That scene when Hopper yells at Eleven

Yeah i mean i could understand if this was just 1 or 2 days after setting her up there but shes been locked there as a prisoner for over a year, anyone would go nuts and wanna get out if only for 1 fucking day. Hopper should have had some understanding, i'm sure he wouldn't like being kept in a cabin for over a year without ever being allowed to leave.

I swear in that scene he almost came off as an abusive dad, sure looked that way with Eleven crying in the corner looking scared as he was screaming.

Yeah i get him being afraid he might lose her and it would be like losing his daughter all over again. But on the other hand acting like that was only gonna push her away and make her hate him. El would very easily just pack up and leave and take her chances in the woods on her own if made mad enough.

The more appropriate reaction would have been for him to hold back his anger and sit her down and tell her how much she means to him and why he's so strict with her. Explain to her shes like a daughter to him and he doesn't wanna see her taken away. Cause he never really made it clear to her how he sees her, which was as a daughter, not sure El understood that, she just saw him as a friend helping her out.

Based on his personality, the situation, his history and the time period. I generally feel his reaction is fairly spot on. Swallowing his anger and sitting down with her to explain the issue feels much more like early TV sitcom dad reaction rather than what i witnessed myself in 1984.

What makes me not agree with his reaction is the fact that shes been in that cabin for over a year, with no contact with Mike or anyone. Hopper kept promising her he'd fix it but he never did.

Any person on the planet would go nuts and wanna get out for just a day if they was kept prisoner in the woods for a year. Thats why i sympathize with El in that moment, she just wanted to see her friend and nothing happened to her anyways.

Also i can't really agree with comparing this situation to a parent getting made at their child for sneaking out, its not even close to the same thing. If a parent kept their child prisoner in their house for over a year never letting them leave, i'd say the child had every right to sneak out.

Realistic or not, it definitely added depth to Hopper's character.

Hopper was in danger of becoming a too-good-to-be-true father figure. While we're initially introduced to him as a cynical, local burnout bordering on suicidal, by the end of S1 he has become Superman. Smarter and tougher than you might think, a former bad boy who turned into the unstoppable lawman with a heart of gold. And wearing his deceased daughter's friendship bracelet, he was also a sympathy magnet.

It's good to see him as still never fully recovered from his daughter's death. Most people never get over something like that, and it haunts them and influences their actions for the rest of their lives. Even though Hop is protecting Eleven, he can't see where protection ends and smothering begins.

And just a note about the Dads:
The other dads around Hawkins are all clueless, or absent, or white trash leeches, or maybe evil scientists. So the kids look to people like Bob and Clarke and Hopper, or maybe even Benny, rather than their real fathers, for guidance and protection. Usually this just annoys me, Hollywood's ongoing attack on the traditional nuclear family, but it works here.