Spoilers Off applies to Moments pages. You Have Been Warned.
Despite all the horror and sadness of this show, Stranger Things has many moments of comedic levity.
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Season 1
Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers
- At the breakfast table, Mike is drenching his eggs with syrup, something Nancy finds disgusting. Mike's response is to pour some on hers.Nancy: What the hell, Mike?
Ted: "Language!"- All while Karen is trying to have a phone conversation with Joyce.
- Lucas also gets a verbal reprimand for his language from Mr. Clarke as the three boys excitedly check out the new HAM radio:Lucas: When Will sees this, he's totally gonna blow his shit!
Mr. Clarke: (sharply) Lucas!
Lucas: (sheepishly) Uh, sorry. - The entire opening scenes at the police station. First, we have Hopper walking in on two officers playing cards with their feet propped up, with Hopper arranging one of Officer Powell's cards. Meanwhile, Flo takes Hopper's cigarette and extinguishes it while telling him that while he was drinking or sleeping a call came in that kids have been stealing a resident's garden gnomes again. Then Hopper blows her off when she tries telling him that Joyce is in his office, only to have an "Oh, shit" look when he sees her, thereby having to actually do his job. And as Joyce, rightfully panicked, attempts to emphasize the seriousness of the situation, Hopper tells her that in his four years with Hawkins PD the worst thing that's ever happened was when an owl landed on a lady's head believing that her hair was a nest.
- While eating the fries Benny gave her, Eleven becomes so annoyed by the squeaking fan that she jams it with her mind. She then calmly goes back to eating.
- During supper, Mike and Nancy argue with mostly Karen regarding their house arrest. As usual, Ted contributes very little, mainly scolding Nancy twice on her language, but his facial expression is priceless when he exclaims, "Steve?!" After Nancy and Mike storm away, Karen is pissed off at Ted and leaves with Holly.Ted: What'd I doooooooo?
- Mike notices Steve trying to sneak into his sister's room... while sneaking out himself.
- When Steve realizes that he's been noticed, he initially tries to lean about casually while adopting a sort of nonchalant "Hey, s'up?" attitude... while he's standing on a garbage bin leaning on the garage roof.
- And then Mike gives a "not my problem" eye-roll and goes on his way. Since *he's* not supposed to be out, he's in no position to tell anyone what he saw.
- During the kids' interrogation by Hopper, Dustin and Lucas get into an argument about Mirkwood, which escalates into a slap fight. All the while, Mike is sitting between the two, clearly done with them.
Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street
- Dustin assumes Eleven's deaf and loudly claps his hands. She is understandably startled.Dustin: Not deaf.
- Mike gives Eleven some of his clothes to wear, since hers are drenched. Adorable. Then she almost changes in front of the boys.
- After convincing El to change in the bathroom, Dustin expresses his disbelief that she almost got naked in front of them – complete with making a disrobing gesture that knocks his own hat off. He repeats this gesture every time he brings up Eleven's weirdness.
- The next day, when Mike doesn't show up to school, Dustin and Lucas theorize that he may have been caught with Eleven. What's the first thing Dustin asks?Dustin: What if she slept naked?
- Just the fact that the boys are exactly at that awkward age where the concept of a naked girl is equally repellent and intriguing.
- Lucas theorizes that Eleven is an escapee from a mental hospital in a nearby county. Dustin asks him if he has a lot of family there.Lucas: Bite me.
- Lucas's understandable reaction to learning Eleven's name.
- This exchange at the breakfast table:Mike: (snarkily to Nancy) Did you get much studying done last night?
Nancy: Yes, actually, I did.
Mike: What's your test on, again? The human anatomy?
(Nancy kicks Mike under the table; he returns the gesture.)
Karen: What is going on?
Mike & Nancy: (innocently in unison) Nothing. - Lucas and Dustin stay at Mike's house for dinner! While trying to keep themselves composed after learning about the people after Eleven. And Eleven's power. And Eleven walking down the steps behind Mike's mom.
- Mike and the boys try to convince Eleven to trust them.Mike: They're not gonna tell any adults. Right?
Dustin: (nodding) We never would've upset you if we knew you had superpowers.
*Mike smacks him* - El decides to wander around the house during dinner despite Mike's warning to stay in the basement. When he sees her, he chokes on his milk, causing his mother to look behind them, but Dustin brings her attention back to the table by slamming on it with both his fists.Dustin: Sorry, spasm.
- While explaining the word friend to Eleven, Lucas brings up the importance of never breaking a spit-swear, which he demonstrates on Dustin. In the next scene, Dustin can be seen looking disgustedly at the spit on his palm and staring at Lucas with a "what the hell" expression on his face.
Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly
- Lucas's supplies for looking for Will include a "wrist rocket."Dustin: You're gonna take out the Demogorgon with a slingshot?
Lucas: First of all, it's a wrist rocket. And second of all, the Demogorgon's not real. It's made-up.- He's also got some binoculars and a knife "From 'Nam."
- Dustin's travel supplies: a bunch of snacks. He justifies this by saying that Eleven's the only weapon they need. He then tries to prove his point by making her lift a toy replica of the Millennium Falcon in the air. El just stares at him while he drops it twice.
- What's best about this is Eleven's expression. Prior to this, she has been alternately terrified, scared, apprehensive, and nervous. In this moment, though, she has the most coolly disdainful look on her face. She's not a trained seal, and she's not going to act like one.
- Even better, she's seen levitating the Falcon when she's alone for her own amusement in a later scene, as if to say: "I'm doing this for me, not for someone else's amusement."
- You just know some superfans were wincing at the constant dropping of the Falcon toy in that scene. Dozens of Netflix viewers thinking "Dude! That thing is mint! Be careful!"
Chapter Four: The Body
- After the boys see Eleven in her disguise, Mike remarks that she looks "Pretty..." before adding "...good" a second too late. Lucas raises an eyebrow with an "are you kidding me?" look on his face.
- When they break into the middle school, Mike reminds Dustin, Lucas, and Eleven to look sad if anyone sees them. Dustin and Lucas then mime sadness and crying to Eleven to make sure she's on the same page, and she mimics them back.
- The group making up "Eleanor's" story on the spot when Mr. Clarke starts asking about her. Like how she's from Sweden. And how by "bad place," she means she hates the cold there.
- In that scene, the boys ask Mr. Clarke to let them into the AV room because... they want to cry... in the AV room.
- Dustin loudly walking in on the assembly for Will's "death," causing the staff and students to stare. He tries to abort before Lucas turns him back around.
- Eleven calling Troy a mouth breather for insulting Will.
- Then she makes him piss himself. And gives a "No sweat!" gesture.
- Who could forget Eleven's first reaction to makeup?
- After Mike pushes Troy for mocking Will after the assembly, Troy tries to attack him back. But before he can, Eleven uses her powers to make him stop dead in his tracks...and pee himself! Everyone laughs at him, with Dustin throwing in a "Holy shit!" for good measure.
Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat
- When Mr. Clarke asks the group how they're holding up, they answer that they're in mourning. Dustin then picks up a cookie and remarks that they "aren't real Nilla Wafers."
- Hopper's reaction when he enters Joyce's house and realizes that among other things, he has to unscrew all of Joyce's bazillion Christmas lights to search for possible bugs; his facial expression clearly screams This Is Gonna Suck.
- The way he collapses into a chair, exhausted and drenched in sweat after unscrewing every single bulb also counts.
Chapter Six: The Monster
- How Dustin convincing Mike to make things rights with Lucas. It so perfectly captures the kind of "playground laws" kids come up with.Dustin: Bottom line is, you pushed first. And you know the rule, you draw first blood—"
Mike: I'm not shaking his hand!
Dustin: YOU'RE SHAKING HIS HAND! This isn't a discussion! This is the RULE of LAW. OBEY, or be banished from the party! Do you want to be banished from the party?- Of course, the initial response when Lucas opens the door to them? He and Mike just coldly stare at each other. After a beat, Dustin smacks Mike, who then goes on to give one of the bullshittiest "apologies" ever. Needless to say, Lucas doesn't buy it.
- Dustin, while trying to mediate an argument between Mike and Lucas mind you, calls Eleven knocking out Lucas "awesome."Lucas: Awesome!?
Dustin: Yeah, she threw you in the air with her mind!
Lucas: I could have been killed!- Also, Mike comparing Lucas fighting the Demogorgon with a slingshot to R2-D2 fighting Darth Vader.
- Nancy and Jonathan bonding after buying monster-hunting supplies.Nancy: You know, last week, I was shopping for a new top I thought Steve might like. It took me and Barb all weekend. It seemed like life or death, you know? And — and now...Jonathan: (smiling)...you're shopping for bear traps with Jonathan Byers.
Nancy: Yeah.
Jonathan: What's the weirdest part? Me or the bear traps?
Nancy: (smirking) You. Definitely you. - Eleven wanders in a store looking for food while a bit disoriented. One of the store workers asks if she's lost and tries to get her to talk to him. She simply responds with "mouth-breather" and walks off to steal some Eggos. The look of utter confusion on the worker's face helps sell the scene, too.
- Also, the way Eleven pulls a woman's trolley into the way of a pursuing worker and then forcing the automatic doors shut... right as he's gunning through them at full speed. He runs straight into them and just smashes the glass to pieces.
- Troy holds Dustin at knifepoint, demanding Mike tell him what he did to make him wet himself on their last encounter. Dustin offers him the truth, which Troy ignores.Dustin: Our friend has superpowers, and she squeezed your tiny bladder with her mind!
- After Eleven saves Mike and scares off Troy and James:Dustin: She's our friend, and she's crazy!
Chapter Seven: The Bathtub
- Lucas yelling "THE BAD MEN ARE COMING!" to the group over the walkie-talkie while riding a bike. Which yells "The British are coming!" vibes.
- Dustin thinks he's saying Mad Hen.
- "WOULD YOU SHUT UP ABOUT LANDO?!"
- The kids explaining to the parents how Eleven's powers work.Dustin: The more energy she uses, the more tired she gets.
Lucas: Like when she flipped the van earlier.
Dustin: It was awesome. - As Mike flees his house as the Hawkins Lab men arrive, he stops to instruct his mother what to do:Mike: If anyone asks where I am, I've fled the country.
- Nancy and Mike promise to be honest and tell each other everything. They both then immediately lie to each other about their respective feelings for Jonathan and Eleven.
- Dustin calling Mr. Clarke at 10 PM on a Saturday to ask how to build a sensory deprivation tank. His reason? "...Fun."Dustin: WHY ARE YOU KEEPING THIS CURIOSITY DOOR LOCKED?!
- The best part? Mr. Clarke bought it.
- Even funnier, he's watching John Carpenter's The Thing with his super-hot girlfriend and they're both geeking out over the special effects. Mr. Clarke is a ladies' man! Who'd have guessed?
- Nancy has to take a moment to gawk at the Room Full of Crazy Joyce has created.
Chapter Eight: The Upside Down
- Steve finally getting introduced to the main plot, and his Freak Out over all of it. He shouts a panicked Big "WHAT?!", and Nancy points a gun to his face to get him to leave the house for his own safety. Then the Demogorgon shows up in reaction to his wounds from Jonathan beating him.Jonathan: (To Steve while running) JUMP!
Steve: (Jumps) OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD! - A moment later:Steve: JESUS! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! WHAT THE HELL IS—
Jonathan/Nancy: Shut up! - Dustin long suspected the cafeteria lady was lying to him, always telling him they were out of chocolate pudding, when in fact she was hoarding it all. He was right
. - While Mike reassures Eleven that she can move in with them and become a member of his family, he tells her that soon she'll be able to eat "real food," not just Eggo waffles. Eleven reacts with visible confusion, since she considers Eggo the best thing since sliced bread.
- Lucas attempting to ward off the Demogorgon with his wrist rocket, while undoubtedly terrifying, is a giant Brick Joke leading back to Episode 3. Wrong, Lucas. The monster is real. And it's not a wrist rocket. It's a slingshot. Unfortunately.
- To his credit, he did say he was gonna shoot it in the eyes. That was before he met the Demogorgon, though.
- After Lucas fires several rocks straight at the Demogorgon to no effect, one suddenly knocks it backwards without warning, leading to a moment of shock from the boys at the apparent success... before a pullback reveals that Eleven has actually thrown it across the room and pinned it to the wall with her psychic abilities.
- Dustin and Lucas falling asleep on each other in the hospital waiting room and their utterly confused reactions when they wake up like that. Even funnier when you notice that they're the only ones sleeping in a room full of tense people. Lucas even has a "Dude, what the hell?!?" look for Dustin when they wake up.
- When Mike notices that Nancy and Jonathan are gone and tells the others, Dustin merely answers that they're probably hiding somewhere "sucking face". Both Lucas and Mike are immediately grossed out.
Season 2
Season 2 In General
- The Running Gag of Dustin growling to show off his new permanent front teeth.
- "Totally Tubular!"
- Lucas being on the biggest receiving end of Max's "Stalker" nickname is funnier when you think of it as karma for how often he called Eleven "the weirdo" in Season 1.
- In a similar vein, Mike's reservations about Max remind one of Lucas's reservations about El the prior season...meaning that Mike and Lucas both initially disliked each other's girlfriends when they first appeared on the scene.
Chapter One: MADMAX
- Mike steals some quarters from Nancy's piggy bank for the arcade, which leads to Nancy chasing her brother out of the house and shouting "ASSHOLE!" as he pedals away.
- Dustin plays Dragon's Lair. Specifically, his meltdown after he dies when he was this close to beating it! Anyone who's ever played that game in the arcade will likely identify with him.Dustin: No. No, NOOO! No, no, no, I hate this overpriced bullshit, son of a BITCH, piece of shit! [Kicks the console]
Lucas: You're just not nimble enough. But you'll get there one day. But until then, Princess Daphne is still mine! [Princess Daphne gasps] - Keith, the geeky arcade employee, tries to get the boys to pay for information by having Mike get him a date with Nancy. Everyone else thinks it's a fine idea, but Mike is less than thrilled.Mike: I'm not going to prostitute my sister!
Lucas: But it's for a good cause! - Hopper is introduced tiredly trying to avoid Murray Bauman.Hopper: [talking over Murray in full deadpan] Get away from me.... Get away from me. (practically singing) Get awaaaaay from meee!
- The whole thing just has an air of routine about it, Powell and Callahan don't bother to disguise their disparaging remarks or hide their laughter.Powell: Hey mornin', Chief!
Hopper: Morning.
Powell: Morning, Murray!
Callahan: Got any proof on your butt-probin' aliens yet, Murray? [Powell laughs]
Murray: I believe there was, and may very well still be, a Russian spy presence in Hawkins.
Hopper: [laughs, mouth full of donut] Russian spies!
Callahan: I'm sorry, Mur, are the spies in cahoots with the aliens? Or how do they fit in here? 'Cause I'm confused.
Murray: I'm talking multiple reports now. Multiple reports, okay? Of a Russian child in Hawkins!
Hopper: [pretending to sound incredulous] A child? What are you talking about, a child?
Murray: A girl who may have psionic abilities!
Powell: "Psionic"?
Murray: Psychic.
Callahan: Hey chief, what about that girl that made that kid pee himself?
Hopper: That was a prank.
Murray: What girl?
Callahan: Wasn't a prank.
[Hopper speaks over them with a mocking gibberish]
Hopper: You got five minutes. Not a second more. - Hopper takes Murray into his office and sits him down.Murray Bauman: I talked to a Big Buy ex-employee who said some little girl shattered the door with her mind.
Jim Hopper: I heard that story. Did you hear the one about the fat man with the beard who climbs down chimneys?
Murray Bauman: Then last month, a co-worker of Ted Wheeler's claims some Russian girl with a shaved head was hiding in his basement. Ted now denies this.
Jim Hopper: [tosses the apple Flo gave him] Oh, wow. That's a surprise.
Murray Bauman: But it connects.
Jim Hopper: Enlighten me.
Murray Bauman: This girl, she's some kind of a-of a Russian weapon, right? Barbara, she sees this girl, tries to help her, perhaps. But before she can, the Russians find them, take them-
Jim Hopper: [lights his cigarette] Wait-wait-wait. You're telling me that Barbara Holland was kidnapped by Russian spies...
Murray Bauman: Kidnapped. Killed.
Jim Hopper: Killed?
Murray Bauman: Don't you get it, Jim?
Jim Hopper: No.
Murray Bauman: This has potentially international implications. I'm talking a full-on Russian invasion right here in Hawkins! [Hopper twists a dial on his typewriter to make noise]
Jim Hopper: Do you have any proof of this girl? I mean, has anybody seen her recently?
Murray Bauman: No! These are separate-[Hopper's phone rings]
Jim Hopper: Excuse me. Sorry.
Murray Bauman: Okay.
Jim Hopper: Hello?
Flo: [reading from a notepad at her desk] Merrill called. Wants you to check out his pumpkins. Says they've been contaminated by his vengeful neighbor, Eugene. [beat] You're welcome.
[Hopper hangs up, relieved by the excuse to ditch Murray]
Jim Hopper: Yeah. I'm sorry, I really hate to do this, but I gotta run, it's an emergency.
Murray Bauman: You gave me five minutes-
Jim Hopper: Yeah, listen, you know what? I liked your alien theory a lot better. And you want my advice? Why don't you stop bleeding those people dry and go home. All right?
Murray Bauman: Look, I am not bleeding anyone dry.
Jim Hopper: Listen to me. Go home. - Hopper tries to eat a donut, and only gets one bite in before Flo takes it away and replaces it with an apple. Later, while Hopper is in his office talking to Murray, he takes a single bite of the apple, before tossing it in the garbage. He even takes the bite out of his mouth. That must've been a nasty apple.
- The whole thing just has an air of routine about it, Powell and Callahan don't bother to disguise their disparaging remarks or hide their laughter.
- Nancy doesn't understand the connection in Steve's college admissions letter between winning a basketball game and his grandfather's experiences in the war. Steve's reply: "We both won." Yeah, try again, dude.
- Nancy, noticing Jonathan declining an invitation flyer from Tina for her Halloween party, grabs a second one and hands it to him. Jonathan tries to decline on the excuse that he'll be busy chauffeuring Will, but Nancy isn't buying it.Nancy Wheeler: You're coming to this.
