But after Kali tries to make Eleven kill a man in cold blood, Eleven realizes this isn't her. She remembers Hopper, Mike, and her friends. She rejects Kali’s path, uses her powers to escape, and returns to Hawkins to save her real family. Back in Hawkins, things are getting worse. Dart has grown rapidly, molted, and escaped into the sewers. Dustin realizes with horror: Dart is a baby Demogorgon.
Setting: Hawkins, Indiana – Fall 1984. Almost a year after the disappearance and rescue of Will Byers. The Calm Before the Storm The season opens with a "previously on" recap, but then immediately shows something new: a flashback to Hawkins Lab on the night Eleven opened the Gate. A police officer witnesses a terrifying, tentacled creature in the tunnels before being killed.
Hopper, Joyce, and Bob (Joyce’s sweet, nerdy boyfriend from RadioShack) venture into the tunnels. They are attacked by living vines and a swarm of Demo-dogs (the baby Demogorgons, now dog-sized). Bob saves them by solving a computer puzzle to open a door. Just as they escape, a Demo-dog latches onto Bob’s neck and kills him brutally in front of Joyce. The Mind Flayer has one goal: spread and consume . It possesses Will Byers fully. Will’s "episodes" become seizures where he spits out black tentacles. Dr. Owens (the new, slightly more ethical lab director) tries to help, but it’s too late. The Mind Flayer now sees everything Will sees. Stranger Things -2017- Season 2 Web Series
Eleven follows a trail to Chicago and finds (008), a punk-rock runaway with the power to create powerful illusions. Kali leads a gang of outcast misfits who rob and kill bad people. Kali tries to convince Eleven to embrace her anger, hunt down the other Hawkins Lab scientists, and avenge their "papa" (Dr. Brenner, who may still be alive).
There, in the dark, icy wasteland, we see the —a colossal, 50-foot-tall spider-like shadow—towering over the ruins of the Hawkins Lab Gate. It stares directly at the camera (and thus, at the real world), letting out a low, rumbling growl. But after Kali tries to make Eleven kill
She steps forward, lets out a scream, and , crushing several Demo-dogs. She then closes a huge metal door with her mind, saving everyone. The Final Plan: Close the Gate With Will possessed and the tunnels spreading, Dr. Owens reveals the only solution: close the massive Gate in the basement of Hawkins Lab before the Mind Flayer’s entire army crosses over.
Hopper and Joyce Byers discover that the pumpkin fields in Hawkins are rotting from the inside out. They dig and find massive, vine-like tunnels spreading beneath the town—an extension of the Upside Down’s ecosystem. Back in Hawkins, things are getting worse
Using Will as a spy, the Mind Flayer sends the Demo-dog army to attack Hawkins Lab. Hopper, Joyce, Mike, and the kids are trapped inside. A massive shootout occurs. Bob dies. The soldiers die. Just as the Demo-dogs break through the final doors, Eleven arrives.
The camera pulls back from the Snow Ball, out of the gym, into the snowy Hawkins night. We zoom into the school’s basement, then down into the earth... and into the Upside Down.
After a fight where Eleven uses her powers to throw Hopper across the room, she runs away. Using her powers, she locates her mother, , in a catatonic state, and her aunt. Through a sensory deprivation tank, she mind-dives into her mother’s memories and sees that she has a "sister"—another test subject from Hawkins Lab.