When Netflix's Stranger Things first debuted in the summer of 2016, I was captivated. A refreshingly earnest, Spielbergian spirit coursed through this story of a band of kids who bravely faced grief, trauma, mystery, and monstrous evil together. As a lover of various elements of pop culture, I loved the way these kids interpreted their reality through the lenses of stories, including Dungeons & Dragons, X-Men, and The Lord of the Rings.