Jonathan Byers: [reading the invitation] "Come and get sheet-faced." No, I'm not.
Nancy Wheeler: I can't let you sit all alone Halloween! That's just not acceptable.
Jonathan Byers: Well, you can relax. I'm not gonna be alone.
Nancy Wheeler: Hmmm?
Jonathan Byers: I'm going trick-or-treating with Will.
Nancy Wheeler: All night?
Jonathan Byers: Yeah.
Nancy Wheeler: No, no way. You're gonna be home by 8:00, listening to the Talking Heads and reading Vonnegut or something.
Jonathan Byers: Sounds like a nice night.
Nancy Wheeler: Jonathan, just come. I mean, who knows, you might even, like, meet someone- [She's cut off as Steve, who's been lurking by her lockers, ambushes her and kisses her] - Ted Wheeler (quite smugly) thinks he's won argument points during his dressing down of Mike for his somewhat off-the-rails, unruly behavior by bringing up the old chestnut of "would you jump off a cliff if your friends did it?" analogy. Actually, about that... kinda. Great job there, "Dad of the Year". Great job there.
- Ted's uselessness throughout the whole scene is kind of amusing: Karen is trying to discipline Mike, but Ted's contribution is to drive the metaphor into the ground by talking about how his coach would have kicked him off the team for this many 'strikes'.
- During dinner with Barb's parents, Mr Holland states his belief that Murray Bauman will be able to do what "that son-of-a-bitch Jim Hopper—" after which Mrs. Holland places her hand on him, so he corrects himself, "—the Hawkins Police" couldn't.
- Steve tries to break the awkward silence with Barb's parents as he notes that the KFC dinner was, "Finger lickin' good."
- Mr. Clarke talks enthusiastically about the brain, but the only ones who look even remotely interested is the party. The rest of the class looks bored out of their minds, and one girl is even seen playing with a cootie catcher with the most mindless expression.
- When Max comes in, Mr. Clarke asks Dustin to give him a drumroll.
- Hopper gets dive-bombed by a crow while searching Merrill's farm. This will get a big laugh from anyone who's played the tie-in game, where birds are Goddamned Bats.
- The boys follow Max around, to make sure she is "safe", and during a school break Max drops a piece of paper into a garbage bin. Cue the boys running towards it, with Dustin diving for the paper, which reads "STOP SPYING ON ME CREEPS!"
- A group of girls walk pass them with suspicious expressions. The next shot shows Lucas, Will and Mike trying to act casual while Dustin is still rummaging through the bin.
- Will asks why Jonathan is staying with him, and asks whether or not his brother has any friends. Jonathan gives a long pause before stuttering that he does have friends, he just prefers to be with Will because he's his best friend.
- Jonathan outright calls Will a freak - and himself - which is precisely why they don't spend time with boring, vapid people. He uses an analogy of hanging out with David Bowie or Kenny Rogers. Will instantly squirms before picking Bowie. Cue Bob barging into the room with a genuinely excited "I love Kenny Rogers!" Will and Jonathan just stare at each other for a second before bursting into laughter. He may have ruined a profound brotherly moment, but the man is just way too Adorkable.
- Bob picks Mr. Mom for their movie night. He and Joyce look like they're having a blast. Will and Jonathan both look extremely bored.
- The Mood Whiplash when Will has to leave early:
Chapter Two: Trick or Treat, Freak
- As Hopper makes breakfast, he gets a jumpscare from Eleven, who is wearing a bedsheet over her head. She flatly explains that she is a ghost.
- "Explain" may be a bit too generous a term...
- The name for the three rules Hopper made for Eleven: "We're not stupid".
- Joyce panics when Will isn’t in his room. She finds him in the bathroom and she asks him what he’s doing. He then says that he’s peeing in tone of voice that screams “Obviously”.
- The boys dress up as the Ghostbusters for Halloween. In the montage of their moms taking pictures of them in their costumes, Will's and Dustin's families are ecstatic, Lucas's sister calls him a nerd while Mike's expression just reads, "Kill me now".Karen: (about to shoot one last picture) Okay, say "Who ya gonna call?".
Mike: No! (flash!) - Will goes as Stantz, Dustin goes as Spengler, and Lucas and Mike both go as Venkman. Lucas objects that Mike thought he "had" to be Winston, not only because he's the only black friend, but first and foremost because Winston is simply not as cool to him.
- The kids notice that no one else is coming to school in costume. This is treated with just as much seriousness as the stuff with the Upside Down.
Kid: (off-screen) Who you gonna call? The nerds! - Hopper talking to Eugene, the second farmer to make a complaint about a supernatural blight hitting his pumpkins. Eugene holds up his hands and asks Hopper why they look like that.Hopper: Because you're old?
Eugene: Damn straight!- While surveying Eugene's farm, Hopper radios his deputies, who are over at another farm, and tells them to not touch any of the sticky goop without gloves. Powell looks at Callahan, who's touching the goop with his fingers and sniffing it, before dryly replying, "Copy that, chief."
- As Jonathan leaves the house with Will to chauffeur him over to the Wheelers' house, Joyce and Bob see them off, Bob doing his best Dracula voice: "I hope it doesn't suck!" They spend the drive discussing Jonathan's difficulty understanding what his mother sees in Bob. Nonetheless, when dropping Will off, Jonathan does an imitation of Bob's Dracula voice.
- Eleven is watching TV and mimicking words and expressions of the actors.
- While the boys are trick-or-treating, they discuss the value of 3 Musketeers candy bars. Dustin likes them but Mike, Will, and Lucas do not. Especially not Lucas.Lucas: If I get another 3 Musketeers, I'm gonna kill myself.
- One woman calls the boys "little exterminators" after seeing their Ghostbusters costumes. Dustin, annoyed, responds by wordlessly grabbing a massive handful of candy from her bowl.
- Max scares the boys wearing a Michael Meyers mask, and Lucas lets out a high-pitched screech.
Max: Holy shit! You should've seen the look on your faces. [to Lucas] And you? Who screams like that? You sound like a little girl! [laughs even harder]- It gets even better: that's how Caleb McLaughlin actually screams.
- Sadie Sink also managed to Jump Scare herself on watching the episode.
- Hopper gets scared by Eugene's kid firing off a starter pistol, and grumpily tells him happy Halloween, before he realizes he's super late and Eleven is back at the shack waiting for him. He quickly drives off, swearing all the way, before backing up and asking the kid to give him some of his candy. The boy shakes his head and Hopper resorts to paying money.
- The Halloween party that Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan attend:
- Steve's party face.◊
- When Steve is informed of Billy breaking his drinking record and being crowned the new keg king, he dramatically pulls off his sunglasses and stares him down.
- The context of the scene may be serious, but let's face it: drunk Nancy is pretty hilarious. Especially her dancing.
- One guy to Nancy as he refills his punch: "PURE FUEL. PURE FUEL! WHOOOO!" Said guy is later shown stepping outside to vomit when Jonathan turns up.
- Jonathan shows up, and has a brief interaction with a Goth girl:Samantha: Nice costume.
Jonathan: Huh?
Samantha: Nice costume.
Jonathan: Oh, uh, yeah. I'm going as a guy who hates parties.
Samantha: [laughs] I'm Samantha.
Jonathan: [shakes her hand] Jonathan.
[He glances over at Nancy, who is drunkenly dancing with Steve on the other side of the room, then diverts his attention back to Samantha]
Jonathan: Kiss? [Samantha stares at him, so he gestures to her shirt] The band? - Even better, she's actually dressed as Siouxsie Sioux, an artist Jonathan's quite likely to know.
- Steve's party face.
- Realizing that Eleven isn't going to greet him, Hopper resigns himself to eating the candy on the couch, but at the same time tries to coax her out of her room.Hopper: It's very unhealthy to leave me out here. I'm gonna get fat! Could have a heart attack, or something.
- Dustin nervously approaching his shaking trash can and when he finally opens it to see what's inside, and stares at it in shock.Dustin: Holy shi- (Credits play with the Ghostbusters theme)
Chapter Three: The Pollywog
- What exactly was it that Dustin found in his trash can? A slimy baby creature from the Upside-Down. His response? Sneak it into his house, put it in his terrarium (evicting his poor turtle) and names him D'Artagnan. Because he decides the best thing to feed an otherworldly creature is a 3 Musketeers candy bar.
- The awkward laughing exchange between Dustin and his mother.
- Dustin tries to check out more books than his limit, and can't use his usual charms past Marissa the librarian who is already wise to his ways. His solution?Dustin: [points behind Marissa and narrows his eyes] What the hell is-? [Marissa turns, Dustin grabs his books and legs it]
- He first tries to tell Marissa that he's "on a curiosity voyage", and the books he needs "are his paddles to travel". After he steals the books, he yells, "I NEED MY PADDLES!"
- Knowing Eleven is angry at him, Hopper tries to get her to get out of bed, but she refuses. He then tells her that he guesses he'll have to finish the triple stacked Eggo waffles by himself. Eleven's eyes widen...and the camera smash cuts to her sitting at the table.Hopper: Mmmmm! MMMMM! Good, right? [Eleven doesn't respond] You know the great thing about it? It's only 8,000 calories. [Eleven continues to glare at him]
- Want proof that Hopper's 100% Eleven's parent now (even/especially with the loggerheads)? Watch her expression when he starts Dad Dancing... 33% "What?", 33% "OMG: Help!" and 33% "*awwww*" (perhaps a bit less of the last one). It's tradition playing out, not just a montage!
- During the "cleaning the cabin" montage, Eleven awkwardly tries to use the broom, but it's clear she has no idea what she's doing. Hopper demonstrates, and Eleven then excitedly sweeps...in a circle.
- Hopper returns to the station and asks Powell and Callahan what they found. They meekly say that they didn't find much because it was getting dark out. Hopper cannot hide his frustration with them.Hopper: It's called "flashlights," you dipshits.
- While the kids are looking for Dart around the school, Lucas karate kicks open a classroom door because he thinks no one else is around. He immediately gets in trouble with the teacher inside, who cries out a shocked "EXCUSE ME, MISTER SINCLAIR!"Lucas: Uh, s-sorry. I was looking for study hall. Bye!
- Max asks if she could join the party, and while Mike tries to explain that they have enough people for the party with their certain roles, she shrugs and asks if her class could be the "Zoomer".
- Dustin finds Dart and where does he hide him? Under his hat.
Chapter Four: Will the Wise
- Lucas dumpster dives so The Party can search the trash for Dart. He throws a pair of garbage bags out to his friends and leaps out of the dumpster á la parkour, almost like he's done this sort of thing a million times. Doesn't stop him from ribbing a tardy Dustin, though.Lucas: Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to show up. After I finished drawing the short straw. Real convenient.
- Max tells him he stinks, and walks over to stand beside Dustin. He says hi to her in a flirty way, and she returns the greeting seeming rather weirded out.
- Karen catches Nancy and Jonathan attempting to sneak in and the two awkwardly try to cover it up by saying they were going to study for a big test.
- The expressions of shock that Nancy and Jonathan give each other when Jonathan turns to the key on his car and it's suddenly operational again.
- While Max getting mad at Lucas and the others for leaving her out so much is sad, we get this gem when Max is walking away.Max: You still stink, by the way!
Lucas: [sniffs himself and winces] Aw shit!
Chapter Five: Dig Dug
- To send his mom on a Snipe Hunt to keep her from finding out that Dart just ate Mews, Dustin pretends he's calling one Mr. McCorckle who has "spotted" Mews in another neighborhood. The whole time, we can see that he's actually just talking to a dial tone.
- Lucas asks his dad for advice about dealing with girls, specifically how he gets his mom to stop being mad at him after a fight. His dad replies that he would apologize and then get her whatever she wanted. The next response is gold.Lucas: Even when she's wrong?
Mr. Sinclair: (finally looks up from his paper, and gives his son a Look) She's never wrong, son. (goes back to reading his paper)- Throughout this, his little sister Erica is drowning her waffles in syrup, much to their mother's disapproval.
- Lucas finally tells Max everything that happened in Season 1, causing her to essentially become one of the show's own viewers as she comments that it's a cool story, if a bit derivative. Lucas is understandably (and hilariously) flabbergasted.Lucas: I tell you all of this — I mean, top-secret stuff! Risking my life! And this is how you react?
Max: [trying not to laugh] "Risking your life"...?
Lucas: Oh, so this is funny to you?
Max: Yeah...I mean, kind of funny. - Dustin manages to trap Dart in his outdoor cellar, using his hockey gear for protection.Dustin: I'm sorry... You ate my cat.
- Bob looking at the drawings Joyce taped to the wall and actually takes it all very well.Bob: ....Huh... (looks around some more) Huh...
- Dustin tries to contact Lucas via radio, but Lucas's sister Erica tells him off and turns off the toy. It takes him a few seconds to realize he had been cut off.
- Growing desperate, Dustin goes to the Wheeler's house to find Mike or Nancy. Ted Wheeler answers, and proceeds to be as oblivious as ever to his children's whereabouts- they've both been missing for days at this point- prompting Dustin to finally say what the fandom is thinking:
- The reason Dustin went to the Wheelers' house in the first place? Dustin tried calling for two hours earlier, and during that entire time, Karen was talking on the phone with one of her friends. When Dustin finally arrives at the Wheeler house, he asks if Ted is aware of how long Karen has been on the phone. Ted, in a long suffering tone, tells Dustin he is well aware, showing that there is at least one thing Ted Wheeler knows about his family.
- Following this, Steve arrives at the house with a bouquet of roses that are an intended apology for Nancy. After making sure the roses aren't for Nancy's parents (because they're the only ones home), Dustin grabs the flowers, tosses them in the car, and tells Steve to get in without explaining anything or even asking him for help. Steve is completely bewildered throughout the entire thing. The beginning of a beautiful friendship indeed.Dustin: Do you still have your bat?
Steve: Do I what? - Beforehand, Steve tries to rehearse before stopping himself during the apology and asking, "What the hell am I sorry for?"
- Hopper's Casual Danger Dialogue with Bob after Bob and Joyce save his life:Hopper: [dusting himself off after nearly being choked to death] Hi, Bob.
Bob: Hi, Jim. - When Eleven telekinetically opens the door of Terry Ives' house, there's something oddly humorous about the intensity of El's badass Kubrick Stare juxtaposed with the door gently and slowly opening. The fact that the tense background music suddenly cuts out as the door opens is the cherry on top.
Chapter Six: The Spy
- While driving to Dustin's house, Steve asks the younger boy about Dart, questioning whether or not it's just a lizard. Dustin replies that its mouth split open and ate his cat. Cue a Beat from Steve before he's nodding like, "Yeah, not a lizard."
- The smash-cut from Jonathan and Nancy furiously making out to Lucas' little sister doing the same thing with a He-Man and a Barbie, complete with kissing noises. Lucas then storms in and takes his He-Man back.
- Lucas contacts Dustin via walkie-talkie, who has been setting a trap for Dart with the help of Steve. Dustin is trying to tell Lucas to meet up with them, but Lucas is having trouble keeping up with the bombshells being dropped on him. Particularly Steve tagging along.Dustin: While you were having sister problems, Dart grew again and I'm pretty sure he's a baby Demogorgon.
Lucas: Wait...what?
Dustin: I'll explain later. Just meet me and Steve at the old junkyard.
Lucas: "Steve"?
Dustin: And bring your binoculars and Wrist Rocket.
Lucas: Steve Harrington?!
- Lucas contacts Dustin via walkie-talkie, who has been setting a trap for Dart with the help of Steve. Dustin is trying to tell Lucas to meet up with them, but Lucas is having trouble keeping up with the bombshells being dropped on him. Particularly Steve tagging along.
- When Lucas shows up at Max's house, it looks for a minute as though Billy will catch them. The camera follows his slow, predatory walk toward the door as he corners Max and softly demands to know who she was talking to. She tells him "Mormons." From the look on Billy's face, he didn't see that answer coming.
- Steve reveals his hair secrets to Dustin, to the boy's delight.Steve: Fabergé.
Dustin: What?
Steve: (Pointing to his hair) It's Fabergé Organics. Use the shampoo and conditioner, and when your hair is damp, it's not wet okay, when it's damp...
Dustin: Damp...
Steve:...Do four puffs of the Farah Fawcett Spray.
Dustin: Farah Fawcett Spray?!
Steve: Yeah, Farah Fawcett Spray. (Suddenly serious) You tell anyone I just told you that, and your ass is grass, you are dead, do you understand that?- Later becomes a Brick Joke when Dustin styles his hair exactly like Steve in the final episode of Season 2 and looks just as ridiculous as you would expect.
- Lucas cheerfully greeting Steve and Dustin, who have spent a good chunk of the day dropping pieces of raw meat around as bait for Dart like he instructed.Lucas: Hey, I said "medium well"!
- Dustin radioing for help while surrounded by the juvenile Demogorgons.Dustin: Mike? Will? God? ANYONE?
- Murray sees through Nancy and Jonathan's attempts to claim that they were just friends, when Jonathan insists on using the sofa.Murray Bauman: Okay, I'm confused. What's going on here? Lover's quarrel?
Jonathan Byers: No, no, I mean...We're just friends.
Nancy Wheeler: Friends!
[After a beat, Murray breaks out laughing]
Murray Bauman: You've told me a lot of shockers today, but that, that is the first lie!
Nancy Wheeler: It's not a lie!
Murray Bauman: No? You're [ticks off on his fingers] young, attractive...you've got chemistry, history, plus the real shit, shared trauma. [to Jonathan] Trust issues, am I right? Something to do with your dad.
Jonathan Byers: What? No, I mean, my dad's-
Nancy Wheeler: An asshole.
Murray Bauman: It is a curse to see so clearly. [to Nancy] You...you're harder to read. Probably, like everyone, afraid of what would happen if you accepted yourself for who you really are, and retreated back to the safety of...[snaps his fingers] ...name? Name!
Jonathan Byers: Steve.
Murray Bauman: Oh! Steve! We like Steve!
Nancy Wheeler: Yes!
Murray Bauman: But we don't love Steve.
Nancy Wheeler: What?! No, we - I mean - I - I do!
