Stranger Things Season 3 Episode 5 Recap – The Flayed

The Underground Lab

Steve, Robin, Erica, and Robin scream as the elevator keeps freefalling for a long while. They try the buttons but none of them would work without a keycard. Erica says she’ll be in trouble if she doesn’t get home on time but Steve argues that’s the least of their worries. Dustin figures that they could climb up the elevator hatch. They go up and see that it’s impossible to climb up from the height that they’re in.

Hopper and Joyce visit their next lead and pass by a Lynx truck parked outside. Hopper checks the empty house with his gun out and they follow a buzzing noise inside. Joyce realizes that it’s coming from the floor below. They pull up the bed, which reveals stairs that leads underground. Hopper gets the jump on two Russian technicians along the hallway but none of them speak English. Suddenly, the soldier from before arrives carrying a rifle but Hopper manages to catch him from behind. The Russian dares him to shoot, knowing that he’s a policeman. Hopper hesitates, gets disarmed and a fight ensues between them. After a drawn-out brawl, Hopper and Joyce escape outside the home, dragging one of the Russian scientists with them. The soldier chases them with a rifle but Joyce manages to drive off safely. Although the car gets filled with bullet holes.

Early the next morning, Jonathan gets a call from Nancy asking him to check on Will, as something drastic happened to Mrs. Driscoll the other night.

Hopper’s police car breaks down in the middle of the road. While he tries to fix it, Joyce tries to speak to the Russian man named Alexei in broken English about her broken magnets. Hopper snaps at her for not helping fix the car. Suddenly it bursts into flames. Alexei warned them that it would happen but Hop didn’t listen.

As they walk through the woods, Joyce and Hopper wonder if any of them know someone who speaks Russian. Eleven finds Hopper and Joyce in the void and hears that they’re trying to get to Illinois.

The Flayed

Mike thinks that Hopper and Dustin’s disappearances aren’t a coincidence, and now they’re alone in tackling the problem of Billy. Lucas suggests they burn the Mind Flayer out of Billy once again but Mike reminds him that that didn’t work the last time. Perhaps El knows another way to do it, but she and Max are still conspiring in the bathroom. Nancy and Jonathan arrive to meet them.

Dustin signals code red above the elevator but no one answers. Steve becomes cranky after they spent the night in the elevator with no sign of getting out. Erica tries to break a canister, saying she’ll need water soon but Robin stops her. Suddenly, two technicians arrive to haul their cargo with a forklift. Steve manages to keep the doors open with the canister and they slip outside. Dustin stares in dread, seeing the long corridor before them.

Nancy explains to everyone that what happened to Mrs. Driscoll looked the same as what Will experienced before. They coincide the time of the incidents and conclude that Driscoll and Billy have been “flayed”. If the two of them are infected, then there could be more. El mentions Heather as another candidate, which makes Nancy and Jonathan equate it to Tom. They all hop on Nancy’s car to investigate further.

The soldier sees Hopper’s broken-down car in the woods and follows their tracks. While Hopper and Joyce are arguing, Alexei runs away. Hopper thought he was escaping, but it turns out that he just found the road and a 7/11 nearby. The three refresh themselves with drinks and supplies. Hopper takes a rich customer’s convertible and uses it to transport themselves, citing that they’re harboring a dangerous criminal.

The Russian Facility

Dustin admires the engineering of the underground facility, but Steve says it’s full of safety hazards. Robin adds that this hallway wasn’t designed for walking, which means the Russians have been unloading supplies at the mall for their top-secret project under Hawkins. They suspect that they’re building some kind of nuclear weapon. Robin questions why they’re doing it specifically in Hawkins, which alerts Dustin and Steve to think that this could be connected to the Upside Down.

Suddenly, they get another Russian transmission that’s similar to their previous code. If they can find that radio’s source, then it’s sure to reach the surface like before.

Nancy and the whole gang go back to Heather’s house to check on her and Tom. They notice that the house is freezing and there’s a smell inside. All of their chemicals and cleaning supplies are spread out on the kitchen table. This is definitely something new, and they wonder what it could all be for.

Nancy sees blood on the carpet and follows the bloodstains to the garage. She posits that Tom was attacked that night and they were tied up in there. Nancy remembers Driscoll saying she has to go back. They figure that it’s possible for Driscoll to lead them to the gathering spot.

The Russian soldier coerces the clerk at the 7/11 to tell him about the others that came earlier.

The Drill

Hopper, Joyce and Alexei visit Murray Bauman and pass through his crazy security. Murray comes out with a shotgun pointed at Alexei, who tells him in Russian to get it out of his face. Murray replies back in Russian and greets Hopper. Joyce snaps at Murray for wasting their time, considering all the hardship they went through just so they could get here.

Steve and his group finally reach an area full of Russian workers. Erica spots the comms room but they’re forced to hide. They sneak their way around the heavy equipment into the comms room and Steve subdues the lone technician inside. Robin checks out the second floor and shows the others the giant machine that’s attempting to bore a hole to the Upside Down.

Nancy and her friends head to the hospital with a huge entourage but only two are allowed. Her and Jonathan make amends on what happened the previous day. Once they reach Driscoll’s room, they find Tom and the other guy from the newsroom  named Bruce, who’s also been flayed. They chase them through the fire exits.

Mike’s food gets stuck at the vending machine, so El gives it a shove which drops a handful of candy. Lucas tells Mike that this is his olive branch, so he volunteers to take Max away so the two of them can talk.

Ambushed

Mike manages to reach El alone and offers her M&Ms. He compliments her new look and she thanks him.

Jonathan and Nancy escape downstairs and calls the receptionist, but Bruce manages to gain in on them. Steve tries to fight but Bruce is too big. He knocks Jonathan with a steel chair but Nancy manages to stab him with shears. Bruce continues to chance Nancy, who takes a fire extinguisher with her to the surgery room.

Meanwhile, Tom gets a hold of Jonathan and slams him to the ground. Nancy ambushes Bruce, which knocks off Tom as well. Jonathan finishes off Tom with a stab in the throat. Suddenly, the lights start to flicker around the hospital and Will is the first one to notice. Tom and Bruce’s bodies start to spasm and disintegrate into a gelatinous blob, before forming into a massive clump that screeches out.

Our Thoughts

The Body horror in this episode gave me goosebumps, but I’m less enthused by the Russian plots. Rating: 4.2/5