Jonathan calls to the missing Nancy, but doesn't see or hear her.
Nancy runs through the Upside Down, calling to Jonathan. She can hear his voice in the distance, and he finally hears her cries. Jonathan tells her to follow his voice, and she spots the monster and runs the other way. Nancy finally hides behind a tree and lets the monster go past.
Jonathan goes back to the gate in the tree and calls through it. Nancy sees the gate nearby and tries to get through it. She gets one hand through and Jonathan pulls her the rest of the way. Desperate, the two of them cling to each other as the tree grows back, covering the gate.
Steve drives out with Thomas H. and Carol, who insists that Nancy was acting weird. Carol figures that Steve is worried about her, and she and Thomas mock him until he tells them to shut up. They pull up to the Wheeler house and Steve climbs up to Nancy's window. He sees Jonathan sitting on the bed with Nancy, covering her with a blanket, and assumes the worse.
At the Byers house, Jim tells Joyce everything that he saw at Hawkins Lab. He describes the kid's cell that he saw, and the drawing with the stick figures. Joyce shows Jim one of Will's drawings, and Jim remembers that Earl said that he saw a kid with a shaved head the night that Benny supposedly killed himself. The police chief finds the article on Terry Ives claiming that Brenner took her daughter Jane, and wonders if Jane was the child the cell belonged to.
Nancy takes a shower and remembers what happened in the forest. She goes back to her room where Jonathan is laying out a sleeping bag, and she says that it's okay if he stays because she doesn't want to be alone. Jonathan agrees and they go to bed, and after a minute Nancy asks him to lie next to her. He does so, bringing the gun with him, and assures her that the monster can't get them in her room. However, Nancy isn't convinced.
The next morning in the Wheeler basement, Mike sits and wonders where Jane is. Furious, he finally kicks apart the makeshift fort where she's been staying,
Jim goes to a pay phone and gets Terry's address. He and Joyce then drive there.
Jonathan wakes up and finds Nancy sitting, going through some book on predators. She says that she couldn't sleep because she kept seeing the monster when she closed her eyes. They figure that Will and Barbara are trapped in the Upside Down and could both still be alive. Nancy works out that the monster is a lone predator and can smell blood, like the deer and when Barbara cut her hand. Karen knocks at the door and calls Nancy down to breakfast. The teenagers realize that they instinctively grabbed each other's hands, and quickly let go.
Agent Connie goes to Mr. Clarke's home and claims that she's with a state educational committee that wants to fund AV clubs. She asks if Clarke knows any kids that would be interested.
Dustin goes to Mike's house, and Mike wonders where Jane is. Mike insists that Jane misdirected the compasses to protect them, and Dustin says that they were all out of line except him. However, he points out that Mike pushed firs and tells him to apologize to Lucas. Mike finally agrees and Dustin takes him to Lucas' house to apologize and then find Jane.
Brenner visits Jane in her cell and gives her a potted plant. He then tells her that it's a special day because they're going to make contact.
Jane wakes up in the forest and goes to the river to put on Nancy's wig. As she looks at her reflection in the water, Jane screams in fury and releases a burst of telekinetic energy.
When Nancy doesn't come down for breakfast, Karen goes up to check on her. When she discovers that her daughter's door is locked, Karen picks it with a hairpin. She discovers that Nancy is gone, and that someone slept over.
Dustin and Mike arrive at Lucas' house, and Lucas agrees to shake with Mike... if they forget Jane and go straight to the gate. Mike refuses, and Dustin reminds them of a D&D session when they split up and got picked off. Lucas insists that Jane isn't one of them, but Mike figures that they need her as a weapon. Despite that, Lucas still refuses to waste his time on her and says that he's going to the gate to find Will.
Jane goes to the Hawkins grocery store, and everyone stares at her.
Brenner takes Jane to the tank where there are government men staring at her. He assures her that they're just there to watch, and they put her into the tank. Brenner assures her that the monster is reaching out to her but it can't harm her, and tells her to find it this time. Once she's in the Upside Down mentally, Jane waits for the monster.
A manager asks Jane if she's lost. She calls him a mouth breather and grabs some waffles from the freezer. The manager tells his co-worker to call the police and demands that Jane pay. When he tries to stop her, she telekinetically slams a shopping cart into him and then the doors.
