- As the town preps for Halloween, a high-scoring rival shakes things up at the arcade, and a skeptical Hopper inspects a field of rotting pumpkins.
- Near Halloween, Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Will find that Dustin's score in an Arcade game has been beaten by someone with the nickname MadMax. They believe the newcomer in school Maxine is the player. Hopper investigates what has happened to pumpkins that have been poisoned and the owner blames his neighbor. Will has visions from the Upside Down and he goes with Joyce and Hopper to a clinic for medical examination.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania October 28, 1984
An old van sites outside of an apartment complex close to downtown, an individual wearing a Halloween mask is sitting in the front seat waiting. Suddenly an alarm sounds and four other individuals in cheap Halloween masks come sprinting out of the building and get into the van. Sirens start wailing in the distance. The van peels out and flips around speeding down the street, passing an approaching police car. The police car whips around and begins pursuit. Van and police cruiser weave deftly in and out of traffic. The van occupants remove their masks to reveal three females and two males. The chase continues and the van tears down a one-way alley going to wrong way, but is able to temporarily loose the police tail. Cars honk and tear off the road to avoid to van, as the van crashes through boxes and trash on the sidewalk and finally makes it through unharmed.
The van pulls off onto a quiet street further from the city, sighs of relief follow. Suddenly more flashing lights and the chase picks up again. Three more police cruisers are following the van now. Kali, one of the females, gives the driver (Mick) directions to head towards a tunnel. The van continues to scream down the road and approaches the tunnel, the police are confident now that they will catch them. Quietly Kali closes her eyes and slowly raises her hand and closes it into a fist, "Boom". Suddenly the entrance of the tunnel collapses, rock and debris crashing into the street below. The first police cruiser slams on the brakes narrowly avoiding the pile of rubble, the next two cars crash crash right into it. The cop riding shotgun in the first police car starts berating the driver asking why he stopped. That officer, ears still ringing from the crashes, looks confused. Still shaken and disoriented he climbs out of the car and sees that the tunnel looks completely fine with no sign of any of the destruction that had appeared to occur before. He stands dumbfounded.
Cut back to the van and now cheers and real sighs of relief as they have escaped from the police. Kali, cool and collected goes to wipe a line of blood coming from her nose. As she raises her arm there is a tattoo on her wrist, '008' in black writing.
STRANGER THINGS [main titles]
CHAPTER ONE - MADMAX
It's Halloween time in Hawkins, Indiana.
It's nighttime and old-school, light-up graveyard headstones adorn the lawn of a suburban home, as leaves rustle in the wind. Inside the home Dustin Henderson is frantically searching through his house, tearing up couch cushions and nearly running over Mews (his mother's cat). The TV is on in the background and on the news we hear about a police chase that happened in downtown Pittsburgh. Dustin seems desperate to find any coins he can, exclaiming to his mother that it is an emergency. He finds what he is looking for and runs to his room.
Dustin jumps on his walkie-talkie and starts chatting with Lucas Sinclair, letting him know that he know has four quarters and asks Lucas what his haul his. Lucas insults Dustin's number of quarters and tells him that he has five times as many from doing yard work like a man. Dustin is incredulous. They then debate about who should call Mike.
Cut to another suburban home, this time a 'Reagan & Bush 84' political sign sits in the yard, this is the Wheeler home. Dustin reaches out asking Mike if he copies. Mike, sitting in a makeshift fort in his room, responds. Dustin questions why Mike is on a certain channel to which Mike replies, 'Nothing'. Dustin then tells Mike their current haul for quarters and asks Mike where he is at. Mike curses and says that he doesn't know yet, he seems distracted. He tells Dustin to call Will. Mike tears through his sister's room looking in all of her drawers and finds her piggy bank. He starts dumping out the piggy bank onto the bed when Nancy walks in and asks him what the hell he's doing. He tells her he'll pay her back and shoves two handfuls of coins into his jacket pockets and sprints past Nancy, and hurtles down the stairs and out the door. Nancy chases after him, but he hopes on his bike and she can't catch up. She stands exasperated in the street.
