'Stranger Things' Recap: "Chapter Five: Dig Dug"

Benjamin Frohman ’19 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
The episode opens after Hopper has gone to the Upside Down. Joyce tries to figure out the tunnels and Will confides in Mike about what the monster wants. Meanwhile Hopper is sprayed with a substance from one of the creatures and faints. As he lies unconscious, the hole to the underground closes. When he wakes up, Hopper uses fire to make his way through a portal in the wall. The vines on the wall cover Hopper and tangle around him.
Off on their own adventure, Nancy and Jonathan bond in their hotel room. They head to the conspiracist detective’s residence. They tell him the real details of what happened to Barb and Will the previous year and play him the tape they made at Hawkins. The three agree to water the story down so people will believe them and mail off tapes.
In their continued search for Hopper, Will sees him in his vision in the Upside Down. They try to place where he is accordance to the drawings. Bob arrives. Joyce tries to hide everything from him but ends up asking him for help to find out where Hopper is. Bob realizes the drawings aren’t roads, but that they are waterways of a map of Hopkins.
Lucas tries to figure out how to fix things with Max. Lucas tells Max the truth about the last year in the arcade office. Max does not believe him. Billy warns Max not to hang out with Lucas.

Back at his house, Dustin gears up in hockey sportswear in order to trap Dart. He finally gets him stuck in the basement and tries to contact the other boys but gets no response. Dustin is only able to get Steve to help him when he runs into him in front of Mike’s house.
Having been left on her own, Eleven hitchhikes to see her mom. Her mother is mentally gone, spending her time watching television. Her sister, Eleven’s aunt, says that she was waiting for her to come home. Eleven’s mom contacts her through the television. Together, they enter the Upside Down to talk. Her mother shows her her birth and kidnapping. Eleven then sees how her mom entered the lab to find Jane (Eleven) and the lab electrocuted her because of the information she knew. The words Eleven’s mom have been saying are due to the electrocution.

Back in town, the scientists apply heat to the soil and the soil makes a sort of windstorm. Joyce, Bob, Will, and Mike drive to where Hopper entered, Joyce slices through “vines” and the two discover cigarettes belonging Hopper. Mike and Will wait outside and vans pull up in front of them. Joyce and Bob find Hopper and cut him loose from the vines. A lab assistant lights the creatures on fire, and Will drops to the ground in a fit.