It was explicitly Hawkins, Indiana.
And it is filmed in Georgia.
She had very little dialog, and her character had a very flat and impassive manner. Yet you always knew how she was feeling - terror, anger, love, frustration, etc. It’s easy to show emotion when you can be expressive, but way more difficult given the constraints of her character. And she nailed it.
I thought the scene where she leads them in a circle to (supposedly) find the gateway was a great example. When it starts dawning on the boys what she was doing, you could read all the conflicting emotions on her face and her mannerisms before anyone said it out loud.
I definitely enjoyed the series as a whole, but I was very disappointed when Hopper found the fake body, and then didn’t tell anyone. I mean, a fake body of a young missing boy (and what tech did they use to make it, for goodness sake?) is a HUGE story. Tell a bunch of people before any coverup can begin, and THEN go recklessly charging single-handedly into the secure government facility. Geez.
And for the most part, up until then, people had NOT been acting in stupid ways that the plot requires. The kids had very good reasons for not telling anyone about El, etc.
Still, lots of fun overall.
Question: What was the Christmas gift Nancy gave Jonathan? A camera?
(My daughter recently shaved her head, so we’ve been calling her Eleven.) 
I thought Hopper was reckless too, until it became clear he had something over the men in the facility. For some reason they couldn’t just kill him. I don’t think we were told the whole story.
Correct, to replace the one her boyfriend broke.
I view Hopper as another 80s trope–he’s the tough guy who easily takes out his opponents–armed opponents–with a punch. He does it in the DoE facility, and then when the kids are hiding on the bus he single-handedly takes out three armed men. It’s kind of ridiculous. I still like Hopper, though.
I’m guessing that Steve actually bought the camera. When Jonathan leaves with the gift and Nancy goes back to the other room, Steve asks something like “Did you give it to him?”
Yeah, it’s ridiculous, but I think it’s all hinting at him being involved in something bigger. Recall the way the black car drives up at the end, some man in a suit gets out and he climbs inside. He knows ‘‘everything’’ going on in that facility and then confidently announces that they aren’t going to kill him… and they don’t. He knows how to debug a house. He has advanced combat training.
Something’s up.
Nothing odd about looking for bugs in a world where single mom communicates with her son via X-mas lights. Everyone in the show embraced the weird.
Advanced combat training? When was that?
I don’t think there was any advanced combat training. Just the usual action show trope of being able to deliver a “knockout punch” whose only consequence is to render the opponent unconscious for a convenient length of time, after which he rubs his head a bit and goes on to suffer no serious health problems.
Can’t remember if he was ex-military, but on TV being ex-military means you got James Bond training, but for some reason you don’t use it and just work as a small town cop. Except when that James Bond training comes in handy.
I would consider single-handedly disarming two men with guns advanced combat.
But maybe for the 80s that’s just par for the course.
Rest in peace Barb — R.I.P. Barb - A Stranger Things Tribute - YouTube
I liked the show overall, and really loved the performance by the actress who played Eleven. But I didn’t like the way they resolved a happy ending for the boy Will. I am probably trying to put too much reality into a tv show, but I can think of only two reasons for that thing to be down his throat like that: laying eggs in him or eating him. Either way there should be some internal damage. Likely permanent, if not mortal. That was just too clean and tidy and happy for me, especially given what happened to Barb and the other victims that we saw glimpses of.
If it’s laying eggs in him or eating him then how is it a happy ending?
He barfed up some slug creature and had a flash of the Upside Down in his bathroom. That doesn’t seem overly clean and tidy.
Barb was a dweeb. Expendable.
How about kids running around saying queer and fag being accepted as perfectly normal? Will’s mom was all, “kids call him a fag” and Hopper is all, “kids will be kids.”
Dweeby girl getting eaten is more important than gay-bashing? We’re that far behind?
I’m guessing Hopper could be a Vietman vet.
Uh… what?