Episodes 01

“Chapter One: MADMAX”

On October 28, 1984, a girl with the psychic power to make people see things and with a tattoo reading “008” on her arm is part of a criminal gang that manages to rob a bank and get away in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In Hawkins, Indiana, the town prepares for Halloween. Maxine “Max” Mayfield, a new girl at school, captures the boys’ attention. Joyce is dating her old high school classmate Bob Newby, Hopper investigates a field of pumpkins mysteriously rotting, and conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman investigates people who sighted Eleven, believing her to be a Russian spy. Mike and Nancy deal with their respective losses of Eleven and Barb, and Will has been experiencing episodes of apparent hallucinations of the Upside Down and an enormous, tentacled shadow monster. Joyce and Hopper take Will to see the lab’s new director, Dr. Sam Owens, who has been giving Will routine medical exams ever since his return. Owens theorizes that Will’s episodes are PTSD brought on by the anniversary of his disappearance. The gate in the lab’s basement has been growing, worrying Owens. Nancy and Steve have dinner with Barb’s parents, who still believe their daughter to be missing and who have hired Murray to find her. Hopper goes home to a cabin in the woods where he secretly lives with Eleven.

Episodes 02

“Chapter Two: Trick or Treat, Freak”

Flashbacks reveal that after her defeat of the Demogorgon, Eleven awoke in the Upside Down. She escaped back into the real world, but was forced to hide after seeing government officials interrogating Mike at his home. In the present, it is Halloween. Eleven asks Hopper if she can go trick-or-treating, but Hopper insists that she needs to remain hidden until he can reach an agreement with Owens allowing her to live a normal life, frustrating the homebound Eleven. More pumpkin fields rot across town, and Hopper discovers an organic substance in the fields. Nancy wants to tell Barb’s parents the truth about her death, but Steve says it is a bad idea, fearing that Hawkins Lab might come after them if they tell anyone the truth. Instead, they attend a Halloween party where Nancy gets drunk and berates Steve for his lack of empathy for Barb’s parents. Steve leaves and Jonathan takes Nancy home. The boys go trick-or-treating and are later joined by Max. Will has another episode during the night and tells Mike about his visions, leading Mike to admit that he is trying to contact Eleven. Eleven tries to contact Mike using her powers, but is unsuccessful. Dustin returns home after trick-or-treating and finds a strange creature in his trash can.

Episodes 03

“Chapter Three: The Pollywog”

Flashbacks reveal that Hopper found Eleven in the woods and agreed to take care of her in his grandfather’s old hunting cabin if she agreed not to leave the cabin. In the present, Bob encourages Will to face his fears, not understanding the extent of Will’s episodes. Nancy persuades Jonathan to help her tell Barb’s parents the truth, and the pair arrange a meeting with Barb’s mother in a public park the following day, fearing that Owens may be tapping the phone lines. The creature Dustin found in his trash can is a small, slug-like animal that he names D’Artagnan (“Dart”). He shows Dart to the other kids, and Will concludes that it is from the Upside Down, as it makes a noise similar to one Will heard in his visions. Hopper accuses Owens of failing to keep the gate contained, becoming increasingly concerned about the pumpkin fields. Frustrated with being holed up, Eleven leaves to look for Mike; at the school, she sees him arguing with Max and mistakes it as flirting. Heartbroken, she leaves. Will suffers from another episode and follows Bob’s advice to confront the shadow monster, but it possesses him.

Episodes 04

“Chapter Four: Will the Wise”

Joyce and the kids awaken an unconscious Will. Joyce takes Will home, but finds him acting strangely, drawing scribbles on pages and demanding that the house be kept cold. Upon returning to the cabin, Eleven argues with Hopper over her sneaking out, culminating in her destroying the cabin’s windows in a fit of rage. Joyce calls Hopper and together they discover that the scribbles line up. Hopper recognizes that the drawings represent vines, and he leaves. Nancy and Jonathan are captured when they try to contact Barb’s mother and are taken to Hawkins Lab, where Owens shows them the portal to the Upside Down. He admits Barb died in the Upside Down, and says that he wants to prevent foreign governments from learning of it. They are released, and it is revealed that Nancy was secretly recording Owens. An infatuated Lucas tries to get closer to Max, but her violent older stepbrother Billy Hargrove intervenes. While cleaning up her mess the following morning, Eleven finds Hopper’s research of her biological mother, Terry Ives, and tries to contact Terry with her powers. A horrified Dustin finds that Dart has broken out of its cage, devoured his pet cat, and is an infant Demogorgon. Hopper digs into one of the pumpkin fields and finds a tunnel resembling the Upside Down.

Episodes 05

“Chapter Five: Dig Dug”

Hopper becomes trapped in the tunnels and passes out. Mike sleeps over at the Byers’ house to help Will recover. Will has a vision of Hopper, leading Joyce to recruit Bob’s help to determine its meaning. Bob identifies Will’s drawings as a map of Hawkins and the pumpkin field as the place Hopper was going. Nancy and Jonathan take the tape of Owens’ admission to Murray, who realizes the public will not believe the truth and suggests watering it down to make it more palatable. Lucas reveals the truth of Will’s disappearance to Max. Dustin traps Dart in his basement and enlists Steve’s help to recapture it. Eleven tracks down Terry and Becky Ives. Terry and Eleven are able to communicate using their psychic powers, and Terry reveals to Eleven that she tried to rescue her at the lab and was subjected to a brain-damaging dose of shock therapy by Dr. Brenner. Eleven learns that there was another girl trained like her. Joyce, Bob, Will, and Mike rescue Hopper, though scientists from the lab soon arrive and set the tunnels on fire. As this happens, Will collapses and begins convulsing and screaming in agony.

