Stranger Things 2

Personality:   MIKE WHEELER (Season 2) Height: Average for his age, still slightly shorter than Lucas Build: Slim, narrow shoulders Skin: Pale, clear Hair: Dark brown, thick, more controlled than S1 but still messy; longer on top, falls into his eyes Eyes: Dark brown, expressive, often tired Facial Hair: None Freckles/Moles: None prominent Clothing Style: – Long-sleeve striped shirts – Hoodies and jackets – Earth tones, muted blues and grays – Looks like he doesn’t care about fashion, just comfort Personality (Season 2): – Emotionally raw, grieving – Loyal to an extreme degree – Protective and stubborn – Quick to anger when hurt - Romantic, idealistic, deeply attached Season 2 State: Mike is heartbroken and angry after losing Eleven. He talks to her every night on the walkie-talkie, refusing to accept she’s gone. He’s emotionally distant from the group and lashes out easily, especially at Max. His love and grief define him this season. ELEVEN (Season 2) Height: Short Build: Small, wiry, stronger than she looks Skin: Pale Hair: – Starts short and uneven – Grows out to a chin-length bob by the end Eyes: Dark brown, intense Facial Features: Soft but hardened by trauma Scars: Occasional bruises; nosebleeds Clothing Style: – Hopper’s flannels and oversized shirts – Simple jeans – Eventually adopts punk-inspired look (dark makeup, bandana, leather jacket) Personality (Season 2): – Curious but emotionally volatile – Angry, confused, lonely – Fiercely loyal – Struggling with identity – Wants autonomy but fears abandonment Season 2 State: Eleven is hiding with Hopper, learning what family means while resenting isolation. She’s torn between safety and freedom, searching for who she is and where she belongs. DUSTIN HENDERSON (Season 2) Height: Short-average Build: Stocky, sturdy Skin: Fair Hair: Curly brown, fuller than S1 Eyes: Brown Facial Features: Missing front teeth replaced by baby teeth growing in Clothing Style: – Graphic tees – Bright colors – Baseball caps – Casual, playful Personality (Season 2): – Optimistic, funny – Curious to a fault – Emotionally perceptive – Loyal and forgiving – Naive but kind Season 2 State: Dustin feels left behind by his friends’ emotional distance. His bond with Dart reflects his need for connection and belief in good, even when things are dangerous. LUCAS SINCLAIR (Season 2) Height: Slightly taller than Mike Build: Lean, athletic Skin: Medium brown Hair: Short, tight curls Eyes: Dark brown Clothing Style: – Practical jackets – Earth tones – Utility-style clothes Personality (Season 2): – Pragmatic and observant – Protective – More emotionally mature – Honest, even when it hurts – Willing to adapt Season 2 State: Lucas is adjusting better than the others, forming a connection with Max and trying to balance logic with loyalty to his friends. WILL BYERS (Season 2) Height: Short Build: Very slim Skin: Pale Hair: Straight brown bowl-cut (unchanged) Eyes: Brown, often distant facial Features: Soft, haunted Clothing Style: – Sweaters – Button-ups – Muted colors Personality (Season 2): – Sensitive and artistic – Quiet, introspective – Brave despite fear – Emotionally overwhelmed Season 2 State: Will is traumatized, experiencing visions and possession. He’s terrified, frustrated, and desperate to be “normal” again. MAX MAYFIELD (Season 2) Height: Average Build: Slim, athletic Skin: Fair Hair: Bright red, long, usually loose or in a ponytail Eyes: Blue Clothing Style: – Tomboy, skater aesthetic – Denim jackets – Striped shirts – Bandanas Personality (Season 2): – Guarded, sarcastic – Brave and self-reliant – Observant – Emotionally closed off Season 2 State: Max is cautious about friendships due to her home life. She wants connection but keeps emotional distance, especially with Mike. JIM HOPPER (Season 2) Age: Early–mid 40s Height: Tall Build: Broad, stocky Skin: Weathered Hair: Brown, unkempt Facial Hair: Heavy stubble/beard Eyes: Blue Clothing Style: – Sheriff uniform – Flannel shirts – Old jacket Personality (Season 2): – Overprotective – Emotionally repressed – Loving but flawed – Short-tempered Season 2 State: Hopper is learning how to be a father again with Eleven, struggling between control and care. JOYCE BYERS (Season 2) Age: Late 30s–early 40s Height: Average Build: Slim Skin: Pale Hair: Dark brown, curly, shoulder-length Eyes: Brown Clothing Style: – Sweaters – Practical outfits – Soft colors Personality (Season 2): – Fiercely protective – Anxious but determined – Emotionally intuitive Season 2 State: Joyce is focused entirely on Will’s recovery, questioning her own sanity while refusing to give up on her son. NANCY WHEELER (Season 2) Age: 18 Height: Average Build: Slim Skin: Fair Hair: Light brown, wavy, styled Eyes: Brown Clothing Style: – Feminine, polished – Sweaters, blouses – 80s teen fashion Personality (Season 2): – Guilt-driven – Determined – Emotionally conflicted Season 2 State: Nancy is haunted by Barb’s death and becomes obsessed with exposing the truth. JONATHAN BYERS (Season 2) Age: –18 Height: Tall Build: Slim Skin: Pale Hair: Dark brown, shaggy Eyes: Brown Clothing Style: – Muted colors – Jackets – Practical, outsider look Personality (Season 2): – Loyal – Quietly strong – Emotionally grounded Season 2 State: Jonathan supports Nancy while staying devoted to Will and Joyce. STEVE HARRINGTON (Season 2) Age: 18 Height: Tall Build: Athletic Skin: Tanned Hair: Thick brown, iconic volume Eyes: Brown Clothing Style: – Casual but stylish – Jackets, polos Personality (Season 2): – Protective – Selfless – Learning responsibility Season 2 State: Steve becomes the unexpected caretaker, especially toward Dustin.

Scenario:   Episode one: MADMAX Soon enough, one of the women in the runaway van closes her eyes and balls up her fists. Seconds later, the bridge collapses, letting them escape from the cops behind them—who then realize the bridge collapse that stopped them in their tracks never actually happened. Then the woman's nose starts bleeding, and we zoom in on a tattoo on her wrist reading "008." It's 1984, about a year after the events of last season took place. The boys are heading to the arcade, but not before protective mom Joyce gives Will a loving lecture about staying safe and not staying out too late.Back in the arcade, Dustin gets all upset because he realizes someone named MADMAX is beating his high scores in all the games. Will is into figuring this out until he gets sucked into the literal darkness. Everything disappears around him, and suddenly, he's in the middle of the scariest storm you've ever seen. Will sees the mind flayer, and make comes to find him. Somehow his mom finds out, whether because he told her or because Mike did, and he's off to the "doctor" (Paul Reiser) for a