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Extreme spoiler warning for <\/i>\u201cStranger Things\u201d Season 5 Volume<\/em> 2<\/em><\/p>\n The first season of \u201cStranger Things\u201d is some of the best television I\u2019ve ever watched. Told through the lens of an America tense with Cold War animosity, the story navigates the grief of a mother, a child abused by systems of power and the fear of the unknown. Using the medium of horror to underscore its messages<\/a> of friendship, love and overcoming trauma, the premiere season of \u201cStranger Things\u201d solidified itself as a masterclass in how to leverage genre for emotional themes.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Upside Down is a terrifying place, symbolizing both government failure and the terror of the uncanny or not-quite familiar. Eleven\u2019s (Millie Bobby Brown, \u201cEnola Holmes\u201d) existence as an experiment meant to spy on the Soviet Union, visualized with a numbered tattoo on her tiny 11-year-old wrist, is a painful reminder of the consequences of a government run on paranoia, willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead of the enemy. Despite its sci-fi themes, Season 1 manages to feel grounded, meticulous and, above all, deeply engaging.\u00a0<\/p>\n By the end of Season 5, it\u2019s revealed that Eleven\u2019s initial discovery of the Upside Down wasn\u2019t an unintended consequence of the government tampering with forces beyond their comprehension, but instead the direct reason for her existence. Since the beginning, Eleven\u2019s powers were actually the product of transfusing her with Vecna\u2019s (Jamie Campbell Bower, \u201cWitchboard\u201d) blood in order to reach Dimension X, the true residence of the Mind Flayer. In fact, the Upside Down was never just an eldritch parallel world to ours but a wormhole <\/em>leading to Dimension X. And, of course, Season 5 reveals how Henry Creel\u2019s powers were gained by touching a magical stone which gave him a telepathic link with the Mind Flayer, sparking the government\u2019s interest in interdimensional powers.\u00a0<\/p>\n