Episodes 06

“Chapter Six: The Spy”

Will is rushed to the lab, demonstrating memory loss. Owens theorizes that the shadow monster is a virus that has spread to Will’s brain and is controlling him, and that the creatures from the Upside Down share a hive mind. Therefore, damaging the tunnels will be lethal to the now-infected Will. Nancy and Jonathan spend the night at Murray’s, who forces them to admit their feelings for each other. The following morning, the trio send copies of the tape of Owens’ admission to numerous newspapers around the country. Nancy and Jonathan discover Will’s drawings upon returning to the Byers’ house. Lucas and Max regroup with Dustin and Steve, and the group attempt to lure Dart to a junkyard. Max apologizes for being hostile to Lucas, explaining that Billy’s violence results from his father getting re-married to Max’s mother. Dart arrives in the junkyard flanked by a pack of adolescent monsters. Steve and the kids are cornered until the pack unexpectedly run away. Will discovers a location that the monster prevents him from seeing. Unaware that the monster is manipulating Will, Owens sends a team to investigate. The team is attacked by the adolescent monsters, who make their way into the lab.

Episodes 07

“Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister”

Eleven travels to Chicago, Illinois, and finds the other girl from Terry’s memories, named Kali. Realizing they have similar tattoos and were both experimented on by Brenner, Eleven and Kali consider themselves sisters. Kali can project images into people’s minds and leads a street gang to seek revenge on Brenner. Eleven reveals that Brenner is dead, so the gang decide to kill the man who tortured Terry instead. Kali helps Eleven hone her abilities by demonstrating that channeling her anger is the key to strengthening her powers. After Eleven uses her powers to find the gang’s target, named Ray, the gang travel to Ray’s apartment to kill him. Eleven begins to choke Ray with her powers, leading him to claim that Brenner is still alive. Eleven refuses to kill Ray after seeing a photo of his two young daughters, who are discovered at that same moment to be contacting the police. Eleven stops Kali from killing Ray. The gang flee to their hideout, and Kali insists Eleven either stay and avenge her mother or return to Hawkins. Eleven has a vision of Mike and Hopper’s plight at the lab and decides to return while Kali and her gang escape from the police.

Episodes 08

“Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer”

The pack of Demodogs attack the lab, killing most of the scientists. Realizing that Will is a spy for the monster, Mike convinces Joyce to sedate Will to prevent the creatures from tracking them. Mike, Joyce, Hopper, Bob, and Owens take Will’s unconscious body to the lab’s security room to barricade themselves from the creatures. The lab’s power goes out, and Bob volunteers to reset the breakers and allow the group to escape. Bob’s mission succeeds, allowing Mike, Joyce, Hopper, and Will to escape. Owens stays behind to guide Bob to the exit. However, the Demodogs attack Bob and maul him to death in front of Joyce, leaving her devastated. The survivors are rescued by Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, Dustin, Lucas, and Max, and return to the Byers’ house. Desperate to seek revenge on the shadow monster, who Dustin realizes is equivalent to the ‘Mind Flayer’ in Dungeons & Dragons, the group theorize that the Mind Flayer wishes to spread into this universe and that killing it will kill all the creatures connected to it–including Will. Using Morse code, they are able to communicate with the real Will, who instructs them to “CLOSE GATE.” The Mind Flayer finds their location and sends the Demodogs after them. As the creatures close in, one suddenly crashes through the window and lands on the floor, dead. The door then unlocks itself, and Eleven walks in, having dispatched the other creatures.

Episodes 09

“Chapter Nine: The Gate”

After a brief reunion, Eleven and the group devise a plan to close the gate without killing Will. As Hopper and Eleven head to the lab to close the portal, they discover an injured Dr. Owens. Meanwhile, Jonathan, Nancy, and Joyce purge the virus from Will by overheating him in Hopper’s cabin. To prevent the Demodogs from attacking Hopper and Eleven, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Steve plan to enter the tunnels to lure the pack. Billy arrives at the Byers’ house, having been instructed to find Max by his father, and gets into a fight with Steve. Max manages to sedate him, and the group enter the tunnels to enact their plan. The group then encounter several Demodogs, including D’Artagnan (“Dart”) who recognises and refuses to attack Dustin. Ignoring the Mind Flayer’s wishes to kill Dustin and the group, Dart stops the other Demodogs from attacking the group and nods at Dustin to finish the job. Nancy manages to release Will from the Mind Flayer’s grasp by branding him with a poker. Despite the Mind Flayer’s attempts to thwart her, Eleven unleashes her anger and successfully closes the gate, killing the Demodogs and Dart in the process. One month later, Nancy’s tape has exposed the lab, leading to its closure. Barb receives a funeral, and Owens, who survived his injuries, forges a birth certificate for Eleven, naming her Jane Hopper. Mike, Eleven, Dustin, Will, Lucas, and Max attend their school’s Snow Ball. Lucas and Max dance and kiss, as do Mike and Eleven, while Dustin dances with Nancy after being turned down by various girls. The Mind Flayer is revealed in the Upside Down, still alive and towering over the school and watching the group.