Stranger Things' 15 Scariest, Sweetest, Saddest Scenes
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15. Vanishing Act
Though we'd only just met Will in the series' premiere, he played Dungeons & Dragons with such enviable intensity that we immediately loved him. So it wasn't just scary, it was upsetting as heck when the sweet kid was taken before the opening credits had even rolled. Where's a fireball when you need one?!?
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14. Down for the Count
Worst. Bash. Ever. As if it wasn't crummy enough that Nancy made her BFF feel like a third wheel at Steve's school-night blowout, Barb's cut hand drew out the monster from the Upside Down. And, as we witnessed in horror at the beginning of "Holly, Jolly," once it had claimed her as a party favor, it wasn't about to let her go.
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13. Risqué Business
Maybe it was because Stranger Things was set in the (comparatively) innocent '80s, but we were as surprised as Barb might have been that Nancy went all the way with Steve in "The Weirdo on Maple Street." We were even more surprised — and delighted — by how messily believably the series handled the aftermath of the teens' tryst.
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12. Let There Be Light
After burning through two landlines trying to communicate with her M.I.A. little boy, Joyce finally took the hint and used Christmas decorations to place a (really) long-distance call to Will in "Holly, Jolly." When he answered, it wasn't only the lights that illuminated his mom's face, it was the magic of the moment.
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11. Side Order of 'Dies'
As if to make absolutely certain we knew from the start just how bad the bad guys really were, Stranger Things' first episode, "The Vanishing of Will Byers," had the villains kill in cold blood the kindly short-order cook into whose burger joint hungry fugitive Eleven wandered. Benny, we hardly knew ye (but we still kinda loved ye).
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10. Child's Play
Yikes! No sooner had we decided during "Holly, Jolly" that baby Holly was destined to replace Cindy Brady as TV's quintessential little sister than Mike and Nancy's perpetually pigtailed younger sibling — in a particularly tense turn of events — was damn near snatched by the monster reaching through the Byers home's wall.
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9. Bad Boy Gone Good
After Steve went full-on James Spader in Episode 6, we were pretty sure — and not the least bit sorry — that he was monster bait. So imagine our surprise — or recall your own reaction — when, in "The Bathtub," he not only lit into his friends for their public dis of his "unfaithful" girlfriend, he pitched in to erase their graffiti from the movie theater marquee.
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8. Forgive and Let Forgive
After El impressively used her superpower in "The Bathtub" to save Lucas and his friends from the bad guys — see slide No. 3 — the skeptic sweetly admitted to her that "everything I said about you being a traitor and stuff, I was wrong." In turn, she just as sweetly apologized for impeding the boys' search for the gate to the Upside Down.
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7. Beyond Belief
Joyce had been told so often that she was crazy for thinking that her son was alive that... well, if she wasn't nuts, the naysayers surely would have driven her mad. So imagine the relief — not to mention the vindication — she felt when, in "The Flea and the Acrobat," Hopper said those six little words: "This whole time, you were right."
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6. Puppy Love
You would have to be one hard-hearted bastard not to have said "Aww!" — at least in your head! — when, in "The Upside Down," Mike asked El to his school's annual Snow Ball, then, flummoxed as to how to explain his feelings for her, stole a kiss. Please tell us that, somewhere in the world, kids are still that sweet and innocent.
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5. Say It Isn't So
You could've knocked us over with a feather when Will's lifeless body was recovered in "Holly, Jolly." That was just too dark a twist for so nostalgic a series. It couldn't be right... right? Yet the young cast so crushingly sold the moment that we believed what we were seeing (and, obviously, were relieved as could be when Hopper later discovered the truth!).
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4. Holding Out for a Hero
Tom Cruise wannabe Steve might not always have made all the right moves. But whatever points he hadn't previously gained back from us via No. 9, he won in the season finale, "The Upside Down," by, instead of bailing, throwing caution to the wind and joining Nancy and Jonathan in their life-or-death battle with the monster.
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3. A Force to Be Reckoned With
El may have been new to the concept of friendship, but she sure caught on fast. Time and again, she defended Mike to his mouth-breathing playground tormentors, and in a total "Whoa!" moment from "The Bathtub," she saved him, Lucas and Dustin by flipping the bad guys' van like it was nothing more than a Hot Wheel.
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2. The Ultimate Sacrifice
It wasn't only the monster that Eleven killed in the first season finale, "The Upside Down"; she slayed us, too. When she stopped her assault on the creature just long enough to turn back and tell Mike goodbye, we were crying as hard as he was. And by the time she was obliterated along with the beast? Forget it. We were a puddle.
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1. Against All Odds
It speaks volumes about the soft heart of Stranger Things that the series ended its freshman season on a hopeful note — and we don't just mean Nancy's obvious feelings for Jonathan, either. Since Hopper stole away into the woods at Christmas to drop off a care package — including Eggos! — we're optimistic that El is about as gone as she is forgotten. In other words, not at all!