Mike, Lucas and Dustin all pull up to the local arcade on their bikes, as Joyce Byers and her son Will pull up. Before Will gets out Joyce reminds Will that if anything happens and he needs to come up she can come right back. She tells him not to walk or bike home, she will drive him. Will quickly agrees and tells his mom that he's got to go. Joyce tells him to have fun, but after Will leaves has a concerned look on her face.
Inside the arcade the boys are gathered around "Dragon's Lair", a cartoon-like arcade game about a knight on a quest to rescue a princess. Dustin is the one currently playing and is getting direction from the rest of the group. They are excited as Dustin appears to be winning the game, but suddenly the knight is consumed by fire from a dragon and it is game over. Dustin curses and yells in anger at the stupid, overpriced game and Lucas is gleeful that he is still the best at the game out of the group. Dustin doesn't care since he remarks that he is still the top player for 'Centipede' and 'Dig Dug'. One of the arcade workers (Keith) interjects asking Dustin "Are you sure about that?". Dustin looks nervous and asks "Sure about what?". Keith just stands staring at them, eating a bag of Cheetos. The boys then rush over to 'Dig Dug' and Dustin is devastated. He is no longer the top player and in is place is someone called MADMAX. Dustin confronts Keith demanding to know who the player is. The boys ask if Keith is 'MADMAX', but he denies it. He says that if they want to who it is he needs something in return. Dustin, Lucas and Will all then turn to look at Mike, he immediately starts saying no, telling Keith that he is not going to get a date with 'her' (his sister Nancy). The boys then start trying to convince Mike to do it and he continues to decline. Dustin pretends he doesn't even care and just insults Keith. While this is going on Will's attention is directed outside and he slowly starts to walk to the entrance of the arcade, he sees small flakes floating through the air outside and a low rumbling is heard. Will starts to turn back to get his friends attention, but when he turns around the arcade is empty. Suddenly the lights flash off and Will is back in the upside-down (the parallel universe from the first season). The arcade is covered in what appear to be vines and everything looks very worn down. The door to the arcade slams open, startling Will. Cautiously he starts to walk outside and once there he can see red lightning flashing in the sky and ominous clouds gathering. Will stares, rooted to the spot in fear. "Will!", Will whips around and sees that he is back in the normal world. Mike has come outside after him. Will turns back to the sky and sees just normal stars and no clouds. Will makes up an excuse that he just needed some air, not telling Mike what he really saw. The two then head back into the arcade.
A stack of newspapers plops down onto the rack, it's 'The Hawkins Post', an article for Merril's Pumpkin patch can be seen. On main street in town, everything is business as usual. The local cinema is showing 'The Terminator', shopkeepers are out sweeping, and life goes on as normal. Police Chief Jim Hopper pulls into the police station and is immediately accosted by Murray Bauman, the town's conspiracy theorist. He tells Hopper that they need to talk, but Hopper want's nothing to do with him. Murray is persistent and continues to demand to speak with him. The other deputies at the station mockingly ask Murray about seeing any more aliens. Murray is convinced that there is a Russian spy presence in Hawkins. Hopper laughs him off and clearly doesn't believe him. Murray has seen multiple reports about a Russian child in town that may have psionic abilities. Hopper's demeanor shifts as he realizes that Murray is talking about Eleven. Hopper then decides that he will speak with Murray for five minutes, but not a second more.
Now in Hopper's office, Murray continues to describe the different stories he has heard about this supposed Russian girl with psychic abilities. Murray believes that Barbara Holland (Justice for Barb!) and the girl may have been kidnapped by Russian spies. Hopper continues to play dumb, refusing to give Murray any indication that there is some truth to what Murray is saying. The phone then rings and Hopper's secretary lets him know that Merrill called and wants him to come check his pumpkins out, they seem to have been contaminated and Merrill suspects fowl play. Hopper gets up to leave telling Murray to let things go and just go home.
