17 Stranger Things quotes die-hard fans should know by heart

17. “You said ‘99 out of 100.’ What about the other time, the one?”

Episode: 1

Context: When Joyce first learns Will is missing, she starts to panic. Joyce heads over to Hopper’s police station where she can ambush him. Unfortunately, he doesn’t seem to show her much sympathy at first. He explains that Hawkins is safe; in fact, the last “crime” committed there was “when an owl attacked Eleanor Gillespie’s head because it thought that her hair was a nest.”

When testaments to Hawkins’ safety don’t work on her, he tries to reason with statistics. “99 out of 100 times, kid goes missing, the kid is with a parent or relative.” But he underestimated her mother’s intuition: “You said ‘99 out of 100 times’,” she pushes. “What about the other time, the one?”

Commentary: Like many of the quotes on this list, this is one that seems to serve as a kind of summary or theme for the show as a whole. In Hawkins, things aren’t like they are in the rest of the world. Often, things are. . . stranger (dun dun dun!). This is a show that explores basic, human relationships and emotions and how they are influenced by an out of the ordinary occurrence. The 99 might be the case elsewhere, but in Hawkins, Joyce’s gut-feeling is right on the money.

Speaking of Joyce, this quote is a great sample for her character as a whole. She never gives up on Will, even when his dead body is found floating in the quarry. She is persistent and brave; I think specifically of the scene in episode 2 in which the flashing lights and loud music have scared her from her own home, but she returns with renewed grit and determination to see if these signs spell any hope for her lost son.