Murray Bauman: There it is! Ladies and germs, the second lie of the evening. So how'd I do? [Jonathan and Nancy say nothing. Murray chuckles] My goodness, you two are adorable aren't you? [makes his way to the stairs] Listen, there's a pullout sofa in my study if you want. But if I were you, I'd just cut the bullshit and share the damn bed.- Nancy is shown sitting down on the bed, and Jonathan on the pull-out sofa, both repeating Murray's analyses of their individual flaws. Eventually, Nancy can't help but venture out into the living room, around the same time Jonathan does, causing a moment that feels ripped right out of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.Nancy Wheeler: Hey!
Jonathan Byers: Hey!
Nancy Wheeler: I just, um...I just wanted to say that I -
Jonathan Byers: Oh, no, no... he's so drunk.
Nancy Wheeler: Wasted!
Jonathan Byers: Yeah. I mean, he knows us for a couple of hours and he's got us all figured out?
Nancy Wheeler: Exactly! God, OK, I feel...I'm glad we feel the same way.
Jonathan Byers: Yeah! Yeah, it's fine. [awkward silence]
Nancy Wheeler: So, uh... goodnight, I guess...?
Jonathan Byers: Yeah! Umm... 'night! - The awkward 'morning after' for Nancy and Jonathan while Murray observes them, before asking Jonathan, "How was the pull-out?"Jonathan: [Spit Take] I'm sorry..?
Murray: The sofa.
Jonathan: Oh yeah... it-it was good.
Murray: [grins] I bet. - Murray's enormous, shit-eating grin through the whole exchange sells it even further.
- What's even funnier is that Nancy looks away and seems to be suppressing a smile afterwards.
- After said take was over with, all three actors as well as the crew crack up at Brett Gelman dropping food from his fork and playing along with it.
- As the teens leave Murray's place, he sends them off.Murray: And if you need to reach me again... don't. [slams the door in their faces]
- Nancy is shown sitting down on the bed, and Jonathan on the pull-out sofa, both repeating Murray's analyses of their individual flaws. Eventually, Nancy can't help but venture out into the living room, around the same time Jonathan does, causing a moment that feels ripped right out of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
- It's a little moment, but when the possessed Will reveals that he still remembers Mike, Mike kind of puffs himself up proudly in a kind of "Thanks dude!" fashion. Also a moment of heartwarming, since not even an interdimensional Eldritch Abomination shadow-spider-monster can rob Will of the memories of one of his best friends.
Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister
- Eleven bumps into a man in Chicago after getting on the bus who tells her to watch where she's going. She calls him a "mouth breather."
- When Eleven meets up with the teenagers and Axel threatens her, he begins seeing spiders crawling up his arm. He starts screaming and tries to swat them off, but outside his vision, it looks like he's doing a weird dance.Kali: You're a terrible dancer, Axel.
- Later, as Kali reveals her power, Eleven asks, "Is that why you made the man with the crazy hair dance?"
- Eleven's entire punk getup. "Bitchin'."
- Kali uses her illusions on the cashier at the gas station making it look like the toilet water was running. Without the illusion, it looks like the guy is gingerly stepping around the tiles.
- Axel then treats their stealing like a game-show, telling the group they had about two minutes to take whatever they could carry.
- During the robbery, Eleven grabs a piece of fruit off a shelf, then immediately discards it when she spots something much better in the frozen section: Eggos.
Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer
- Hopper's expression, and subsequent Facepalm, as Dustin tries to relate, to the group, the monster in the D&D Monster Manual to what he thinks the Shadow Monster's master plan must be. The look and facepalm just scream "What has my life become?"Nancy: So this mind flamer thing—
Dustin: Flayer. Mind flayer.
Nancy: *sighs* What does it want?
Dustin: To conquer us, basically. It believes it's the master race.
Steve: Oh, like the Germans?
(beat)
Dustin: Uh, the Nazis?
Steve: [A little sheepish] Yeah, yeah yeah, the Nazis.
Dustin: If the Nazis were from another dimension, totally.
Hopper: (facepalm)- Also Dustin declaring that it's a manual, not a game...until he gets to the point he recommends summoning a undead army, at which point the usefulness of the analogy has ended and he has to concede that it is just a game. It's worth noting that the background music, which has been frenetic up to this point, slows to a grinding halt as Dustin realizes just how thoroughly he's screwed himself over.
- Hopper questioning the usefulness of bringing in the manual, Dustin puts Hopper in his place and tells him that this the best metaphor they have for understanding the Shadow Monster controlling the Demogorgons, only for Lucas to say that it's an "analogy".Dustin: "Analogy"? That's what you're worried about?!
- Lucas' Badass Fingersnap when Dustin first hits on the Shadow Monster/Mind Flayer analogy, as if it's the perfect "Eureka!" Moment... while Max and Steve both give Flat Whats, since they don't play D&D and don't know what the Mind Flayer is.
- When it looks like the Mind Flayer is sending Demodogs to attack the Byers house, the group all gather weapons: Hopper grabs the assault rifle, Nancy is given Lonnie's old hunting rifle, Steve readies his spiked bat, Mike grabs a candlestick... and then you have Lucas gallantly trying to protect Max with his slingsho--er, wrist rocket. It worked the last time.
- The reactions to Eleven's return ranging from Mike's relieved glee, Hopper's "What are you doing here?" face, Max's "Is that who I think it is?" look, to everyone else's shock... and finally to a confused look from Steve, since he's never met Eleven before and has no idea what's going on.
Chapter Nine: The Gate
- Hopper tells Mike not to be mad at Eleven for not contacting him during the 353 days he tried to contact her. Mike, absolutely enraged, shouts that he blames Hopper for that. Hopper says "That's okay, kid" in a way that screams “Oh, this is going as well as I imagined.”
- Also, Eleven has a new "normal girl" experience: the moment you realize your dad and your boyfriend don't like each other and aren't going to be getting along any time soon.
- One of the first things El does is excitedly point out that Dustin now has teeth. Dustin responds with his signature "You like these pearls? (Purrs)", which causes Eleven to slightly startle. Lucas shakes his head and gives him a "What are you doing?" look.
- Also, how does El acknowledge Dustin's teeth? By sticking her finger directly into his mouth to touch them, causing him to jerk his head back in alarm.
- Dustin decides to dub the new Demogorgons as "Demodogs", and Hopper grumpily asks how that was supposed to help them.
- Turns into a Running Gag with Dustin correcting everyone that the creatures weren't dogs, they were Demodogs.
- Max introduces herself to Eleven and extends her arm to shake it... and El just abruptly walks past her to hug Joyce. Obviously, Mike and Eleven will not be joining Lucas and Max for a double date anytime soon.
- As Eleven and Mike are saying goodbye before she and Hopper leave to close the Gate to the Upside-Down, they lean in for a kiss... and Hopper tells El it's time to go. He's really gotten into the father role without even realizing it.
- Hopper and Eleven have a small conversation while driving to the lab, and Hopper wants to know what she's been up to and how she found her mother. You can tell how hard he's trying not to freak out over what she tells him, and is also baffled at her luck.Hopper: How did you get there?
Eleven: A truck.
Hopper: A truck?
Eleven: A big truck.
Hopper: ...A big truck? Who's truck was it?
Eleven: A man's.
Hopper: A man's?
Elven: A nice man.
Hopper: ... Okay.- Hopper admits that he likes Eleven's new look and she replies, "Bitchin'", to which Hopper agrees saying, "Bitchin'."
- Mrs. Wheeler's fantasy coming true when she is in the bathtub. To wit, while relaxing in a bubble bath and reading a romance novel, she receives a knock at the front door. The man at the front door is the spitting image of the character in the novel, complete with flirtatious manner, an unbuttoned shirt and chiseled abs. It's Billy. You can just see the wheels in her brain trying to process whether she is dreaming or not.
- The way Billy takes merciless advantage of her obvious flusteredness leads to the awkward question of exactly how many times he's pulled this same trick.
- Dustin tells Steve to put the dead Demodog into the fridge for science and they couldn't bury it like a common dog. Steve grumbles saying that Dustin would have to explain all this to Joyce later.
- What's arguably funnier is that, at least on screen, we have no idea how or even if Dustin did tell Joyce.
- The kids all come up with a plan to weaken the hive mind, Steve is totally against it, and they're not listening.Steve: Yeah, and then we all die!
Dustin: Well, that's one way of thinking.
Steve: No, that's not a way of thinking man, that's a fact. - Steve tries to tell the kids that they had something to do in "the game", only to come back to the bench analogy and realize there was nothing they could do.
- Billy arriving at the Byers and asks if he was seeing Steve. Steve replies to not cream his pants.
- The kids are looking out the window, clearly visibly so when Billy sees them they freak out and duck back down.
Dustin: Shit! Did he see us?
Steve: (muttering) Oh, shit... - Billy immediately agreeing to leave the group alone with a meek "OK" after Max nearly crushed his balls with Steve's nail-bat.
- You can see the look of horror on the boys' faces when Max swings the bat down towards Billy's balls.
- Steve wakes up from the fight and begins to slowly panic when he notices that Max was driving the car.Mike: I told you he'd freak out!
Steve: STOP THE CAR!!
Max: EVERYBODY SHUT UP! I'm trying to focus!- Also Mike's expression when Steve thought he was Nancy looks both disgusted and annoyed. Dustin notices Steve opening his eye, cheerfully tells him that even though he got his ass kicked he fought well and talking to him like he would a pet.Dustin: He beat the shit out of you, but you put up a good fight.
- Dustin then tries to put Steve's mind at ease about Max driving.Dustin: It's okay, she's driven before.
Mike: Yeah, in a parking lot...
Lucas: That counts! - Lucas screams like a girl again as Max makes the turn.
- Just the fact that these four scrawny middle schoolers somehow managed to get an unconscious Steve (who is athletic and well built) into the car in the first place - it conjures a pretty hilarious image of them carrying/dragging him out of the house and hauling him into the backseat.
- Also Mike's expression when Steve thought he was Nancy looks both disgusted and annoyed. Dustin notices Steve opening his eye, cheerfully tells him that even though he got his ass kicked he fought well and talking to him like he would a pet.
- When they arrive at the site where the hive was, Steve stumbles out of the car, trying to remain the authority figure with little success. As he tells the kids to stop what they were doing, they ignore him as they start putting on masks, gearing up, and siphoning gasoline out of the car.
- Dustin screeching dramatically when he gets sprayed with the particles in the tunnel and the group runs back in a panic.Dustin: IT'S IN MY MOUTH! SOME GOT IN MY MOUTH! SHIIIIT!
- After he calms down from his panicking the others are understandably a little annoyed.Dustin: ... I'm okay.
Lucas: (sighs)
Max: You serious?
Steve: Very funny, man. Nice.
- After he calms down from his panicking the others are understandably a little annoyed.
- Dustin offering Dart some nougat.Steve: He's insane...
Max, Lucas and Mike: (whispering) Shut up! - Baumann watches the military leave the facility for good and gleefully salutes to the cars. One of the MPs passing by flips him the bird in response, without so much as looking at him.
- Hopper being offered a sandwich Dr. Owens, but declining it by saying he was on a diet. After giving Hopper the fake adoption certificate for "Jane Hopper", Owen advises Hopper to keep her out of sight for another year. Knowing how El is going to react to this news, Hopper quietly reaches for the sandwich and takes a huge bite out of it.
- Mike is already dressed for the dance, but his mom wants to take pictures. Just like in the Halloween picture, his face is drooped down in internal agony.Mike: Mooooom!
Mike's Mom: (cheerfully) Miiike~! - Dustin follows Steve's hair advice, and the results are about as good as one would expect. Lucas asks if Dustin had a bird's nest perched on his head.
- When Dustin purrs again, Steve gives him a long stare before telling him to not do that anymore.
- Then there's Mr. Clarke, the only other person who seems to appreciate Dustin's look.Mr. Clarke: Looking snazzy tonight, sir.
Dustin: Thank you, my lord.
- When Nancy asks Dustin to dance after all the other girls reject him in the rudest possible fashion, look closely and you can see that all of them are watching him dance with Nancy with the most hilariously bitchy pissed-off faces.
- After more than a year of waiting, Mike and Eleven finally get to dance together at the Snow Ball... except there's just one small problem:Mike: Do you want to dance?
El: ... I don't know how.
Mike: (nonchalant) I don't either. Do you want to figure it out?
Season 3
Season 3 In General
- Steve Harrington, former King of Hawkins High, braves the secret Russian base under the mall in his work uniform: a sailor suit complete with shorts and a hat.
- Nancy repeatedly barges in on Jonathan in the darkroom, to his frustration.
- Joyce spent the first two seasons going Mama Bear in defense of her son. Her motivation this time? Her magnets are broken. It Makes Sense in Context and is a definite sign that something is off, but Mama Bear taking magnets as seriously as her missing/possessed son is hilarious.
- A lot of Robin and Steve's apparent Belligerent Sexual Tension becomes Hilarious in Hindsight once it's revealed that Robin is a lesbian. All those times Robin teased Steve weren't her way of pulling his pigtails, she just genuinely was making fun of him.
Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?
- Eleven and Mike are having a heavy make-out session which leads to Hopper getting suspicious and leaning back in his chair to see what's up. When he catches them, Eleven shuts the door and he nearly rams it open. However, once the door is open, Eleven and Mike are lounging casually on her bed reading.Hopper: Three-inch minimum!
- When Hopper bursts in, Eleven has a nervous look on her face, clearly hoping that he would be believe their sudden change. Mike? A grin that could be read as either an innocent "Hello, Chief Hopper, how are you today?" or a smug "Too slow, old man".
- While the Party is walking through the mall on their way to Scoops Ahoy, they pass Lucas's little sister Erica and her friend group. Erica shouts an insult at Lucas, prompting the following conversation:Lucas: Isn't it past your bedtime?
Erica: Isn't it time you died? - Robin telling Steve that "his children" were there.
- Nancy and Jonathan wake up realizing they're late for work, with both of them hurrying to get dressed. As Nancy is prepping, Jonathan is trying to get his pants on and ends up face-planting into the floor. It's especially funny because it seems, at first, they're worried about getting caught spending the night together in Jonathan's room, but apparently Joyce is totally cool with it, even taking a moment to wipe Nancy's Lipstick Mark off Jonathan.
- The power goes out at Starcourt, leading Steve to simply trying to flip the switch off and on.Robin: That isn't gonna work, dingus.
Steve: Oh yeah? (Aggressively flipping the switch) - An easy-to-miss moment is that the people on the escalator when the power goes out stay there until it comes back on.
- Dustin's camp is literally called camp "Know Where".
- Dustin has been at science camp for a while and just gotten back, so the rest of the Party gather to throw him a Surprise Party by having Eleven move his toys to lead him to the living room. However, Dustin had been pretty freaked out to see his toys moving of their own accord (though he became convinced he was dreaming), so he brought the deadliest weapon he had...his Farrah Fawcett spray bottle. Once the Party blows their horns behind him, Dustin panics and begins spraying the bottle into Lucas' eyes. With both boys screaming like girls.
- The look of absolute horror on Dustin's face while screaming, like he genuinely believed his best friends were something that burst out from the Upside-Down.
- Eleven is so startled by Dustin's spraying that she immediately does a Security Cling with Mike. This is Eleven, the girl who melted the brain of Connie Frazier, disintegrated the Demogorgon, and faced down the Mind Flayer, yet she finds this scarier than any of those, and somehow believes Mike will save her. For added funny, when Mike and Eleven embrace, both still have their party horns in their mouths.
- The fact that Lucas doesn't think to just step out of the way only makes the scene funnier. It's not until Dustin has likely emptied a good portion of the can that Lucas thinks to shield his eyes. Very slowly.
- To be fair, there's also Dustin, who doesn't take his finger off the nozzle even though he clearly sees it's just his friends.
- After Lucas manages to wash out his eyes enough, he looks at Max and utters the dumbest observation a boy can say to his girlfriend:Lucas: Is that a new zit?
Max: [beat] What is wrong with you?! [shoves Lucas' head under the faucet]
Lucas: I WAS JUST ASKING - AAAAAAAAHHHHHH! - Really, just the fact that Eleven was using her supernatural powers to pull a welcome back prank on Dustin.
- Karen is lounging at the public pool with her fellow moms when one of the others notice that lifeguard Heather is getting down. After taking a moment to freshen themselves up, the Hawkins moms ogle Billy as a lifeguard, scored with The Cars' "Moving in Stereo", the music from the infamous masturbation scene from Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Even funnier is the subtext, very nearly text, that Karen and the others are doing this regularly.Middle-aged mom: (Snaps her compact closed) And... showtime.
- Hopper tries to talk Joyce into setting boundries between Mike and El for him while she's busy tagging items, and she punctuates saying that it'll mean more if he does it by sticking a tag on him.
- As Dustin shows off his inventions to his friends, he holds up the "Slammer", clearly an attempt to make a motorized hammer, but which is just a hammer that's vibrating in place. He pushes it towards Mike and Eleven; Mike gives a condescending stare while El backs away, again partly hiding behind Mike.
- Another invention Dustin shows is the "Forever Clock", a model of a wind turbine which he claims will be "very useful come the apocalypse".
- Over the past two seasons, the Party has seen many stranger things in their adventures, and have accepted them more or less without question. But none of them are prepared for when Dustin reveals why he built his giant radio: to talk to his new girlfriend, Suzie. The Party's reactions to him having a girlfriend are priceless. You can see the exact second they process the word "girlfriend". Even Eleven is surprised.
- On a meta level : when asked if his girlfriend is cute, Dustin replies with "think Phoebe Cates but hotter". Googling her name will yield "Phoebe Cates 1985" as the first search suggestionnote .
- When the Party is going on a hike, Lucas drinks all the water. Max calls him out on it and he tries to make amends by spitting water he hadn't swallowed back into the flask.
- Lucas's response to Dustin's reveal that Suzie's family is Mormon is to exclaim, "Shit! They don't have electricity?" Ironically it is California born-and-bred Max who sets him straight, whereas Indiana has a significant Amish population.
- Robin tallying up Steve's flirting wins ("You Rule") and losses ("You Suck") on the store whiteboard. So far, a big ol' goose egg for You Rule and six for You Suck.
