Episode 8

So yeah, Joyce and Hop’s lab breakdown didn’t go too well. Joyce is cuffed and getting lectured by Dr. Brenner about how she needs to help him. According to him, six people have been attacked by the monster and it will “take more sons and daughters” to understand what is happening. Joyce chews him out for leaving her son to die. “Go to hell,” she seethes.

Hop is also in custody. The agents plan to drug him and make it look like he’s a junkie. Instead, a deal is struck: He’ll give up Elle and say nada about the monster biz if the agents let him rescue Will. He and Joyce are released and given their own Breaking Bad-style hazmat suits, so they can explore the gooey pond. As they head out, Brenner confides in his agent that they won’t find Will. Oh, yeah?

Joyce and Hop make their way through the same upside-down world where Nancy found herself trapped. Lights blink like electronic breadcrumbs, leading them to Will’s destroyed fort and an alternate version of the Byers home.

Nancy and Jonathan are in the actual Byers home. They get their Macaulay Culkin on and set up booby traps, douse the place in gasoline, and kit out their baseball bat with nails. They cut their hands to spill blood and draw the monster, but there’s an issue. Wouldn’t you know that Steve would pick just that moment to show up? He’s fallen out with his preppy posse and wants to talk to Jonathan. Nancy tries to shoo him away, but he barges in when he notices that she’s bleeding. The lights are blinking, the monster is near, and Nancy resorts to pulling a gun on Steve to force him to leave.

The monster slithers out from the ceiling, understandably freaking Steve the fuck out. They dash to Will’s room and prepare to light everything up, but the monster disappears. Steve finally takes the hint and rushes out to his car, just in time to see the lights flickering again. The monster has returned, knocking down Jonathan and not really connecting with any of the bullets Nancy is firing. It’s Steve, now armed with the nail-studded bat, to the rescue. The monster gets stuck in the bear trap and the teens set it on fire. The monster goes up in flames, leaving only a sizzling goo behind.

“It has to be dead,” Jonathan says. “It has to be.”

Eh, we’ll see.

The boys and Elle are still at the middle school. Everyone’s happy: Lucas and Dustin have discovered a stash of chocolate pudding and Elle has not only accepted Mike’s invitation to go to the school dance, she’s given him his first kiss.

The moment is short-lived. The evil agents are swarming in and the kids are sent racing through the hallways. The woman who shot Benny corners the kids, but Elle has her beat: She uses her mind mojo to make everyone’s eyes bleed — they all collapse and die. The effort causes Elle to pass out and Brenner quickly captures the group. Elle comes to just long enough to tell him he’s bad when the lights begin to flicker again. The agents’ blood has attracted the monster. It bursts through the walls and pounces on Brenner as his agents fire their weapons in vain. The boys grab Elle and run off.

They flee to the science classroom, followed by the monster. It looks as though Lucas might have actually popped the creature with his slingshot, but it was really Elle, using every last ounce of her energy to pin the monster against the wall. She says goodbye to Mike, then disappears along with the monster in a flutter of ashes.

And what of Will? Joyce and Hop find him barely breathing (Barb is still very much dead). Hop’s past experience with his late daughter’s cancer treatment both haunts him and spurs him on as he and Joyce administer CPR on the dying boy. It works.

The boys happily visit Will in the hospital. Hop is picked up by agents in a government car, but we don’t know what is said or how the Elle issue will be handled. And what will Barb’s parents be told? Doesn’t anyone care about Barb?

A month passes and the boys are back to playing Dungeons & Dragons. Jonathan comes to pick up Will and gets a kiss on the cheek and a camera from Nancy. Unfortunately, it’s all he’s getting, as she is still dating Steve. Really?

Hop leaves a Christmas party early. He ventures out to the woods and leaves a pile of Eggos and Christmas cookies behind. So...Elle must still be alive?

The Byers are about to sit down to Christmas dinner. Everything’s going hunky-dory until Will goes to wash his hands. He’s been coughing and he spits out a slug-like creature into the sink. He instantly flashes back to the upside-down world, but doesn’t say anything to his family when he sits back down to dinner.

Thoughts: Poor Will can’t catch a break. But we can, because surely that means a second season? Please?