The D&D campaign meets the Demogorgon
Ten hours into a campaign in the Wheeler basement, the party faces the Demogorgon, Will's fireball roll goes missing, and Karen calls time.
Dustin Henderson
The group's curious, sharp-tongued scientist, never without a theory. Played by Gaten Matarazzo.
101 moments · 2h 15m
Will bikes home alone and vanishes
A race for a comic turns into Will's solo ride down a dark road, an empty house, and a shed that will not stay quiet.
Freak show: Dustin's teeth and the arm thing
Bullies hold a freak-show auction outside school; Dustin explains cleidocranial dysplasia and Mike calls it a superpower.
Hopper questions the boys about Mirkwood
The party explains Will's route home via a road named from The Hobbit; Hopper orders them straight home with no investigating.
The boys reach Mirkwood: did you hear that?
Calling for Will in the rain, Dustin argues for turning back right before a noise stops all three of them. Episode cliffhanger.
The boys interrogate the girl and Mike gives her privacy
Dustin and Lucas pepper the shaven-headed stranger with questions; Mike hands her dry clothes and learns she wants the bathroom door left open.
Pennhurst escapee or Michael Myers: the boys debate the plan
Lucas is sure she escaped an asylum, Dustin backs him, and Mike lays out a doorbell scheme to hand her off without their parents finding out.
Lucas pushes El about Will and she slams the door shut
Mike argues El knows what happened to Will; Lucas shouts at her, calls it nuts, and heads for the stairs until the door shuts by itself.
What is friend? The boys explain the spit swear
Over meatloaf in the basement, Dustin blurts out superpowers and El asks a question that leaves the boys defining friendship and promises.
El flips the game board: Will is hiding
With the boys watching, El uses the D&D board to answer where Will is, then shows them what he is hiding from.
Operation Mirkwood: wrist rocket, snacks and a flying Millennium Falcon
Lucas unpacks Vietnam-era gear, Dustin unpacks candy, and the boys try to get Eleven to fly a toy with her mind.
Why don't you marry her: rock hunting, Troy's taunt and the monster killer
Rock hunting by the creek: X-Men or Green Lantern, 'why don't you marry her', a cruel bully, then the perfect slingshot stone.
Eleven leads the boys to Will's house and Lucas explodes
At the power lines the search ends at the Byers house; Lucas wants the cops, Mike refuses, then sirens pull them away.
A body comes out of the quarry and Mike turns on Eleven
Hopper watches divers pull a small body from the water; the boys see it on the news and Mike screams at Eleven for lying.
Mike insists Will is alive and Eleven is channeling him
Lucas says it was a baby monitor; Mike argues Eleven is channeling Will like Professor X, and the boys plan to get her to Mr. Clarke's Heathkit radio.
Eleven's makeover: pretty, good
The boys put Eleven in a blonde wig and a pink dress to pass her off at school; Mike fumbles out that she looks pretty good, and she repeats it to the mirror.
Eleven becomes Eleanor, Mike's cousin from Sweden
Caught sneaking to the Heathkit, the boys improvise a cover story for Mr. Clarke: Eleven is cousin Eleanor from Sweden, where it is cold. Subzero.
Mike confronts Troy at the assembly and Eleven makes him wet himself
Mike calls out Troy for laughing at Will's memorial; Troy mocks Will as a fairy, then freezes mid-threat and pees his pants in front of the whole gym.
Eleven reaches for Will on the Heathkit as Papa's word test plays
At the ham radio, Eleven closes her eyes; in flashback Brenner has her listen to a stranger and repeat his words. The classroom lights start to flicker.
Will's voice: Joyce through the wall, the boys through the radio
Will calls for his mom from a place like home but dark and cold; Joyce tears into the wallpaper while the boys hear him on the Heathkit, until it blows.
The party decodes Will's radio message: the Upside Down
Piecing together 'home, dark, empty', Eleven flips the board and the boys name the Vale of Shadows, a dark echo of Hawkins where Will might be.
Will's funeral and the joke about Jennifer Hayes
The pastor asks how God could take someone so young while the boys, unconvinced Will is dead, note who is crying so they can tell him later.
Mr. Clarke explains the flea and the acrobat
At the wake the boys ask their science teacher how to reach another dimension; he answers with a tightrope, a flea, and a gate that would need enormous energy.
Dustin's compasses do not point to true north
Eleven dodges the question of where the gate is, then Dustin grabs every compass: a gate strong enough to bend magnetic north would also point the way.
