- Nancy has sobering visions, and El passes an important test. Back in Hawkins, the gang gathers supplies and prepares for battle.
- While El and Owens have a disagreement with Brenner about leaving the lab, Sullivan and his men invade. The Hawkins group arm themselves for the final battle, while the California follow Suzie's coordinates to NINA and make a discovery of their own. Meanwhile, Jim and the others try to find a way out of Russia.—Gislef
- El glares at the observation window she threw One through, and watches the portal to the Upside Down close. Brenner comes in and asks El what she's done, and she turns and glares at him, then passes out.
Nancy watches in her vision as Brenner gives One his "001" tattoo, and Vecna/Brenner talks to Nancy. He turns and tells Nancy to take a seat, and Nancy runs out into the hallway,
In the real world, Steve tries to snap Nancy out of her trance. When he fails, he tells the others to hurry. They go through Eddie's collection of cassettes to find music to protect Nancy.
In the vision, as Nancy tries to break through a board-up door to the outside, Vecna approaches her. He tells her that it's not time for her to leave, and h wants to show her where he's going. Nancy breaks through the door and finds Vecna/Brenner waiting for her, and he tells her to take a seat. Tentacles bind her to a seat, and Vecna appears and tells her to tell El everything she's seen. He projects images of the house and clocks into her head, and she wakes up and collapses. Steve cradles Nancy in his arms.
At the prison, the Demogorgon tries to find a way out of the pit. A guard calls on the walkie to the one in the control room, telling him to get the power back on. Murray is there, points his gun at the guard, and tells him to say that that the prisoners are contained and he's working on the power. Joyce is binding Jim's wounded arm, and Jim tells Joyce that he thought he lost her. Joyce says that she lost him for eight months, and everybody showed for his funeral.
Murray interrupts to point out the Demogorgon on the monitors, climbing out of the pit. It shrugs off the guards' bullet and attacks them, while something pounds on the control room door. Jim opens the door and finds another Demogorgon strapped to a table, cut open by the Russian scientists. Jim shoots it and puts it out of its misery, and looks at the other Upside Down creatures killed and put into tanks. One tank contains a vortex. Antonov finds a vent potentially leading out, and they climb in.
Brenner and his techs revive El, who goes to the nearby NINA chamber and she confirms her telekinesis on it to confirm she has her powers back.
Jon drives the pizza van with the California group through Nevada, and Will and Mike are in the back calculating where El is. Will jokingly suggests that they take El to Las Vegas to make them money gambling, then assures Mike that they're going to make it. Mike wonders what happens if El doesn't need him anymore when he isn't anyone special. Will shows Mike a painting he drew at El's request of their D&D characters. Mike's character has a crest of a heart on his shield, and Will assures Jon that El sees him as the leader and the heart of the group, and Mike holds the group together. Jon listens as Will talks about how El feels different, like a mistake, and Mike makes El feel better for being different. Will assures Mike that El will always need him, and then turns away and cries, as Jon watches.
In the past, Brenner examines the remains of the breach in the wall then the unconscious El. In the present, he tells El that after the attack she fell into a coma, and her effort nearly destroyed her. Her powers were beyond anything he imagined, and she awakened a portal to another world. Owens joins them and says that One has claimed three victims in Hawkins, and by taking their names he was sending them a message that he's back. He assures El that her friends are safe, and Brenner warns that El's friends are in danger. With each victim, Vecna grows closer to entering their world and then Hawkins will fall. Ell goes to her chamber, turns on the sink water, and reaches out with her mind.
The Hawkins group goes to the Munson trailer, and Nancy tells them what Vecna showed her, and he plans to unleash an army of monsters on Hawkins to kill everyone. Vecna also showed her four gates across Hawkins. Max points out that Vecna's clock always chimes four times, and they figure the four kills mean the end of the world. Vecna is only one kill away,
Max tries to call Mike and gets a continual busy signal, and El psychically sees them. Nancy thinks that whatever is happening in Lenora is connected to Hawkins, and Vecna can't hurt them if he's dead. She tells the others that they have to back go the Upside Down, and the next time they'll take weapons and protection. The others disagree except Dustin, who points out that they know El's weaknesses so they can use them against One. Once they take out the guardian bats and Vecna is in his trance killing his fourth victim, he'll be defenseless against them. Max figures Vecna will still kill her if she turns off the music, and the group will kill him while he comes after her.
