Everything that happened in Stranger Things season 2.

This year the fifth and final season of Stranger Things will finally make its ways to the screen. But a lot has happened the last four seasons. And you probably don’t remember all of it. But don’t worry I’ve watched all seasons again and made a recap for each season, so you don’t have to. But I certainly recommend watching all the seasons again before the final season starts. I’ve very much enjoyed the whole ride all over again.

Stranger Things is an epic coming of age story about friendship, family, love, and courage. It’s suspenseful, emotional. It has a lot of character development and a huge 80s vibe and of course creepy scary monsters, both human and supernatural. 

You can read all about the main characters and  what happened in season 1 here. 

But now it’s time to revisit Hawkins in this second season.

New Characters

• Bob Newby. He is Joyce’s boyfriend and works at RadioShack.
• Dr Sam Owens. He is the new scientist in charge of Hawkins Lab and treats Will after the events. He is one of the good guys. 
• Murray Bauman. A freelance journalist who has been hired by Mr and Mrs Holland to find Barb.
• Max Mayfield. The new girl in town whom both Lucas and Dustin have a crush on.
• Billy Hargrove. Max’ stepbrother and not a nice guy. 

We finally get to see Dustin’s mother and the two of them are so alike. And we get to see Lucas’ family, his parents and his little sassy sister Erica. 

October 18 1984

Before we go back to Hawkins, we take a detour and find ourselves in Pittsburgh. The opening scene starts at October 28 1984. It’s almost a year later after the events in season 1. We see a band of misfits rob a bank and one of them seems to have mind powers and she has a tattoo on her arm with the number 008. 

What happened to Eleven

After Eleven destroyed the Demogorgon she also vanished and we find out she went to the Upside Down. She finds her way back to the real Hawkins but can’t return to Mike’s house, because it’s swarmed with police and people who are looking for her. So she hides in the woods. But Hopper finds out and leaves food for her and when she shows herself to him he takes her to his grandfather’s old cabin and fixes it up a bit so they can live there. But she can’t show herself to anyone, because it’s not safe. 

Meanwhile the Lab is taken over by other people like Dr Sam Owens who try to contain the spread of the Upside Down into our world. Meanwhile he treats Will who still suffers from his ordeal. The Gate isn’t closed and now there’s a huge pit in the basement of the Lab descending into the Upside Down.

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Trying to move on

Back in Hawkins Will still suffers from visions about the Upside Down, like he’s really there. Dr Owens calls them episodes. Will sees a gigantic shadow monster looming over Hawkins in the Upside Down.

The four boys spent a lot of time at the arcade. Joyce has a boyfriend, Bob Newby who is very sweet and kind. Mr and Mrs Holland have hired freelance journalist Murray Bauman to find Barb. Nancy feels very guilty about not being allowed to say anything about Barb, to give them closure. A new girl named Max arrives in town and along with her Billy her mean stepbrother. Both Lucas and Dustin instantly like Max but Mike still misses El and doesn’t want her replaced by some other girl. 

While some of them are ready to move on, like Lucas, Dustin, Steve and Joyce, others have to deal with guilt, trauma and in Hopper’s case, fatherhood. Will tells Mike about his visions and Mike believes him that the shadow monster is real. When Will tells Bob about his visions, Bob treats it like a nightmare and tells Will to face his fears. So when Will ends up in the Upside Down in a vision again he does just that, but the Shadow Monster gets inside him and possesses him. 

The Upside Down is spreading

Hopper gets multiple calls from farmers whose crop has gone rotten and when he goes out investigating he finds out it concerns a whole area spreading out from the Lab. 

Outside Dustin finds a small creature, and calls it Dart, short for D’Artagnan. He shows his newly discovered species to his friends but it turns out Dart is molting and growing and ate Dustin’s cat. It is turning into a monster from the Upside Down.

Different teams

Lucas really likes Max and tells her everything about Will and Eleven and the Upside Down, but she doesn’t believe him. 

Will tells Mike everything about the Shadow Monster and Mike thinks they can use Will to spy on it and find out more about it and Joyce agrees. Will can only communicate what he sees with his drawings but they seemingly make no sense. Until Bob finds out that all the drawings together form a map, in fact it’s a network of tunnels right under Hawkins.

Meanwhile Hopper is digging at the pumpkin patch and finds these tunnels. The tunnels are crawling with vines and dark particles just like in the Upside Down. The tunnels are spreading and heading towards Hawkins, acting like a gate to our world. Hopper gets attacked by the vines and is being chocked to death. 

With Will’s help they find out Hopper is trapped and dying. So they figure out Hopper’s location and rescue him. Shortly after his rescue the Lab people arrive and torch the tunnels, causing Will to have a major seizure. Will, Hopper, Joyce, Mike and Bob are taken to the Lab. Back at the Lab they find out Will is connected to the Shadow Monster and everything from the Upside Down. It acts like a hive mind. 

Dustin can’t reach any of them, so he teams up with Steve to catch and kill Dart, but they have no luck. Although the two of them bond like  brothers. 

Nancy and Jonathan team up to take down the Lab and want to hold the people behind it responsible and to reveal that Barb has died instead of ran away. They trick the Lab people by getting caught, and being brought to the Lab. Dr Owens explains to them why they have to stay quiet and can’t tell anyone. As they leave, we learn that Nancy has recorded the whole conversation. They bring the tape to Murray Bauman to expose the Lab. There they spent the night and Nancy and Jonathan finally admit their feelings for each other. 