- Added in another for seven when he starts trying to hit on a group of girls after ditching his hat.Steve: You know what? Screw company policies.
Robin: Wow, it's like you're a whole new man.
Steve: Ahoy, ladies! I didn't see you there. Would you guys like to set sail on this ocean of flavor with me? I'll be your captain... I'm Steve Harrington. - Why did he decide to ditch the hat? In his own words, it was covering his "best feature", i.e. his hair.
- Robin and Steve's Snark-to-Snark Combat in this scene:Robin: [holding up the whiteboard] Aaand another one bites the dust. You are 0-for-6, Popeye.
Steve: Yeah, yeah, I can count.
Robin: You know that means you suck.
Steve: Yup, I can read, too!
Robin: Since when?
- Added in another for seven when he starts trying to hit on a group of girls after ditching his hat.
- Joyce trying to walk Hopper through a "heart-to-heart" talk for El and Mike, and he gives up.Hopper: Maybe I'll just kill Mike. I'm the chief of police, I can cover it up...
- Mike and El regularly engage in heavy-petting, to Hopper's chagrin. One night Hopper puts a stop to it by telling Mike a bullshit story about his grandmother being seriously ill, likely killing Mike's sex drive for the rest of the summer.
- When practicing his "talking to them on their level" talk with Joyce, Hopper is repeatedly advised to remain calm. When he finally tries to put it into practice and gets a bit flustered in doing so, Mike makes the mistake of getting a bit cocky towards Hopper, leading to the grandmother story and Hopper hurrying Mike out to give him a ride home. When in the car, Hopper reveals the truth for why he wanted to get Mike alone in his squad car. Impressively, Hopper remembers Joyce's advice and remains calm. Too calm. From the look on Mike's face, not only would screaming have been preferable, so would taking on a Demogorgon by himself.
- Then when he finishes and looks to Mike who's staring at him blankly, he growls, "Nod if you understand!" and Mike quickly starts nodding his head.
Chapter Two: Mall Rats
- Mike calling Eleven to tell her he can't see her today because his Nana got sick and turned for the worse. When El points out that Hopper told her it was a false alarm, Mike takes a moment to pull away from the phone and angrily mouth "Shit!"
- When Mike says his Nana might die, his mom had picked up, understandably reacts in shock, and Mike angrily yells up at her from his basement.Mike: MOM, GET OFF THE PHONE! HOW MANY TIMES?!
Karen: Did Nana call?!
Mike: NO, MOM! JUST GET! OFF! THE! PHONE! - Hopper is more than ecstatic to witness how the call went down from El's, driving down the road singing along with "Don't Mess Around With Jim" at the top of his lungs and almost cackling with joy. There's also his barely-contained smirk as El hangs up the call.
- When Mike says his Nana might die, his mom had picked up, understandably reacts in shock, and Mike angrily yells up at her from his basement.
- Steve and Dustin reunite with each other, giving themselves their personal high-five.Robin: How many children are you friends with?
- Said high-five also includes miming a lightsaber duel, which ends in Steve pretending his guts are spilling out after Dustin pretends to stab him. Robin can only look on in confusion before asking the above question.
- Dustin telling Steve what he found yesterday, but trying to keep it subtle. Too subtle.Dustin: I intercepted a secret Russian communication...
Steve: ...What? I can't hear you.
Dustin: I said I intercepted a secret Russian communication.
Steve: Speak louder.
Dustin: I intercepted a secret Russian communication!!
Everyone else in the store: (stares)
Steve: Geez, shhh! Okay, that's what I thought you said. - Robin speaking pig latin to Dustin and Steve who think it's Russian.Robin: That's pig latin, dingus.
Steve: (hits Dustin) Idiot. - Lucas taking Mike to buy something for Eleven that's shiny, pretty and says "I'm sorry". Mike takes it literally, and Lucas only groans.
- The boys walk past Eleven and Max as the two giddily dart into a Gap store, neither group noticing each other.
- The boys' reaction to a Victoria's Secret store. They each stare for a couple seconds before bolting the hell outta there, clearly not ready for that sort of gift.
- Jonathan keeps taking pictures of the rat, because he can't take a clear photo of it.Jonathan: We're gonna have to keep doing this until you stop moving, you little shit.
- Mike finds a tiny gold teddy bear pendant and asks how much it would cost. Turns out...
- Lucas finds perfume and accidentally sprays it in Mike's face.
- Poor Will, who's being dragged along and asks if they can finally play D&D now.Mike and Lucas: No.
- When Joyce goes to visit Mr. Clarke's house, "Weird Al" Yankovic's "My Bologna" is playing loudly. He makes his presence known to Joyce just by standing with his hands on his hips, wearing magnifying lenses for the miniatures he was painting, while his garage door opens.
- Eleven breaking up with Mike with the words "I dump your ass," followed by the song "Cold as Ice" by Foreigner starts playing.
- Max's mouth is open with shocked delight in the back, and in Mike and Lucas' Stunned Silence that follows as they watch them leave on the bus, Will asks: "Now can we play D&D?"
- Eleven making a snobby girl's Orange Julius blow up.
Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard
- Eleven uses her powers to spy on the boys, seeing Mike wallowing at why she's treating him like this while stuffing his face with chips. The boys then start burping and farting. And rather than express disgust or confusion, Eleven just starts laughing.
- Max advises Eleven that if she spies on Billy and sees something messed up, it'd be best to get out ASAP or be scarred for life.
- Dustin and Steve are surveying Starcourt for suspicious activity when Dustin notices a man in sunglasses and a long coat with a duffel bag. Steve immediately assumes the guy is an "Evil Russian", and the two follow him. Eventually, they see him reach his destination...a Jazzercise class he's teaching. In their surprise at the turn of events they end up seeing the beginning of the workout, with Steve staring appreciatively at the ladies' butts and Dustin with a look that can only be described as horrified fascination. Making the situation even funnier is that the two are frozen in a Scooby Stack at the time.
- After two days of trying and failing to get a D&D game together, Will takes matters into his own hands and wakes up Mike and Lucas by blasting fantasy music and refusing to respond to them unless they play along. He even wears a Robe and Wizard Hat. Of course, the scene ultimately takes a turn for the heartbreaking, but it doesn't make Will's methodology less funny.
- Eleven and Max start investigating Billy, and Max asks whether or not Eleven heard screaming. When she confirms this, Max believes it's another one of Billy's hookups, asking if they were happy screaming. Eleven, who's still extremely sheltered, asks Max to describe what a "happy scream" is.Max: It's like... I'm just gonna lend you my mom's Cosmo.
Chapter Four: The Sauna Test
- As Robin leaves (not before telling Dustin and Steve to behave), Dustin is seen licking Steve's ice cream scooper, which disgusts him.Steve: Dude. Come on man, not my scooper.
- He then takes it from Dustin and shoves it into his apron without so much as wiping it off.
- Steve suggests he can just knock the Russian guy out, leading Dustin to ask whether or not Steve has actually won a fight so far. Steve claims it was only once that he was beaten (Billy) and then Dustin brings up that it was twice since Jonathan beat the shit out of him the year prior.
- Dustin volunteering to crawl into the vent since he can pop his shoulders. However, he still can't quite fit and asks Steve to push him.Dustin: Push my ass.
Steve: What?
Dustin: TOUCH MY BUTT, I DON'T CARE!- Robin and Steve get into a minor disagreement about describing Dustin's cleidocranial dysplasia.
- Dustin convincing Erica that she should go along with their plan if she loves her country.Erica: You can't spell America without Erica. (slurps on her drink)
Dustin: (beat) Uh, yeah, yeah. Oddly, that's completely true. So do this for America, Erica.- Erica extorts bribes of ice cream from Steve and Robin by pointing out their plan reeks of child endangerment and refers to the plan as "Operation: Child Endangerment" from there on out.
Erica: Commencing Operation: Child Endangerment.
Robin: Can we maybe not call it that? - During Karen's Rousing Speech to Nancy:Karen: You're a fighter. I don't know where you get it from.
Nancy: Dad. - As the Party is observing Billy to see if he's been possessed by the Mind Flayer, Max is reluctant to believe it, despite Will explaining that the Mind Flayer can lie dormant, or Mike pointing out that Billy is wearing a robe to keep the sun off and drinking an Icee because he likes it cold. Lucas's argument for Billy being possessed? Billy is wearing a shirt. This is the only argument Max can't argue back.
- When Mike and Eleven get a chance alone, Mike tries to apologize for lying to her, saying she's the most important person in the world to him. Eleven throws his "girls are a different species" line back at him, and Mike realizes she used her powers to spy on him. When Mike says that's against the rules, El quips back, "I make my own rules". You can practically hear Mike think "What?" to himself.
- When Eleven suggests maybe Hopper is right that they stop spending so much time together, Mike disagrees and calls Hopper "some angry old man who hates joy."
- The way Mike gets Billy to go to the sauna room is funny:Mike: (in a singing voice) Hey, Billy.
Billy: (also using a singing voice) Who's there?. - It may have taken three seasons, but Lucas finally makes good use of the Wrist Rocket when he manages to stun Billy with a shot to the head.
Chapter Five: The Flayed
- When Hopper is fighting Grigori, Joyce throws a gun, hoping that Hopper will catch it. She throws it towards Grigori instead.Hopper: Oh shit.
- Although the scene itself is incredibly tense, the way Hopper tells Joyce to hurry up and drive already is hilarious, made even better thanks to David Harbour's delivery:
Hopper: JOYCE! DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!! - After the elevator eventually stops, Robin asks if everyone was okay.
- Erica sassing the teens about her having to miss a sleep-over, a birthday party, and how her mom would slit their throats for endangering her. This leads to Steve yelling that he literally could not give a fuck about any of that if they end up being killed by the Russians.
- Eleven describing when she first saw Heather screaming in the Void. She goes on to say it wasn't happy screaming. When Lucas asks what she meant by that, Eleven starts to talk about how Max was telling her about happy screams and Max cuts the conversation short saying, "That's not important!"
- Steve deciding to take a leak on top of the elevator and asking Dustin to look away. Unfortunately, his urine seeps onto the inside of the elevator, to Robin's disgust.
- Erica trying to open one of the containers, with Robin arguing they shouldn't drink it since they don't know what it is. Erica goes on about how the body starts dying once it gets dehydrated and states she'd rather drink shit than die. Later, one of the containers that they used to prop open the door breaks and the liquid inside literally burns a hole in the floor.Robin: You still wanna drink that?
- When Hopper starts an argument with Joyce while they're meandering through the woods, Alexei takes the opportunity to make a break for it. Joyce notices and gets the biggest smirk as she notes to Hop, "He's running."
- Joyce telling off Murray for wanting to search Alexei, saying how they've had a long day and ends up going on a rant that gets funnier when she gets to the reason why this all started.Joyce: Because somehow, you're the closest person who speaks Russian which I can't believe—but that doesn't matter because unfortunately, we're here. So if you don't mind, put that thing away, stop behaving like a jack-ass! And ask him, what he's doing that is making my magnets fall off my damn fridge! ...Please.
- That rant throws Murray off so much that he does something he hasn't done in two seasons: shut up and act civil around other people.
- The group's Oh, Crap! expression when they enter the comms room with the guy still sitting in his chair.
- Robin trying to convince the guard not to report them with her very limited Russian. Emphasis on trying. After which Steve straight up beats the guard unconscious with his own radio.
- What does Dustin take-away from Steve beating up the comms guy?Dustin: Dude, you did it! You won a fight!
- When the gang goes to visit Mrs. Driscoll in the hospital, Nancy claims that she's Mrs. Driscoll's granddaughter, and the others are the rest of her family. The receptionist isn't fooled, given that they are all different ethnicities.Lucas: Extended.
- Eleven gives an overly enthusiastic smile to the receptionist while Nancy tries to sell them being part of the same family.
- Hopper commandeers a car for him, Joyce, and Alexei, claiming to the driver that Alexei is a dangerous criminal. Alexei's behavior... doesn't back this up.Hopper: That man in there? I know he doesn't look it, but he is one of the most dangerous men in the world.
Alexei: (happily drinks his Slurpee)
Hopper: He's, uh... murdered many children.
Todd: What?- Joyce's idea of a vicious criminal? A "forgerer".
- Will's reaction to the rest of the Party continuing to worry about their relationship drama even in the face of a world-ending threat:Mike (about El and Max): They're conspiring against me.
Will: That's what you're concerned about right now?!
Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum
- Despite it being a terrifying scene, especially for Nancy, there's also something slightly comical to the monster screaming in her face. Although obviously the least of her concerns, one has to wonder how horribly foul is his breath.
- The assassin starts to choke Mayor Kline, and the mayor apologizes for his losing his temper. He also adds that he's going to therapy.
- When Steve is getting violently interrogated by the Soviets asking him who he works for, Steve tearfully tells them that he's just an ice-cream vendor and starts rattling off the names of different flavours in a manner similar to a captured soldier giving out his name, rank and number. The interrogator actually takes a moment to laugh.
- When the interrogators begin injecting him, Steve's first reaction is to panic that they didn't clean the syringe first.
- Alexei refusing to talk unless Hopper gets him some cheeseburgers and a cherry slurpie. When Hopper gets him a strawberry slurpie instead, Alexei calls it shit. Hopper then says it's all just sugar and ice, which snowballs into a whole heated argument about slurpies.
- The entire argument between Mike and Max. Mike has issues with Max seemingly abusing El's powers, and Max thinks he's being too possessive, and the two go back and forth about it for a while, while Will and Lucas just look incredibly annoyed in the background. Specifically, there's this exchange:Mike: (while talking about El spying on the boys with her powers) Wouldn't it have been so funny if I was taking a massive shit or something?!
Max: You weren't.
Mike: But what if I was?
Max: Then gross! - Erica has no problem believing the stories about the gang dealing with a monster from another dimension and a girl with special mind powers. What she refuses to believe is that her brother could possibly be involved in all this.
- Dustin proving Erica is a nerd by saying she loves My Little Pony. When she asks how does that make her a nerd, Dustin proceeds to go onto a huge explanation about the show's current dark storyline involving the villain Tirek. Even Erica's impressed.Dustin: (after Erica does a pretty complex math problem in her head) Holy shit. You're a nerd.
Erica: (extremely offended) Come again?!?
Dustin: You. Are. A. Nerd.
Erica: Okay, you better take that back, nerd.
Dustin: Can't put the truth back in the box.
Erica: But it's not the truth.
Dustin: Let's examine the facts, shall we? Fact one: You're a math whiz, apparently.
Erica: That was a pretty straightforward equation.
Dustin: Fact number two: You're a political junkie.
Erica: Just because I don't agree with Communism as an ideology...
Dustin: Fact number three: You love My Little Pony.
Erica: And what does My Little Pony have to do with this?
Dustin: Ah, let's recall the ponies' latest adventure, shall we? The evil centaur demon Tirek turns Applejack into a dragon at Midnight Castle, and then Megan and the other ponies have to use Moochick's magic to defeat his rainbow of darkness, saving them from a lifetime of enslavement. All the pink in the world can't disguise the irrefutable fact that centaurs and castles and dragons and magic are all standard nerd tropes. Ergo, My Little Pony is nerdy. Ergo, you, Erica, are a nerd.
Erica: And how do you know so much about My Little Pony?
Dustin: (proudly) Because I'm a nerd.- Erica's response to realizing he's right? The most annoyed scrunchy face you've ever seen a little girl make and an angry, "You...!"
- Joyce on the line with Owen's secret lab. All of it.
Chapter Seven: The Bite
- Robin and Steve spend most of the episode high as kites and giggling to themselves.
- "I don't do drugs, dad. It was only marijuana..."
- "We all die someday, my strange little child friend. It's just a matter of how… and when."
- Steve halting for a moment to grab a bag of popcorn poking out of the trash and stuffing some in his mouth.
- Dustin later telling Erica, "It's official, I'm never having kids."
- Steve and Robin trying to make sense of Back to the Future (1985) while still high from the Russian doctor's drug.Robin: So like, I wasn't super focused in there or anything, but... I'm pretty sure that mom was trying to bang her son.
- Special mention goes to Steve's borderline infuriated "Then why is it called "Back to the Future"?" while they are at the water fountain.
- Later, Steve tells Robin that he used to date Nancy. Robin groans and says "she is such a priss", to which Steve responds "Hmm - turns out not really."
- In the middle of Steve's heartfelt, emotionally vulnerable confession to Robin about his feelings for her, she falls silent and puts her head in her knees, unwilling or unable to tell him the truth. After a moment of silence, Steve notices and raps on the stall, asking Robin, "Robin, did you just OD in there?" Robin assures him she's still alive and jokes about how gross the floor is as Steve says he already has blood and vomit on his shirt, and this is followed by Robin herself asking the same question when Steve stops talking for a second.
- After an otherwise serious and incredibly emotional scene of Robin coming out to Steve as a lesbian and clearly expecting to be harshly rejected by him, the first thing Steve does after taking a moment to process the news is to start teasing her for having a crush on a wannabe singer named Tammy Thompson, who, according to him, is a "dud" who sounds like a muppet whenever she sings and wants to go to Nashville, even saying she sounds like a muppet giving birth when Robin tells him he sounds like a muppet. The two then start singing just like her (read: very terribly), and it is an utter joy to watch.
- The absolutely brilliant use of Back to the Future (1985)'s musical score during the scene where Dustin gets back in contact with Mike and Eleven over the walkie talkie... except Dustin is talking way too fast for Mike to understand, not to mention the signal is bad and the batteries are dying.
- This gem:Kline: (on the phone)' Pick up, pick up, pick up YOU COMMIE BASTARDS!
- Some random person off-screen yelling "Yeah, lady!" when Joyce punches Larry Kline in the face, then knees him in the balls.
- Murray again finds himself yelling at a couple to resolve their UST, after which Alexei reveals he'd just assumed Joyce and Hopper were already an item. They both have a huge laugh while Joyce and Hopper themselves have no idea what the conversation in Russian was about.Murray: Children! Children! Children! This interminable bickering was amusing at first, but it's getting very stale and we've still got a long drive ahead of us. So, why don't you two cut the horseshit and get to the part where you admit your sexual feelings for one another?
