It’s not long before our hero finds himself being spat at by what looks like giant Invasion of the Body Snatchers-style spores. Slowly traversing the tunnels beneath Hawkins, all he has is his gun and flashlight to guide him. what if the shadow monster spies back? HOPPER AND THE VINESĪs Joyce struggles to connect the dots, Hopper has found himself back in the Upside Down. If Will knows what the shadow monster sees and feels, that may be the key to stopping it.īut. “And the more he spreads, the more I feel.” Attempting to look on the bright side, Mike tells Will that he could be their Upside Down spy. “It’s like he’s reaching into Hawkins more and more,” the Byers boy explains. “See what he’s seeing.” Mike takes it all in, slowly pacing Will’s room. “It’s like I feel what the shadow monster is feeling,” Will tells Mike. Joyce in the Byers house looking at Will’s drawings. When she finds the gap in the drawings, she jumps to tape up the page as if this missing link will hold all the answers. The vines have found their way into every nook and cranny of the Byers house - interweaving from living room to hallway to kitchen.
After a beat, she picks up one of Will’s many drawings and walks through the house to find its place in the giant vine puzzle mural that has taken over every room. Joyce is trying to call Jim again and gets his answering machine. A similar discovery unfolds as Will’s new ability gives him a leg up on the Upside Down monster - but at what cost? Being unable to connect with Mike is frustrating, she finds a new lead that may give her a better understanding of who she actually is.
By its halfway point, Stranger Things 2 has shown the struggles Eleven’s faced while disconnected from her misfit family.