Stranger Things Season 2 Episode 5 Recap – Dig Dug

The Superspy

Frustrated at not being able to reach Hopper, Joyce continues to puzzle through Will’s drawings around the house. Will explains to Mike how he feels about the creature in the Upside Down. It feels like the creature is present inside him and in the other world as well. He’s worried because now he remembers and feels the creature’s memories all the time. Mike suggests that it could be a good thing, as he could be their spy that could help them defeat the creature. Will worries that the creature might fight back, but Mike assures him they won’t let that happen.

Hopper inspects the tunnels under Hawkins with his gun and flashlight, following a screeching sound nearby. He looks up at the ceiling and finds a mushroom-like organ that spits out a substance that knocks him out. The hole Hopper dug earlier starts mending itself, blocking the light and his only exit.

Jonathan and Nancy share a motel for the night before reaching their next destination. She thinks it’s weird that they seem only to hang out when the world is about to end. They compare the scars on their palms and see that hers is much bigger. She asks him what happened to their relationship after the prior events, saying that he disappeared abruptly. Jonathan says Will needed him, and she also went with Steve. Nancy says she waited, but he says only for a month. She asks for the lights to be off, and they go to bed.

Will wakes up in a sudden jolt. He tells Joyce that he saw Hopper and thinks he’s in trouble.

Catching the Creature

Hopper wakes up and vomits what he previously inhaled before tracing back his exit, only to find nothing. He tears off his sleeve and wraps it into his mouth before searching for an exit. He leaves cigarettes along the way to mark his path.

Lucas asks his father what he does to stop his mother from getting upset every time they fight. His father tells him that his mother is never wrong. Lucas then leaves abruptly to find Max. Meanwhile, Dustin’s mother can’t seem to find their cat. Dustin, on the phone, pretends that someone else found their cat nearby and assures his weeping mother that they can find him. As she leaves, Dustin wears his hockey gear and puts out a food trail leading to the basement outside. Dart picks up the trail but senses Dustin’s presence, forcing him to come out and scare the creature into the trap.

El disobeys Hopper once again to hitchhike her way to Terry Ives’ home. Ives’ sister Becky answers the door but refuses, thinking she’s a salesman or evangelist. El unlocks the door with her mind and tells her: “I want to see Mama”. She sees Terry in the living room muttering to herself in the rocking chair. El introduces herself to Terry and asks Becky what’s wrong with her.

Jonathan and Nancy reach Murray’s home and find the extensive investigation board in his office. He has traced every last step Barbara took that day and has sketched drawings of El. Nancy tells him the timeline is wrong and that El isn’t Russian. They sit him down to explain more.

The Truth

Max goes to the arcade and finds the Dig dug machine is broken. The attendant tells her there’s a machine out the back, but it turns out to be a setup devised by Lucas to talk to her alone. Max reluctantly comes in and calls him a stalker. Lucas asks her if she accepts the risk of knowing the truth, which she agrees to. He starts by explaining what happened to Will and continues until the end, but she doesn’t believe him. After their story, Billy sees her talking with Lucas and warns Max.

Back at the Byers’ household. Will draws the part where Hopper is trapped, and they try to trace the exact location. Bob pulls up on the driveway unannounced, bringing a care package for Will. Joyce tries to send him off until she remembers that he’s called Bob the Brain. Bob looks at the drawings inside, asking why Will drew them until he spots some shapes that look like the many lake and rivers around Hawkins. Bob recognizes it as a map of the whole area.

Hopper tries to radio the station, but no one answers. He finds an area surrounded by living creatures that seem to be repelled by fire, so he makes a torch to throw them off before digging back for an exit to the surface.

Home

Becky asks El what happened to her, but all El cares about is Terry’s condition. Her aunt explains that Terry is in a long dream and has always believed she’ll come home soon. Becky shows her the room, and El sees the crib she was supposed to live in. She offers El to live there, but she needs an explanation first. They notice the lights flickering, and El follows downstairs to Terry. Becky thinks it’s just the wiring, but El knows it’s Terry. She knows El is there. The TV station starts flickering, and El realizes Terry wants to talk.

Bob starts triangulating the Upside Down map against the actual map of Hawkins. He figures out the X on the map, which prompts Joyce and the others to prepare to leave.

Dustin can’t seem to find all of his friends. He stumbles upon Steve, who’s meaning to make up with Nancy, and grabs his flowers. He asks him to get in the car and retrieve his baseball bat.

Hopper tries to claw himself back to the surface, but the tunnel’s vines start strangling him.

Nancy plays the tape for Murray, asking if it’s enough to incriminate Hawkins. Murray plays some jazz and pours a vodka. He calls Nancy naïve for thinking the tape is enough. Soon, he figures, like the vodka, that they must water down the story for the people to believe it.

Dr. Owen’s associate shows him the soil samples they gathered from the farms and notice that it reacts weirdly to fire.

The Rescue

El wears a blindfold so that she can talk to Terry properly. Terry tells her no and gives her a vision of what happened. El witnesses Terry’s C-section under the hands of Brenner. After she believes that her daughter was taken, she goes to Hawkins with a gun but gets caught and is punished by shock torture. El wakes up in a jolt.

Bob and Joyce argue on the correct location of Hopper, but then Will pinpoints the exact location to them with his now-memories. This leads them to Hopper’s car and the hole he dug a day ago. Joyce bravely breaches the vines with the shovel and asks Bob to descend with her in the Upside Down. Bob realizes they are on Will’s map as Joyce yells Hopper’s name. She follows the trail of cigarettes and walks along while Bob reluctantly follows.

Outside, Mike asks Will if he sees anything. Suddenly a caravan of repair vans arrives from Hawkins lab.

Joyce and bob find Hopper being choked by the vines and free him with the knives in his person. The men from Hawkins come in and tell them to leave as they start dousing the tunnel with fire. As this happens, Will starts spasming on the ground and lets out a guttural scream.

Our Thoughts

Hawkins has a small-town horror that’s both scary and exciting to live in. Rating: 4.2/5.