Prep pack · temporal graph
About to watch S02E01 · MADMAX
100% spoiler-free up to the final frame of S01E08. Nothing from S02E01 or later is included. Gold pack · temporal graph at ordinal 100.
Long gap (passport-weighted): foundational who/where listed first.
Will Byers was trapped in the Upside Down and has been rescued - but something is still wrong with him.
Eleven (El) closed the gate at Hawkins Lab after the Demogorgon fight; her whereabouts after the school battle are unknown to most of the party.
Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will remain a tight friend group with shared secret knowledge of the lab and the monster.
Season 1 ended with the party defeating the Demogorgon at Hawkins Middle School. Eleven used her powers to destroy it and, in the chaos, vanished from their sight. Will was home for Christmas, but a final image showed a shadow-creature rising in his throat - a clear signal that rescue was not complete healing.
The core kids know more than any adult wants them to. Mike is still waiting for Eleven. Dustin and Lucas share the radio-and-bike friendship that carried the search. Will is the quiet center of trauma.
Joyce and Hopper brokered a fragile peace with the lab's secrets: Will's return, Barb's fate, and the need to keep the town from panic. Hopper's cabin life and police role sit uneasily with what he has seen.
Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers have blood on their hands metaphorically - they hunted truth and paid with innocence. Steve's arc bent toward protection rather than popularity.
Will taken to Upside Down; rescued.
Eleven defeats Demogorgon and vanishes.
Christmas shadow shows Will is not fully free.
Season bridge: everything above is end of Season 1. S02E01 ("MADMAX") has not started.
Cutoff discipline: every fact above ends at S01E08. Do not import anything from S02E01 ("MADMAX") or later.
Snapshots as of graph ordinal ≤ 100 (S01E08).
Party leader; Eleven's closest friend
Loc. Hawkins
Allies
Dustin, Lucas, Will, Eleven (missing)
Threats
Lab secrets, whatever remains of the Upside Down
El · Jane
Psychokinetic girl; lab subject
Loc. Unknown after school battle
Allies
Mike, party
Threats
Hawkins Lab, Brenner
Survivor of the Upside Down
Loc. Hawkins (home)
Allies
Joyce, Jonathan, party
Threats
Upside Down residue
Mother who refused to stop searching
Loc. Hawkins
Allies
Hopper, Jonathan
Threats
Lab cover stories, Will's health
Police chief; reluctant guardian of secrets
Loc. Hawkins
Allies
Joyce
Threats
Lab influence, truth leaking
Investigator of Barb's fate
Loc. Hawkins
Allies
Jonathan, Steve (shifting)
Threats
Lab, social fallout
Continuity web
Ink diagram of who is bound, opposed, or entangled as of the cutoff (End of Season 1 · Episode 8 "The Upside Down"). Click a name to pin. Edge labels appear on focus.
Hover or click any figure to open their tie dossier. Hostile and tense ties carry direction marks. Secret ties are dashed.
She vanished after the Demogorgon fight. The party does not know if she is alive or safe.
Who cares: Mike, party, Hopper
The Christmas bathroom image implies the Upside Down is not done with him.
Who cares: Joyce, Will, party
Official stories and hush deals paper over deaths and experiments.
Who cares: Hopper, Joyce, Nancy
Friends know the truth is uglier than the town narrative.
Who cares: Nancy, Steve, parents offscreen
S1 early · Hawkins
Bike ride home becomes the Upside Down.
S1 mid · Hawkins
Lab escapee meets Mike, Dustin, Lucas.
S1E08 · Hawkins Middle
School battle ends the monster; Eleven vanishes.
S1 coda · Byers house
Will appears recovered until the bathroom horror beat.
Constrained desk chat
Temporal RAG over this pack only. No model calls. No post-cutoff index rows exist.
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