Hopper: WHOA!
Joyce: You are way off base, buddy!
Murray: Oh, spare me, spare me, spare me! Yes, yes, he's a brute. I know. Probably reminds you of a bad relationship, and, gosh, you'd really like a nice man to settle down with, but, admit it, you're real curious to know what he's like in the sack. (Joyce looks offended, then Murray turns to Hopper) And you. Hah! (Hopper looks mortified) Well, you're just a big manbaby who'd rather act tough than show his true feelings, because the last time you opened your heart, you got hurt. Owie. And now, rather than admit these feelings, you're dancing around one another with this mind-numbing and frankly boorish mating ritual. So, please, for my sake, either quit your bickering, or pull over, tear off those clothes, and get it over with already! - While in a store helping Eleven heal (and with her trying to use her powers again), Lucas opens a can of New Coke, upsetting everyone into telling him to be silent. Then out of nowhere, he and Mike (and then Max) begin to argue over how New Coke could be as good as the original, an obvious parallel to the reaction to Coca Cola attempting to replace the Classic with New Coke. It gets so weird that Eleven has to tell them to shut up.
- His logic, such as it is, goes something like this: the original Thing is a good film, but John Carpenter's remake is superior. Ergo, New Coke is superior to Classic Coke, and if you prefer Classic Coke, you must also prefer the original Thing.
- Even better? Literally everyone is looking at Lucas like he's an idiot for preferring New Coke.
- The store the group breaks into to find supplies to treat El's wound is the same Bradley's Big Buy where El stole four boxes of Eggos back in season 1 – and the plate glass sliding doors get smashed again. Also, in the New Coke scene, El is sitting right in front of the freezer full of Eggos.
- Steve breaking to Dustin they probably shouldn't go to his house to hide. When Dustin asks why, Steve admits that he may have told the Russians his name and where he lives.Dustin: (baffled) What is wrong with you?
Steve: Dude, I was drugged.
Dustin: So?
Steve: So?
Dustin: So, you resist! - Karen and Ted catch Joyce and Hopper running (from a Russian assassin) and Karen comments "What an odd couple they are" while Ted says "There's someone for everyone" with his hand on her shoulder, and she sighs loudly with an eyeroll.
- It probably says something about the level of Everyone Can See It with Hopper and Joyce that it's obvious to Karen and Ted, who didn't realize their son hid his girlfriend who Escaped from the Lab in their basement for nearly a week, and only found out because the Mad Scientist hunting her didn't let his murderous underling kill them.
- In the Gravitron, Karen is enjoying the ride, loudly screaming while Ted falls asleep.
- Alexei proudly shows his enormous Woody Woodpecker plush to Murray after winning it playing a carnival game. Murray happily responds with a hilarious impression of the Woody laugh.
- When the teens and kids meets up again at the mall, all of them must deal with being Locked Out of the Loop in some way or another. The Party is unaware of the Russians in the mall, the Scoops Troop is unaware of the Mind Flayer's return, Robin has no clue about El and her powers, and Erica apparently had a different mental image of who El was based on Dustin's story.
- While Robin is still confused on how the car moved to crush those Soviet agents, Dustin simply says "El has superpowers". Robin is naturally more confused, and asks "What?" in response, leading Steve to repeat what Dustin said and then add "Try to keep up", as if a girl having superpowers is the most normal thing in the world. Although by this point, it probably is for Steve.
Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt
- After the main characters are all reunited at Starcourt, the various groups fill each other in on what they know. Steve has a Let Me Get This Straight... moment where he goes over that the Mind Flayer has built itself a physical body to kill the Party. From his tone, it sounds less like the idea is completely ludicrous, and more like he just wants to make sure he has all the facts right.
- The Snark-to-Snark Combat between Murray Bauman and Erica Sinclair, the two snarkiest characters in the series.Murray: I'm sorry, why is this four-year-old speaking to me?
Erica: I'm ten, you bald bastard!
Lucas: Erica!
Erica: Just the facts!- Murray's callsign for when Dustin and Erica help him navigate the air vents: "Bald Eagle."
- After Dustin says that he could have used the rest of the Boys dealing with the Soviets, they also say that they could have used him as well dealing with the Flayed. All four then have a Group Hug, saying that they missed each other...and Erica ruins the mood.Erica: Don't cry, nerds.
Lucas: Erica!
Erica: Keep saying my name! See what happens! - The Scoops Troop, consisting of Erica, Dustin, Steve and Robin head to Dustin's radio tower and are given the keys by Hopper to the convertible stolen earlier. The troop's reactions are delightful.Robin: [reading the license plate] The Toddfather?
Steve: Oh, screw Todd! Steve's her daddy now!
Robin: Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?
Erica: [disgusted] Did he just call himself daddy? - There is a particularly hilarious burst of Mood Whiplash that just comes out of nowhere during one of the tensest moments in the episode; when Dustin sees the lights flickering at Starcourt, he calls the Party in an attempt to make sure they are safe. Who picks up on the other end? The Mind Flayer, who takes a moment from stalking the Party to stare at the walkie-talkie before roaring into the speaker, as if saying "Silence, You Fool!" to Dustin. It's hard to describe the sight of the eldritch, utterly inhuman Big Bad of Stranger Things acting like a typical villain straight-up telling one of the heroes to shut up.
- In what may be the most epic Brick Joke in all of Stranger Things, Dustin, needing to quickly figure out an obscure mathematical constant, contacts Suzie, his genius girlfriend in Utah, the one he built the tower to talk to and who everyone else (including the audience) had likely forgotten about in the chaos of the season. But before she's willing to give him the number he wants, she forces him to sing the theme to The NeverEnding Story (1984) with her while the Final Battle is going on, which unknown to her is being broadcast over everyone else's radios with only Mike, Eleven and Max not getting to hear it.
- Hopper, Joyce, and Murray, trapped underground in a secret Soviet facility, all have a terrific You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! reaction. Joyce leans her head against the wall in despair as the music plays, Murray seems ready to jump through the radio and give another child a piece of his mind, and Hopper looks too dumbfounded for words.
- The kids and teens especially. The cuts to the car are especially priceless because you can still see the Mind Flayer chasing them for the duration of it:
- Will starts to turn and look to everyone probably thinking, "The monster from my nightmares is chasing us and this is really something that's happening?"
- Robin stares at the walkie-talkie in confusion, likely wondering if what she's hearing is a result of the drugs the Soviets gave her.
- Even Steve is looking at the walkie-talkie for two reasons; the first is as to what exactly is happening (that, and the fact that he might as well be thinking about how he'd rather be eaten by the Mind Flayer than to listen to another second of the song), and the second is in disbelief, like he can't believe Dustin actually did score a girl.
- Lucas, meanwhile, looks like he's trying to not smile, likely planning on never letting Dustin live this down. And later, it seems like he never does.
- Erica, sitting next to Dustin while he's singing, is staring in open mouthed shock, clearly unable to believe what is happening before her eyes, and likely convinced that she is going to die with the biggest dork on the planet.
- Also, the fact that everyone else can hear the conversation and singing is because Dustin told Suzie to change frequencies so she could give the number directly to Hopper, but one wonders if Dustin had an ulterior motive in switching to prove that Suzie actually existed.
- The simple fact that after everything our heroes have experienced in three seasons—a Government Conspiracy conducting human experimentation, people being possessed, a secret Soviet base on American soil, and all the horrors of the Upside Down—it's the sound of Dustin singing with his girlfriend that makes our heroes stop to say "Wait, What?".
- In the epilogue as they're helping the Byers to move out, Lucas and Max loudly sing the song to annoy Dustin who gives them the finger. Even better, they're still annoying him for that three months later, with the implication that they're not going to stop for a long while. The best part of all? Max never heard Dustin and Suzie singing, meaning that someone (likely Lucas or even the rest of the party) had to tell her.
- Steve and Robin getting a job at the video store with Keith. One of his initiation tests is asking them their top three favorite films. Robin passes, Steve stumbles and says he liked Star Wars, but when Keith presses on the episode number Steve states it was the one with the "teddy bears" (Ewoks). He also says he liked Back to the Future (1985), but he saw it stoned out of his gourd on Russian Truth Serum, so he can only remember that it had Alex P Keaton in it.
- Robin convincing Keith to hire Steve because of him being a Chick Magnet, which would hopefully help him land a hot chick. Steve in the background stumbles over a cardboard cut out ad for Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which he hurriedly tries to fix. He then tells Keith that the film was definitely one of his top three.
- With Hopper (presumed) dead, Eleven is taken in by Joyce, but she's forced to leave when the Byers move out of Hawkins. Mike is unperturbed and simply plans to have a Long-Distance Relationship with Eleven. Given that Mike and Eleven didn't let being hunted by a Government Conspiracy, monsters from an Alternate Dimension, Hopper forced to fake Eleven's death for 353 days, or the Soviet Union keep them from being together, the two probably consider her moving to another town a mild inconvenience in comparison.
- Before she leaves Hawkins, El tells Mike that she did overhear his argument with Max in "E Pluribus Unum", and asks if he remembers what the argument was about. Mike, totally remembering that this is the argument where he admitted he loves El, adopts a "deer in headlights" expression and begins babbling as his brain descends into full "awkward boy mode" by saying he doesn't remember. When El finally tells Mike she loves him as well, it's in a tone that says "Relax, I feel the same way". After El and Mike kiss, Mike still has a confused look on his face, as if thinking "Wait, did that actually just happen?".
- Hopper's letter is mostly sad, but the last line tells Eleven to keep the door open at least three inches. El herself laughs at this... before crying.
Season 4
Season 4 in General
- The closed captions are wonderfully descriptive to the point it's funny:
- [tentacles squelching wetly]
- [uneasy music grows more tense]
- [tentacles undulating moistly]
- The blooper reel, which includes Jamie Campbell Bower corpsing in Vecna get-up.
Chapter One: The Hellfire Club
- A thoroughly unexpected moment gets dropped during the otherwise bleak and horrific opening, from Dr Brenner of all people. While testing Ten’s psychic powers by having the boy identify shapes Brenner draws, Ten identifies one shape as a cow. Brenner looks down at the drawing (which only barely resembles any sort of animal) before almost sheepishly saying, “It was supposed to be a dog,” then admitting that it does better resemble a cow, and that he’s not much of an artist.
- “DON’T COME IN, I’M NAKED!”
- Steve trying to encourage Robin to talk to a girl she likes by pointing out a video the girl had returned was paused at that scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.Steve: Do you know who pauses Fast Times at 53 minutes 5 seconds? (beat) People who like boobies, Robin!
Robin: Ew. Gross.
Steve: Boobies!
Robin: Don't say boobies!
Steve: It's not a big deal, okay? I like boobies. You like boobies. Vicky likes boobies. Definitely!
Robin: (shakes head)
Steve: It's boobies. - In Eleven’s narration, she says that Jonathan and his new friend smoke "smelly plants". She also said that he told her that it’s okay as they come from the earth and to not tell Joyce.
- Eddie Munson's introduction scene, overall. Really sets up how wild, nonconformist, and semi-anarchistic his personality is. Especially present when calls out all the different high school cliques aloud while standing on a cafeteria table.
- Jason doesn't take his mockery well and tries to square up to him... only for Eddie to counter with a weird face and gesture and the latter gives up.
- Eddie melodramatically declares that he's one test away from graduating, and that this is "his year." His friends quickly remind him that that's what he said last year... and the year before.
- As they watch the pep rally, it slowly dawns on Mike and Dustin that Hawkins is playing in the state championship game the same night as the Hellfire Club campaign. What's funny is that Mike and Dustin honestly had assumed the season was done and no idea A) Hawkins is in the state championship game B) how tournaments work and C) that they can't ask for the championship game to be moved just so Eddie can have his Hellfire club campaign play that night.
- Also at the pep rally is the now-famous Tammy Thompson, Robin's former crush. Sure enough, her singing is less-than-stellar and Steve and Robin can only mouth to each other from across the gym that yeah, she really does sound like a muppet!
- When Argyle meets Mike, he starts talking about his shirt, then hugs him when Mike offers a handshake… before he realizes the shirt is a shitty knockoff and promises to get him "the good threads." He then acknowledges how awkward the situation is after an offhanded mention about his sister and that he's heard a lot about her, and Mike echoes how awkward this is.
- Argyle shows Jonathan a weed-themed birdhouse he made and calls it a weeder, "like a feeder." Jonathan isn't very impressed. Then he notices he's moping and calls him "Mopy Dick," before suggesting he give his right hand a well-deserved vacation and hanky-panky - which Jonathan calls gross, but Argyle says it's not gross, it's natural.
- Joyce opens a mysterious package sent from Russia while on the phone with Murray, who is setting up an ice bath for himself following a karate class (which also means that whenever the scene cuts to him, he's in a new state of undress). When he suggests looking for hidden messages under the doll's clothes, Joyce gasps in shock... because the doll has nipples. Even more hilarious is that Murray afterward immediately thrusts himself in the ice bath, whooping and hollering like he's having an orgasm, confusing the hell out of Joyce.
- Later, as Joyce is outdoors preparing to smash the doll with the rope and paint bucket, she complains to Murray about the attention that she's drawing to herself by the neighbors across the street. As Murray points out to Joyce that if the doll's belly is pregnant with an explosive device she will soon be thanking him, we get a side profile of Murray with his own belly sticking out. Then Joyce releases the bucket before Murray is done advising her, and he immediately screams into the phone thinking that something drastic happened. Joyce just calmly picks the phone back up and says that the doll broke. She quickly finds the ransom note and is rightfully emotional and for the brief remainder of the scene she ignores Murray, while he once again starts repeatedly yelling on the phone.
- Dustin's trying to convince Max to join the Hellfire Club and Max sarcastically playing along as if she's interested in getting a free shirt.
- Eddie remarks to Chrissy that they've hung out before, but she apologetically replies that she doesn't remember. Eddie says it's okay... and after a beat dramatically grabs his chest and hurls himself backwards off his seat as if shot, startling her. What's even funnier is that this was improvised by Joseph Quinn, so Grace Van Dien's reaction is completely real.Eddie: I wouldn't remember me either, Chrissy!
- Erica Sinclair, in all her Little Miss Snarker glory, is initially denied entrance to the Hellfire club by Eddie, only to verbally tear him a new one while her friends watch with disturbed/borderline awed expressions. This earns her Eddie and the club’s respect.
- For some reason, Erica is wearing an American flag on her back the whole time. It is never explained.
- The sheer intensity of the Hellfire Club’s Dungeons and Dragons game, intercut with the more "traditional" awesome of the final point of a championship basketball game, to the point whether or not a basketball will go in the hoop and whether or not a d20 will yield a good number are filmed more or less the exact same way.
- While looking for the drugs Chrissy asked for, Eddie runs into his room, pauses and affectionately says 'Sorry I'm late, sweetheart' as if greeting a girlfriend. Camera pans over to reveal he's talking to his electric guitar hanging on the wall.
- In a segment of extreme Black Comedy, during Vecna's attack on Chrissy, Eddie is reasonably freaking out while at the same time trying to snap her out of her trance to no avail.Eddie: Time to wake up, okay?! Hello! Can you hear me? Wake up, Chrissy! Chrissy, wake up! I don't like this, Chrissy! Wake up!
- There’s also something strangely funny about his horrified scream.
- Also, although the scene itself is incredibly distressing, the Gregory Brothers made a remix song out of it, and it only gains greater hilarity. Except this time the hilarity is genuine instead of being black.
Chapter Two: Vecna's Curse
- When Joyce tells Murray about the letter she received in the mail, Murray tells her that if the letter isn’t a fake, Hopper was probably captured and tortured by the KGB and forced to create a letter to make sure Joyce could get captured too. Her reaction:Joyce: You just made that up.
- While playing golf with Argyle at a junkyard, Jonathan compares himself and Nancy to his parents, saying that they're now divorced and that his kids hate him. Then Argyle misses a shot and screams "shit" while slamming his club into the ground, and Jonathan mimics him.
- Argyle puts his club between his legs and motions like he's pumping a shotgun, even making a "chk-chk" sound, then he makes a fart noise. He repeats it later, but hits the club on his leg while farting.
- When Dustin and Max first show up at Family Video to look up Eddie's friends in the customer database, Robin points out that this is Saturday, their busiest day. Once she and Steve are brought up to speed and they eventually figure out where Eddie could be hiding, the two follow Dustin and Max out the door and Robin closes up the store without calling anyone else for backup.
Chapter Three: The Monster And The Superhero
- Argyle and Jonathan, both stoned and unable to understand what happened when El beat Angela's face in with a roller skate, try to comfort her by saying it could've been worse if the roller skate was replaced by an ice skate ("That nose would've been sliced clean off!"), while also joking about why roller skate wheels are made of plastic and not something like metal or wood. Unfortunately, they unknowingly make her feel worse. And then they start saying "blip" over and over when Jonathan mentions it and Argyle says it's a funny noise, eventually singing it like a clown song at a carnival.
- After the kids' terrible experience at the roller rink, they return to the Byers' house… and find Murray in the kitchen, wearing an apron and cheerfully offering them risotto.
- The kids' confused expressions when they first enter the house to loud classical opera music, something established to not be Joyce's preferred genre.
- Jonathan is stoned out of his mind during the meal, which Joyce somehow fails to notice. And Murray has a huge shit-eating grin as Argyle explains to Jonathan what's happening through whispers while Joyce remains oblivious to her eldest being high as a kite. There's something absolutely hilarious about this when Argyle is a habitual stoner who does weed 24/7.Jonathan: Can you pass me the olive oil?Argyle: …That's wine.
- Argyle attempts to make conversation with Murray:Argyle: So do eskimos, like, still live in igloos, or uh are they like fully blown livin' in the suburbs now?Murray: (Nonplussed and confused, and talking around Argyle to Joyce) Who is this?
- Jonathan is too stoned to have listened to Joyce's news about her "business trip" to Alaska, so he is rightfully confused when Joyce tells him that he needs to take charge, while Will shakes his head in disbelief.Argyle: Your mom's going to Alaska.Jonathan: You're going to Alaska? (Beat) What's going on in Alaska?
