Stranger Things 2 recap – Chapter Six: The Spy

In Chapter Six: The Spy of Stranger Things 2, Steve and Dustin try to catch a monster while Will recovers from a disturbing episode.

Must Read: Stranger Things 3 release date

“Chapter Six: The Spy” of Stranger Things 2 opens right in the middle of intense action. After Will started having another convulsion episode, both he and Hopper are rushed off from the burning pumpkin patch. Dr. Owens believes he’s been burned. But when they check his body? Nothing.

Other Hawkins problems seem to be growing, too. Steve and Dustin bring out the nail-covered bat to come after Dart, who has been trapped underground in Dustin’s cellar. Instead of finding the monster, Steve finds its skin and a gaping hole in the wall, leading to one of Will’s tunnels.

Back at the Wheeler home, the government is taking pictures of Will’s tunnel drawings. The boy himself is still resting at the lab, where Dr. Owens discusses treatment options with Joyce. No one can tell her what’s wrong with her boy, but they refuse to transfer his care. Totally fishy, right?

Nancy, Jonathan, and Murray sure seem to think so. They mail out tapes in an effort to take down Hawkins Lab. Murray razzes the pair about not being a couple. After they reject his offer to share his spare bed, he accuses them of lying to themselves and him. Naturally, both teens go to bed tortured by the accusations.

TRENDING: Stranger Things 2- “Chapter Six: The Spy” episode grade and review

Finally, they meet in the hallway to talk and after initially maintaining resistance, and THEY KISS! Cue the fireworks! Cue the parties! Cue the passionate fan fiction! Yeah, yeah, the moment is a bit rom-commy for my taste, but it still works. These kids have chemistry, and their connection has been long-awaited.

Back to more serious business: Owens shows Hopper the lab’s elevator to the Upside Down. “It’s been spreading, growing beneath us like some cancer,” Owens explains.

Upstairs, Will is waking up. In a surprise twist, he doesn’t recognize Bob. Looks like that cancer has taken hold of more than just the tunnels.

We go once again back to Nancy and Jonathan, who are having an awkward morning post-hook-up. They head back home with an odd gift of vodka and water from Murray.

Back at the lab, they’re testing Will’s memory. While he has a grasp on basic info, he lacks recent memories and only specifically remembers pain from the night before. He says that the soldiers upset “Him,” referring to the Shadow Monster.

The doctors go on to demonstrate how fire hurts him via extensions of himself (in this case, a slug thing). Dr. Owens uses this exercise to label the Shadow Monster a “virus”: something alive, with an intelligence attached to a host. Here, virus and host seem to be communicating via hive intelligence.

TRENDING: Eleven’s 11 best moments from Stranger Things 

In easily one of the most endearing season two storylines, we cut back to Dustin and Steve, who are laying bait for Dart and talking about women. Heck, Steve even lets Dustin in on how he gets his hair so Farrah Fawcett perfect.

In another sweet moment, Hopper reaches out to Eleven from the lab. Of course, she isn’t in the cabin to receive his radio transmission.

Upstairs, the doctors are checking out Will’s brain scans. They feel they have “bigger problems than the boy,” and need to continue the burn even if it kills Will. Dr. Owens is his only sympathizer.

There’s some hope for Will though: as he slips in and out of different realities, he tells Mike, “I saw something … I think I know how to stop Him.” Will uses the lab’s Polaroids to point out a spot on the map. “It doesn’t want me to see there.”

In a return to the familiar scenery, Dustin and Steve meet up with Lucas and Max at the abandoned bus from the first season. They lay out bait there for a hungry Dart. As the gang rigs the junkyard with gasoline, Hawkins Lab sends men into the Upside Down to follow Will’s map to the secret spot. Something is definitely not right.

More from Netflix Originals

• Here’s the release schedule for My Demon on Netflix
• The true story behind The Railway Men: The Untold Story of Bhopal 1984
• Bridgerton season 3 skipping Benedict is disappointing for book fans
• You and 5 more Netflix shows that shouldn’t have been renewed in 2023
• Netflix is adding 45 new movies and shows this week (Nov. 26, 2023)

Lucas keeps a lookout from atop the bus. As they wait, the kids hang out, talk old times, and Max eventually joins Lucas on the roof for a little alone time. She opens up about her parents’ divorce and her stepbrother Billy’s desire to take his anger out on her. It’s nice to see Lucas getting an expanded role this season, and his interactions with Max are always genuine and always sweet.

They are interrupted, however, by the infamous demogorgon howl. The beast is not ar taking their bait though, so Steve heads out, bat in hand, to “expand the menu.” Finally, one monster creeps out. Then, like, five more join Dart, which sets up one of the most terrifying moments of the season to this point.

Steve narrowly escapes into the bus, where the beasts are trying to fight their way in. One tries to crawl into the bus from the top, but before he descends he is called away by some greater force. Shaking and terrified, Max and Lucas are holding hands.

Cut back to the lab workers in the Upside Down, who have stumbled across the Upside Down’s graveyard of sorts where Hopper was previously trapped. “I’m sorry,” Will says, as we watch the workers looking more and more doomed by the second. “It made me do it.” The monsters descend onto the now obvious trap.

TRENDING: Stranger Things 2- “Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister” review and episode grade

“I’m sorry,” Will says, as we watch the workers looking more and more doomed by the second. “It made me do it.” The monsters descend onto the now obvious trap.

“You should go now,” Will tells Joyce. “They’re almost here.” We cut to Hopper and Owens, who watch in fear as the demogorgons climb their way up out of the tunnels and into the lab.