Is the weirdo acting weird?
On the compass hike Dustin needles Lucas about distance, Mike wonders if Eleven is off, and Lucas asks whether the weirdo can act weirder than normal.
The compasses loop back and Lucas accuses Eleven
The setting sun shows the party has walked in a circle; Lucas sees fresh blood on Eleven's nose and calls her a traitor, and she can only say it is not safe.
Mike and Lucas fight until Eleven throws Lucas
Lucas calls Eleven a stray dog and maybe the monster, Mike tackles him, and Eleven ends the brawl with her mind, knocking Lucas out cold.
Dustin lays down the rule of law
Mike blames himself and Lucas for Eleven leaving; Dustin calls all three of them out and orders a handshake or banishment from the party.
Lucas refuses the handshake and goes to the gate alone
Dustin invokes the Bloodstone Pass to keep the party together, but Lucas calls Eleven a traitor and leaves to find Will by himself.
Dustin on best friends and goblins with zero intelligence
Riding without Lucas, Dustin tells Mike the fight is about jealousy, and they settle whether you can have more than one best friend.
Eleven saves Mike at the quarry
Troy holds a knife to Dustin and counts Mike down to the cliff edge; Mike jumps, and Eleven catches him and breaks Troy's arm.
Lucas's walkie warning: the bad men are coming
A frantic, half-audible call from Lucas reaches Mike's basement: the lab knows about Eleven and is on its way.
The bike chase and the flipped van
The boys race through Hawkins on bikes with lab vans closing in, until Eleven sends one flying overhead.
Lucas and Mike make up: friends don't lie
After the chase, Lucas takes back calling Mike a traitor and the party's rule gets said out loud.
Nancy and Hopper radio Mike: We're here
Nancy uses the AV room ham radio to reach her brother; the boys debate a Lando Calrissian trap until Mike finally answers.
Waiting in the bus: shut up about Lando
Dustin paces and panics that the chief set them up, Lucas has had enough of Lando, then headlights appear.
The acrobat and the flea: Eleven tries to find Will
Nancy hugs Mike and notices her dress; the boys explain the Upside Down with a flea and a tightrope; Eleven reaches and comes up empty.
Dustin calls Mr. Clarke about curiosity doors
At ten on a Saturday Dustin phones his science teacher for sensory deprivation tank plans, and learns they need 1,500 pounds of salt.
Dustin goes hunting for chocolate pudding
The boys argue over whether to stay hidden in the school gym; Dustin's answer is a raid on the lunch lady's secret stash so Eleven can recharge.
The agents storm the school
Lab agents sweep the building and corner the boys in the hallway; the chase ends in silence and Eleven slumps, bleeding and unresponsive.
Papa comes for Eleven and the lights go out
The boys refuse to hand Eleven over, Brenner scoops her up with soothing words, and she answers him with a single word before the monster arrives.
Eleven faces the Demogorgon alone
Rocks from a wrist rocket do nothing, so Eleven gets up, tells the boys to stop, pins the monster to the wall and says goodbye to Mike.
The party tells Will about Eleven
Mike, Dustin and Lucas pile into Will's hospital room with news of his funeral, Troy's accident, and a new friend who is basically a wizard.
Will the Wise fireballs the thessalhydra
A month later the campaign ends in the basement: Will rolls a fourteen, the boys complain the ending is too short, and Dustin gets blamed for the smell.
Dustin, Lucas and Mike scrape together arcade money
Couch-cushion pennies, a mowed lawn and a raid on Nancy's savings: the boys radio each other to tally quarters before arcade night.
A mystery player called Mad Max beats Dustin's Dig Dug record
Dustin loses at Dragon's Lair, then finds his top score smashed by someone named Mad Max. Keith will only talk in exchange for a date with Nancy.
Max skateboards into Hawkins Middle and corrects her name
The boys clock a new skater in the schoolyard; in class Mr. Clarke introduces Maxine from California, who insists on Max.
The boys spy on Max and get caught
Lucas and Dustin debate whether a girl can be Mad Max while watching her through binoculars, until she leaves them a note.
Dustin and Lucas stake out the arcade for Max
Waiting for Max to show, Dustin brags about his new teeth while Lucas watches her argue with her brother, then play like a pro.
Day 352: Mike calls out to El on the radio
Alone in the basement, Mike keeps his nightly ritual of radioing Eleven, asking only for a sign she's okay. Dustin cuts in on the channel.