Eleven’s takes a trip

Meanwhile Eleven is home alone at the cabin and finds information about her mother Terry Ives. So she goes off to see her. She is welcomed by Terry’s sister Becky. El goes inside Terry’s head and Terry shows her how she was born and taken away from her. That she tried to get her back, but was caught and getting electroshock therapy, leaving her in the catatonic state she’s in now. She also shows little El with another girl in the room, Kali. When El overhears Becky making a call to Hawkins police station, to find Hopper and  to tell him El is safe and with her, El bolts. She goes to Pittsburgh to find Kali. 

There she’s welcomed by Kali as a lost sister. Kali shows her how strong she can be if she channels her anger, but Kali also wants revenge on all of the people who have hurt them. When they take El with them, who now calls herself by her birth name Jane, she is forced to kill one of the former orderly’s who hurt Terry. But she refuses. 

She does find out that Brenner is still alive. She also finds out by going into her mind-realm that Hopper, her friends and Hawkins are in trouble and returns home.

Things take a turn for the worse 

Still in the Lab, Will is losing his memory. He recognizes Joyces and Mike, but not Bob, Hopper or Owens. But he does tell them that there’s a place on the map of the tunnels that the Shadow Monster doesn’t want him to see. So they sent the Lab people there to destroy it. But Mike finds out it’s a trap. Will is also a spy for the Shadow Monster.  Now monsters are crawling out of the pit in the basement of the Lab. 

Finally Dustin gets a hold of Lucas, not thanks to Erica who messed with the walkie talkie, and Lucas takes Max with him to show her that he was telling the truth. So Steve, Dustin, Lucas and Max are at the car dump to lure Dart. But they are soon under attack by multiple monsters like Dart. But suddenly they run away, towards the Lab. 

Meanwhile Nancy and Jonathan got back to Hawkins and find an empty Byers house and decide to check the Lab. When they arrive they find Steve, Dustin, Lucas and Max and they see the Lab going into a lockdown. 

Demodogs are roaming the Lab and killing everybody in sight. Joyce, Mike, Will, Hopper, Bob and Owens are locked inside the Lab, but Bob manages to override the system so they can make their escape. But as they all make it out alive (Owens stays behind), Bob is attacked and killed in front of Joyce. 

When riding out of the Lab, they pick up Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, Dustin, Lucas and Max and they all go to the Byers house to figure out what to do next. 

Tricking the Mind Flayer and his Demodogs 

While Dustin names the Shadow Monster the Mind Flayer and the monsters Demodogs, he tells them that in D&D the Mind Flayer sees itself as superior and wants to conquer them, to spread and take over their world. But it acts like a hive mind, the Mind Flayer controls everything. So if they destroy the Mind Flayer they will also destroy the Demodogs and the vines growing in the tunnels. 

Mike says that if there’s anything that can destroy the Mind Flayer, Will would know. But the Mind Flayer has taken over Will and it’s not Will who does the talking. So Will tricks the Mind Flayer. He communicates with them through morse code, while Joyce, Jonathan and Mike talk to him and bring up good memories. Will tells them to “Close the Gate.”

But the Mind Flayer finds out where they are and sends his Demodogs. But before they can attack, they are slaughtered outside. El is back. Mike is totally surprised and happy but also mad at Hopper for not telling him El was still alive. It’s a great little reunion. El says she can close the Gate, so she and Hopper go back to the Lab.

Back when the Lab people destroyed the tunnels with fire, they did find out that heat is the Mind Flayer’s weakness and they decide to burn the Mind Flayer out of Will. Nancy who mutually breaks up with Steve, goes with Joyce, Jonathan and Will to Hopper’s cabin. While Steve stays behind with Mike, Lucas, Dustin and Max, to be the babysitter again. 

But after El and Hopper, and Joyce, Jonathan, Nancy and Will have left, Billy shows up at the Byers house looking for Max. He gets into a fight with Steve and Steve gets beaten up really badly, till Max sedates Billy with a syringe, that they used for Will. They decide to help El to create a diversion in the tunnels and bring along unconscious Steve. They burn the tunnels and Dustin encounters Dart again who recognizes him and doesn’t kill them. 

Meanwhile Joyce manages to burn the Mind Flayer out of Will by heating up the cabin and even poking him with a hot iron. The part of the Mind Flayer leaves Will’s body as black smoke. Now El can safely close the Gate without killing Will. She channels all her anger, just how Kali taught her and closes the Gate, cutting off the Mind Flayer from the Demodogs and the growing vines in the tunnels. The Demodogs and the vines and everything that belonged to the Upside Down dies. 

In the Lab El and Hopper find a wounded but still alive Owens and Hopper makes a deal with him that El can lead a normal life. 

One month later

Barb’s death is acknowledged and a funeral is being held, giving her parents closure. Will is finally feeling his normal self again. The Lab is closed but Owens kept his word. He has a birth certificate for Hopper, that Jane is his daughter. But they have to wait a year to let it all blow over before she can safely go into the world. 

But there can be made one exception. The season ends with the Snow Ball. Dustin is being brought by Steve who gives him some girl advice. Will is brought by Joyce who’s still concerned. Lucas is officially dating Max and Mike has a date with El. It looks like a happy ending but when the camera turns upside down we see the Mind Flayer looming dangerously over Hawkins Middle School. The battle might have been won, but the war is far from over. 

Read more about Stranger Things:

• Stranger Things season 1 recap
• Stranger Things season 3 recap
• Stranger Things season 4 recap
• Stranger Things season 1 review
• Stranger Things season 2 review
• Stranger Things season 3 review