At home, Mike cleans up Jane and assures her that she still looks pretty even without the wig. He awkwardly says that he’s happy that she’s home, and she agrees. They start to kiss, but Dustin burst in and says that Lucas is in trouble. They go to the radio and try to pick up what he’s saying. Lucas is riding home and yells into his walkie-talkie that they know about Jane and the bad men are coming. The boys look out the window and see the delivery man parked across the street in a van. Karen is on the phone and Mike finally gets her attention. He asks if anyone is coming to do repairs.
Several more Hawkins vans pull up and Dustin ru8ns to Mike and tells him that they have to leave immediately. The kids run out the back and ride off. Jane looks back and sees Brenner, and he and his men drive off after the kids.
Dustin tells Lucas that they’re onto them, and they agree to meet at a street corner. The vans close in and the boys ride through a park and meet Lucas. Another van cuts off the boys ahead and Jane telekinetically knocks it over them and into the path of the other pursuing vans. They brake to a halt and Brenner looks at the kids as they ride off.
The boys go to the auto junkyard to catch their breath. Lucas apologizes to Jane for thinking she was a traitor, and she says that friends don’t lie. She apologizes as well, and Mike apologizes to Lucas. The two boys shake.
Jim and Joyce drive to the police station and Joyce finds Jonathan with Nancy. She tells Callahan to remove Jonathan’s handcuffs, and Jim agrees. Powell shows them the hunting gear that Jonathan and Nancy bought, and Jim orders Jonathan to talk to him in Jim’s office.
Karen goes to the basement looking for Mike and discovers that he’s gone. She finds a strand of the blonde wig in Jane’s fort. Meanwhile, Brenner and his people ring the doorbell. When Ted answers it, Agent Connie shows her badge. The team searches the house and Brenner finds Jane’s discarded lab smock. Meanwhile, Connie shows Karen and Ted a photo of Jane and asks if they’ve seen her in the last week. They say that they haven’t, and don’t believe that Mike would be with a girl. Brenner takes over and wishes that he could tell them more. All he can say is that Mike is in real danger and they want to help him, but they need the Wheelers to trust him. Brenner asks if Karen will trust him and she agrees. He then asks if she knows where Mike might have gone.
Lucas draws a diagram of Hawkins Lab and figures the gate is somewhere inside. They figure that they’re making weapons... like Jane. A helicopter flies toward them and they quickly hide their bicycles and duck into an abandoned bus.
Jonathan shows Jim and Joyce the photo he took of the monster and explains their theory that the creature can sense blood. Joyce and Jonathan go out into the hallway to talk privately, and Joyce is furious that Jonathan went off on his own. Angry but relieved, she hugs him. Jim hears a commotion in the squad room and goes to investigate. Troy’s mother is there with Troy, complaining that a little girl broke Troy’s arm. When Troy describes Jane’s shaved head, Jim recognizes her. The boy describes what Jane did with her mind, and that she hangs out with Mike and his friends.
At the convenience mart, Thomas gets an injured Steve aspirin and a cold pop. When Thomas and Carol go on about Jonathan and Nancy sleeping together, Steve snaps at them. He says that Nancy cares about other people, and Thomas grabs him and says that if Steve couldn’t take Jonathan then he can’t take him. Furious, Steve drives off.
Jim and the others drive to the Wheelers’ block and watch as the agents take Mike’s things to their vans. Jim tells Nancy that she can’t go home and figures that they haven’t found out Mike as the helicopter flies overhead. Joyce asks Nancy if there’s somewhere that Mike might have gone, and Jonathan says that he knows how to ask Mike where he is.
The group drives to the Byers’ house and Nancy calls Mike on Will’s radio. Mike figures that it’s a trick, Jim takes over and says that they can protect the boys if he responds. The boys finally answer.
Steve goes to the theater and offers to help the owner remove the sign calling Nancy a slut.
The agents lock Ted and Karen in their house, and Ted says that they have to trust the government. Karen wonders if Nancy is involved, but her husband doesn’t believe she’d be working with her brother.
Three agents drive to the junkyard to search the place. The kids duck down and one agent spots their bikes hidden beneath the bus. He comes in... and Jim knocks first him and then the others out. The police chief then enters the bus and tells them it’s time to go.
Jim takes the boys to the Byers house where Nancy, Jonathan, and Joyce are waiting. Nancy hugs Mike and admits that she was worried about him, and then wonders why Jane is wearing her tress. Mike passes on Clarke’s explanation about the gate and Jim realizes that they’re describing what he saw during his break-in. Joyce asks Jane to reach Will in the Upside Down, and Jane agrees. She concentrates on a radio, and the lights flicker. Jane then says that she can’t find Will or Barbara.
Jane goes to the bathroom and wipes off her face. She sees the bathtub and gets an idea.
The boys explain that Jane is drained, and that they have to wait and try again. Jane comes out and says that she can find Will and Barbara in the bath.
Clarke and his girlfriend are watching a movie when Dustin calls the teacher and asks him how to build a sensory deprivation tank. When the teacher tries to put him off, Dustin insists and writes down the instructions. Once he hangs up, Dustin says that they need 1,500 pounds of salt. Jim and Jonathan drive to the middle school and steal all of the de-icing salt. The police chief tells Jonathan to stay away from the monster and promises that he’ll find Will.
The boys get a swimming pool they bought and unroll it in the gym. Nancy and Mike break into a barn and steal hoses. As they go, Nancy wonders what Jane eats. They figure that they were both eating, and Nancy insists that they tell each other everything. Mike agrees and asks his sister if she likes Jonathan, and she asks if he likes Jane. Her brother angrily insists that he doesn’t and it’s gross.
In the science lab, Joyce tapes over a pair of goggles and says that she’s a very brave girl for what she’s doing for the4 Byers. She promises that she’ll be there with her and tells Jane to let her know if it’s too scary in the Upside Down.
Everyone feels the pool to the right temperature and pours in the salt to achieve neutral buoyancy. Mike sets up the radio and Jane gets into the pool. The gym lights flicker and Jane finds herself in the Upside Down. She finds Barbara’s body, a slug-like creature oozing out of its mouth.
Jane screams “Gone” repeatedly, and Joyce takes her hand and says that it’s okay. The girl hears her and calms down, and she sees Will’s “Castle Byers.” She approaches the mental construct and goes inside, and finds Will inside, asleep. He mutters for them to hurry, and the others hear him over the radio. Joyce tells Jane to tell Will to hold on, and the fort fades away.
Startled, Jane wakes up and Joyce hugs her. As they make her comfortable, Jim heads for the real-life fort. Joyce insists on going with him to save her son, and tells Jonathan to stay with the kids. Jonathan reluctantly does so and the two adults drive off. He finds Nancy sitting in the hallway and sits down next to her. Nancy says that they have to go back to the station and stop the monster from getting Jim and Joyce... and kill the monster.
Jim drives to the fence and cuts his way in.
Jonathan and Nancy sneak into the station past Callahan and get their hunting equipment. As they go, Nancy grabs a fire extinguisher.
As they approach the lab, security guards surround Jim and Joyce and he says that he’ll do the talking.
In the Upside Down, Will wakes up when he hears the monster outside his fort. He hears it walk around, snarling, and then it bursts in.
Written by Gadfly on Sep 4, 2016