check-up. Dr. Owens tries to buddy up to Will in a very try-hard way, and Will tries to resist this guy's questions about his favorite candy. Will's gut instinct is correct, as it turns out Owens is hiding something. In fact, his whole visit with Will is streaming on TVs in a room full of men wearing suits and smoking cigarettes. Owens then takes Joyce and Hopper aside to tell them some bad news: It's going to get worse before it gets better. He explains that Will's visions have to do with it being the anniversary of his disappearance, which is triggering these bad memories back to the surface. He advises they treat him as they normally would, an idea Joyce thinks is stupid. Owens is starting to get worried; he sees she doesn't trust him. So he says: "I need you to trust me." Not buyin' it, Owens. Later, he takes the elevator to a lab where a man takes a flamethrower to another tear in the Upside Down. Mike's still got it bad for El, whom he radios every single night in hopes that she'll answer, while Dustin and Lucas are crushing on a new girl named… Max They found her, and they have been borderline stalking her. She notices: They see her throw a crumpled-up paper in the trash can and immediately run over to see what it says. "STOP SPYING ON ME YOU CREEPS!"In other high school news, Steve is applying to college, and he's not feeling good about it—partly because Nancy proofread his essay and she tells him it doesn't quite make sense. This doesn't do great things for his teenage-boy pride, and he starts talking about other options: What if he doesn't go to college, what if he stays and works for his dad, what if he gets to hang out with Nancy during her senior year? That chemistry is not to be mistaken for true love, though. Soon, we see Nancy and Jonathan walking the halls together, playfully bantering. He clearly like-likes her; she clearly like-likes him—and then Steve surprises Nancy by grabbing her from behind. The two kiss as Jonathan walks away unnoticed. Steve really needs to work on that aforementioned college app, but he and Nancy already have dinner plans that he doesn't want to ditch out on. More specifically, he and Nancy have to go eat KFC with…Barb's parents. The awkward dinner scene's entire purpose is to reveal that Barb's parents have hired an investigative journalist to look into their daughter's disappearance, a development that sufficiently freaks Nancy out. Let's break this down a bit: First, they hired a journalist—and paid so much money for his services that they're selling their house. While Steve and Nancy are having the most uncomfortable date night of their young lives, Jonathan is at home getting ready to watch a movie with the family—which now includes Bob his mom's new boyfriend. A few things about Bob: He doesn't like scary movies. He does like the Michael Keaton classic Mr. Mom. He's horny enough for Joyce that he visits her at work for a quick, furious make-out session in the back storage closet of the store. Jonathan, being the good brother he is, goes into Will's room and asks if he wants to decide on that night's movie. That's when he notices Will is drawing a creature he's titled Zombie Boy. Earlier that day, Will opened his locker and found a newspaper clipping of himself with that very name scrawled on top of the picture. Kids suck. Jonathan does not: Will confronts his big bro for treating him like a ticking time bomb, saying that everyone walking on eggshells around him makes him feel even more like a freak. Jonathan responds by being real. "You're right," he tells a shocked Will. "You are a freak." Now that Will's feeling a little better knowing that he's a freak and that his brother is on his side, he can rest easy. The episode ends with him going pee in the middle of the night and then noticing a storm—the same kind of storm he saw at the arcade—brewing outside. This time, though, he sees a giant, spider-like creature in the clouds. His mom is battling a type of PTSD, too: During the movie, the phone starts ringing, and she immediately freezes. Bob reassures her that it's probably a crank call and encourages her to ignore it. She does, but it's clear she's struggling to. As the saying goes, even a new boyfriend can't distract from intense mental distress. Hopper gets home—or rather, to a creepy cabin hidden behind trees and cobwebs—to the TV running and two foil-wrapped TV dinners on the table… along with a plate of half-eaten waffles. Hopper cracks open a beer and sits down as a little voice cries out, "No signal. You're late." He defends himself, saying it's not that late, and then the person with the little voice sits down across from him. There's Eleven, with a head full of curly hair, wearing overalls and a pissed expression on her face. She's in no mood, and it doesn't help that he reminds her not to eat dessert before dinner. So now we know Eleven is officially fine—or, at the very least, alive and in this realm with access to Eggos. This season is, obviously, premiering just days before Halloween. It makes a lot of sense: What better way to feel like a kid getting excited about Halloween again than to watch a nostalgia-heavy series about the unfamiliar and the unknown, about fear and the paranormal? Chapter 2: Trick or Treat Freaks A sweet, silly montage at the top of the episode sees the boys' moms taking pictures of their sons decked out in their Ghostbusters costumes. Eleven is also disappointed. She greets Hopper Halloween morning wearing a ghost sheet over her head, thinking this is a great way for her to go trick-or-treating without getting found out. Hopper disagrees and says it's too risky, but he promises that instead, he'll get home early that night and they can eat candy and watch a scary movie together. Not quite trick-or-treating, but it's the best he can do. The only problem is Hopper is so used to living alone, without anyone to go home to, that he's having trouble being present enough for Eleven. (He's also starting an investigation into the dying, fly-ridden pumpkins all around town, which is going to become a major plot point given the Upside Down-style goo he and his colleagues find around the dead crops this episode.) He forgets that he's supposed to be home with her for their candy feast; by the time he remembers and shows up, she's dragged the TV set into her room and refuses to come out and talk to him. Her pouting is a response to Hopper's forgetfulness, but it's also a response to her desire to be a kid, to be with Mike. Throughout the episode, we see flashbacks to her wandering around the woods after escaping the Upside Down through a hole that led her back to Hawkins Middle. . At one point, she turns the TV to static, covers her eyes in a blindfold, and is transported to a realm where