Hello, reader!
I always post on Thursdays, and when I saw that the date 11/11 this year is a Thursday, I just had to do something with that information. And what better way to celebrate the eleventh day of the eleventh month, than to rank the eleven best moments of beloved Stranger Things (2016-Present) character Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown)? So, without further ado, today is 11/11 and here is my ranking of the Top 11 Eleven moments from Stranger Things.
A spoiler alert is in order, as I will be freely discussing events from all three seasons of the series!
11. The Demogorgon Flashback (Season 1, Episode 5: The Flea and the Acrobat)
Eleven's mysterious past was a big part of the intrigue in the show's debut season. This was especially evident in moments like this, where we saw her flashing back to her time as a test subject for, as she puts it, the 'bad men'. Seeing her encounter the villainous Demogorgon, even when it's just in a vision, is quite riveting, and witnessing such a strong character so afraid really puts the plot's sense of danger into perspective.
10. The Breakup (Season 3, Episode 2: The Mall Rats)
Eleven's personal growth into more of a 'regular human' ever since she escaped her captors at the start of the series is a fascinating and well-written arch. Eventually, her introduction to social norms and everyday life lead to a romance between her and Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) - but all good things come to an end, or so they say. It's sort of sad to see the young lovebirds ending their relationship, but it goes down in a comedic manner - Eleven's "I dump your ass" has become one of the more well-known lines in the show, and it highlights just how much she had become a part of this strange world of ours.
9. The Return (Season 2, Episode 1: MADMAX)
Ah, the old trick of making the viewers wait for the thing they really want to see - it works in Jaws (1975), it works in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015), and it sure as hell works here. While Eleven had sort of 'sacrificed herself' and disappeared in the season 1 finale, it was strongly hinted in the very end that she's still out there. The viewer's intrigue grows and grows when watching the season 2 premiere, as Eleven is nowhere to be seen - until the payoff at the very end, when we see that she has been secretly living with Jim Hopper (David Harbour). A delightful return, and a delicious way to end the season premiere.
8. Her Empire Strikes Back Moment (Season 2, Episode 7: The Lost Sister)
Sure, this is the one Stranger Things episode everyone hates - the 6.1 IMDB rating between several over-9 episodes is quite striking. But while stalling the other storylines completely in order to spend an entire episode on Eleven's side-quest was a bit overkill, I will give the episode credit for having a fantastic ending that brings Eleven's journey to a point very similar to Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). After going off to find herself and connect herself with her powers, the heroine realizes that she's needed back home, and begins her journey back - quite the ultimate cliffhanger leading up to the season's final set of episodes.
7. Debut appearance (Season 1, Episode 1: The Vanishing of Will Byers)
A girl walks into a diner. The diner's owner is immediately worried about her, as she seems lost and alone. Soon, some mysterious agents appear, and they are clearly after the girl. Things look dire, until she casually uses some badass telekinetic abilities to slickly escape from their clutches. Probably one of the more memorable debut appearances of a character in modern TV history.
6. The Winter Dance (Season 2, Episode 9: The Gate)
I'm a sucker for romance, okay? Sure, it's cool when Eleven uses her super powers to take down bad guys and when she spouts out iconic pieces of dialogue at dramatic plot turns, but I happen to think that it's equally cool when she kisses Mike at the Winter Dance at the end of season 2, bringing their sweet story of young love to a delightful breakthrough. Good for her, man.
5. Eleven Ex Machina (Season 2, Episode 8: The Mind Flayer)
Remember how I mentioned that it's quite epic when Eleven realizes that she must return to Hawkins, Indiana in order to save her friends at the end of season 2's notorious seventh episode? Well, she spends most of the following instalment on her way, and off-screen. The episode is so jam-packed with adrenaline-filled twists and turns that you'll forget her whole storyline - which makes it all the more fist-pump-worthy when she arrives just at the nick of time to save the rest of the main characters from the Mind Flayer's creatures. A very badass return.
4. Eleven Vs. Demogorgon (Season 1, Episode 8: The Upside Down)
This was the climax that season 1 always was leading towards. After seven episodes of build-up, the show's heroine Eleven goes up against the season's big bad - the Demogorgon. Their battle is quite something, and it ends in an emotional fashion - Eleven seemingly sacrifices herself, as she uses her powers to such an extreme that taking the Demogorgon down makes her disappear. Viewers were glad to find out that she wasn't gone for good, but it says everything you need to know about the character that she was willing to do this, not knowing if she would live or die, in order to save her friends.
3. Sauna Standoff (Season 3, Episode 4: The Sauna Test)
Along with the rest of Finland's avid Netflix viewers, I was delighted to see that one of the third season's most memorable sequences took place in a sauna. As the character Billy (Dacre Montgomery) is possessed by the Mind Flayer, he chases the younger generation of the show's main heroes across a pool area and into a sauna, where they try to trap him. This leads to a terrifying, edge-of-your-seat standoff between Billy and Eleven, and once again, our hero barely manages to come out on top. Riveting stuff.
2. The Badass Car Flip (Season 1, Episode 7: The Bathtub)
When I came up with the idea for this post, the first epic Eleven moment to come to mind was this scene from the penultimate episode of season 1. The moment might not be hugely climactic, especially emotional, of reflective of any sort of character development. It still makes into second place, purely thanks to how completely and ultimately badass it is.
In a sequence wonderfully reminiscent of E.T. (1982), the main group of youths are riding their bikes away from the bad guys, who come after them with vans. In a moment of pure action-thriller adrenaline, the hopeless-seeming situation is salvaged by Eleven, who casually stares down the van coming at them, and uses her abilities to flip it over, making it crash-land in front of the other vans. This allows the kids to escape, and the story to continue.
1. Saving the Gang (Season 1, Episode 6: The Monster)
This moment works on so many levels. As Mike and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) are ambushed by a group of bullies, Eleven shows up and gives the thugs a piece of her mind, telekinetic powers and all. This leads to an embrace between the three characters, after the bullies had scattered away. The moment is a prime example of Eleven being epic with her superpowers, it's an empowering moment of standing up to bullying, and it's a critical turning point in the relationship between the characters, as their friendship and bond reaches a whole new level.
Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for a post recommended by my Uncle Dan - the Top 10 Escape Movies!
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