At Hawkins High School, Nancy and Steve are sitting in his car. Nancy is holding an essay that Steve wrote and critiques it, asking if maybe he has time to rewrite it. It turns out that it is a college application essay that he wrote. Steve then begins to doubt himself, thinking that maybe he should just go work for his dad and not even try to go to college. Nancy disagrees, telling him that she will help. Steve would love help that night but Nancy reminds him that they have a dinner to go to that night. Steve sighs and it's clear that he really doesn't want to go. Nancy reminds him that they can't keep putting it off. They then hear tires screeching as a blue sports car flies into the parking lot. The car sports a California license plate and out steps a young man in boots, jeans and a jean jacket. He's got a mane of hair and is smoking a cigarette, clearly a 'bad-boy' type. A young girl with red hair also gets out of the car and drops her skateboard to the ground and rides off towards the middle school without a word between them. The young man struts towards the school while another group of high school girls check him out.
Will opens his locker at school and quickly finds a newspaper article about when he was rescued during the events of last season. His eyes are crossed out in his picture and someone wrote 'Zombie Boy' on the article. Will looks ashamed and quickly looks around but doesn't see any suspects. He crumples up the paper and throws it back in his locker, shutting the door.
A large model of the human brain is set down on the table and Mr. Clark is in the middle of a lecture about it. Mike, Lucas, and Dustin all seem very interested and excited while the rest of the students are definitely not. Will still seems to be thinking about the note he found in his locker. The door then opens, interrupting the lesson. Mr. Clark exclaims that this must be the new student and in walks the red-headed girl with the skateboard from earlier. Mr. Clark introduces the girl as Maxine from California, the girl corrects him telling him that her name is just 'Max'. She then finds a seat in the back as Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Will all turn to look back at her with curiosity. It is pretty obvious that she doesn't want to be there.
At Melvald's General Store back on main street, Joyce is working on sowing a 'Ghostbusters' patch onto a brown jumpsuit. She is working as a cashier at the store. In walks a man asking her if she has any orange pumpkin candy buckets in any other different colors. Joyce tells him that she has to check in the back. Joyce and the stranger (Bob) end up making up in the back storage closet, but it's clear that Joyce knows who he is. She tells Bob that she has to get back to work, Bob tells her that he is just crazy about her and continues to try to kiss her. Joyce tells him that she will see him later that night for movie night and Bob finally leaves.
Hopper drives into Merrill's pumpkin patch and the scene is pretty grim. All of the pumpkins are blackened and rotted with flies buzzing everywhere. Merrill is convinced that this is the work of Eugene a neighboring farmer. Hopper doesn't believe Eugene would be capable of something like this. Hopper hears something in the corn field nearby and asks Merrill if he has anyone working in the field, to which Merrill replies that he doesn't. Hopper cautiously enters the corn field with his gun drawn. He slowly works his way through and comes upon a scarecrow, when suddenly a couple of crows fly out and startle him. He holsters his gun.
Back at the high school a girl is handing out fliers for a big Halloween party happening and Nancy and Jonathon (Will's older brother) are walking together. Nancy gets an invite for Jonathan and tells him that he is coming to the party. She doesn't want Jonathon to be all alone on Halloween. He tells her that he won't be since he is taking his brother trick-or-treating. Nancy tells him that he'll be done with that by eight and that maybe he might meet someone at the party. Steve then jumps out and scares Nancy and picks her up. Jonathon quietly walks off and Nancy and Steve kiss.
Mike, Lucas, Dustin and Will are all spying on Max as she rides around on her skateboard out on the black-top. They think there is no way that Max is actually 'MADMAX' from the arcade. The boys debate whether it could really be her. Lucas and Dustin are convinced it's her, while Mike doesn't think so and is not impressed. Dustin then realizes that they can't see Max anymore and don't know where she is. They then see her walking back into school, but before she does she drops something into the trash. Once she is inside the boys then rush over to the trash can to find what she threw away and find a crumpled up note. When they open it up they all read aloud what it says, "Stop spying on my creeps". Busted. The principal then walks up and asks for Will, telling him his mother is there.
Walking through the school hallways, Will can't help but notice all the stares he is getting from other students. He meets his mom at the front of the school. Mike, Lucas and Dustin watch as Will leaves, commenting that Will always seems weird when he has to go 'in'. Remarking that he always seems quieter when he has to go.
