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.
Max Mayfield
The new girl in Hawkins, a skateboarder with the arcade high score and a stepbrother she fears. Played by Sadie Sink.
36 moments · 51 min
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.
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.
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.
Mike names the party roles and refuses the new girl a spot
The new girl asks why Mike hates her; he lists paladin, cleric, bard, ranger and a mage called El. She offers to be zoomer, until her board is yanked.
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.
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.
Max quits the party after Lucas keeps secrets
The new girl calls out Lucas for hiding things from her, asks whether they kept secrets from El, and storms off saying she is out.
Billy warns Max to stay away from Lucas
Max's stepbrother interrogates her about the boy she was talking to and orders her to stay away from him, because they are family now.
Lucas asks Max to accept the risk
In the arcade back room Lucas offers Max the whole truth about last year, if she accepts it could get her killed.
Max calls Lucas's story derivative; Lucas swears friends don't lie
Max treats the whole tale as a prank until Lucas, dead serious, tells her the party's first rule and asks her to just trust him.
Lucas shows up at Max's house with proof
Lucas interrupts Max's chores to say he can prove his story. She covers for him with her stepbrother and hops on the bike.
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.
Lucas and Max on the bus roof
In the fog, Max tells Lucas about California, the divorce and an angry stepbrother she does not want to become; he tells her she is totally tubular.
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.
Mike tells Max about El
Max says she gets why El was Mike's mage. Mike keeps her at arm's length, then admits El was awesome until the thing took her, just like it took Bob.
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.
The phone rings: it knows where they are
A ringing phone cuts through the shed. Everyone freezes hoping Will did not hear it, but he did, and the house has to move fast.
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.
Steve stonewalls Billy at the Byers' door
Billy turns up hunting for his stepsister and Steve plays dumb at the door, trading insults until Billy spots the kids through the window.
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.
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.
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.