Primetweets Movies
The younger version of Eleven in the flashbacks is a very lonely girl who’s shunned and bullied by the other children in the lab — and the season’s opening heavily implies that she kills them all in a bloody rampage. It’s revealed that her only friend was a quiet orderly called Peter Ballard, played by “Harry Potter” and “The Mortal Instruments” alum Jamie Campbell Bower. Although he helps Eleven cope with the trauma of being trapped in the lab — and how to deal with the other kids — it’s hard not to be suspicious about his intentions.
Eventually, the abuse Eleven suffers, alongside Brenner’s manipulation of the lab, overwhelms Ballard, and he reveals his true identity as the son of Victor Creel (Robert Englund). Peter explains his abilities had started to emerge when he was a child, and he discovered his parents’ past sins by looking into their minds. Although Victor previously thought it was a “demon” who was causing chaos in the Creel house, it was actually his own son — who resented his parents for the way they treated him.
It’s true that Peter actually forced his family to live through haunting visions of their worst nightmares before he slaughtered his own mother and his sister. That’s a horrifying thought. Unfortunately, after Victor was wrongly convicted for the gruesome killings, the young boy was acquired by Dr. Brenner — and he became the first candidate in his experimental program. Yes, Peter is number One.
The massacre at Hawkins lab? Well, Peter was responsible for that, too, as he breaks down after years of being beaten and downtrodden by Brenner and his goons. But it gets worse. Peter’s whole backstory is a way of making audiences understand the big bad of the season: Vecna.
Written by: Looper
