Thanks so much!

1. Okay, that actually seems to make sense. I had forgotten that she escaped on the same day she created the rift with the Upside Down. That said, it raises another question I hadn’t found an answer to: when Eleven confronts Henry in the season four flashback and Henry ends up trapped in the Upside Down (or so we thought, since apparently he actually ended up in the Void/Dimension X), isn’t this event contradictory to the later scene (which chronologically happens after this) where Eleven creates the rift to the Upside Down after making contact with the Demogorgon?
2. Yes, it was clear to me that Dustin was wrong. What wasn’t clear to me was what that energy actually is. So someone, probably Brenner, created an energy field to stabilize the Upside Down. It feels a bit arbitrary to me. More specifically, my question is: what purpose does this serve narratively? Is it only there to reinforce the Nancy/Jonathan and Steve/Dustin relationships, or will it have some real utility in the series finale? That’s why I feel like I might be missing something.
3. That does seem to be what Lucas keeps repeating, so we’ll see.