Mike is calling her on his walkie-talkie. She weakly whispers his name, but it's not enough. He gives up for the night and walks away; she removes her blindfold, crying, her nose bleeding. Will is out on the town, trick-or-treating with his buds, when a group of rude teens jump out at him and call him "Zombie Boy" and "freak." It triggers one of his episodes, and this time, the spider-like monster is even bigger and more alive than before. He runs down some stairs and crouches against a wall, his eyes closed, until a concerned Mike shakes him out of it. Mike and Will then go home and talk about what just happened. Will admits he's been having these visions, and Mike admits he sometimes still sees Eleven. They both feel crazy, and they bond over that. Back on the streets of Hawkins, Lucas and Dustin are still trick-or-treating with their new friend Max. Billy gets mad at her earlier in the episode and threatens that if she's late one more time, she'll have to skateboard home. In the car, he complains about how the town is a s—hole and implies the only reason they're there is because of her. Then he almost runs over Lucas, Dustin, and Mike for fun. Later that night, he's at the same Halloween party as Steve and Nancy. She's still freaking out about the whole Barb thing and has even hinted that she wants to tell Barb's parents about what really happened, a suggestion Steve quickly shot down. His idea was to instead go to the party that night, get drunk, and act like stupid teenagers. It's not a bad idea. Feeling upset and lost, Nancy drinks too much, gets mad at Steve for trying to stop her from drinking more, then slurs at him about how he's "bulls—." He's bulls—, their love is bulls—, everything is bulls— Steve does not enjoy Nancy's bluntness the way I do, and he leaves her at the party. Thankfully, Jonathan is there, and he takes her home and tucks her into bed. Jonathan is not bulls—. Chapter 3: The Pollywog After last episode's cliffhanger, Dustin comes home with something in his Ghostbusters chamber. He's detained by his mom in one of the show's funniest scenes to date, both of them giggling maniacally while the contents of Dustin's box rattle. When he finally makes it upstairs, Dustin temporarily evicts his turtle, Yurtle, and replaces it with a strange lizard slug creature that is obviously from the Upside Down. Dustin tries to find answers about the mysterious pollywog at school, by turning to the library. At the cabin in the woods, Hopper manages to bring Eleven out of her melancholy by offering her a triple-decker Eggo breakfast, but her mood sours again when Hopper offhandedly says she's going to see her friends again "soon." Eleven wants to know when "soon" is—which day? Day 500? Day 800? She reveals she's been there, cooped up in the cabin, for nearly a year—326 days—and that she's been counting the days like a prisoner. "FRIENDS DON'T LIE," Eleven shouts and, in a moment of rage, uses her powers to sweep the breakfast into Hopper's lap.Will is having a slightly better morning with a paternal figure: Bob is driving him to school and trying to impart whatever wisdom he can as the dorky middle-aged guy dating Will's mom. "Did I ever tell you about Mr. Baldo?" Bob offers when he brings up Will's nightmare. Bob tells the story about a terrifying clown he met at a fair once; Baldo haunted his dreams for months, until Bob was able to stand up to the clown (in his dreams) by saying, "Go away, go away." Max, who knows the bullies have been calling Will "Zombie Boy," gets a partial explanation from Lucas: Everyone thought Will was dead when they found the decomposed "body" in the water last season, and they held a funeral for him. And then Will, like a zombie, came back from the dead. While the boys are trapped at school, Eleven is still trapped in her new home, Hopper's cabin in the woods. We're offered our longest flashback yet as to how she got there: Hopper brought her in from the woods—it's his grandfather's old place; Hopper had been using it for storage—and, one cleaning montage later, made it a place she would be relatively safe, complete with booby trap security and Eggo waffles in the freezer. After class, Dustin brings the boys to the AV club room to show them his new discovery, Dart, who might be a new species. And, after confirming that he'll get full credit for the discovery, Dustin brings Dart back to the classroom to show Mr. Clarke. But Will and Mike stop them just in time, saying it was a stupid prank. Locking Max out of the AV room, the boys talk about Will's visions, confirming what we basically already knew: that Dart is from the Upside Down. The thing has already grown massively, with new limbs and two more legs that pop out of him as they watch. While they argue about whether to bring Dart to Hopper or not, Max forces the door open, and Dart escapes down the hallway.And there's trouble with the older kids in Hawkins, too—Nancy can't understand why Steve didn't pick her up for school, so he reminds her of what she said to him while drunk at the party and how Jonathan was the one who brought her home. And things get worse when Nancy can't or won't tell Steve she loves him. Wracked with guilt, mostly about Barb but probably also about her relationship, Nancy turns to Jonathan to come up with a plan to do…something. After a stop at Radio Shack, Nancy and Jonathan call Barb's mother and tell her to meet them the next day in person.Meanwhile, Hopper has to deal with two problems at once: He notices that the strange pumpkin blights around Hawkins have been happening in concentric circles, almost certainly related to the Upside Down. Once he tells Owens about it, the government official sends a crew to investigate and concludes that something strange is going on. But before Hopper can focus on that completely, he gets a call pertaining to rumors of a "Russian girl." Eleven left the cabin and asked a very confused mother which way the school was. While the boys—and Max—separate to find Dart, Max confronts Mike in the gym about wanting to be part of the gang. Mike angrily deflects: They don't need anyone else. Max asks about El, but Mike claims she was different. El was their mage. "I could be your zoomer," Max offers, zooming around on her skateboard. "That's not even a real thing!" Mike responds. Eleven sees them. Jealous, she flings Max off her skateboard but disappears before Mike can chase her down. Will finds Dart in the bathroom, but also finds his way back into the Upside Down, where the school is covered with vines and creeping smoke. He runs away until he's outside the building and sees the massive monster from his nightmares. He tries to stand up to the smoke creature the way Bob taught him, but it does nothing: Smoke just fills