arrive at the Hawkins pool but they do not have swimming on their mind. The staff at the pool is no help. The girls must take matters into their own hands. They grab a picture of the missing lifeguard. El returns to the void to search for more clues. She sees a mailbox and a red door. The girls set off armed with the new information and find Heather's house. They are understandably shocked to find the family sitting down to dinner. Billy is there acting like a gentleman. Heather steps out of the kitchen bearing cookies as if nothing is wrong. After an intense glare between Billy and Eleven the girls escape back into the storm. Left to return to dinner Heather and Billy quickly subdue Heather's parents.

Is this the work of the Mind Flayer? Does it hide in plain sight as harmless humans going about their normal routines. Monsters? No there are no monsters here. Is it a puppet master controlling the citizens of Hawkins? If any of these seemingly normal people start eating fertilizer like poor Mrs. Driscoll perhaps the men at the paper will take Nancy more seriously.

Joyce is correct. There is still something going on in the lab. Someone made it painfully obvious to Hopper. They don't want the Chief of Police looking into things. Is the lab connected to the Russians?

Lucas and Mike go out in the storm and find Will in front of a destroyed castle Beyers. These boys may be distracted by girls but at the end of the day they will also be there for each other. This is very good news because he is back. I have no doubt who he is and worst of all he knows the girl that closed the gate lives. Can't wait to see what happens next week. Keep your eyes open for all things strange. The Mind Flayer now has Eleven in his sight!

Billy is running for his life. He makes it to a payphone and dials 911. Before he can answer the operator his world is turned upside down. Literally Billy is taken to a dark mirror dimension. He is screaming for answers when he is faced with his doppelgänger. This made me wonder. Does the monster not only have the power to possess a body but also take the form of someone that you trust? If it wants Billy to bend to its will it must earn his trust.

Nancy has found the perfect excuse to leave the office. She takes Jonathan to chase down a lead about the rats. Is this just a crazy old lady or the first sign that a new plague is upon Hawkins? Mrs. Driscoll did manage to capture one of the little monsters and it is acting very strange. The rat is desperately throwing itself into the bars of its cage as if being called on by a higher power. Last week I said the rats were not strong enough to host the Mind Flayer. Now this episode reveals the remnants of an exploded rat slinking to it's master. I wonder if there is a rat monster in the Dungeons and Dragons manual? Perhaps the rats are too weak to be hosts but they can still be minions for the Mind Flayer.

Billy is certainly showing the effects of his bite. The monster likes it cold so being a lifeguard is not ideal. Just like Will before him who also hosted the Mind Flayer it does appear that Billy can sometimes be in control. Luckily for Mrs. Wheeler Billy resisted the monster's desire to hurt her.

Also hurt in this episode are Eleven's feelings and it is all Hopper's fault. He scares Mike into not seeing El. This forces Mike to lie to her. El seeks advice from Max. Max assures her that even though friends don't lie, boyfriends do. They decide on a boy free trip to the Starcourt Mall. The boys minus Dustin are on a mall mission of their own. Lucas says Mike should buy Eleven an apology gift. Lucas knows all about girl troubles. After all Max has dumped him five times.

Dustin is hanging at the mall as well at Scoops Ahoy. He has enlisted the help of Steve to translate the Russian code. His other friends are not taking this revelation seriously enough so he is a little shorthanded on help. Luckily Robin speaks several languages and has genius ears. Questions are still stacking up. What do the strange sentences mean? Did the message come from Russia? Is the background music enough evidence to prove the message is from a more local source?

Hopper may be rethinking his decision to mess with his daughter's relationship. Karma seems to be getting back at him. He gets Joyce to agree to meet him for dinner. Looking handsome in his new clothes and ready to impress Jim waits for Joyce. Unfortunately a magnetic mystery has Joyce distracted. She is off on a journey of her own as she seeks the advice of Mr. Clarke. She totally forgets about her dinner with Hopper.

So many questions left to answer. Billy brought the female lifeguard to the monster. Will she be another host? Will the town soon be dealing with an army of evil doppelgängers? The Upside Down always appears so dark and dead. Is the Monster intent on stripping our world of life and color? Is it trying to build a replica of its own world? Until next week. Keep your eyes open for all things strange.

It is June 28th 1984. What is going on here? I thought the government shut the lab down! Wait! Our government is not in charge here. The fears of Dr. Owens and Murray Bauman are being realized. Russians know about the Upside Down. What are they doing? They clearly don't understand what will happen if they succeed in tearing open a hole between dimensions. Has the Upside Down spread far enough to become a global problem?

Back in Hawkins we open in the summer of 1985. Things are changing and at the moment it is less about monsters and more about hormones. Mike is still crazy about El. Max and Lucas are still together. Dustin has fallen head over heels for Suzie at science camp. Will seems a little behind his friends. He's not yet interested in a relationship. His desire seems to be just hanging with his friends playing dungeons and dragons in the basement.

