This is a code red. I repeat a code red. There are innocent children trapped by Russian soldiers under Star Court Mall. That’s right under this completely innocent shopping establishment is a secret Russian base. What is lurking underneath the oblivious shoppers of Hawkins? Does it have anything to do with the Upside Down?

Joyce and Hopper continue their investigation. Joyce is still asking about magnets. Hopper is more focused on looking around the plots of land bought up by the owners of Star Court Mall. They narrowly escape Grigori while he pursues them with a machine gun. They must have answers. Hopper kidnaps Dr.Alexei, a Russian scientist, to try and get some. The language barrier is definitely a problem. Jim said they have to go to Illinois. Joyce questions why there is no one that speaks Russian in Indiana. I think Hopper feels they need someone crazy enough to believe what he is translating. If you need someone to believe a conspiracy you go to Murray Bauman’s house.

Nancy Drew is on the case and she goes to pick up Mike and the gang before heading to the Holloway home to investigate. She really does a good job reconstructing the events that took place there. The Monster is changing. It has developed a taste for cleaning chemicals and fertilizer. Mr. Clarke taught the boys when you combine chemicals together you can create new things. What new nightmare is the Mind Flayer creating? The Flayed want to go back. Go back to where no one knows. Maybe if they follow Mrs. Driscoll they will find what they seek.

Team Scoops Ahoy scores a win using the mysterious green canister to prop the door. They are all able to squeeze out of the elevator. Erica thinks she has caught a glimpse of the radio room. They must be able to contact the surface. Steve Harrington has finally won a fight. He subdues one of the guards so they can get in the room with the blinking lights. What they find there is more than they bargained for. One mystery has been solved the green canisters are being used to fuel a giant laser. What are they doing with it? It appears they are piercing the veil that separates our world from the Upside Down. Don’t they understand what kind of evil lurks there?

At Hawkins Hospital the desk clerk is insisting that only two people can go to Mrs Driscoll’s room. Leaving the kids in the lobby, Nancy and Jonathan proceed to the fourth floor. Mrs. Driscoll is nowhere to be found. Instead they are faced with zombie servants of the Mind Flayer. They may look like Tom and Bruce but they are certainly not completely human any more. Totally oblivious to the chaos upstairs Lucas gives Mike relationship advice.

Above their heads on the fourth floor a Day of the Dead situation is unfolding. Nancy and Jonathan are fighting for their lives. They appear to be the last two people standing on this floor. Remember a few episodes back when the rat exploded? Well we have advanced to the next level now. Once a flayed person is defeated their body melts into a pile of goo. Okay so that’s disgusting but not too much to worry about right? Oh no we are dealing with many people united in a single mind. Like the zombie hoard in Will’s latest campaign. When they appear defeated the remnants of the flayed slither towards each other. They combine into something bigger. They unite into a Monster that defies definition. I wonder if the Dungeons and Dragons book has a name for this?