Two Venkmans and nobody else in costume
Mike and Lucas fight over who gets to be Venkman and why nobody wants Winston, then realise they are the only kids at school dressed up.
Dustin and Lucas invite the new girl trick-or-treating
The self-described non-stalkers pitch Max on bullies, a working ghost trap and full-sized candy bars; she calls them presumptuous and they panic over the word.
Billy's car: 'Say it' and the near miss
Max's stepbrother makes her say whose fault Hawkins is, then swerves at the boys in the road for bonus points. The kids finally learn who Mad Max is.
The 3 Musketeers debate and a masked ambush
The boys argue whether 3 Musketeers is just nougat or top three, then get scared out of their skins by a new party member in a mask.
Totally tubular, and Mike sulks
Dustin and Lucas butcher California slang for Max's benefit while Mike complains to Will that nobody asked him about adding her to the party.
Will's episode on Halloween night
Shoved by bullies, Will slips into a vision of the shadow and freezes; Mike finds him shaking and takes him home while Max shrugs it off.
Dustin's trash can surprise
Still muttering tubular, Dustin hears something in the bin outside and lifts the lid. Mews the cat is not going to like this.
Dustin hides his new find from his mom with a fake ghost trap
Dustin's mom asks about Halloween night; he deflects with a rigged ghost trap and evicts his turtle Yertle to make room for a new guest.
Dustin feeds the creature nougat and names it d'Artagnan
Dustin coaxes the strange thing from his trash with a candy bar, decides it is cute, and christens it d'Artagnan.
Dustin's curiosity voyage hits the library's five-book rule
Dustin tries to check out ten books at once; the librarian holds the line on five, and he does not take it well.
Dustin presents Dart to the party as a new species
In the AV room the boys meet the slimy thing from Dustin's trash; he rules out tadpoles and reptiles and claims a brand-new species.
The party argues Dart is from the Upside Down, then he escapes
Will says he saw something like Dart last year; Dustin's True Sight theory and Death Star defense end when the trap opens and Dart bolts.
Dustin finds Dart in the bathroom and keeps him for himself
Dustin radios that he has found Dart, then quietly reclaims him; the others arrive to an empty bathroom and realize nobody knows where Will is.
Joyce and Dustin find Will frozen on the field
Cold open: Dustin leads Joyce to Will, locked in another episode on the school field, as she pleads with him to wake up.
Dustin feeds Dart, then the boys search the trash
Dustin leaves breakfast for Dart and heads to school, where Lucas and the new girl are digging through garbage looking for the escaped creature.
Party members only: the boys plan to find Dart
Mike shuts the new girl out of the AV room; the party debates whether Will's shadow can hurt him and decides Dart is the key.
Dustin comes home to find what Dart has done
Dustin's mother cannot find the cat; Dustin goes to the basement to talk to Dart about Will and finds a horror waiting for him.
Dustin fakes a phone call about the missing cat
Mrs. Henderson searches for Mews while Dustin stages a bogus call from a neighbor who spotted her miles away.
Dustin discovers Dart has grown and escaped
Breakfast time for Dart turns into panic when Dustin finds the cellar door open and a much bigger creature inside.
Dustin's code red meets Erica
Dustin spams the radio with a code red; Lucas's little sister answers with a code of her own.
Dustin storms the Wheeler house looking for Mike
Dustin grills Ted and Karen about the busy phone line and their missing kids, and gets nowhere.
Dustin recruits Steve and his nail bat
Steve rehearses an apology with flowers on the Wheeler porch when Dustin hijacks him for a bigger problem than his love life.
Dustin recruits Steve to hunt Dart in the cellar
Dustin explains why his pet is not a lizard, then Steve climbs into the storm cellar with his bat and finds what Dart left behind.
Lucas gets the code red: Dart is a baby Demogorgon
Lucas's action-figure romance is interrupted by his little sister's mockery, then Dustin radios in with news about Dart and a meeting at the junkyard.
Steve's guide to girls: lions, ninjas and electricity
Walking the tracks, Steve coaches Dustin on acting like you do not care and reading the storm before you move, then warns him not to fall in love.
Steve reveals the secret of his hair
Dustin finally asks. Steve names the shampoo, the conditioner and the exact number of puffs, on pain of death if anyone finds out.
Junkyard reunion: Dustin and Lucas fight over Max
Steve approves the bus as a fort, Max arrives with Lucas, and the two boys bicker about who told her until Steve yells at them to help.