Can Will Byers ever be the same? He went to the Upside Down and lived to tell about it. I think a remnant of the Mind Flayer may still be inside him. The Gang sneaks into the movie theater at the Star Court Mall. Suddenly the power goes out and Will has a flashback. It is clear that Will feels something when the monster across town stirs.

Hopper feels hopeless and seeks Joyce's advice. El and Mike are always together and are having a hard time sticking to the 3 feet apart rule. Poor Hopper thrown right into the teenager stage of parenting. I love the friendship that has developed between Joyce and Hopper. I think the Chief is ready for the next step, unfortunately Joyce is not quite ready to let go of Bob.

Nancy and Johnathan have taken the next step. They are both dating and working together at the Hawkins Post. The newspaper is looking for the next big story. Nancy suggests an article about how the new mall is hurting small local businesses. The men ignore her idea and mock her for getting their lunch wrong. While working late Nancy receives a call. Something strange is going on. Why are all the rats moving in a single direction? Where is the new Lifeguard? The housewives of Hawkins will certainly miss Billy if he doesn't make it to the pool tomorrow. The rats are too weak to host the Mind Flayer and they explode under the pressure. It needs something stronger. I think Billy might be late for work tomorrow and Nancy might get the story that turns this town Upside Down.

I am not sure if Suzie will ever answer Dustin but I know Darrell and Addi would love to hear from you. Spend your summer vacation with us as we take this strange journey week by week chapter by chapter. Suzie didn't copy but Russia is sending a code. Do you know what it means? Until next week. Keep your eyes open for all things strange.

It's almost time for Stranger Things 3! On this episode of The Stranger Things Podcast Addi, Darrell, Blake, Chris, Adam, and Bradley discuss season 2 of Stranger Things. They discuss the season episode by episode. With Stranger Things 3 coming soon, they share their predictions and hopes for season 3, along with unanswered questions from season 2. They share their favorite moments and favorite episode of the season.

Are you ready for Stranger Things season 3? In this episode of The Stranger Things Podcast, Darrell, Addi, Bradley, Chris, Adam, and Beth recap season one of Stranger Things. Darrell gives a short summary of the episode then they talk about notable moments of each episode then answer a few questions, such as "what's your favorite episode?" And "what unanswered questions do you have?"

Yottalogical (aka Adam), and Bradley join Addi and Darrell to discuss the music in Stranger Things. They talk about the music created by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein and also the pop music featured in both seasons of the show. They discuss different facts and topics related to the music of this Netflix series. They go into a discussion about season one and season two individually.

We almost needed a bigger podcast to talk about all the connections between Jaws and Stranger Things! Addi, Darrell, and guest host Bradley, discuss the 1970 film Jaws. They share their thoughts about the film and how it ties into Stranger Things. Bradley shares amazing ties into Stranger Things and Jaws. Darrell pays a short tribute to David Ward.

They talk about news items relating to the Duffer Brothers' lawsuit and Stranger Things coming to baseball fields around the US. They talk about fun facts about the movie, their memories about the first time they watched the movie, and their favorite scenes.

Poltergeist left an indelible mark on the 80's and certainly still bears relevancy today. On this episode of The Stranger Things Podcast, Addi, Darrell, and Bradley talk about another movie that influenced Stranger Things: Poltergeist. For the news segment, they discuss the Stranger Things 3 trailer and all the details that come with it. They discuss their favorite parts of the trailer and of the film, and their memories of the first time seeing the movie. Some of their favorite parts were the guy pulling his face off and any scene with Zelda Rubinstein in it. Next, they jump into some fun facts about Poltergeist followed by some listener feedback.

Featured prominently in Stranger Things, this month Cory joins Addi and Darrell to discuss John Carpenters classic thriller, The Thing. They kick things off with news and rumors and general information about the movie. Then the three of them discuss their memories from the first time seeing the film and their favorite scenes of the movie. They wrap things up with fun facts about The Thing and listener feedback. Lastly, they announce next episode's movie will be Poltergeist and don't forget to stay strange!

In our news section we reveal an upcoming book called Stranger Things: Darkness on the Edge of Town by Adam Christopher. We talk about a new Stranger Things prequel comic that will introduce us to test subject Six. And for all you board game fans, we're soon to be greeted with a special Stranger Things edition of Trivial Pursuit!

What do Firestarter and Stranger Things have in common? A powerful little girl, bad guys trying to do experiments, and both happened to be reviewed on The Stranger Things Podcast. Darrell, Addi, and Beth talk about Firestarter, how it ties into Stranger Things, their favorite moments in the movie, memories from the first time watching the firm, and more. One common favorite moment was the destruction scene at the end of the movie.