'Stranger Things' season 3: Here's what we think Eleven's beachside encounter with the Upside Down means
The coming fourth of July is going to be extra glorious because season three of 'Stranger Things' is finally dropping. The wait has been long and dreary, for about two years now since the preceding second season premiered on Netflix in 2017. Probably why ardent fans and followers of the show are flocking to analyze and dissect the official trailer of season three as intensely as they are. The latest addition to the list of shocking things to expect in the soon to be arriving season happens to be an unusual, unsettling vision that the show's protagonist Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) seems to have alongside a beach!
The reason why this "vision" has been labeled so is because of the unusual setting where the scene takes place. Eleven is seen standing in the middle of a beach, with the waves crashing against the shore, and her expression riddled with concern and distraught.
She looks in the distance at a dark, cloud taking shape with streaks of red, hot fire sparking in the center — resembling the gate to the Upside Down world in the show, which she supposedly closed in the previous season. The scene also shows Eleven looking quite confused about her surroundings, staring at her hands, almost as if trying to figure out how she got there, just doubling our fears for the character.
Fans have since pointed out that this entire scene is a major red flag in terms of the dangers about to unleash on the gang of kids, because of the simple reason that the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, does not have a beach. More importantly, Hawkins isn't anywhere near the shore either. This could mean two things: either the entire scenario is happening inside Eleven's head, allowing her a vision into a faraway place where the evil masterminds are at work before wreaking havoc on the human populace, or Eleven has been teleported to a beach where all of the action goes down in real time, thus posing a bigger threat to the newly turned teenager.
Fans have also gone on to analyze the whole seaside action sequence as a metaphor for the confusing world of the Upside Down, from where the prime antagonist of the season — the Mind Flayers emerge. The trailer also goes on to show that Eleven's friend Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) shows signs of probably getting possessed by the Mind Flayer again, and the distinct shots of the rats flocking towards what looks like a scary storage unit are also instances of the possibility of the mind-bending monster returning to prey on the innocents at Hawkins, none of which could end up good for the kids.
'Stranger Things' returns with season three on Thursday, July 4, only on Netflix.