Argyle: The Brittanicas are there.
Jonathan: The Brittanicas?
Joyce: (Looking confused; beat.) Jonathan, what is wrong with you?
Murray: (Smirking) I think I know what's wrong with him. - By the end of the dinner, Murray has become so thoroughly entertained that he's just repeating Argyle's words right back to him, and then admits he still has no idea who Argyle is.
- Argyle tries to explain the roller rink incident to Murray and Joyce, assuring himself that Angela will be fine despite getting her ass beat with a roller skate. In a more morbid way, this gets funnier when we learn Angela got a grade 2 concussion from the attack, so she definitely isn't fine. All while El, Mike and Will glare at him, and Mike mutters that Angela didn't look fine. Meanwhile, Murray senses tension and is worried he messed up the risotto, but Jonathan and Argyle assure him it's good, with the latter telling him it's "shmackin', dude."
- Robin admits she doesn't have a driver's license, which is somehow news to her best friend Steve, who has been driving her around everywhere and dropping her off at a school he himself no longer attends, apparently under the assumption that she was perfectly capable of doing it herself.
- From the same scene, Steve freaks out when Max asks to drive his car again.Steve: No, no, never again, anybody but you!
Chapter Four: Dear Billy
- After everyone freaks out from Lucas sneaking up on them at the school, Lucas tells them he has something important to say...and then spends the next several minutes catching his breath because he biked the whole way there.Steve: I could've taken you out with this lamp!
- Argyle answering the phone at work, all while playing with a yo-yo.Argyle: Surf's Up! Surfer Boy Pizza, this is Argyle speaking. We make everything fresh here at Surfer Boy, except for our pineapple, which comes from a can. But I highly recommend slappin' some juicy pineapple on your pie. Oh, fruit on your pizza's gnarly you say? Well I say try before you deny! …hello?
- He goes on for so long that the agent who called the pizzeria stares at the phone in disbelief.
- While driving to the Byers house to deliver pizza, Argyle spots several military jeeps in the driveway and believes Jonathan invited some friends over for a party without telling him, which he thinks is "so not cool," but before he can finish, he gets jumped by Jonathan pounding on the van's window and yelling at him to stop the car before Mike and Will drag a wounded Agent Harmon into the van with them, and Mike and the Byers bros yell at Argyle to step on the gas when Argyle freaks out over the blood. He says okay, but then looks out the window to see an armed soldier approaching and wonders why the hell he's holding a gun, and the boys again scream at him to drive, and he does, hilariously knocking over some trash cans in the process. All while Pass The Dutchie is still blasting over the speakers.
- While preparing to infiltrate the asylum where Victor Creel is being held, Nancy brings Robin and Steve back to her room.
- First Robin slyly taunts Nancy for having a Tom Cruise poster.
- Nancy asks her not to touch anything, and Robin proceeds to rifle through basically everything in the room.
- Steve asks if he should tag along, because he could turn on his "charm". Nancy immediately shuts him down.
- Robin then opens up a music box and declares "Holy shit, there's a little ballerina in here!"
Steve: Academic Scholar. She's giving academic scholar vibes? - When Nancy and Robin get to the Asylum, Robin has been stuffed into Nancy's old clothes to look like an "academic", and complains about how much her boobs are hurting - the entire time.Robin: I can't breathe in this thing, and I'm itchy! I'm itching all over!
Nancy: It's not all about comfort, okay? We're academics.
Robin: Who are evidently coming straight from an Easter brunch. Also, this bra that you gave me is really pinching my boobs.
Nancy: Okay, could you just let me do the talking? If that's even possible?
Robin: It's not only possible, it's inevitable, because shortly I'll be dead from strangulation. - Robin's improvised story about Petey McHew to convince the director of the asylum to let them see Victor while also mentioning how uncomfortable her breasts are, while Nancy can only look on in frustration and disbelief. Somehow, this works.
- When Nancy suggests running away from the guards right to the car, Robin stresses that she's highly uncoordinated. And after they manage to do so, all Nancy can say while Robin freaks out is "You really are a weird runner!"
- What does Vecna!Billy say after Max finishes her emotional letter to Billy's grave?Vecna!Billy: I've been waiting to hear those words Max. Waiting so very long.
- Totally something Billy would say. Almost makes it look like even in death, Billy can't resist showing a little self-centered moments.
Chapter Five: The Nina Project
- It's an otherwise tense, serious and, for all intents and purposes, not funny scene considering Mike and the Byers boys are trying to save a dying Agent Harmon in the back of Argyle's pizza van, but when Jonathan tells Argyle to take Agent Harmon to St. Mary's (Hospital), we get this:Argyle: I don't think praying's gonna help that dude, man!
Jonathan: NO, YOU IDIOT, ST. MARY'S HOSPITAL! - After Harmon dies of his wounds, Argyle starts freaking out and Will tells him to get off the road when the gang realize the military is following them, and Argyle freaks out for a second before all three boys tell him to just get the hell off the road, which he does.
- The Hawkins gang crashed at the Wheeler house overnight. Karen is welcoming. Ted is a little more passive-agressive. After Dustin asks if he can have some to the pancakes Karen fixed for breakfast, Ted snarks "Yeah, why not? Take us for all we're worth." and Dustin gives him a massive grin and a cheerful "Okay." before intentionally overloading his plate.
- While it might be Black Comedy considering the gang is burying Agent Harmon in a junkyard, Argyle can't stop freaking out over what just happened and rambling five miles a minute, insisting that they should go to the cops and tell them everything and that the guy probably had a family. He then says they should tell the cops about Mike's superpowered girlfriend, the evil government dudes and the Upside Down dimension-planet-thing, but Mike and the Byerses all shut him up with a simultaneous Big "NO!". Argyle then freaks out even more and tells Mike that because the government is after his superpowered girlfriend, they should probably go to the cops and find her unless they want the government to kill everyone, even panicking over what order they want to kill the gang and then Eleven all eeny-meeny-miny-mo style, before Jonathan tells him to open his mind. Unfortunately, this just makes Argyle go even crazier as he yells at Jonathan for saying that by reminding him they just buried a man at their feet, but Jonathan calms him down by telling him to go do his thing in the van. Notably, this is a huge case of OOC Is Serious Business, as Argyle says his Purple Palm Tree Delight has worn off, confirming he wasn't high during this, and he's also a generally laidback dude.
- Speaking of Purple Palm Tree Delight, when Jonathan suggests Argyle go do his thing in the van, Will asks him if more weed is actually a good idea, but Jonathan asks him if he has a better one, and Will doesn't answer.
- Argyle making an improvised tombstone for Agent Harmon (who he calls Unnamed Hero Agent Man) with a pizza box. With the pen Harmon gave Will, which doesn't work. He also tries to write their names on the pizza box, which he justifies by saying their names (Will, Mike, Jonathan and Argyle) are common names.
- When Will, Mike, Jonathan and Argyle have to go to Utah, Jonathan asks who lives there. Will just had to sing the first lines to the theme of The NeverEnding Story (1984) to make Jonathan understand. What sells the scene is Jonathan's You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! reaction, and Argyle says the Nothing Man (the Big Bad) scares him and that the movie is "some real existential shit." It's clearly evident that Dustin and Suzie's infamous duet got deeply burned in everyone's minds.
- Joyce's plan to overcome Yuri depends on Murray's karate skills... Only for him to admit that he's never actually fought, just sparred. With 13 year olds. And one 15 year old, who he did actually beat… Once.
- But then the actual fight shows that Murray wasn't kidding. Overlaps with Moment of Awesome.
Murray: MY HANDS ARE LIKE ARROWS! MY ARMS LIKE IRON! MY FEET LIKE SPEARS! - And then shit happens after Yuri is defeated and knocked out; neither of them know how to fly a plane, so Murray just flips random buttons… and the engine dies, leaving the plane in the air for a second. And then they crash.
Chapter Six: The Dive
- While getting out of the pizza van and going to Suzie's house, Argyle tells Mike and the Byers boys he can't feel his butt (twice), then asks if they can; Will says yes. Then Argyle insists he is spiritual when Mike tells him the Bingham family is Mormon (and he asks Jonathan why he's looking at him weird when Jonathan tells him to be on his best behavior, but Jonathan insists he wasn't looking at him), but Mike says they're spiritual "in a different way."
- Suzie's family. The second the guys open the door they're greeted with a little boy running around with toy arrows who only screams, hisses, and growls. Said kid, named Cornelius, is also covered in dirt, only wears pants, and his immediate reaction to the boys opening the door is to loose a toy arrow into Mike's forehead. Mike just says "ow!"
- The running gag of Cornelius turning off the circuit breaker, which eventually frustrates Eden into putting him in timeout.
- One of the kids is shown filming a home movie with his sister, all we see of which is her laying down and choking as though she's been poisoned. He isn't just doing it for fun, he's genuinely passionate about it, and acts like some big-time Hollywood director (complete with a drawn-on mustache). When Jonathan asks him where Suzie is, he gets aggressive and bluntly asks him if he can't see if he's making a movie with his sister, punctuating his words to get his point across.
- When Mr. Bingham finds his daughter lying on the floor and choking with fake blood on her neck, he's unaware that his kids are making a movie, so he starts panicking and thinking she really is dying. The mustached son stops filming and compliments his father for his reaction.
- Two more kids are dressed like warriors and fighting with toy swords. The last two deal with the cooking.
- When he sees the chaos in the Bingham home, Argyle says this is his kind of party.
- Argyle immediately falling for Suzie's older (possibly oldest) sister Eden. When she barges into the room to chastise her sibling for not helping her with the younger ones, he just stares at her with love in his eyes and says "Oh you tell her, Eden" after she mockingly asks Suzie if she's going to burn in Hell for swearing in front of her, with Suzie yelling at her to watch her language.Eden: Who the hell are you?!Argyle: …Argyle. Uh… and you are?Eden: [visibly flustered] Eden.Argyle: [reverently, under his breath] Like the garden…
- When Eden tells Argyle to give her "selfish, four-eyed little shit" of a sister a shove for her if he sees her, Argyle stumbles over his words before finally telling Eden that he will "do anything for you." And they still maintain eye contact until he says it.
- And the coda to the gang's visit to Suzie's house, when it turns out that while they were distracting Suzie's dad and accessing the computer, Eden and Argyle have been hanging out in the back of their van getting stoned on Argyle's Purple Palm Tree Delight this entire time and laying on each other, with Suzie thinking the smell belongs to a startled skunk. The look on her face when she finds them inside is priceless.
- The boys convince Suzie to track down the location of the Nina Project… by claiming that it's some top secret game console.Suzie: And the Nina Project is the codename for... a video game?
Mike: No it's not just a video game, it's a video game console.
Will: It's basically America's answer to Nintendo.
Argyle: "Americantendo".
Suzie: That's a stupid name. - Suzie then begins searching for the location through the internet. Naturally, the guys have no idea what the internet is due to how relatively new it was at the time the season takes place in, and Suzie tells them, "Don't worry about it. It's just something that's gonna change the world."
- The very fact that the scenes at the Bingham home start out with Jonathan and Mike telling Argyle to be on his best behavior due to the family's religion, only for them to encounter all of Suzie's siblings either misbehaving or just being rude, and the eldest sibling Eden cussing several times. And while Mike does correct himself by saying "Holy heck," Jonathan has already said "shit" in front of Suzie, and she apparently wasn't bothered by Dustin yelling, "Son of a bitch" before she was able to hack into the Hawkins High computer and "Holy shit" afterwards. And, of course, the reason that Suzie no longer has her computer is because Father forced her to confess her hacking in the first place.
- Additionally, Suzie's father thinks his daughter dating AN AGNOSTIC was worse than her breaking the law by hacking into Hawkins High's computer in the first place.
- At the conclusion of the very serious Town Hall meeting in which the Wheeler, Henderson, and Sinclair parents realize that their children are being targeted by most of the town… Ted Wheeler is seen holding a stack of doughnuts.
- When observing through binoculars, Lucas and Dustin get an eyeful of Steve shirtless, prompting comments from the former about how hairy he's gotten leading to claims from the latter that he tried convincing Steve to "tame the jungle" but was refused because Steve thought the ladies liked it. At that, Max snatches Lucas's binoculars, prompting a series of incredibly indignant looks from Lucas as she spends the next several seconds staring intently.
- Eddie's brief tantrum complete with yelling in Angrish before he too jumps out of the boat to follow Robin, Nancy and Steve through the underwater gate.Eddie: GODDAMMIT… LYING… SON OF A…BITCH! Ohhh, this is so stupid, this is so stupid, this is so stupid. [mutters gibberish before accidentally falling over the side of the boat and face-planting into the water to join the others]
Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab
- After fighting off some Upside Down bat monsters, Robin's first concern is whether or not they have rabies. If you know, you know.
- Despite helping them against the Mind Flayer last season, Erica repeatedly pitches in when the party is being interrogated by the cops and their parents with utter incredulity about how bad they are at lying and how the adults are buying it.
- Later on, she blackmails Lucas with something she found under his bed that rates 100 on a scale of grossness. Lucas breaks almost immediately. And then threatens to smother Erica in her sleep if she tells anyone else.
- Dustin's utter delight at Lucas' embarrassment is hilarious on its own. He immediately forgets about the impending danger and starts gleefully egging Erica on, the whole time giving Lucas a shit-eating grin that says he is savoring every second of the exchange.
- Later on, she blackmails Lucas with something she found under his bed that rates 100 on a scale of grossness. Lucas breaks almost immediately. And then threatens to smother Erica in her sleep if she tells anyone else.
- Dustin, Lucas, and Max trying (and failing) to convince the parents and the police that they don't know anything about Eddie.
- Max is the first one the police start to interrogate, and they come to regret having started with her because she’s “kinda mean”.
- Nancy realizes they can communicate with the kids through the lights and asks if anyone in the group knows Morse code. The others say no...and then Eddie asks if 'SOS' counts as the others stare at him incredulous.
- Also, Dustin's reaction to the SOS is quite funny.
Dustin: Remember when I said they wouldn't be so stupid to go through the water gate?Lucas: Yeah.Dustin: I overestimated them. - When the teens doubt Dustin's plan to get them out of the Upside Down, he starts yelling at them (they can hear him when they're in the same spot and he speaks loud enough).Dustin: Seriously? How many times do I have to be right on the money before you guys just trust me?!
Steve: Jesus Christ. This kid's gotta get his ego in check.
Eddie: It's his tone, right? - After successfully escaping their parents and the cops, Erica slashes a cop car's tires, saying "Well, I guess it's just a minor misdemeanor" while doing so.
- The Party opens the gate at Eddie's trailer and prepares to get the others out of the Upside Down, setting up Eddie's mattress so they could land safely. Said mattress happens to have a bunch of... unknown yellowish stains on them.Eddie: (sheepishly) Those stains are, uh... I don't know what those stains are.
- Murray really hams it up while disguised as Yuri, perfectly imitating his chummy nature and even his distinct wheezy laugh. He also uses the opportunity to mess with the real Yuri as much as possible.
Chapter Eight: Papa
- Despite the tense situation, the gang scrambling through Eddie's heavy metal music to find a song to guide Nancy back from Vecna's spell manages to give us a laugh, and Eddie is shown to take his taste in music extremely seriously.Erica: Steve says you need to hurry!
Dustin: YEAH, NO SHIT!
Max: We're trying, we can't find anything!
Robin: (going through Eddie's tapes) Seriously, what is all this shit?!
Eddie: I mean, what are you even looking for?!
Robin: Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles? Music! We need music!
Eddie: (snatches a tape of Iron Maiden's Piece of Mind from her and offendedly holds it up) THIS! IS! MUSIIIIC! - The gang needs to hitch a ride to a gun store, problem is that no one has a car handy. Eddie's solution? Why, robbing one of his neighbor's RVs blind! Hilarity Ensues :
- Eddie asks Max if she has a ski mask or a bandana he can use to hide his face. Smash cut to Eddie sneaking around the trailer park wearing her Michael Myers mask from Season 2. Music from the Halloween theme can even be heard briefly. Viewers have pointed out him asking her for a bandana is funnier considering he has one hanging from his back pocket.
- Immediately after is the incredibly ridiculous sight of Eddie, mask and all, and co. conspicuously "sneaking" around in broad daylight towards their target in the most obviously suspicious manner possible. Despite this, the neighbors somehow fail to notice them until it's too late.
- Then there's the actual RV hijacking, with Eddie nonchalantly hot-wiring the car, prompting Steve to ask him how he learned that and eliciting this response:Eddie: Well, when the other dads were teaching their kids how to fish or play ball, my old man was teaching me how to hot-wire.
- Once they start the RV up, the neighbors immediately bang on their doors fruitlessly before the gang drive off. Dustin notes they look pissed, with Robin replying that it's not every day you lose your car and house in one fell swoop.
- Before the plan was set in motion, the gang specifically mention driving off main roads to avoid the masses of people out for Eddie's blood, specifically the "angry hicks". Once the gang make it to the War Zone store which is currently rife with said masses, Robin's immediate response?
- During the shopping spree at the War Zone, Erica's shown casually tossing things into a shopping cart, looking less like she's helping prep for a serious fight and more like she's picking up groceries for the week.
- The irony of Jason lecturing Nancy about guns.
- When the pizza gang passes a billboard for Surfer Boy Pizza, Argyle becomes ecstatic to see they expanded into Nevada, which he didn't know about, and he warns Dominoes to be careful because "your dominoes are gonna fall," much to Jonathan's annoyance.
- When the van suddenly stops, Argyle wonders if they've made it yet, and Will tells him they've been driving for nine hours. Argyle then wonders what they're looking for, and the boys tell him that a fence, a building, or literally any other signs of life would be useful. Becomes significantly funnier when he finds military tire tracks on the ground and reminds Jonathan that he said any signs of life would be useful.
- Argyle is genuinely convinced that "Nina" isn't a facility but a small woman hiding behind a small tree in the desert, clearly caused by him still being stoned out of his mind.Argyle: Since when did we decide Nina was a physical building and not a small woman? (Mike just stares at him in disbelief) Sounds like a small woman to me.
Mike: It's not a small woman.
