Chapter 8: The Upside Down
We’ve reached the final chapter of Stranger Things and this one is full of emotions, resolve, some laughter, and more unsettling discoveries to prepare us for Season 2. Let’s dive right in back where it all began – on the celestial sky overtop the laboratory.
Inside, Joyce is handcuffed to a chair, alone, in an interrogation room. She’s screaming to be let go, and soon, Dr. Brenner creeps in through the door. He stays in the shadows for a moment before she can see him, but soon joins her at the table and begins to unroll his signature smooth talk.
I know about you and your hippie crap.
He tries to manipulate her into giving him information by playing to her emotions regarding Will and others who have been lost. She’s not buying any of his bullshit and tells him to stop, eventually saying “go to hell” without giving in to any of his requests. You go, girl.
Hopper is also in an interrogation room, but is facing far more violent torture tactics. He’s being tasered, to which he sasses back, and then barfs. Amidst this chaos he talks about the experiments, how they messed up, and basically reveals everything he knows about their operation.
A man with little to lose is always dangerous.
He mentions talking to a newspaper about everything he knows, which causes another tasering. We see the lab team getting a syringe ready, discussing how they’re going to kill him and make it look like a junkie overdose. Hopper, always quick on his feet, begins to strike a deal – if they let him and Joyce go so they can find Will, they’ll forget any of this ever happened and won’t blame the lab. Seems simple enough?
Meanwhile, our favorite fearsome foursome is still waiting in the gymnasium, abandoned by their respective teen and adult couples. Mike goes outside to check for Nancy and Jonathan, but discovers they have indeed left. Dustin assumes they’re “sucking face” but Elle knows the truth: demogorgan.
Hopefully the demogorgan isn’t sucking their faces.
Cut to the teen monster hunters who have pulled up at Jonathan’s house. They unload their arsenal of various weapons and begin rigging the house.
The Christmas lights are screwed back in, gun loaded, bear trap set up, nails hammered into a baseball bat, and gasoline dripped all over the floor with a trip wire…
Monster-murdering Rube Goldberg Machine – complete!
Back with Hopper, he’s now alone with Dr. Brenner in the interrogation room. Dr. B offers him a cigarette, creating a more relaxed atmosphere, and asks where Eleven is. Hopper demands his word that the boys will be safe and that no one will know about this.
Good vs. Evil
Dr. B must have agreed, because the next shot is Hopper entering Joyce’s room with officers, who let her go. As they’re escorted to the portal room within the lab, Hopper explains that they came to an agreement. If she wants Will back, this place had nothing to do with it.
Capeesh?
As preparation for venturing into the upside down, Joyce and Hopper are given the infamous yellow hazmat suits to put on. The lab men explain that the atmosphere is “toxic,” which alarms Joyce, acknowledging that Will has been in there for nearly a week, breathing it all in. Alas, they don the suits and head towards the portal with flashlights.
Godspeed, you two.
Meanwhile, Dr. B and the gang are leaving the building in pursuit of Eleven, no doubt informed by Hopper of her whereabouts. The older woman asserts that it was a mistake to let Joyce and Hopper go, but Dr. B assures her that “they won’t find the boy,” leaving us to wonder why he seems so confident about that.
Back with Joyce and Hopper, they approach the wall and slowly step inside, as the stringy webbing closes up behind them. Cue opening credits!
Aptly named “The Upside Down,” this chapter jumps right in to the underworld of horror. Joyce and Hopper are safely inside with no sign of the monster, but Joyce soon suffers from some panicked breathing.
This causes a flashback for Hopper of his former family – wife and daughter playing in an idyllic park scenario. The happy moment is interrupted when his tiny daughter appears transfixed by the sight of something unseen, and is soon unable to breath.
What does she see?!
Hopper calms her down and we return to the upside down where he has successfully calmed down Joyce as well. He raises his gun and the two approach the woods.
Thumbs up if you’re still alive.
Back at the Byer’s house, two knives have been pulled from the silverware drawer, and Nancy and Jonathan are going over their plan one more time. Once all the details have been squared away, they countdown to a blood-brothers moments as they both slash the insides of their palms in order to begin gushing blood to lure in the monster.
Ouch.
In the gymnasium, the troops are getting restless. Mike says it’s crazy for them to stay there, but Dustin reminds him that they’re fugitives and need to keep Elle safe. Resigning to their plight, Dustin, resident glutton, exits in search of chocolate pudding. Lucas follows, leaving Elle and Mike alone. This is your moment, Mr. Wheeler!