Eleven spends much of Stranger Things 4 wondering who she is, especially without her psychokinetic powers. She lost them in Stranger Things 3 when the Spider Monster (the Mind Flayer’s physical form) bit her leg when it tried to kidnap her at Hopper’s cabin. The Spider Monster leaves a piece of its parasitic flesh inside of her leg and ripping it out of her leg with her telekinesis causes her to lose her abilities.
In the first half of Stranger Things 4, Dr. Sam Owens tells Eleven there’s a way for her to regain her lost powers so she can save Hawkins from a new threat (Vecna). This miracle cure is called the Nina Project, but the process forces Eleven to relive some of the worst moments from her past instead.
How It Works
The Nina Project shares its name with both the program and a secret facility hidden inside a decommissioned ICBM missile silo in the Nevada desert. The project was created by Owens working alongside Dr. Martin Brenner, a detail that disturbs Eleven due to him being her former captor.
The project gets its name from the 1786 opera by Nicolas Dalayrac, Nina, ou La folle par amour (roughly translates to Nina, or The Woman Mad With Love in French). The opera follows Nina who is so traumatized by the death of her lover that she represses the memory of it, to the point where she forgets the event ever occurred. Dr. Brenner theorizes that the Spider Monster’s attack “scrambled” the signals in Eleven’s brain until she “forgot” how to use her powers.
At the heart of the program is a sensory deprivation tank linked to a computer system that’s also called “Nina.” The tank is supposed to guide Eleven as she re-experiences memories she’s been suppressing. The people working on the Nina Project place an electrode cap on her head, injects her with a mix of experimental drugs, and places her inside the tank. Once she’s inside, Eleven is subjected to audiovisual stimuli via old CCTV footage of Hawkins Lab playing on multiple screens.
Eleven’s Repressed Memories
The memories Eleven is forced to relive are all tied to early years at Hawkins Lab. For years, she thought she was responsible for a massacre that killed nearly all the other test subjects in a blind rage.
Instead, Eleven remembers that the real killer is One (Henry Creel), another test subject/orderly Eleven befriended. Unfortunately for her, One was only interested in turning Eleven against Dr. Brenner. One did see Eleven as a kindred spirit and wanted her to join him in taking over the world. Eleven refused which led to an intense psychic battle that ended with her sending him to another dimension!
Later in the series, Eleven would learn that she actually sent One to an alternate dimension and ultimately played a role in his transformation into Vecna.
After she relives this traumatic memory, Eleven’s powers are restored just in time to confront Vecna in the season 4 finale.
How the Nina Project Affects Eleven’s Story
Like I’d mentioned earlier, the Nina Project makes Eleven come to terms with her past. She realizes that she’s not a monster. Just because Brenner made her to be a weapon doesn’t mean that has to be her fate. She has autonomy and can be whatever she wants to be.
The incident also permanently closes the door on her abusive relationship with Dr. Brenner or “Papa.” The project was nothing more than a desperate attempt from Dr. Brenner to reassert a measure of control over Eleven, to force her back into the role of a compliant, obedient lab rat.
Ironically, this is what pulls Eleven away from him for good. She chews him out for being responsible for Vecna’s descent into madness and endangering Hawkins with his recklessness. Watching Eleven look Dr. Brenner dead in the eye as she tells him that he’s “the monster” is one of the most cathartic moments of the series.
It’s a moment that shows how much Eleven has grown and how strong she’s become. When Dr. Brenner is shot trying to protect Eleven from the U.S. military, he has the gall to waste his dying breath to say that every horrendous thing he’s ever done was for her. But Eleven rejects his gaslighting and refuses to absolve him. She stays with until he dies, but she is done and moving on with her life.
The Nina Project was a convenient way for Eleven to regain her powers before the season finale. There’s no denying that but it also gave Eleven something that’s more valuable; a sense of agency over her own life for once.
You can stream all five seasons of Stranger Things on Netflix.