The vent leads the Russian group to a snowy field outside the MAIN prison. A few minutes later, a guard in a prison tower sees a van approaching. The van, driven by Murray, smashes through the gate and the tower guards open fire but the van escapes. Jim questions Yuri if he can get them to a plane to get back to the States, and Yuri says he'll do it for a stack of money. Antonov aims his gun at Yuri and demands an answer.
At the Munson trailer, Eddie shows the others an ad for an army surplus store where they can get what they need. They steal a neighbor's RV and drive to the store.
El tells Owens that she saw her friends and they're not safe. He talks to her4 privately and says that they're not going to let anything happen to El's friends, and El tells him that her friends are planning to kill Vecna. Owens says that he's going to send some of his men there and stop the group, and El tells Owens to send her. Brenner comes in and warns El that none of them are prepared for the fight, and Vecna consumes everything from his victims and grows more powerful each time. He tells El that she's not ready, but El doesn't believe him and Owens supports her. Owens tells Brenner that it's El's choice, and El agrees to go.
Steve drives to the RV to the store and Nancy sits with him. He talks about how he dreamed of having a family and touring the country in a similar RV, They share a look, and then Nancy snaps out of it.
In the back, Lucas goes back to sit with Max and suggests they break into Kelley's office and look at a list of her students, since Vecna is apparently targeting them. Mas tells him that they don't have time for any of that, and even if they, they'd be putting a stranger at risk. She figures Vecna only sees their darkest memories, so she'll "run in the opposite direction" to the light, by hiding in a happy memory in her mind. She says that she has a memory in mind when she was happiest and Lucas asks if he was there. Max smilingly admits that Lucas might have been there,
The group drives through Russia back to the village church, and Yuri takes them to a nearby shed. He shows them t", a helicopter that he says he can use to fly them back to the States. Yuri admits he's never flown her, and goes to work tuning her up. Joyce suggests that they contact Owens if he has spies there, and they should call him in the States to find out. Antonov makes a phone call to someone who can put them through, then tells the others that his contact will make the call and then cut them back. He warns that the KGB may be listening and they should talk in code.
The Hawkins group get to the store, the War Zone, go in, and split up to buy supplies. Robin sees Vickie, but then Vickie's boyfriend comes up. They kiss and Vickie looks over and sees Robin watching, and Robin runs off.
Nancy is buying a shotgun when she sees Jason down the counter. Jason notices her and says that he didn't expect to see her there. Erica comes up and sees them, while Nancy expresses her condolences about Chrissy's death. He comes over and gets in her face while grabbing the barrel of her shotgtun, and Erica sees Jason's teammates nearby. Meanwhile, Jason asks Nancy if Mike's friends in Hellfire are there with her. She tells him to let go of her shotgun.
Eddie waits out in the RV with Dustin and Lucas, and the others come back and say they have to go, and Lucas' former teammates are there. Steve drives the RV away past Jason and his teammates in the parking lot, and sees them go.
The California group continuing driving down the highway searching for Nina, and Jon finally stops before they get more lost. While he checks Suzie's coordinates on their map, Argyle goes out into the nearby desert and yells for Nina. He finds something and calls the others over, and show them a set of military vehicle tracks that he's located.
Sullivan and his men drive through the desert to the lab.
At the lab, Owens calls Ellen to arrange a plane to Russia, and to check on Max's home in Hawkins. The phone goes dead in mid-conversation and soldiers come in to "talk" to Owens.
El dresses and leaves her chamber, and looks at the NINA chamber. The door closes behind her, locking her in, and Brenner steps out and tells El that she can't leave. He says that Owens had a "change of heart", and his men will kill Owens if they hear El force her way out. Brenner says that they're going to complete their work together and when he decides that El is ready, they will return to Hawkins, Papa and daughter.
