It’s the dead of winter in Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, but that hasn’t stopped formidable new threats from blooming beneath the thick snow blanketing Hawkins. 

In Season 1, which is now streaming, the crew is faced with more than just unruly homework assignments and two-dimensional arcade monsters. An array of fearsome new creatures has surfaced in town, including a vicious snow shark and a group of sinister pumpkin monsters dubbed the “Gourd Horde.” With help from their new friend Nikki (voiced by Odessa A’zion), along with Nikki’s mom, passionate biology teacher Mrs. Baxter (Janeane Garofalo), the gang uncovers the startling revelation as to how these new creatures are linked to the Upside Down. 

“All of it is still connected to the Upside Down, so there is the DNA of Upside Down creatures in all of our creatures,” showrunner, writer, and executive producer Eric Robles tells Tudum. “It’s like Hawkins Lab science meets Upside Down matter. When you put them together, those are the kinds of creatures we have in our world.”

The finale, titled “The Countdown,” finds the gang assembled underground to keep the Horde Queen — who’s controlling all the new creatures — from opening a new gate to the Upside Down and allowing its inhabitants free rein in Hawkins.

So, how does Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 Season 1 End?

It turns out that friendly Hawkins Food Mart clerk Daniel Fischer (Lou Diamond Phillips) had been conducting experiments on an Upside Down vine he believed was harmless, unaware that the vine kept growing and creating a network of tunnels beneath the lab. Feeding on Fischer’s iridescent green goo allowed it to evolve and become the Queen from which all the new creatures descend. 

To stop her, our crew must work together. That’s easier said than done, however, when the Queen devours Fischer — along with several vials of that revitalizing green goo — and instantaneously grows much larger than before. 

Will (Benjamin Plessala) concocts a clever plan to buy Nikki extra time to fix her Upside Down monster-killing weapon, the light blaster, and end this nightmare once and for all. The plan entails having Dustin (Braxton Quinney) lure the Queen’s monsters away while Max (Jolie Hoang-Rappaport), Lucas (Elisha “EJ” Williams), and Will finish them off. Meanwhile, Eleven (Brooklyn Davey Norstedt) and Mike (Luca Diaz) team up to distract the Queen from opening the gate, and Nikki and Mrs. Baxter work on getting the light blaster back online. 

Just when it seems like the Queen is about to succeed in dragging Eleven back into the Upside Down, Nikki swoops in with a well-timed shot of her light blaster, searing off the creature’s arm. Eleven then seals the gate with the Queen’s body stuck between the alternate dimension and our world, killing the monster and ultimately saving the day. 

What’s up with that flower in the Upside Down?

While the crew settles back into a sense of normalcy, things are just getting started in the Upside Down. We see the Queen’s corpse lying motionless — until a stem bursts through and unfurls, revealing blue petals and the maw of a Demogorgon. Plus, it glows. So, what exactly is this striking new creature?

"The Demogorgon-mouthed flower that we are seeing represents the beginning of what will become a new mystery and chapter in the Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 saga," Robles says. 

How were the new Upside Down monsters created if Eleven had already closed the gate?

Episode 6 lays out exactly what happened after Eleven closed the gate in Hawkins Lab, cutting off the Upside Down monsters’ access to our world. 

A flashback to Nov. 12, 1984, shows government agents in yellow hazmat suits cleaning up Demodog corpses. A stray agent absconds with samples of the dormant Upside Down vines for experimentation in their concealed lab. Numerous failed attempts with different serums result in the vine samples crumbling into ash. 

Then, a final injection of a glowing green liquid revives the remaining vine, which transforms into a new creature that releases luminous green spores. When it escapes the lab, the agent chases it down and torches it. Just as it happens at the beginning of Episode 1, its ashes spread through the sky and settle in the snow, where new life sprouts. 

That’s how these monsters multiply in Hawkins. “When these creatures come to life, and they’re about to die, they release these spores,” Robles explains. “These spores travel throughout Hawkins and end up landing anywhere where there’s organic matter [which gets] infected. When these things get infected with Upside Down spores, then you have a whole new breed of new monsters.”

Who was actually behind the experiment that led to the new creatures?

Up until Episode 9, all signs pointed to Mrs. Baxter as Horde Prime, aka the person who created the Horde Queen and all the other creatures. After all, she spoke passionately about evolution and how mushrooms and pine trees, when they’re dying, release spores that ensure the survival of their species — similar to what happens with the terrifying new creatures they’ve encountered. Plus, the crew finds videotapes of an unknown figure in a yellow hazmat suit conducting experiments, as well as a secret lab in a greenhouse near her home. But Mrs. Baxter’s experiments never made it past the petri dish. 

We later learn that Daniel is the figure in the hazmat suit. He worked at Hawkins Lab as a founding member of the Scientific Progress Committee but was never granted access to work on their scientific experiments. He stole Mrs. Baxter’s experiments and continued with his own before creating what would become the Queen.

"Dan’s green serum is a combination of years of Anna Baxter’s research in trying to bring dying vegetation back to life and extracted DNA from dead Upside Down vines," Robles notes. “This mixture was able to bring an Upside Down vine back to life, but not how Daniel expected.”

Are Nikki and Mrs. Baxter still leaving town?

Nope! It looks like the Baxter Family is staying put for now. At the end of Episode 10, we see Mrs. Baxter unloading boxes from her car, parked in the driveway of her new home. 

Where does the crew go from here?

A new Dungeons & Dragons campaign, of course! After defeating the Horde Queen, unaware of what’s sprouting in the Upside Down, it’s time for the crew to slay fictional monsters with their newest recruit, Nikki. They’ve even made a customized figure for Nikki, which is part bard and part berserker, out of old LEGO pieces. 

And Eleven will get plenty of playing time as well, because Hopper (Brett Gipson) has extended her curfew.

Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 is streaming now, only on Netflix. 

Watch the First Look at Stranger Things: Tales From ’85