Steve walks out as bait for Dart
Dart will not take the meat, so Steve steps out of the bus with the bat and offers himself as dinner while the kids watch from the windows.
Demodogs swarm the bus
Dart is not alone. Steve sprints back as the pack attacks the bus, Dustin screams into the radio, then the creatures suddenly leave.
Dart ate Mews: the party learns the truth in the car
Steve lets slip that Dustin's pet ate the cat. Lucas and Dustin trade rule-of-law accusations until Steve notices the demo-dogs are all heading to the lab.
Demo-dogs: Dustin names the enemy
Grieving at the Byers house, the kids remember Bob founded Hawkins AV, then Dustin defends his compound word and Mike realises the army answers to one master.
The Mind Flayer: the kids explain the hive mind
The party lays out the shadow monster as a hive mind and reaches for a D&D analogy. Hopper calls it a kids' game; Dustin says the manual is not for kids.
Joyce decides: we have to kill it
No one trusts the military to stop this. Joyce says she wants to kill it, Hopper agrees, and Mike points out the one person connected to the thing is Will.
Dustin apologises and Lucas denies the electricity
Dustin offers to give up his spot in the party for Lucas's girlfriend. Lucas says she is not his girlfriend; Dustin says he could feel the electricity.
Morse code: Will spells out the answer
Will is talking without words. The group feeds him memories while Dustin and Lucas decode the taps letter by letter into a two-word instruction.
Demo-dogs surround the Byers house
Hopper orders everyone from the windows and Nancy takes the shotgun. The pack circles outside, then one comes crashing through, already dead.
Eleven meets Max, sees Will, and agrees to close the gate
Dustin shows off his new teeth, Max introduces herself, and Eleven sees how sick Will is before Hopper asks if she can shut the gate she opened.
Demo-dogs, and why closing the gate could kill Will
Dustin names the Demo-dogs, Eleven insists she can close the gate, Mike realises that would kill Will, and Joyce decides to burn the thing out of him.
Dustin and Steve stuff Dart's dead cousin into the fridge
Dustin insists a Demo-dog corpse is a scientific discovery that belongs in the Byers refrigerator; Steve makes him promise to explain it to Mrs. Byers.
On the bench: the kids plot the tunnels, Steve says no
Mike and Dustin work out how to lure the Demo-dogs away by burning the tunnel hub; Steve shuts it down and demands a yes from every one of them.
Steve vs Billy brawl, and Max ends it with a syringe and a bat
Billy goes after Lucas, Steve lands the first punch, and the fight turns ugly until Max sedates her stepbrother and makes him swear to leave them alone.
Steve wakes up with Max at the wheel of Billy's car
A battered Steve comes round in the back seat to find a thirteen-year-old driving them to the tunnels, with the boys shouting directions.
Dustin's party-rules speech gets Steve into the hole
At the pumpkin-field hole, Dustin invokes the duty of a party member to help another, and Steve caves and takes the lead into the tunnels.
Dustin gets a face full of spores, then the party finds the hub
A vine sprays Dustin in the mouth and he panics while the others laugh; moments later they reach the hub and start dousing it with gasoline.
Dustin says goodbye to Dart with a bar of nougat
Cornered in the tunnel, Dustin recognises Dart, apologises for the storm cellar, and feeds him his favourite candy so the party can pass.
The Demo-dogs come running and the party scrambles for the rope
Eleven channels her rage at the gate as the horde turns back; the boys sprint through the tunnels and Steve hauls them up the rope one by one.
Getting ready for the Snow Ball
Joyce films Will's dance moves, Karen photographs a mortified Mike, Lucas's sister ambushes him with a kiss, and Dustin hunts for his hairspray.
Steve's pep talk: pretend you don't care, slay 'em like a lion
Steve drops Dustin at the Snow Ball and coaches him one last time on hair, attitude and the lion, then gently bans the roar.
Snow Ball arrivals: pure fuel, Dustin's hair, and two first dances
Nancy spikes the punch, Mike and Lucas roast Dustin's new hairdo, Lucas awkwardly asks Max to dance, and a girl asks Zombie Boy Will.
Dustin gets turned down, and Nancy asks him to dance
Every girl refuses Dustin and he breaks down alone, until Nancy pulls him onto the floor, teaches him the rhythm, and tells him he's her favourite.
Every Breath You Take: the Snow Ball slow dance
The couples sway to The Police as Mike shows Eleven the steps and the season closes on the Snow Ball dance floor.