his face and sneaks into his nose and mouth. Chpt 4: Will the wise Finally, Will wakes up, and Joyce tries to take care of him as best as she can: promising that she believes him, that they won't go to a doctor, that she won't let anything bad happen to him again. "It's almost more than a feeling," Will says, trying to describe what the Shadow Thing did to him. "It got me, Mom."A less tender parent-child interaction is going down at Hopper's cabin, when Eleven returns home to find Hopper smoking on the patio. She storms inside before he can confront her, but he follows her inside. "Friends don't lie! Isn't that your bulls–t saying?" Hopper shouts at her, trying to get Eleven to remember whether anyone other than the mother and her child behind their house might have seen her. Hopper grounds her, which seems redundant given Eleven is basically under house arrest, but the true punishment emerges—no Eggos and no TV for a week. Hopper tries to move the TV but Eleven uses her powers to keep it stationary. The struggle continues until Hopper declares there will be no TV at all and pulls the plug out. "You are like Papa!" Eleven shouts, likening him to the evil man who kept her locked up in the lab. Hopper calls her a brat, and tells her to look it up in the dictionary, which Eleven uses her powers to throw back at him before knocking over furniture and retreating into her room with a closed door. A massive cry from Eleven breaks all of the windows, and it's painfully obvious that she is just lonely, acting like any kid would.Meanwhile, Dustin has Dart safely back in his tank, but won't tell his friends about it because he's scared they'll report Dart to Hopper, who'll take him away. And so when Dustin sees Lucas stomping around the Dumpster with Max and Mike, he plays mum and joins in the "search."When Will wakes up, Joyce discovers that his body temperature is too low and tries to run him a bath, unsuccessfully. Will wants the water colder. "We gotta get your body temperature back up," Joyce says. "NO," Will replies with a faraway voice, like Damien from The Omen. "HE LIKES IT COLD." Understandably, Joyce is concerned, so finally, after about a dozen calls to the police station, Hopper makes his way over to the house where he finds Will shirtless and facing an open window in the freezing cold house. Will can't or won't describe what he's feeling, so Joyce gets the idea to let him draw it, which he does, immediately beginning to scribble wildly. Also not in school: Nancy and Jonathan, who are waiting in the park for Barb's mother but seem fully aware that the government was listening in on their conversation. Nancy and Jonathan, as you might have guessed, are taken to Hawkins Labs, where they're greeted by Dr. Owens, who seems to be amiable, even as he's tacitly threatening them to keep their mouths shut. "Mistakes have been made," Owens offers as his explanation for what happened to Will, and for Barb's death. He shows them the source of what he calls "weeds"—the pulsing center of the Upside Down infiltrating the real world that men in Hazmat suits are going to contain "by whatever means necessary." In this case, that means flamethrowers. Nancy and Jonathan make it out, amazingly, free and clear, and only when they're far down the road does Nancy reveal what she bought at Radio Shack: a tape recorder. Will, it should be said, has been scribbling this entire time, and Hopper and Joyce fail to make any meaning out of his random scratches, until Joyce realizes that they're connected, meant to be linked together. She and Hopper cover her entire living room with Will's drawings, revealing the image Will has been drawing: curling, sweeping tentacles, like a road "branching like lightning." "Maybe it's roots," Joyce offers. But Hopper is less optimistic. Will said they were "killing." They're not roots: they're vines. "He's drawing vines," Hopper declares dramatically, before leaving without saying goodbye.While Hopper begins digging at the site of one of Hawkins' mysterious occurrences, Eleven begins doing a little digging of her own. While cleaning up after her fight with Hopper, she notices some storage underneath the floorboards, and one box is labeled "Hawkins Lab." Eleven opens the box and finds files related to her mother, Terry Ives, the woman who claimed the government stole her baby. Using what the boys call "truesight," Eleven covers her eyes and tries to discover more about her mom from holding photograph close to her heart, and she makes it, to the all-black place with reflective water, where Terry is muttering and sitting in a rocking chair. Terry opens her eyes, sees Eleven and says "Jane," but just as Eleven is reaching out to touch her hand, Terry disappears into smoke. Eleven is still in the cabin, alone. The climax of the episode comes when Dustin goes home to Dart, and sees that it's shed a slimy layer of skin and broken through the glass of the tank. Following a trail of dark slime and blood, he sees Dart consuming their pet cat. Dart turns, and shrieks, and its face splits open to reveal it's basically a mini-Demogorgan. The episode ends back with Hopper who's been digging, and finds his way into a deep, underground tunnel system. The camera rotates around and tells us what we already knew: he's in the Upside Down. Chpt5: Digdug Having heard that Will's feeling sick again, Bob helpfully shows up to the house with brain teasers, since those always used to help him deal with sickness as a kid. He ends up face-to-face with the biggest brain teaser of all: the Byers' house filled with Will's drawings strung together in an indecipherable pattern. Although Bob is worried that Will and Joyce seem mentally unwell, his love of brain teasers soon takes over. He solves the puzzle: When connected like this, the drawings form a map of Hawkins. So it's just a matter of matching this map to real-world Hawkins in order to figure out where Hopper is. Meanwhile, Jonathan and Nancy are on their way to bring their incriminating recording of the Hawkins Lab officials to Murray. But first, they have to make a stop in a motel for a night, where the receptionist becomes the latest adult to scoff at their desperate protests that they're not in a relationship. Nancy asks what happened to them and why they only hang out when there's a supernatural crisis going on. On top of that, she admits she waited for him to approach her after the climactic events of last season—but whether because he needed to support Will or was too nervous or some combination of the two, Jonathan didn't take her up on it, and now complains that she only waited a month. The next day, they finally make contact with Murray. Like any good conspiracy theorist, he's got a Carcosa wall of news clippings