Argyle: A small woman out in this desert won't be hard to see.
Will: How is he still high?
Later, after a short, barely 30-second-long conversation about how the gang is totally not getting lost…
Argyle: If that small woman is small enough, she could fit behind a small tree.
Jonathan: Stop! Just- (slams on the brakes, causing Argyle to hit his head)
Argyle: Ouch.
Mike: What are you doing?!
Jonathan: I am stopping us before we get more lost!- Later, while Jonathan, Will and Mike are writing directions on a map:
Argyle: (walking around the desert, still high out of his mind) Nina?! Ninaaaa! Nina? (he indeed finds a small tree) NINAAAAA! (finds tire tracks on the dirt) Ho-holy macaroni! - What saves El from getting her head blown off by the military? Why, none other than the Pizzamobile! …honking over and over and over again, with the helicopter pilot and sniper both completely confused while Argyle freaks out over the sight of dead bodies and blood on the ground. When the gang reunite with El after she sends the chopper to the ground, Argyle can't stop saying "shit" as he tries to process what is even happening right now.
- Nancy and Max's conversation about whether sawing off a shotgun barrel is a felony can be considered to be hilarious, when we consider the amount of laws the Hawkins people have already broken throughout this season alone. Eddie and Steve had just worked together to hotwire and steal an RV; Erica slashed a cop car's tire in order to prevent them from being chased not long after the three freshmen lied to the cops; Eddie stole a walkie-talkie from a construction worker; Nancy and Robin posed as graduate scholars and dodged getting arrested themselves; and Steve, Dustim and Max broke into the school to retrieve extremely personal and confidential student files. Not to mention the third season where the "Griswold Family" broke into Big Buy, originally to fix Eleven's wound, but Lucas stole a cartload of fireworks that would have been illegal at his age to purchase. Then, there's the first season where Nancy and Jonathan snuck into the police station to retrieve the weapons that had been confiscated (and Nancy additionally stealing a fire extinguisher), not long after all of the main characters broke into another school to set up Eleven's "bathtub," especially by stealing virtually all of the school's de-icing salt. Nancy sawing off a shotgun pales in comparison to their past actions, despite all of such actions have been to help save the world.
- Eddie and Dustin play-fighting and wrestling around with Eddie trying to fight dirty when Dustin seems to get the upper hand.Dustin: No wedgies, no wedgies!
- Erica claims that the only reason that she went to Lucas’s games is because their parents made her. Lucas instantly calls bull on that, citing that their parents can’t make her do anything.
- Will says that after they rescue El from the Nina Project, they should take her to Las Vegas and use her powers to cheat at the casinos.
Chapter Nine: The Piggyback
- Yuri compares his skill with a helicopter to his skill at pleasuring women, stating that the louder noises indicate he's pushing the right buttons. He then gets a dig in at Murray by saying he understands if Murray has no experience in these matters.
- When Joyce gets a glimpse of Hopper's trim build while he's changing clothes, she turns into a giggling schoolgirl.
- When Jonathan, Mike, Will and Argyle learn the next flight to Hawkins is tomorrow, Argyle asks them if they can ride in the baggage compartment, but Jonathan says they'd suffocate, so Argyle counters by saying dogs ride in the baggage compartment all the time and don't suffocate. In response, Jonathan mutters "Jesus Christ" and facepalms, while Mike goes "holy shit" and Will just stares at the ground.
- It's time for Eleven to take another dive, but the problem is, they don't have anything that could be used as a sensory deprivation tank. Then, Argyle gets the idea to make one at, of all places, Surfer Boy Pizza, and Mike says "You gotta be shitting me" in complete disbelief while Argyle proudly puts his visor on and tells the gang to just trust him on this one. Soon enough, they're able to convert a pizza dough freezer into a bathtub and a pizza box into a pair of shades for El (which will help her block out peripheral light).
- Before he gets the idea, he stands over El and uses his hands to measure her height. Mike just stares at Will for a moment, and Will shakes his head as if to say he also has no idea what's going on. After Argyle is done, he cheerfully tells El: "I know a magical place that has all you need, my brave little superpowered friend! That mind fight is ON!"
- When the team first enters Surfer Boy Pizza, they're greeted by an employee who acts just like Argyle, implying that most people who work there are just laidback stoners, and he happily compliments Argyle's shirt. He initially thinks Argyle and the gang are here for pizza and tries to explain that he can't let them in the kitchen, but Jonathan manages to lure him away from the kitchen with a little Purple Palm Tree Delight, and he turns the "open" sign to say "closed" as they operate. The employee is even credited simply as "Argyle 2.0."
Jonathan: My dude… we're not asking you to help for free. You ever partake in… (grabs some Purple Palm Tree Delight from Argyle's shirt pocket) Purple Palm Tree Delight? It'll make all your troubles float away… like the seed pods of a dandelion in the wind.- While the team works to build the tub, Argyle spends his time baking a pineapple pizza after picking up a ball of pizza dough and saying the "first mind fight ever held in a pizza dough freezer [is] pretty rad, right?" It's un-ironically treated just as seriously as the rest of the montage.
- And when he serves it to El and Mike while saying "Surf's Up, Romeo" (simultaneously interrupting Mike when he tries to tell El he loves her) and wondering if "too much flavor awesomeness" can overpower El's battery, Mike is grossed out, saying that putting pineapple into a pizza is sacrilege, but El loves it, and the two try to force feed Mike a slice, with Argyle even restraining him as he protests. El even says "Try before you deny!"
- Even more funny in the scene is when El says it's good, Mike states that it's sacrilege to "put fruit on a pizza", completely unaware of the fact that tomato (which is used for the sauce and which are often included on a pizza as a topping) is classified as a fruit.
- During the talk between Will and Jonathan, you can hear Mike and co. messing around at the back as they force him to try the pineapple pizza, with Mike eventually relenting and giving it a try… then he immediately 180s on his opinion and thinks it's pretty good!
- When Argyle sums up the plan to Argyle 2.0, a complete outsider.
Argyle: "You see this weird girl behind me? She needs a tub with a bunch of salt so we can enhance her psychic power so she can save the world from this super bad dude… but to make this salty tub, we require your kitchen."Argyle 2.0: (confused face) - When Argyle notices the flickering lights after the gang puts El in her makeshift sensory deprivation tank, he just calls it "wiiiiild."
- On their way to the Creel house Robin runs ahead of Steve and Nancy, awkwardly jumping over the vines when Nancy reminds her they're there. Nancy recalls Robin saying she took longer to crawl than other babies, which Steve says he's in no position to laugh at. Apparently, when learning to crawl, he somehow managed to do it backwards, at one point tumbling down a flight of stairs and bumping his head because of this. Nancy remarks that it explains a lot.
- When El saves Max from Vecna, the latter isn't sure if she's real, or just something that she imagined into being.
- "COME GET ME, YOU SONS OF BITCHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"
- In an incredibly dark burst of humour, the first thing you see after the genuinely horrifying events of the episode is a lot of people deciding that they're just going to get the hell out of Hawkins before another catastrophe strikes.
- A subdued one, but when Hop and El finally reunite, they immediately comment on each other's shaved heads.Hopper: Yeah, I kinda stole your look, kid. How do I look?
El: Bitchin'. - Mr Wheeler's response to the news trying to pin the local disaster on the Hellfire Club is hilariously right and wrong at the same time. He accuses them of sensationalising things for the sake of ratings, but is in the absolute dark about the fact that there really was something paranormal at work.
- Karen admonishing Mike and telling him he's never going on vacation again. Or to college. He just smiles and hugs her in relief.
- Robin's crush apparently making a peanut butter and peanut butter sandwich because she's babbling and distracted… by Robin. There might be hope for them yet.
- In the epilogue, when the gang makes it to Hopper's cabin, Argyle completely understands that they need to hide El (who he calls Supergirl), but complains that the place is more a Fortress of Groodiness than a Fortress of Solitude.
Season 5
Season 5 in General
- The writers' Twitter account posted a picture of the planning board - completely pixelated. There was speculation on the black dot at the bottom of episode 7... which they then revealed to be a penholder.
- They also revealed the - second episode title. The fandom rejoiced at the confirmation of Eddie's return... and then everyone realized what day it was.
- They also revealed the - second episode title
- Ahead of the show's premiere, a whole slew of corporate tie-in adverts appeared set in Hawkins, some involving the characters.
- This one for Discover credit cards featuring Nancy and Jonathan has the following safety warning:
Flamethrowers are best left to professionals. Or Nancy Wheeler.- This one for Target featuring Ted has him buying 11 items instead of at least 10 to get a discount, but Keith let it slide anyway.
- This one for Discover credit cards
Chapter One: The Crawl
- After the intro, we pick up with our cast showing utter chaos in the Wheeler household. Joyce, Jonathan, and Will are all staying over, with Holly rounding everyone up with ear-splitting shouts of "BREAKFAST!" When everyone's finally at the table, so much conversation is happening Ted has to shout to Holly to pass the bacon, and by the time the platter makes its way down the table to Ted, all that's left is grease and crumbs. (During that moment, Joyce can be heard asking Karen if she has any Midol.) Then everyone rushes out — the kids to school, Joyce to meet with El and Hopper, Jonathan and Nancy to join Steve and Robin at "The Squawk", with Joyce being the only one slightly apologetic about not staying to help clean up. Ted's just fed up with the whole thing.Ted: How much longer?
Karen: What do you want me to do, Ted, kick them to the curb?
Ted: That an option?- Prior to the breakfast table scene, Mike delivers the same ear-splitting reply back to Holly before pounding on the bathroom door.Mike: Nancy, come on! Let me in or I'm going to take a whiz on the floor right here! (The door opens to reveal that Joyce is in the bathroom.) Oh, uh, sorry, Mrs. Byers.Joyce: Whiz away. (Walks to the stairs at the same time that Nancy exits her bedroom.)Nancy: Wow.
- Prior to the breakfast table scene, Mike delivers the same ear-splitting reply back to Holly before pounding on the bathroom door.
- Dustin telling one of the jocks that his protests against Dustin screwing his mom did nothing to stop him after the jock talks shit about his shirt.
- Steve and Jonathan competing to race up a very tall radio tower and fix a malfunctioning part for the radio station (which Steve manages via simple Percussive Maintenance) in a macho-show off for Nancy. Nancy just looks embarassed and annoyed at the whole thing, Robin wonders "What is it about [Nancy's] presence that brings out their inner Neanderthal," and for the kicker, when Steve and Jonathan both scream down that "I fixed it!" Nancy and Robin are gone, checking on Murray and the supplies he's smuggled into Hawkins for them.
- When Murray gives out the smuggled items in preparation for the evening's crawl, he also presents a Gatorade for El's battery. Having just come down from the tower, Steve immediately grabs one and starts chugging it down. After giving Steve his peanut butter boppers and Jonathan his "engaging" John Coltrane tape (despite Jonathan being "allergic" to jazz), Murray then presents the shipping documents for the burn to Nancy by swatting her on the head with them. Nancy is only slightly annoyed, but of course, it's just Murray being Murray.
Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler
- Will and Robin trick Joyce by telling her they're going to fix the flux capacitor. When she repeats this to Jonathan, Steve and Dustin, all three immediately understand Will and Robin are up to something they didn't want Joyce to know, and she's gonna be very pissed off if she ever finds out. That, and that they're probably shocked by the fact she apparently had never seen Back to the Future (1985) to catch the reference.
- Steve is so surprised he turns around in shock. While he's still driving down the road.
- The nonchalant and offhand manner of in which Eleven describes Karen attacking the demogorgon to Hopper.Eleven: She must have hurt it.Hopper: What? Who?Eleven: Karen. With her wine.Hopper: What?
- As Will and Robin arrive at the woods behind the school, Robin, now feeling uneasy, says that they can turn back.Will: I'm more scared of my mom at this point.
Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap
- Joyce is frantically driving around looking for Will and Robin as she passes them on their bikes. Outside, Will and Robin immediately stop pedaling.Will: Shit!
Robin: Is that, uh...?
Will: Yeah.
Robin: You think she saw us?
(Joyce slams on the brakes and her car screeches to a halt)
Will: (beat) Yeah. - Once Will and Robin are inside Joyce’s car, Joyce reads Robin the riot act for putting Will in a dangerous situation and cutting off all radio communication, to which Robin can only respond that they should have left a note, which pisses off Joyce into asking her if she thinks this is funny, so Robin pretty much completely misses the point and thinks Joyce is mad at her for her tone, saying that according to her own mother, she sounds perpetually insincere. In turn, Will berates Joyce for micromanaging him, emphasizing that saving the world requires taking risks, and that by doing so Will now knows that Vecna is targeting children and who the next target is. As Joyce is processing all of this, Robin can only respond:Robin: But, as I said, in the future we will try to leave a note.
- The Party decides they need to kidnap Derek Turnbow, and Lucas remembers that Tina Turnbow and his sister are best friends. Except once they actually pull her out of science class, Erica refuses to help because she and Tina became archenemies at P.E. twelve days ago because she (apparently by accident) threw a dodgeball at Tina's crush during gym class and hit him in the face.
- Erica initially refuses to help "Dipshit Derek" until Mike points out that Holly is at risk. What really clenches it is Lucas telling her that if she does this, Tina will likely never speak to her again.
- First Will and then Mike outline the kidnapping plan, but in wildly contrasting ways. Will stands at the big board with the overhead projector casting a big map on it, and using a pointer. Mike has everyone gathered around a table, and uses his tiny figures to represent everybody and everything that will be involved in the plan. And both ways are just like how military planning sessions are really done before a battle.
- Dustin complains that Murray was unable to get a laundry list of vehicle modifications (that would be difficult when not under government quarantine), saying that his requests weren't "a Christmas list." Murray responds with his usual gift for tact and politeness.Murray: The fact that Santa Murray scrounged all this up in a single afternoon and smuggled it into what is likely the most heavily secured location outside of the White House, Fort Knox and Area 51 is a goddamn Christmas miracle. So count your blessings, hang some mistletoe, pucker up, and kiss my jolly ass!
- Keep in mind that Dustin, up to this point, had Took a Level in Jerkass and has been telling others off, his close friends included. After the absolute reaming by Murray, all Dustin could do is sheepishly thank him for the spark plugs.
- Why did Dustin need those vehicle mods? Because the Squawk van is simply not up to the task of chasing a speeding Demogorgon. Steve is trying to lighten the van to make it faster, which Dustin doesn't think will work (especially Steve's suggestion of emptying the windshield washer fluid), and they're still in the midst of their argument. So Dustin gets an idea looking at Steve's Beamer. Dustin takes Steve's power drill and goes to cut holes in the roof of the car, with Steve in absolute agony over what Dustin is about to do. Later, outside the Turnbow residence, Dustin notes that he and Steve aren't exactly inconspicuous, and the camera pans up to show the large arial that used to be on top of the radio station van now on the BMW's roof, sticking out like a sore thumb.
- Murray pitches a fit upon realizing that Nancy plans to shoot a telemetry tracker into a Demo, believing that the gunfire will shatter the transmitter. As he and Jonathan follow Nancy towards a pile of haystacks while each carry a sack of poultry feed in order for Nancy to test Murray's theory, Murray keeps pressuring Jonathan in cryptic jargon to propose to Nancy. Meanwhile, Nancy is becoming increasingly annoyed by Murray's chatter, despite not knowing what is being said.Nancy: Hey! If you don’t shut up right now, Santa, I swear to God I will shoot this tracker into your potato sacks. And you know I'm a good enough shot to hit any mark, no matter how small.
(Murray and Jonathan set up the feed sacks against the haystacks)
Murray: (to Jonathan) Quite large, actually. My...potato sacks. - While they're getting the drugs for the plan, Robin and Will have to hide from Vickie to avoid having to explain everything and Will reveals that he saw them kiss earlier:Will: You could always... kiss her again.
Robin: I knew that was your goddamn bowl cut!
Will: Yeah, I mean, they're not that popular anymore... - Erica drugging the entire Turnbow family with pie. Tina can sense that something's up and doesn't want to eat it...because she thinks Erica is trying to make her fat. This then turns into them resuming their rivalry while the Turnbow father is slowly passing out at the head of the table.
- Despite the rather unnerving sight of his own family collapsing in front of him, Derek absolutely guffaws at their expense... before immediately conking out, himself.
- When three of the Turnbow family finally collapse, Tina naturally panics but doesn't collapse because she didn't eat the drugged pie. It's then revealed that Erica prepared a syringe for such an eventuality, and gleefully jams it into Tina as Tina screams.Tina: I told you to call 911!(Tina shrieks in terror before Erica drives the syringe into her neck)
- Derek in general. Between his jerkass behavior, his language and his physical appearance, the kid is like a live-action version of Eric Cartman.
- As part of their plan to lure a Demogorgon and tag it with a tracker, the gang take a page from Kevin McCallister and "Home Alone"-ify the Turnbow's house in a ploy that actually works!
- Steve's face of complete glee when he found the chainsaw and proceed to show it to the gang. It's like a kid in a candy store.
- When they get done chainsawing through the floor, the chunk drops down… into the Turnbow wine cellar, knocking over two shelves of wine bottle and shattering them all over the floor. Considering how well-off the family and home were presented as, some very good wine was just utterly wasted.
- The sheer "WTF?!" look on Joyce's face when Robin reveals she can lay her hands on some benzodiazepines, though she wisely avoids saying anything.
- Meanwhile, Steve’s response to Robin’s plan is to simply shake his head while facing the floor.
- The first booby trap goes off successfully into the Demogorgon's sort-of-a-face - and you can hear it yelping like a dog. It's very cathartic.
Chapter Four: Sorcerer
- Derek's attempted escape from the barn.[After Joyce gives Derek an Exposition Dump about "Mr. Whatsit"'s connection to the Upside-Down]
Joyce: So if I untie you, will you cooperate and come with us? Please?
[Derek nods]
Joyce: Okay, great. [starts untying Derek] You're a very brave kid, Derek. I want you to know that. Very brave—
[Derek immediately shoves past Joyce, Robin, and Will and tries to make a run for it, but Will manages to tackle Derek to the ground]
Derek: LET ME GO, GET OFF OF ME! HELP ME!
