Exactly! Excellent points.

The missing daughter is what drives the plot. If they got her back there'd be no reason to drive around and run into fresh disasters, they could just hole up back home and wait for it to be over.

There really wasn't anything they *could* do after their daughter was kidnapped by a flying monster. Getting in the RV and trying to find her on a roadside somewhere doesn't make sense, but maybe that's how they cope - by doing whatever they can do and pretending that it's a sensible plan.

He knows they're probably going to lose, and that makes him more cautious than he might otherwise be.

Yeah, that definitely could be. If our world is a house the Upside Down could be like the attic or the basement, and all that organic stuff is mold that's growing where no one can see. Maybe the monster is like a spider or a roach…

Or trapped in the Upside Down (maybe along with a few random soldiers from the school) and afraid to use the gate at the lab because they'll kill him.

I don't think he's aware of what's happening. Maybe he goes into a fugue state when the slugs are ready to come out.

I think they realized that staging that guy's suicide didn't work, so they tried something different with Hopper.

His fists can heal as easily as they grant oblivion.

Pretty sure the main gate is not sealed. That was how Hopper, Joyce and Will got back. It actually seemed to be growing larger throughout the series.

I was wondering about this too. When Nancy shot it the monster recoiled from the impacts, but soldiers firing full auto didn't seem to stop it at the school. The only hint of an explanation I can think of is that the monster was coming for Eleven. When it was hurt and angry it instinctively came after her.

He might not realize it's happening. Will seemed to be in a trance there.

Or fear. I think Brenner and his people were terrified of what would happen when their bosses discovered the mess they'd made.

I was wondering something like this as well. Why would Hopper leave food for her in a box in the woods? Maybe she's part human and part monster now, and can't come back to civilization.

I'm not sure that it's an actual world at all, if it's anything like the Vale of Shadows from the boy's D&D supplement. It might indeed be some sort of "dark reflection" of our world, created by unknown physical processes, with cars and buildings that just appear there when they are moved around here.

I think you're right. He knew she'd fought off the government agents before, and could probably do it again.

The monster killed a scientist (or at least made him disappear) in the first episode.

As of this episode (Chapter Seven), the total of missing people is six. A scientist (that no one in town knows about), Will, Barb, another scientist or soldier, and the two hunters. So the creature has eaten at least five people.

I agree with you, Hawkins lab isn't like Los Alamos. This is a place that conducts highly illegal research on children and opens portals to other worlds. They can't afford to have low level personnel socializing with the townies.

John C Lilly was the inspiration for Walter Bishop on Fringe. That cat was on another level. He was an early pioneer of electrical brain stimulation, then tried to communicate with dolphins (by living with them and occasionally giving them LSD), then he spent hour after hour in sensory deprivation tanks (which he…