Brenner He says that he's doing it because there's no other choice, and El tells him that there is a choice. When Brenner says that he tries to make the right choice, El asks him if he made the right choice with Mama. Brenner says that Mama was mentally sick and shot a man at the hospital, and everything he's done for El is for her own good. El asks if Brenner kept Henry in the lab with her and the other children for their own good, and Brenner says that he was trying to help Henry and understand him. He knew that he had failed Henry, and he insists that he was having El search the darkness for the Soviets, not Henry.
El points out that Henry told her that Papa doesn't always tell the truth. Brenner points out that El released Henry from his prison, and now she's mad at herself and taking her anger out on Brenner, risking everything. El says that Brenner has lied and he's risking everything, and everyone has die because of Brenner and the fact he couldn't let Henry go. She has realized that Brenner is the monster, not her.
El tells Brenner that she's going to open the door and leave with Owens, and if Brenner tries to stop her then she'll kill him. She goes to the door and telekinetically breaks it down. When Brenner jabs a syringe in her neck, El turns and blasts him back. El pulls the syringe out of her neck and slams him against the chamber, then passes out from the sedative.
Eddie and the others hone their weapons. Dustin and Eddie playfully fight, and Eddie tells Dustin to never change. Erica and Lucas make spears, and Erica says that she never missed any of Lucas' basketball games because he's her brother. Steve and Robin make Molotov cocktails and talk about Vicki and her apparent boyfriend, Dan Shelter. Robin finally says that she doesn't care and the stakes of her love life seem low. She says that not everything has a happy ending, and she has a feeling that not everything will work out for them. However, they still have to stop Vecna because no one else will. They agree and jokingly share a toast with the Cocktails to stopping Vecna.
El wakes up with a restraining collar on her neck. Brenner is there, and apologizes for the collar, and says that he only designed it as a precaution. He figures that she's still angry at him, but insists that it's only way. Alarms go off, and a soldier comes in and says that Sullivan and his men have found and invaded the lab. The soldiers arrive outside and surround the door, and the MPs inside arm themselves.
The invaders blow open the external door, and charge in., and the lab MPs evacuate the scientist and take up defensive positions. The two sides open fire on each other, while Brenner carries El out, saying that they've come to kill her. Meanwhile, the defenders get picked off and Sullivan strolls in. The soldiers find El's quarters and search them, and one takes Sullivan to where Owens is handcuffed to a pipe. Sullivan asks Owens where El is,
Brenner carries El out by an evacuation hatch and sees the lab's scientist on the ground, all shot dead. A sniper in a helicopter opens fire on Brenner, who runs but is finally brought down. The sniper prepares to shoot El, who is lying on the ground. The pilot calls Sullivan and asks for permission to take the shot. Owens tells Sullivan that he can put El in a medically-induced coma and they can use her if the killings continue. Sullivan continues and then tells the sniper to take the shot.
The van pulls up, its horn honking, and Sullivan tells them to ignore it and take the shot. Despite the collar, El uses her TK to bring the helicopter down on the other Army vehicles, destroying them all. El drops to her knees, and the van pulls up to her.
Mike runs over to El and they hug. She goes over and hugs him, and Jon says that they have to go. El takes off the collar, as the dying Brenner uses a remote to open it. She goes to him and calls to Papa, and he tells El that he's proud of her, and she's his family. Brenner strokes her face and El takes his hand, and he says that he's only ever want to help and protect her. He asks her to understand that everything he's done, he's done for her, and wonders if El does. El says nothing and releases Brenner's hand, and tells him goodbye. El walks over to the others, and they drive off in the van.
Sullivan and his men emerge from the lab and survey the devastation, and watch the van go. Brenner rolls over and watches the van go, and then dies.
In the van, El tells Mike that they have to get to Hawkins, two thousand miles away, and if they don't then the others will die.
The Hawkins group drives in the RV, ready for the final battle. They pull up to the Creel house and drop off Erica, Lucas, and Max, who go inside.
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