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.
S2E4 · Chapter Four: Will the Wise
20 moments · 28 min of essential viewing in a 46-minute episode.
Moments, in order
No more secrets: Joyce shows Will the shape from the tape
Joyce matches the shape on the Halloween video to Will's drawing, says she thinks the episodes are real, and asks him to stop hiding things.
Will admits the thing got him; Joyce's promise
Will describes the shadow as a feeling he still carries everywhere, and Joyce swears nothing bad will ever happen to him again.
Hopper grounds Eleven: no Eggos, no TV
Hopper tears into Eleven for leaving the cabin and nearly being seen; she fires back that nothing ever happens, and he grounds her.
You are like Papa: Eleven and Hopper's fight boils over
The TV punishment escalates by the week, Eleven compares Hopper to Papa, he threatens the lab and calls her a brat, and a door slams between them.
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.
Hopper's awkward morning after and eight missed calls
Hopper tries to say something about last night, settles for ordering a cleanup, then Flo radios that Joyce has been calling all morning.
King Steve: Billy humiliates Steve on the court
The new kid outplays Steve at basketball practice, then needles him in the showers about Nancy skipping school with Jonathan.
Nancy and Jonathan wait for a contact and get picked up
Nancy and Jonathan sit in the park watching a man play duck-duck-goose, then a stranger offers them a lift they cannot refuse.
Will explains his now-memories to Hopper
Hopper gently questions Will about the shadow; Will says he just knows things now, memories that are not his, growing, spreading, killing.
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.
Dr. Owens apologizes: mistakes have been made
Released from a holding room, Nancy and Jonathan get a walking lecture from the lab's new boss; Nancy says flatly that they killed Barbara.
Owens shows them the gate and talks of pulling weeds
Owens reveals what really killed Barbara, explains why the truth must not spread, and makes clear he will stop it by whatever means necessary.
Joyce and Hopper connect the drawings into vines
Joyce realizes the black lines in Will's drawings join up; laid across the floor they fork like lightning, and Hopper names them: vines.
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.
Eleven finds the Terry Ives file and reaches for Mama
Alone in the cabin, Eleven uncovers Hopper's hidden files with the names Terry Ives and Jane, then enters the void and hears a woman counting.
Mike asks Joyce about the shadow monster
Mike turns up at the Byers house to see Will, Joyce fobs him off, and he asks point blank whether this is about the shadow monster.
Let's burn that lab to the ground
Nancy and Jonathan replay their recording of Owens admitting the lab's mistakes, then decide what to do with it.
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.
Playlists touching this episode
Mike Wheeler's Best Moments
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The leader of the group of friends, the first to shelter Eleven. Played by Finn Wolfhard.
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Dustin Henderson's Best Moments
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Lucas Sinclair's Best Moments
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The group's skeptic, quickest to question Eleven and to act. Played by Caleb McLaughlin.
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Will's mother, who refuses to believe her son is gone and will tear her house apart to reach him. Played by Winona Ryder.
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Will's older brother, a loner with a camera who looks for his brother his own way. Played by Charlie Heaton.
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The quiet boy whose disappearance on his way home sets everything in motion. Played by Noah Schnapp.
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Steve Harrington's Best Moments
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Max Mayfield's Best Moments
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A grieving chief and the kid he hides: the makeshift family at the heart of the show. 26 scenes together, in story order.
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The lab's new director, gentler than Brenner, keeping watch on Will. Played by Paul Reiser.
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Billy Hargrove's Best Moments
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Max's stepbrother, the new king of Hawkins High, all menace and mullet. Played by Dacre Montgomery.
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