Stranger Things

Eleven.

Mike.

Is that...

I never gave up on you.

I called you every night. Every night for--

353 days.

I heard.

Why didn't you tell me you were there?

-That you were okay? - Because I wouldn't let her.

-The hell is this? Where you been? -Where have you been?

You've been hiding her.

-You've been hiding her this whole time! -Hey!

Let's talk.

Alone.

-Protecting her! Protecting her? -Listen. Listen to me.

The more people know about her, the more danger she's in.

And the more danger you and your family are in--

So I should be thanking you?

I'm not asking you to thank me! I'm asking you to try to understand.

I don't! I don't understand!

That's fine. That's fine! Just do not blame her!

All right? She's upset enough as it is.

I don't blame her! I blame you! I blame you!

That's okay, kid. That's okay.

No! Nothing about this is okay!

-Nothing about this is okay! -Oh, jeez--

You're a stupid, disgusting,

-lying piece of shit! -Okay. All right! Stop it.

-Liar! Liar! Liar! -Stop it. It's okay.

-Stop it! Stop it! - Liar! Liar!

You're okay, kid. You're okay.

I'm sorry, kid.

- We missed you. -I missed you, too.

We talked about you pretty much every day.

Teeth.

-What? -You have teeth.

Oh. You like these pearls?

Eleven?

Hey. Um, I'm Max.

I've heard a lot about you.

- Hey. Hey, sweetheart. -

Hey.

Can I see him?

He's not doing well.

I know.

I saw.

What else did you see?

You opened this gate before, right?

Yes.

Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?

Ted! Would you please get that?

- -Ted!

Hold on, please.

-Oh. Hi. -Hi.

I, uh, didn't realize Nancy had a sister.

What's so funny?

I'm Nancy's mother.

-No. -Yes.

Mrs. Wheeler.

Um, I'm sorry, and you are?

Billy. Billy Hargrove.

You must be here for Nancy.

Nancy? No, no, no. Not my type. Uh...

No, actually, I am looking for my little sister Max.

Goes by Maxine.

She's been missing all day, and, uh, to be honest with you,

-I've been worried sick, you know, so... -Oh.

I thought she was at Lucas', but Mrs. Sinclair said your house is the...

the designated hangout, so, you know...

Here I am.

Their driveway is pretty dark this time of night.

So drive slowly.

Always.

And when you see Mike, tell him to come home already, okay?

You're a real lifesaver, you know that?

Anytime.

It's not like it was before. It's grown.

A lot. And, I mean, that's considering we can get in there.

The place is crawling with those dogs.

Demo-dogs.

- I'm sorry, what? -I said, uh, Demo-dogs.

Like Demogorgon and dogs.

You put them together, it sounds pretty badass--

How is this important right now?

It's not. I'm sorry.

I can do it.

You're not hearing me.

I'm hearing you. I can do it.

Even if El can, there's still another problem.

-If the brain dies, the body dies. -I thought that was the whole point.

It is, but if we're really right about this...

I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army...

Will's a part of that army.

Closing the gate will kill him.

- He likes it cold. - What?

It's what Will kept saying to me.

He likes it cold.

We keep giving it what it wants.

If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then...

Then we need to make the host uninhabitable.

So if he likes it cold...

We need to burn it out of him.

We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time.

Yeah, somewhere far away.

Take Denfield, then you'll see a large oak tree.

You're gonna swing a right. That road is gonna dead-end.

And it's about a five-minute walk from there.

Okay. Denfield to oak tree. Swing a right.

That's it. But it's channel ten, right?

It's channel ten. Listen...

You let me know when that thing is out of him.

You should go with him.

-What? -With Jonathan.

No, I'm... I'm not just gonna leave Mike.

No one's leaving anyone.

I may be a pretty shitty boyfriend, but...

turns out I'm actually a pretty damn good babysitter.

Steve...

It's okay, Nance.

It's okay.

I...

Just be careful, okay? I can't lose you again.

You won't lose me.

Do you promise?

Promise.

El... Come on, let's go. It's time.

Okay.

So, what, we're just not gonna talk about it, huh?

About what?

Oh, I don't know. I'm just curious, you know,

why all of a sudden you look like some kind of MTV punk.

I'm not mad, kid. I just want to know where you've been.

That's all.

To see Mama.

Okay.

-How'd you get there? -A truck.

A truck?

A big truck.

A big truck? Whose truck was it?

-A man's. -A man's?

A nice man.

Okay. So let me just get this straight in my head.

So a nice man in a big truck,

he drove you to your mama's, and then what?

Your Aunt Becky gave you those clothes and that makeup?

I...

I shouldn't have left.

Mmm-mmm.

No.

No, this isn't on you, kid. I should've been there.

I should never have lied to you about your mom.

Or about when you could leave.

A lot of things I shouldn't have done.

Sometimes I feel like I'm...

Like I'm just some kind of black hole or something.

A black hole?

Yeah, it's a... You know, it's this thing in outer space.

It's like, it sucks everything towards it and destroys it.

Sarah had a picture book about outer space. She loved it.

Who's Sarah?

Sarah?

Sarah's my girl.

She's my little girl.

Where is she?

Well, that's kind of the thing, kid. She, uh...

She left us.

-Gone. -Yeah.

The black hole. It got her.

And somehow...

I've just been scared, you know?

I've just been scared that it would take you, too.

I think that's why I get...

so mad.

I'm so sorry.

For everything.

I could be so... so...

Stupid?

Yeah. Stupid.

- -Just really stupid.

I've been stupid, too.

I guess we broke our rule.

I don't hate it, by the way.

This whole...

look.

It's kinda cool.

Bitchin'.

Okay. Sure.

-Bitchin'. -

All right.

It should fit now.

Is this really necessary?