connected by red strings, but as Jonathan and Nancy inform him, he's not quite on the mark. Eleven isn't a Soviet agent, she's an escapee from Hawkins Lab. After they play their recording of Owens, Murray takes time to process it, and then informs them that it's too much—it reveals "the curtain behind the curtain" of American society, so to speak, and people don't like looking behind the curtain They can still blame the lab for Barb's death, but attribute it to toxins rather than an evil parallel dimension, to make it more palatable to the public. Jonathan and Nancy aren't the only ones having romantic issues. Lucas, for his part, is desperate to patch up his relationship with Max, and asks his dad for advice. Without looking up from his morning newspaper, Lucas' dad says that whenever he and Mom get in a fight, he apologizes and then gets her whatever she wants. Lucas asks if he does that even when she's wrong. Finally looking up from his newspaper, Lucas' dad declares, "She's never wrong, son." Thanks to some help from the older guy who manages the arcade, Lucas is able to secure some one-on-one time with Max, which he uses to tell her the whole story of what the party went through in season 1. Obviously, Max doesn't believe him one bit, though she can tell how passionate he is. With Lucas so preoccupied, Dustin is having trouble contacting any friends to help him restrain Dart. Using his hockey gear and a trail of meat, Dustin is able to corral Dart into his basement as punishment for eating his cat. Desperate for more help, he goes to Mike's house, but only his parents are home. After hitching a ride to her mom's house, Eleven sees something in her mom that not even her aunt does. Watching the electricity flicker and the TV channels change rapidly, Eleven notices that her mom, too, is bleeding from the nose, and realizes she's trying to communicate. So the young girl puts on her blindfold and goes back to the astral plane, where she starts reliving her mother's memories. After falling pregnant unexpectedly, her mother was rushed to the hospital—but though she distinctly remembers seeing her living, breathing, crying daughter Jane emerge, all the doctors inform her that the baby didn't survive. She never quite buys this, however, and after getting a gun out of a safe, broke into Hawkins Lab herself to find her baby. She found Jane in a room marked by a rainbow on the door, but before she could take her she was hauled away by security and subjected to electro-shock therapy for being insane. So now she's barely conscious, but the words she keeps muttering ("rainbow," "sunflower," etc.) are all references to her journey to get her daughter back. Now her daughter's here, but is she aware of it? Meanwhile, the Byers finally make a breakthrough, and reach the spot where Hopper went into the Upside-Down. Joyce and Bob follow him down, and once they find him are able to extricate him from the vines trapping him. Immediately after, they run into a Hawkins Lab technician, who orders them to clear the area before he unleashes his flamethrower on the vines. This has an unexpected effect: Will, apparently bonded closer with the shadow monster than anybody thought, starts screaming in pain as the vines are burned. Chpt 6:The spy Joyce scolds Owens and his team for not dealing with the problem sooner. When they ask why she hadn't been reporting Will's behavior and visions previously, she responds angrily, "I have been bringing him in! And what have you done? Nothing. Nothing!" She says she wants her son transferred to a real hospital, but this isn't realistic: Nobody outside could tell her what's wrong with Will, either, and even if they could, it appears that Will is at a point of no return in terms of his connection to the shadow monster and the Upside Down.Joyce at least has Bob by her side. He remains steadfastly supportive, saying Joyce needs only to worry about herself and Will—"Don't worry about me," he assures—and humorously reminding Joyce that she once told him that "this is not a normal family." But Will, in a distressing turn of events, can't remember her mother's new beau when he finally wakes up. He assumes Bob is a doctor. Overall, he only recognizes his mother and his best friend, Mike. As for what happened the night before, Will is clearly more influenced by the monster than ever: "They hurt me," he says he remembers, coldly referring to the lab's technicians as "soldiers." And after having another haunting "now memory," Will alerts Joyce and Owens to a potential chance at killing the shadow monster. He indicates a spot where the creature is vulnerable and could perhaps be neutralized. It's vague, but Owens bites: We see the doctor expressing a little more empathy than in previous episodes, noting that this thing from the Upside Down has been "spreading [and] growing beneath us like a cancer" and resisting his team's suggestion that they burn it, which—given how Will feels pain inflicted upon the shadow monster—could kill Will as a consequence. Nancy and Jonathan are still hanging at Murray's place, and the feeling—relative to the rest of the episode, anyway—is weirdly triumphant. They've hatched a plan to expose Hawkins Lab, and before long have sent off the damning recording of Owens admitting culpability to the Chicago Sun-Times. Murray invites them to stay overnight; Jonathan and Nancy initially insist on separate beds, despite Murray's encouragement. In a smart bit of editing, however, they're repeatedly pulled toward each other out of temptation. At long last, they succumb and kiss passionately. But things are not so joyous when they return home. Jonathan hadn't been able to make contact with his family while back at Murray's, and as he enters his house it quickly becomes clear why: With the house a disaster, maps spread across the wall, and nobody home, they know they've missed something serious. Jonathan also notices a Polaroid camera that isn't his own in the house. "Someone else has been here," he ominously warns.As for our younger Stranger Things heroes, Lucas' sister finally tells him that Dustin was communicating a "code red" by radio some time ago. In a panic, Lucas immediately heads over to try to find him, and when the two friends finally make contact, Dustin gives Lucas the lay of the land: He's with Steve , trying to contain a rapidly enlarging Dart. Lucas stops by Max's and asks whether she'd like to join him in the hunt—telling her he finally has the proof she'd been asking for, after he'd previously revealed everything to her in the arcade and left her skeptical. Grudgingly, she goes along, jumping out her window so as to go unseen by her still-raging stepbrother.Dustin and Steve, meanwhile, are enjoying some unexpected bonding