In a trip down memory lane, Stranger Things 1’s “Chapter One: The Vanishing Of Will Byers” is worth another look. First, there is the news reports of a Hawkins power outage, which I missed on the first time around. Second, a monster gets Will Byers because nobody was watching him, which I wasn’t paying attention to when I first watched this episoode. Also, Chief Hopper searches Joyce’s house for Will, but no judge signed off on that probable cause, which you could miss if you don’t know the law. Forth, social services comes for Eleven, but it’s really a government hit woman. Finally, a local chef becomes collateral damage. In this episode, these are some interesting stories lines, which deserved a second look of season one’s Stranger Things.
To start, we learn the Stranger Things kids are fans of the Uncanney X-Men comics. Will tells Dustin on a bike ride home, saying, “I’ll take your X-Men 134!” Here, we learn that the Stranger Things are comic book readers.
Meanwhile, during this segment, the Hawkins news reports power surges in Hawkings.
“Turning now to local news, we’re getting reports of surges and power outages all across the county. Last night, hundreds of homes in East Hawkins were affected, leaving many residents in the dark. The cause of the outage is still unknown. We reached out to Roane County Water and Electric, and a spokesperson says that they are confident power will be restored to all remaining homes within the next several hours.”
“Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers” sees Will Byers going missing. Joyce asks Jonathan, “He came home last night, right? Jonathan says, “He’s not in his room? Joyce replies, “Did he come home or not?” Jonathan adds, “I don’t know.”FInally, Joyce says, “You don’t know?” Nobody has seen Will Byers.
That being said, nobody was watching Will because everyone was too busy. Jonathan says, “No, I don’t know… I got home late. I was working.” Joyce adds, “You were working?” Jonathan relies, “Eric asked if I could cover. I said yeah. I just thought we could use the extra cash.”
Even though Joyce and Jonathan talked about watching Will, nobody actually watched Will. Joyce says, “Jonathan, we talked about this.” In response, Jonathan replies, “I don’t know. Joyce replies, “You can’t take shifts when I am working. Finally, Jonathan adds, ” Mom, look, he’s not a big deal. He was at the Wheelers all day.” Because nobody was watching Will, a monster got Will.
In the end, Joyce blames her son, Jonathan, for not watching Will. Joyce says: “I can’t believe you. I can’t believe you, sometimes.” That being said, Joyce is Will’s mother.
Meanwhile, back at the Hawkins Police station, Chief Hopper has some work. Flo, the Hawkins Police secretarey, tells Hopper, saying, “Miss Byers can’t find her son this morning. Joyce is very upset.”
However, Chief Hopper has a message for Flo, too. Hopper tells Flo, saying, “Flo, we discussed this. Mornings are for coffee and contemplation. Coffee and contemplation!” Chief Hopper doesn’t want to work even though there’s a missing child in Hawkins.
Additionally, Chief Hopper has more messages for Joyce, too. He tells Joyce, saying, saying, “Look, a boy his age. He’s probably is just playing hooky. Ok? Oh, you never know. My mom thought I was on the debate team when really I was screwing Chrissy Carpenter in the back of my dad’s old…” Apparently, Chief Hopper liked to lie to his mother when he was fooling around with local girls.
It’s this episode where Eleven almost ends up in social services. After showing up at Benny Hammond’s diner because she’s starving, Benny Hammond, the head chef, calls the social services, saying, “She is scared to death. I think maybe she’s been abused or kidnapped or something.” Social services are on their way to pick up Eleven.
Meantime, Chief Hopper finds Will’s bike and heads to Joyce’s home. Upon arriving, Chief Hopper orders his officers to search Joyce’s house for Will, saying, “Cal…Phil.” The officers conduct a search of Joyce’s house and anything in plain view.
Back at the diner, social services show up. A social services worker, Connie Frazer, knocks on the back door of the diner. As Benny lets her in and turns around, Connie pulls out a gun and shoots Benny in the head.
Overall, “Chapter One: The Vanishing Of Will Byers” of Stranger Things 1 yielded some fruit on a second look. We see what happens when parents don’t watch their children: monsters get them. Also, Joyce has a nice friend: It’s Chief Hopper who suspects her in the disappearance of her son, Will Byers. Also, who knew social services could be killers, too. This episode had some ideas, which you could of missed if you didn’t pay attention on first round of watching it.