Joyce's car drives along a quiet road through the woods, the destination still unknown. Joyce tells Will that he has nothing to be nervous about and that he can just be honest with them and tell them everything. Joyce comforts him telling him she will be there the whole time. They then pull into a parking lot where they meet Hopper, he greets both of them and the all walk into the lab building where the mysterious organization was conducting experiments during the first season.
Will is now in a hospital gown laying at an incline, he is giving some sort of shot and electrodes are attached to his head. A doctor enters the room (Dr. Sam Owens), and starts talking to Will about his early test results from this time around. Dr. Owens tries to be lighthearted and asks Will what his favorite candy is. Then the get into talking about Will's experience at the arcade from the other night, and how he was back in the 'upside-down'. Will describes what he saw, talking about the storm he saw. Will describes feeling frozen in that moment, that he couldn't move or talk because he was so scared. He describes feeling this evil force looking at him, and feeling like this force wanted to kill everyone except Will.
Joyce and Hopper talk further with Dr. Owens without Will present. Dr. Owens believes that things will continue to get worse for Will before they get better. Telling them that the anniversary of the event could bring up psychological trauma for Will, causing him to potentially behave differently, become more irritable, maybe even lash out. Joyce, the ever-concerned mother wants to know what to do. Dr. Owen's tells her to just treat him normally. Joyce doesn't like that answer, she wants to do more. Dr. Owens assures them that he is on their side and wants them to trust him.
Walking out of the lab Joyce and Hopper continue to talk, Joyce is flabbergasted that the advice was just to trust the doctor after everything that has happened in the past. Hopper works to calm her down and let her know that things will be okay. He then asks Joyce about Bob and she lets him know that they are good. Before Joyce and Will leave Hopper tells her to call him the moment things do get worse for Will. They part then part ways, Hopper lights up a cigarette and turns back to the lab and sees Dr. Owens, who waves to Hopper, but Hopper doesn't wave back. An assistant approaches Dr. Owen and lets him know that they are ready for him.
Dr. Owens and the assistant head down an elevator and enter some sort of control room, lots of different stations with various buttons, dials and monitors. A man is suiting up into a fire-repellent suit and carrying a wicked looking flamethrower. He walks through a set of sliding glass doors which close behind him and once they do another set of glass doors open and he is in a small room with bits of ash and soot floating around. In front of him is a large pulsating mass of vines from the upside down and it is glowing red. The man activates the flamethrower and starts burning the mass, which lets out screeching noises like it is being injured and the vines start flailing like tentacles.
Dustin and Lucas are scoping out the local arcade to see if Max shows up and Dustin mentions that he should leave soon or his mom is going to kill him. Lucas tells him to go and he will wait to see if Max shows. Dustin calls out Lucas, saying that he just wants him out of the way so Lucas can make his move. Dustin then sees the blue sports car pull into the parking lot, Max jumps out and is clearly yelling at the driver, who then starts pulling away before she can even fully shut the door. Inside the arcade Lucas and Dustin continue to spy on Max, watching her play 'Dig Dug'. They are in awe.
Att the Wheeler household, Mike gets a lecture from both of his parents during dinner. His behavior lately has been completely inappropriate. They tell him that he needs to get rid of two boxes of his old toys.
Steve and Nancy are walking into a house when they notice a for-sale sign in the front yard. They both seem a bit apprehensive about ringing the doorbell, Steve finally does it. This is Barbara (Barb) Holland's home (the girl who went missing in the first season and was later found dead in the upside down), and Steve and Nancy are having dinner with her parents. Nancy mentions the for-sale sign and Barbara's parents tell them that they've hired a man named Murray Bauman (the same man wanting to talk with Hopper earlier), to look more into Barbara's disappearance. Barbara's father also mentions his disgust for Chief Hopper and the Hawkins police force and their negligence in looking further into it. They are still holding out hope that they can find their daughter. They were never told what really happened since the events from the previous season were covered up. Nancy begins to look very uncomfortable and asks if that is why they are selling the house, they response that they will be fine and that it is worth it. Nancy asks to be excused and heads to the bathroom, trying to calm down and collect herself. She then notices a picture of Barb and sits down on the tub and starts to sob.