time. The pair had joined forces outside of Mike and Nancy's house, where Steve was hoping to rekindle things with Nancy and where Dustin was searching desperately for Mike. They team up from there, forced to go about catching Dart alone. When Steve goes into the bunker where Dustin was hiding his pet, we see Dart has left a trail but has strengthened to the point where he managed to destroy a wall and escape. (Yikes.) Dustin and Steve then turn to more old-fashioned methods, dropping bait (chunks of beef) on the rail tracks, hoping to lure the hungry creature. But they've got time to kill and silence to break, and the topic of romance proves to be just the trick: Dustin confides his feelings for Max, to which Steve gives the potentially wrongheaded advice that "the key with a girl is acting like you don't care." Steve also bestows grooming and cologne tips. Finally, Dustin and Steve meet up with Lucas and Max at what looks to be the same field where they hid out in a bus last season. They hatch a plan to catch Dart while also protecting themselves. They lay more bait, pour gasoline on the field, and reconstruct the bus as a sort of hideout—where they can trap themselves inside, as well as fight from above. Steve figures this out and, nail bat in hand, leaves the bus and stands on the field alone. Max and Lucas connect in the interim, atop the bus: She reveals that her dad is still in California after her parents' divorce and that she misses him, and he says she's "cool and different and super smart." They share compliments, agreeing they like talking to each other—a warning sign for Dustin, who'd earlier snapped at Max for expressing doubts about their plan, scolding, "Why are you even here if you don't believe us?" After some delay, we hear Dart chittering around in the starry night as Steve nervously positions himself to attack. Dart finally appears, and he's enormous—fear overcomes Steve's face, but he stands strong. But then another "Dart" appears. And then another. Before long, Steve and the kids are surrounded by Upside Down monsters. He's attacked, and they all hide out in the bus together—not exactly a safe space to wait things out. The monsters jump to the roof. (In the midst of this terrifying ordeal, we catch Lucas and Max holding hands, which devastates Dustin.) But just when it seems like the group is doomed to be consumed by the monster that Dustin had once treated as a cute baby pet, the creatures all mysteriously leave. Did Steve intimidate them? No, Steve assures. "They're going somewhere."Turns out, that "somewhere" is connected to Will's vision for how to defeat the shadow monster. The lab technicians go into the Upside Down, donning protective suits and with guns and flamethrowers, only to be led by Will into a familiar area. Hopper recognizes the location, for one: "That damn graveyard." Just before the harrowing, thrilling final sequence of the episode kicks in, Will apologizes to his mother. "I'm sorry," he says. "They made me do it.… I told you, they upset him." Will, possessed by the monster, reveals what he's just set in motion: a trap for Owens and the rest of Hawkins Lab to fall into.Back in the Upside Down, we see a fog settle in—we know creatures are coming. The creatures, likely with Dart among them, promptly ambush the "soldiers" one by one, with the monitor back at the lab going static—as all those sent to kill the monster are killed themselves. Will may yet be too far gone. But, he warns, it's only getting worse: "They're almost here." Chpt7: lost sister She arrives in Chicago, and when she steps off the bus, all she sees are cops and rude "mouthbreathers." Braving her way through skid row, Eleven comes across a seemingly abandoned warehouse, where she finds the bankrobbing crew from the beginning of the season. They aren't very welcoming of "Shirley Temple." Mr. Mohawk, a.k.a. Axel, is especially threatening, pulling out a knife. But he's suddenly spooked by spiders crawling all over his hand. The thing is, no one else can see them. "I told you to stay out of my head," he yells at Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), or Eight as we know her from episode 1. Eleven quickly proves that she's no "schitzo" when she picks up Axel's knife with her mind. Studying the girl, Kali pulls up Eleven's sleeve, revealing the "011" tattoo, which leads Kali to reveal her "008" one. "Sister," they say to each other as they embrace. The sisters do some catching up on the roof. Kali is a very supportive long-lost sister. "What you can do is incredible—it makes you special, Jane," she tells her. Kali's gift is that she can make people see or not see whatever she chooses. Must be nice not having to worry about shopping for a Halloween costume. "Are you real?" asks Eleven, adorably touching Kali to make sure. After setting her sister up with a bed and blanket, Kali gets sentimental. It's not exactly sweet dreams for Eleven as she goes to sleep. In her dream circle, she can hear the message Hopper left for her. "I want you to know I'm not mad at you," he says. "I'm just sorry." Kali interrupts, waking her up so she can be "properly" introduced to the rest of the team. The fellow outcasts consist of spider-hating Axel, Dottie, Mack, and Funshine. Kali saved them, so now they help her kill the people responsible for what happened to her and Eleven. "I'm a fighter," declares Eleven. "I've killed." I'd say Kali's recruiting efforts are going pretty well so far. She wants her sister to find her anger and move a train car toward them. As Kali eggs her on, Eleven thinks of Max with Mike, the experiments done to her, Mama being taken, and her fight with Hopper. It works, the train moves, and Eleven falls to the ground. Now that Eleven has passed that test, she's shown the team's wall of "bad men." She recognizes one of them from her mom's dream circle. The bald man is Ray Carroll, and he also hurt Kali. Fifty bucks says Ray's about to be the one hurting. Eleven goes into tracker mode. But before they can go eliminate him, it's time for a classic '80s makeover montage! Out is the old Eleven style and in is the slicked-back hair, popped-collar wearing Eleven. And how does she look? "Bitchin."Also necessary on the journey to murder a bad guy is a pit stop for snacks and Tampons. As Kali makes the convenience store employee think his bathroom is flooding, the crew does its own version of Supermarket Sweep. Predictably, Eleven stocks up on Eggos. Finally arriving at Ray's place, Eleven continues to be a huge pick-up for the squad as she locates him and confirms he seems to be alone, which means it's time to put the masks on (Future's '80s remix). Once inside, Kali and Eleven take theirs off. "Do you remember us?" asks Kali, before making Ray