Will: Derek, please! [turns to Robin and Erica] THE DOOR! GET THE DOOR!
Derek: [now trying to crawl away with Will on top of him] LET ME GO! GET OFF ME!
Will: Stay down!
Derek: GET AWAY! SOMEBODY HELP, I'M BEING KIDNAPPED!!!
[Erica and Robin shut the barn doors and immediately barricade them]
Will: MOM, THE ROPE! I NEED THE ROPE!
[Joyce immediately starts looking for the rope]Derek: LET ME GO! EAT DIRT!
[Derek gives Will a facefull of dirt, incapacitating Will long enough for Derek to get up to see Erica and Robin in front of the door]
Erica: COME TRY US, DIPSHIT!
Derek: Shit!
[Derek immediately starts running to a nearby ladder, Robin and Erica chasing behind him. As soon as he climbs up to the hayloft, he pushes the ladder over as Robin tries climbing after, sending her to the ground]
Robin: Dude! She's not lying to you, okay?! Mr. Whatsit is a very bad guy, he sent the monsters after you!
Derek: SUCK MY FAT ONE!!!
Robin: Jesus! What?!
Erica: You just signed your death warrant, Dipshit!
Derek: YOU'RE JUST A PSYCHO, AND YOU'RE GOING TO JAIL!
Joyce: There is a MONSTER coming!
Will: We're just trying to help you!
Derek: [covering his ears] LALALALALALALA!
Will: Derek, please!
Joyce: You gotta come down!
Derek: I'M NOT LISTENING, LALALALALALA! - Joyce manages to drive back the Demogorgon by wildly flailing an axe around - and it promptly gets hit by Steve in his car.
- When the Demogorgon flees into the Upside Down through a gate, Steve hatches an idea to drive through the gate, because its gooey interior reminds him of a Peanut Butter Bopper.Steve: Wait, gates are kinda like Peanut Butter Boppers, right?
Nancy & Jonathan: What?
Steve: The outside is, like, crunchy and tough. But then you bite down on it, it gives way to a gooey, creamy core.
Jonathan: Dude, what the hell are you talking about?!
Steve: I drive fast enough, I think the beamer can punch a hole straight into the gate, and then we can track the Demo on its home turf in the Upside Down! Follow it straight back to home!
Dustin: We're losing the signal!
Jonathan: We're not gonna be able to follow anything if we crash!
Steve: We're not gonna crash if it's like a Bopper!- When Steve actually starts going for it, everyone in the car starts absolutely screeching in terror. Dustin's face in particular is utterly priceless.
- Even funnier is that he apparently turned out to be right.
- Max's Trust Password to Holly: apparently, right before his first day of high school, Mike attempted to give himself a hot orange mohawk until Nancy convinced him it looked stupid.
- Robin, being The Movie Buff, outlines a plan based on the Tom Dick and Harry tunnel system in The Great Escape. The way she words it, however comes out to "Personally, I like Dick". Everyone just looks at each other awkwardly at that before she backspaces. Bonus points for it being said by Robin.
- The boys later decide to roll with it and start making dick jokes.Mike: Hit the Dick. Let's just hope it's not too hard.Lucas: If it is, I'll soften it.
- The boys later decide to roll with it and start making dick jokes.
- Derek, who has spent the past three and a half episodes being an obnoxious bully, suddenly locks in when it comes to infiltrating the MAC-Z and rescuing his classmates. It's hilarious to see a kid who one episode ago was bragging about his farts acting like a special operative on a mission, and doing a pretty good job of it.Joyce: And remember, you're not "Dipshit Derek". You're-Derek: "Delightful" Derek!
- Derek, being the inside man for the rescue, has to figure out which kids were visited by "Mr. Whatsit". His idea on how to do this? Pretend to be sent by Mr.Whatsit to "gather the Chosen Ones" in a way that makes him sound like a burgeoning cult leader. And it works perfectly.Derek: If you've been visited by Mr. Whatsit, speak now, and when night falls, follow me to the latrine and I will lead you to our savior. To safety.[Beat as all the children look at him]Ashley: ...Derek's gone mental.
- Derek gathers up the marked kids by pretending to be leading a guided meditation, supposedly something his mom does when she's out of Valium. Being an antisocial 8-year-old, his visualization skills are...not great.Derek: The water is blue. Blue as a Smurf.
- The crux for the plan going wrong is them deciding to break into a bathroom, and accidentally hitting a pipe digging. Mike and Will are left desperately trying to fix the broken pipe, and then trying to act nonchalant about it whenever the kids go through the tunnel.Mike: Sorry, bit of a plumbing problem here. Are you by any chance looking for a Mr. Whatsit?*kid nods*Mike: Right through there.*kid leaves, Mike and Will go right back to panicking*
- Unfortunately for the gang, the plan finally falls through as one of the other kids catches them red-handed, with Mike failing to save face and this hilarious shot of one of the kids peeping from the hole moments before being caught.
- Unfortunately for the gang, the plan finally falls through as one of the other kids catches them red-handed, with Mike failing to save face and this hilarious shot of one of the kids peeping from the hole
- Once the gang are caught, Derek and the rest of the kids run towards the bathroom, but not before Derek belts out one last petty zinger:Derek: Ashley Klein is a snitch! (door slam)
- While fighting El, Dr. Kay says "Not the sharpest, are we?" El then grabs some concealed scissors - a sharp object - and stabs her in the arm.
- Outside the military base, as the adults are arguing about keeping the kids safe, Derek chimes in, respectfully, of course, on how he feels about the army "protecting" him and the others:Derek: If I may interject, officer, I've seen what's coming. And no disrespect meant but you and your men can't protect shit!
- One of the soldiers responds to this by cuffing Derek on the back of the head. While most everyone is quick to point out that an adult soldier smacking a grade school kid is not cool, given the weapons-grade asswipe "Dipshit Derek" was until Joyce reached him. . . the kid kinda had it coming.
- And by everyone, we mean everyone, from Joyce, Mike, to Colonel Sullivan, all of them were appalled seeing it.
- One of the soldiers responds to this by cuffing Derek on the back of the head. While most everyone is quick to point out that an adult soldier smacking a grade school kid is not cool, given the weapons-grade asswipe "Dipshit Derek" was until Joyce reached him. . . the kid kinda had it coming.
Chapter Five: Shock Jock
- Joyce, Mike, and Will find Lucas in the tunnels, suffering from a chest wound. When Joyce lifts his shirt to examine it and apply gauze, both Mike and Will have similar Oh, Crap! reactions. Will immediately tries (unconvincingly) to assure Lucas it's "not that bad," while Mike tells him he's going to have "badass scars."
- Joyce calls for a first aid kit, and the group has gotten into so many scrapes at this point that they're carrying around medical supplies in a backpack.
- The group is spitballing ideas about how to get Will close enough to jack into the hive mind again. Robin suggests they drive around with Will in the back of a car like an antenna, and the look Will shoots her is priceless.Robin: [Joyce] said no bad ideas!
- Both Lucas and Erica simultaneously hatch a plan to reconnect Will to the Hive Mind: Erica wants to recruit Mr. Clarke to build a new tracker, while Lucas believes they can resurrect a Demogorgon with heat, therefore opening the hive mind. They eventually start butting heads over which plan is better.Lucas: Your plan is slow as shit.
Erica: And your plan is stupid as shit. - They end up using both plans, and the group plans to basically electrocute a Demo. When Mike jokingly tells Robin to "light 'er up, Frankenstein," Robin, without missing a beat, tells him "It's pronounced 'Fronkensteen.'"
- Holly's utter disbelief when Derek refers to Mike as his best friend.
- The kids catch Derek going into the woods and tell him he can't do that, but Derek mocks "Mr. Rogers" for telling them that and say they can suck his fat one.
- Derek bullshitting Henry when he catches him in the woods.Henry: Who gave you this map?
Derek: Your mom! - Searching for a way out of Camazotz, Max and Holly soon find themselves in the field where Holly first woke up.Max: Look for anything that's out of place. It'll be hidden, hard to find, but…
Holly: (spots a random door standing in the field) There.
Max: Oh. Or not hard. - Max and Holly enter a memory of Henry's when he was spying on Holly from outside a window, while Holly was watching a horror movie with a friend. Max walks towards Henry, flips him off and pulls the curtains on him.
Chapter Six: Escape From Camazotz
- When Murray and Erica arrive at Mr. Clarke's house to recruit him for the mission, Erica is shocked to discover that he's shacking up with Marissa the librarian.Erica: The librarian?
Murray: You get too loud in the shack, she shush ya?- There's also Murray introducing himself to Mr. Clarke as Erica's babysitter while she claims he's her uncle.
- Upon hearing Marissa's cutesy nickname for Scott, "Snookums", Murray proceeds to call him that from here on out.
- Will rubbing it in Vecna’s face that he failed to kill Max and kidnap Holly after Will possessed him and broke his leg. Also doubles as a Moment of Awesome. Will: Max and Holly, they got away, didn’t they? Did the leg slow you down?
- In the cave, Max tells Holly to stop pacing as Holly reminds her of Mike. Later, despite Max's protesting, Holly insists on going out into the desert and starts to leave while sarcastically asking if she's going to let a child walk into the desert without supervision.Max: I take it back. You don't remind me of your brother. You are your brother!
- And although the subsequent scene is generally considered both Heartwarming (due to Mike and Joyce respectively reuniting with El and Hop) and Tear Jerker (due to Will being trapped in Vecna’s mind), the fact that after this scene we see Mike actually pacing in the Squawk counts.
- Vickie chastising Robin for constantly blowing her off. Unaware that her girlfriend is on a perilous, world-saving mission, Vickie is under the impression that she's sneaking out with her friends to get high and that all the crazy things she's seen are just "hallucinations".Vickie: Okay, so let's recap: there is a dark wizard…
Robin: Uh huh.
Vickie: Who is stealing children…
Robin: Yup.
Vickie: And putting them in a dream world.
Robin: Right.
(Vickie is in total disbelief.)
Robin: Vickie, the earth has split in four. The military has taken over our town. Is what I'm saying really so insane?
Vickie: …Batshit! - When Robin prepares to call Lucas over the phone to warn him about incoming Demodogs, Vickie wonders if the Demodogs can understand English; Robin says they can't, so Vickie taps a button on the intertcom to make the call public because it doesn't need to be private.
- The Demodogs have the heroes cornered in the hospital, but before they could spot them, they get distracted by the sound of a nearby dryer. The monsters take a detour to investigate, and find an oxygen tank clanking about inside the machine — one of them even lets out a confused, dog-like whine before the ensuing explosion takes them all out.
- After they're saved from the melting room, Nancy reveals why she and Steve didn't work out: she's still figuring out her life while Steve has a fully developed plan. Jonathan is utterly baffled, especially when she mentions that Steve wants six kids, or as he calls them, "nuggets".
- Max finally finds her portal back to the real world, but she can't take Holly with her because her portal has yet to open.Max: This way leads to me, to my body, not yours. You have to find your own way.
Holly: How? I don't have Kate Bush. I don't even know who Kate Bush is!- Max tells Holly to use what drives and inspires her to go back the same as Lucas is for her and Holly, in her young naïveté, thinks that means a similar romantic relationship.
- Max's response indicates slight annoyance too, not because she's trying to scold Holly, but just because it's impulsive and second nature to a thought like that.
Max: You don't need a boyfriend!
Chapter Seven: The Bridge
- Dustin officially dubs Vecna's dimension "The Abyss", which Mr. Clarke calls "a realm of pure chaos and evil." When Robin asks why he chose that name, the boys, Erica, and even Mr. Clarke simultaneously tell her it's from Dungeons & Dragons. Hopper can only cringe at the fact that they're still naming these eldritch horrors after D&D things.Hopper: Jesus Christ…
- Hop's brilliant plan to enter the Abyss: steal a helicopter from the base, fly into the Abyss, kill Vecna, and rescue the kids. The rest of the Party is quick to point out how foolish it is to fly a regular chopper into another dimension.Dustin: Who exactly do you expect to fly this thing?
Hopper: It's a helicopter, they got pilots.
Murray: (with an amused grin) Right.
Hopper: We force one to fly.
Robin: (sarcastically) Another kidnapping plot, love it!
Mike: How is this pilot gonna fly a chopper into the rift?
Hopper: What do you mean? We just fly through it.
Mike: What?
Murray: (under his breath) Idiot.
Lucas: Just… fly through it?
Dustin: These rotors are like 40 feet wide. It's too big, it's not gonna fit.
Robin: Steve hears that all the time and goes in anyway, don't you, Steve?
Steve: What the hell's wrong with you?
Murray: It's funny.
(Steve smacks Murray in the shoulder, and Murray defensively puts up karate hands before Hopper tells everyone to shut up.) - When Mike shows Robin his improvised bomb timer that includes a turntable, she takes issue with him using "the dulcet tones of the Butthole Surfers" for a world-saving timer.
- Crossed with Heartwarming, but during Lucas and Max's reunion after the latter wakes up, Max asks Lucas if he's sick of "Running Up That Hill," to which Lucas tearfully nods an emphatic "yes."
- Mike and Max immediately falling right back into their Vitriolic Best Buds dynamic when Mike sees she's awake:Mike: Took your sweet time, didn't you?
Max: [chuckles] Screw you, Wheeler. - In the middle of a hugely emotional scene where Will finally comes out to the entire group, Max awkwardly points out that her muscles are still too weak for her to be part of the group hug and he'll have to come over to her.
- Because Erica and Murray fabricated a more believable story to Dr. Clarke as to why a telemetry tracker was necessary to find Dustin, his reactions after arriving at Hawkins Lab and learning the actual truth are priceless. First he learns that Dustin is actually underneath the steel rift plates. Then he watches some random girl (whom he wouldn't have recognized as Mike's "cousin Eleanor from Sweden" from the first season due to El's disguise) destroy a surveillance camera with telekinesis. Then she uses same said telekinesis to open one of the plates under which is a hole with red glowing matter. Then they all must go inside said matter. Lastly, he observes the live vines around a much different version of where they were before. During this whole time he looks utterly dumbfounded as he nonetheless follows along.
- Also, Erica’s reaction to seeing a fully-conscious and mentally-sound Max with the rest of the group. Because Erica and Murray left prior to the "shock jock" experiment, she had no knowledge of Max actually having been trapped in Vecna’s mind throughout the entire duration of her coma and more recently teaming up with Holly in there.
Erica: (eyes widening) Holy shit!
Max: (grinning) Holy shit. - El gets to deliver her one line of snark to Murray, in response to his remark about the rough landing of the Big Buy truck after she telekinetically restores it.Eleven: You're welcome!
- Nancy asks Steve if he knows how to use a gun, and Steve says he does… from using BB and air guns. And playing Duck Hunt.
Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up
- On finding herself again (along with Eleven and Kali) in Vecna's 1959 Hawkins High memory, Max rolls her eyes and snarks. And in response to El's astonishment at spotting teenage Joyce, Max snarks that also Hopper is smoking a joint in one room, and Karen and Ted are making out in another.
- During the search in the Abyss, Mike pleads with Nancy to give him one of her guns. She obliges and gives him a pistol (along with a holster, a belt, and extra ammo). Mike is pleased, until Lucas informs him that the pistol is actually a flare gun. And then Will starts going into another trance but you can still hear Mike griping to Nancy about the flare gun.
- Which gets extra ironic in the final battle, as the flare gun does more damage to the Mind Flayer than Nancy's actual guns like a shotgun and an M4.
- Plus, even after all the years seeing the many guns that Nancy and Hopper have used, Mike didn't even recognize the type she gave him until Lucas pointed it out. Nancy knew it wouldn't be safe to give Mike a real one.
- As the kids escape into the cave, a furious Henry storms in and grabs Holly by the ankle with a Vecna tentacle, but Derek is able to free her from his grip. He then taunts Henry in the only way that "Dipshit Derek" can:Derek: (flipping the bird) SUCK MY FAT ONE!
- As Max rides her skateboard in the epilogue, Lucas tells her that she's on her own if she gets injured because he is done with hospitals.
- Erica saying "Gag me with a spoon" when Lucas and Max kiss.
- Hopper gives us this gem when he finds Mike sitting at the town's earthquake memorial:Hopper: Thought I might find you here. Your mom’s freaking out. Can’t say I blame her. I mean… I don’t know if you remember, but we do have a history of kids going missing in this town.
- It's revealed that in addition to his baseball coaching gig, Steve also works as a sex ed teacher. Apparently he refuses to give his students any grade lower than a "B".
- Jonathan's eagerness to film his anti-capitalist cannibal movie, "The Consumer". When Robin mentions her weird uncle has a basement in Philly, Jonathan eagerly asks if it has a boiler so he can use it as a set for the Cannibal Larder, and he asks Steve how "dramatic" his ex-girlfriend Julie is.
- Hopper being completely and thoroughly done with Dungeons & Dragons when Dustin references it in his graduation speech.Dustin: There's this game I like to play. It's called Dungeons & Dragons.
Will: Woo!
Lucas: Yup!
Hopper: Jesus Christ… - Derek and Holly are sitting together at the graduation and their body language implies they are very friendly at least. That's some turnaround!
- And then, in an act of pure defiance, Dustin takes off his grad uniform to reveal his "HELLFIRE LIVES" shirt under it, causing everyone to celebrate and throw their hats away before he does exactly what Eddie said he was going to do in the first episode of season four: he looks the principal dead in the eyes, flips him off, snatches the diploma, and runs like hell out of there. What's interesting is that literally everybody sans the principal and the jocks joins the celebration even though Hawkins still falsely believes Eddie was behind all the murders and the earthquake at the end of season four.
- In the final scene, the Party is playing one last game of D&D in Mike's basement. They are all pretty engrossed in the story, but the one who is most into it is Max, who previously wasn't into the game at all. She gets so outraged at the events of the game she has to walk away from the table for a minute. And starts throwing stuff to the floor.
- As Holly and her friends begin their own D&D game, Derek accuses Joshua of farting, the same as Lucas had to Dustin in the first-season finale. In this case, however, Joshua says that the smell is from old pizza, and there is indeed a pizza box sitting near the game. An outraged Mary then claims "girls don't fart, and if they do it smells like roses."