Back at the Wheeler household, Mike is in his room trying to decide which toys to give away. He seems to be having trouble letting some of them go, he pauses and looks over to his fort. He walks over to it and picks up his walkie-talkie and starts asking if "El" is there. (Eleven from the first season) Nothing but static though, undeterred Mike continues to try to make contact with her. He just wants to know if she is okay. Feeling stupid since he has yet to receive a response, Mike puts down the walkie-talkie and begins to walk away. Suddenly a voice comes through, "Mike?". He rushes back and asks if it's her, but instead he hears Dustin who asks him what he is doing on this channel again. Mike doesn't respond and Dustin continues telling him that they discovered that Max is 'MADMAX', Mike doesn't care and 'hangs up'. Dustin and Lucas are out riding their bikes and Dustin remarks that they will stick to the plan, Lucas is not so sure that Mike will be okay with it. Dustin shrugs it off and tells him that Max won't be able to resist. They say goodnight to each other and part ways. Dustin rides up his driveway and as he is walking inside he hears a rustling in his trash can. He assumes that it is just his cat Mews and continues inside, but after he does so his trash can shakes even more than the first time.
At the Byer's household, Joyce is getting ready for movie and Bob is over filming her with his top of the line video camera. Will is sitting in his room drawing when his brother, Jonathan, comes in and asks him for his movie preference. Jonathan sees that Will is drawing a zombie boy picture and asks Will about it, and Will admits that it's a picture of him. Jonathan tells Will that he can talk to him and Will snaps and tells him that he is sick of everyone treating him like a baby. He mentions that he just feels like more of a freak, and admits that maybe he is a freak. Jonathan agrees with him, but also tells him that he really doesn't want to be like everyone else anyway. Jonathan says the he's a freak too and that's fine. Will asks if that's why Jonathan doesn't have any friends and Jonathan tries to play it off. Jonathan tells Will that he is his best friend and that he would rather hang out with a 'freak' than with a boring nobody. Jonathan asks Will if he would rather hang out with David Bowie or Kenny Rogers, it's not contest, David Bowie all the way. Bob hears them talking and walks in, he sees the movies that Jonathan had and exclaims that he loves "Mr. Mom". Will and Jonathan just laugh.
Downstairs the family is all watching 'Mr. Mom', Joyce and Bob seem to really be enjoying themselves while Will and Jonathan seem a bit bored. The phone starts to ring and Joyce looks spooked, Bob calms her down and tells her to just let it ring and that it is probably just a prank call. Joyce relaxes a bit, but still is a bit on edge.
Still that night, back at the mysterious lab, a lone technician is sitting in the same control room from earlier. He has his headphones on and is bouncing a ball against the wall. He is oblivious to the many alarms and beeps that are coming from the control panel behind him. Finally he turns around and notices the dazzling display of all the lights and alarms going off. He sits back in awe.
Returning to the Byer's home, all is quiet and it is now late at night. Will gets up to use the bathroom. As he is washing his hands, he hears a rumbling coming from outside. He starts to nervously make his way outside and the rumbling gets louder. Will notices red flashes again and the front door slowly opens on its own, revealing the upside down once again. Will is now terrified, but continues outside. Red lightning repeatedly strikes the ground, getting stronger and stronger. The storm he saw earlier outside of the arcade is much stronger and more violent now. In the distance a large shadow figure with multiple limbs appears, towering over the town. It looks like it is made out of smoke and it turns to look at Will. Will is now petrified.
Hopper's police car tumbles through the forest and he stops by a tree and starts walking through the woods. On his walk he lightly steps over a trip-wire and heads toward an old cabin. He gives a rhythmic knock on the door and the it opens, Hopper walks in and shuts the door behind him. He hangs up his hat and pulls off his jacket and he turns a TV off. He sets his gun on the table and goes to the fridge to grab a beer. He notices a half-eaten Eggo waffle on the table. He begins to talk to someone as he sits down at the kitchen table and a girl replies from another room. She tells him that he is late, and he tells her he lost track of time. Eleven then sits down with him. Hopper reminds her that she needs to have dinner first and then dessert, that's the rule. Eleven agrees, and they eat their TV dinners together.
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