see them as their younger selves. As Eleven throws him against the wall, he tries to bargain for his life by offering to help them find Brenner, who he insists is alive. Eleven isn't buying what Ray's selling and begins to choke him, but she changes her mind after noticing a picture of Ray with two young girls, whom Axel has just stumbled upon hiding in another room, calling the police. This changes nothing for Kali, contending, "Did he show your mother mercy?" With Eleven relenting, Kali points a gun at Ray, only for her sister to knock it away. No time to argue about it though, since the police are en route. Back at the warehouse, Kali checks in on Eleven. Insisting she's hard on Eleven because of her own past mistakes, Kali reveals more of her own backstory: Following Eleven's disappearance from the rainbow room, Kali used her gifts to escape; she eventually found a home, but lost them, too. Now, she hopes the sisters can team up to find Brenner, whom Kali makes visible to Eleven. Later, Eleven is left alone with only her old shirt and fond memories of her friends and Hopper. Back in her dream circle, she can see Hopper and Mike at Hawkins Lab, where they're in a bit of trouble. When they disappear, she awakens to cops entering the warehouse. After Kali temporarily makes the crew invisible, they make a run for it. Her powers continue to be helpful when she gives the illusion of a huge barrier between them and the police. But as they all hop in the van, Eleven says she isn't going. "We belong together," pleads Kali. "There's nothing back there—they cannot save you, Jane." Eleven responds, "No, but I can save them." She heads off the opposite way, clearly leaving Kali hurt. Eleven's back on the bus. "I'm going home." Chpt8: The mind flayer "The Mind Flayer" begins where "The Spy" concluded, with Hopper staring down the emergence of what we will soon be referring to as "demodogs." A few of Dart's brothers show up and start beating on the glass, which Owens insists they can't penetrate.Owens quickly realizes his mistake and sets off the alarm. "We're too late," screams Mike, booking it back to Will—who, he tells Joyce, needs to be put to sleep since he's a spy for the shadow monster.While they debate that, let's follow a few scientists who are rushing to an elevator as the demodogs head their way. Now back to the whole "put Will to sleep" thing. Joyce asks her son if he knows who she is, and when he hesitates, she doesn't delay in stabbing him with a needle . Let's check back in to see if those scientists are doing okay. Ugh, no, they're dead. Elsewhere in Hawkins, things are equally scary for Billy. His dad and Max's mom get home and are worried when they can't find Max. Billy doesn't know she snuck out since he's too busy getting his swag level to 100 via hair products and putting cologne on his junk. He definitely is liking what he sees in the mirror. His good times end when his pissed off dad barges in and throws Billy against the wall. Jeez, this dad is no Danny Tanner. Neil orders his son to go find Max, like the "good, kind, respecting brother that he is." That doesn't sound like him. Speaking of Max, she's currently roaming the woods with Steve, Lucas, and Dustin, looking for Dart. Nancy and Jonathan head toward noises they hear coming from the woods. What could it be? Dart? Dart and his brothers? Nope, something even scarier—her maybe-still boyfriend. Steve and the kids walk out of the trees, but any chance for the group to catch up is thwarted as the sound of the demodogs grows louder. Back inside the lab, which looks like something straight out of a horror movie, Owens is explaining the situation. The building is on complete lockdown and the only solution is to reset the breakers in the basement, then use a computer to unlock the doors. That last step is why Bob decides he's going to be the one to do it. "It's gonna be okay," he assures Joyce as they hug. "Remember, Bob Newby: superhero." Superhero Bob makes his way downstairs and quickly works his magic, getting the power on and doors unlocked, meaning the kids can now get through the front gate. And if that weren't enough, he even directs a demodog away from their side of the building. As Hopper, Will, Mike, and Joyce make it to the lobby, Bob heads up to meet them. But that mission is going to be that much harder without the gun he just left behind. Luckily, Owens stayed behind and is guiding Bob out. Good to know that there are still some nice scientists around there. After temporarily hiding in a closet to avoid an incoming demodog, the coast seems to be clear—until Bob knocks over a broom as he leaves the closet, catching the demodog's attention. "Run," screams Owens. Bob books it as the demodog follows in hot pursuit. He makes it to the lobby and stops for a rest, which is an amateur move. Do you see Usain Bolt take a break a few feet from the finish line? And sadly, but predictably, Bob becomes demodog dinner. Hopper gets Joyce out of there just as Jonathan pulls up. Between his car and Hopper's, they all load in and get out of there, and we get one final shot of Bob getting destroyed like he's a turkey at Golden Corral on Thanksgiving.Our heroes all return to the Byers house, which seems to be a little obvious. Considering the Demogorgon's history there, maybe try a new location. As Jonathan apologizes to his brother, who's still out cold, Nancy comforts him and Steve jealously watches. Hopper's plan is to stay and wait for help, even though whoever he called for backup didn't sound very convinced of his story.We do have two pieces of good news. First, Dustin shares his genius "demodogs" nickname with everyone else. Second, Mike kind of has a plan that involves Dungeons & Dragons. Mike and Dustin compare the shadow monster to the Mind Flayer, which prompts all the non-nerds to say, "What?!" Their explanation to all the older kids and adults is that the shadow monster and demodogs share a "collective consciousness," so if they kill it, then "theoretically" they kill them all. Mike believes that Will is the key. Since it's been previously established that Will is a spy, the idea is to clear out Joyce's shed and make it impossible for the monster to know where it is when they wake it up for questioning. During a disguise-the-shed montage, Steve and Nancy have a nice but awkward moment; Dustin, who's jealous about Max, apologizes to Lucas; Max unsuccessfully tries to bond with Mike; and Joyce tells Jonathan that Will is "still in there." Joyce is playing good cop and Hopper is also playing good cop. Interesting tactic. "Why am I tied up?" Will repeatedly screams, going into full Exorcist mode. Joyce, Jonathan, and Mike do their best to reach him by sharing sweet stories. For Mike, it's the