Stranger Things: S2, E5

Having uncovered her mother's lab files, El pays a visit to the Ives residence, where she finds out firsthand just how rough Mama has had it. She also clues her aunt in on some of the telepathic short circuiting going on in the house--before tapping in to her mother's psyche.

That black puddly subconscious El uses to locate things was always unnerving in the past, but here it actually serves to propel us into Mama's memory; she witnesses her own birth and the subsequent theft Brenner undoubtedly oversaw. The story is basically what most of us already figured, but the electroshock therapy sequence is tough.

Jonathan and Nancy visit the statistician who's been compiling info pertaining to Barb and Eleven. The man is an eccentric recluse, as it's decided early on that a combination of Billie Holiday and vodka-club is the key to figuring out how to leak the story Hawkins lab is trying to keep underfoot.

Bob is given the skinny on what's been going on with Will; he quickly veers from disbelief to discerning local landmarks within the intricacies of Will's drawings. With the help of Mike and Joyce, he sketches out a map which helps them locate an entry point for the upside down. Little do they realize, however, the effect this will have on possessed Will.

Dustin intercepts an apologetic Steve at the Wheeler residence. And really, thank God for this encounter, because Mr. Harrington undergoes some wonderful character development in the episodes to come. Somehow he manages to drop all interest in winning back Nancy and opts for helping the boys instead.