Jim and Joyce drive to Terry's home and her sister Becky answers the door. A catatonic Terry is watching the TV and Joyce explains that her son went missing. Jim asks Terry what her relationship was with Brenner, and Becky warns that they're wasting their time.
Lucas gets his gear together and rides out. He notices a Hawkins van nearby and the repairman waves to him.
As Mike and Dustin ride to find Jane, Dustin says that Lucas is jealous because Mike is paying more attention to Jane. Mike insists that they're all his best friends. They see the police at the grocery store and figure that Jane was there… unaware that a man is watching them from the brush.
Becky explains that Terry was part of the MK Ultra study in college. The CIA gave Terry drugs and put her in isolation tanks to expand her mind. Terry didn't know that she was pregnant with Jane at the time. When Joyce asks if she has any photos of Jane, Becky says that Terry miscarried in the third trimester. She shows them the nursery and explains that Terry pretends that Jane is real and will come home someday, and she has special abilities like telepathy and telekinesis. That's why Terry claims that Brenner stole Jane away. There's no evidence showing that Jane was ever born.
Lucas goes to the lab fence, following his compass.
Jonathan and Nancy go to the hunting store and buy bear traps and gasoline cans as well as other supplies. When the clerk wonders what they're doing, Nancy says "monster hunting." Outside, Nancy tells Jonathan that a week ago she was shopping for a new top and thought it was a matter of life and death. Now she's buying bear traps with Jonathan. Two boys drive by and one calls out that he's looking forward to seeing Nancy's movie. Nancy realizes what they're talking about and goes the movie theater. Someone has written "Nancy the Slut Wheeler" on the marquis. She sees Steve in the alleyway with his friends, writing more, and slaps Steve. He says that he was worried about her as Jonathan walks up, and Nancy realizes that Steve saw the two of them together in her room. He asks what they were doing, and Nancy can't tell him the truth. Disgusted, Steve starts punching Jonathan, saying that he's a screw up like his father. Jonathan finally punches him and Steve tackles Jonathan. When Jonathan finally knocks Steve down, Callahan and Powell arrive. When Callahan tries to pull Jonathan away, Jonathan blindly punches him and the deputies arrest him while Steve and his friends run off.
As Jim and Joyce go, Joyce looks one last time at Terry. Out in the car, Jim tells Joyce that they'll find Will. Joyce doesn't believe it, but Jim figures that they've got a chance. Callahan radios in and says that they've got a fight and Jonathan is involved.
At the station, Flo warns Nancy that Jonathan won't be leaving for a long time. When the dispatcher says that Jonathan is her boyfriend, Nancy denies it and Flo tells her to tell Jonathan that. She takes some ice to Jonathan for his bruises and says that everything is fine.
In the forest, Jane is eating waffles when she hears Mike and Dustin calling for her. Troy and James approach them and Troy draws a knife. Mike and Dustin run and the bullies chase after them.
Lucas follows the compass bearing and climbs a tree. Using his binoculars, he sees men in suits going into the main lab building. Lucas also spots a military truck drive in and repair vans like the one he saw earlier.
Mike and Dustin run to the quarry and Dustin slows because of a cramp. James cuts them off and the boys grab a rock and a stick. Mike throws the rock and misses James, and Troy grabs Dustin and holds the knife to his throat. Troy demands to know how they humiliated him during the assembly, and Dustin says that their friend has superpowers. The bully tells Mike that he'll let Dustin go if Mike jumps into the quarry lake.
Mike has no choice but to do it, and he walks to the edge. James warns Troy that they're in too deep, but Troy tells Mike to jump. Mike does so... and Jane telekinetically catches him and lifts him back up. She shoves James down and breaks Troy's arm, and tells them to go. The bullies run off and Jane passes out from the strain.
In the Upside Down, Jane sees the monster feeding and walks toward it. She hesitantly touches its shoulder and it spins around. In the tank, Jane screams and the gate opens in the wall.
Mike checks on Jane and she apologizes. She tells him that she opened the gate and she's the monster. He assures her that she's not the monster and that she saved him, and he and Dustin hug her. As they return home, the agent repairman spots them and calls in that he has eyes on them.
At the laboratory, Brenner and his agents arm themselves and head for the Wheeler house.
Written by Gadfly on Sep 4, 2016