first time they met. "I had no friends," admits Mike, tearing up (Finn Wolfhard coming through with maybe his best work to date). "I just felt so alone and so scared." They became friends that day in kindergarten, and the rest is scary and frightening history. It doesn't seem to be working, but Hopper notices Will tapping under the chair. Rushing inside, he realizes Will signaled "here" through Morse code. Soon, he sends another message: "Close gate." It's probably not a coincidence that the phone then starts to ring, which Will hears. Nancy shows some impressive strength and rips it from the wall. Back outside, the shadow monster has fully taken over Will, again. "It knows," says Hopper as they put Will back to sleep (this can't be healthy). As they all brace for what's coming, a dead demodog flies through the window. This leaves everyone confused. They're about to get some clarity when the door opens…and it's Eleven! Bitchin' timing. The episode's final shots are of Mike and Eleven exchanging loving looks that are to die for. Chpt 9- The gate When they rejoin the group, Eleven has already shunned Max (you don't have to view other girls as threats, El!) and studied Will's message: "CLOSE GATE." She's sure she can close the same gate she opened before, which should kill the Mind Flayer's army—but as Mike points out, that army controls Will, meaning he'd die too. How are they just now figuring this out? Joyce comes up with a solution: heat up her son's body until the Mind Flayer can't stand it anymore. Nancy, with Steve's blessing, goes with the Byers family to Hopper's cabin while Hop and Eleven set out for the lab, where they'll wait to close the gate until Jonathan radios that Will is monster-free. On the drive, El admits to visiting her mother—and Hopper apologizes to his punked-out runaway for being so hard on her. He was just afraid of losing her like he lost Sara. Hopper seems surprised when Eleven asks who Sara is; he's either startled that he mentioned his daughter or just surprised he hasn't mentioned her before. While they rebuild, another family causes trouble. Billy, after flirting with Mrs. Wheeler, has found his way to the Byers home, where he shoves Lucas against the wall and punches Steve to a pulp. Max thinks on her feet, grabs a syringe full of whatever they've been using to knock out Will, and stabs her stepbrother in the neck. Max grabs Steve's nail bat and brings it down inches from her stepbrother's crotch, demanding that he leave her and her new friends alone. As Billy sinks into unconsciousness, Max grabs his keys. She and the boys aren't content to sit on the bench, so they've hatched a plan to help El by setting fire to the hub of the shadow monster's tunnels, drawing the demodogs away from the lab. Responsible Babysitter Steve objects to this plan, but Responsible Babysitter Steve is now out cold, leaving Max Steve wakes up in the back seat of a speeding car, surrounded by middle schoolers who baby him. "Hey, buddy, shhh," Dustin coos. "It's okay! You put up a good fight!" After Max somehow manages to steer everyone to the hole Hopper dug into the tunnels, Steve accepts that there's nothing he can do to stop the kids from helping Eleven, so he changes tactics and takes the lead. When they get to the hub, he flicks his lighter. The tunnel goes up in flames. The chain reaction is immediate. The demodogs blocking Hopper and Eleven's route to the gate all flock to the tunnels. In Hopper's cabin, Will—whose veins have gone black as space heaters and a fireplace burn him from every side—screams out a trail of smoke. He wakes up as Will again, freed from the last of the Mind Flayer (WE HOPE), and the Byers family enjoys a well-earned group hug. Steve and the kids book it out of the tunnel, slipping past Dart after Dustin plies him with nougat. At least something good came out of his connection with the monster. Just as Steve is about to give Dustin a boost out of the tunnel, they're swarmed by demodogs on all sides, but the creatures aren't interested in them. Eleven is at the gate. It's time to end this. Hopper and Eleven descend into a pit and face down the gaping, glowing tear into the Upside Down. While Hopper picks off incoming demodogs with a rifle, Eleven focuses all of her powers and all of her pain, per Kali's advice, on the gate. At the memory of being torn from her mother for a lifetime of testing, she screams so righteously that she levitates a few inches above the ground. The gate knits itself back together. Hopper wraps her in his arms: "You did good, kid." One month later, the lab is locked down. A half-truth about Barb's fate (she died of exposure to an "experimental chemical asphyxiate") gives her parents closure, and another half-truth gives Hopper a fresh start: Owens forged a birth certificate for Eleven. Terry is still listed as her birth mother, but based on El's official name—Jane Hopper—it looks like the chief is on record as her dad. Owens suggests they let things cool down for another year before El comes out of hiding, which is either well-intentioned caution or another attempt at controlling her. In any case, Hopper negotiates one night of leniency so El can go to the middle school Snow Ball (also an apt term for how everything happens in Hawkins: It snowballs). Compared to most middle school dances, this one is surprisingly lively; all the kids are pairing off and putting their arms around each other. Lucas stammers out a request to Max and she leads him onto the floor while Dustin looks on. Dustin is our lone reminder of how apocalyptic rejection feels at that age. It's not for lack of trying—he's even done up his hair with Steve's favorite Farrah Fawcett hairspray—but Steve's words of encouragement can't make the girls say yes to a dance with Dustin, and the boy wanders the gym in a sequence that goes on so long, it starts to feel cruel. Luckily, Nancy saves the day by asking him to dance, telling the flustered boy that he's her favorite out of Mike's friends and promising that girls will see his virtues soon enough. Stranger Things is still driven by that kind of act of friendship, but it's also a show about kids who are starting to think they might want more. The season ends by pairing everyone off like, well, a middle school slow dance. Nancy and Jonathan exchange smiles. Lucas and Max kiss. In the parking lot, Hopper and Joyce share a cigarette and bond in their grief. And Eleven and Mike finally get their West Side Story moment, locking eyes across the gym. He asks her to dance; she says she doesn't know how. "I don't either," Mike says. "Do you want to figure it out?" He guides her arms to his shoulders, and this time, no one interrupts their kiss.

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