Stranger Things Season 2 Episode 5 recap revisited: Eleven's painful past came to light

While we were watching Stranger Things 2 in 2017, it was a relatively slow climb. But Chapter Five: Dig Dug was the drop we’d been waiting for. This episode turns the emotion up to eleven (pun intended!). Hopper was trapped underground, Eleven discovered who her real mother was, and Bob proved that he, in fact, was the MVP of Hawkins.

Let’s revisit how Stranger Things season 2 episode 5 made the supernatural small-town drama explode into full-blown horror filled with Eggos.

Stranger Things Season 2 Episode 5 recap: Hopper gets trapped, and the Byers get worked up

When we last saw Hopper, our sheriff had decided to go on a solo mission into the Upside Down tunnels beneath Hawkins. And that went about as well as you’d expect because he gets ensnared by the vines he was investigating.

Meanwhile, above ground, Joyce Byers is conspiracy mapping.

Will’s scribbles turn into a jigsaw puzzle of the whole of Hawkins, and Bob (Sean Astin) cracks the code. The guy is solving a map to Hopper’s location. If Hawkins High ever needs a substitute geometry teacher, Bob’s the man.

Joyce, Bob, and Will find Hopper and free him, but their relief is short-lived because the moment the lab’s flamethrowers hit underground tendrils, Will screams in pain. Clearly, he is connected to the Upside Down’s neural network. It’s the first real hint that the shadow monster is, in fact, inside him.

Stranger Things Season 2 Episode 5 recap: Nancy and Jonathan’s motel visit

Nancy and Jonathan take their road trip to the next level. Armed with a tape recorder, they set out to expose Hawkins Lab’s secrets. Their first pit stop is a motel, because a good plot needs one "we’re not together" moment!

Of course, the receptionist doesn’t buy it for a second. Her smirk says it all. Inside the room, the tension between them is thick. They talk about Barb, their friendship, and why they only hang out during supernatural crises.

By the next day, they met the theorist Murray Bauman.

Murray then listened to their recording and decided it’s "too much truth." He suggested they water it down to keep the monsters out of it.

Stranger Things Season 2 Episode 5 recap: Eleven’s discovery

The core of this episode belongs to Eleven. She runs away and goes to her mother, Terry’s house. What follows is gut-wrenching.

At first, it seems like her mother is repeating nonsense. But Eleven soon realizes those words ("rainbow," "sunflower," "three to the right") are actually memories trying to break through. This made little Eleven, using her psychic powers to enter her mom’s memories and watch Terry’s baby, Jane, get stolen by Hawkins Lab. When she tried to get her back, she was electroshocked.

Millie Bobby Brown nailed every flicker of heartbreak and fury. For the first time, Eleven understands what was taken from her.

Stranger Things Season 2 is streaming on Netflix.

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The first four episodes of the fifth and final season of Stranger Things will premiere on November 26. Three more episodes come out on Christmas, and the finale will be broadcast on New Year's Eve.

NEXT: This Stranger Things character wasn't supposed to live past Season 1

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