Stranger Things: Season Two Episode Five

Hey everyone, I’m Luke and I will be continuing our Stranger Things series, reviewing Season 2 Episode 5, “Dig Dug.” I think that the episode did a great job of switching between storylines, as well as giving as an intense cliffhanger at the end. I’m going to give a disclaimer that the rest of this review will include spoilers. I truly believe that a show like Stranger Things is best experienced without prior knowledge. Ready? Alright, let’s start the synopsis.

We left off with Hopper discovering an underground tunnel. Episode 5 starts off with Joyce trying to call Hopper, without success. While Joyce and Mike try to connect Will’s drawings, Will says that he feels what the shadow monster is feeling. Mike tells Will that Will can be like a spy, but Will feels that the monster can spy on them. We cut back to Hopper, who is exploring the tunnel. He falls unconscious due to the dust particles, as his exit to the surface slowly gets enclosed with vines. After the intro, we see Nancy and Jonathan stopping at a motel for the night, on the way to see a conspiracy journalist mentioned by Barb’s parents. At night, Jonathan and Nancy have a brief discussion. This conversation hints at their relationship, but ends quickly. We switch back to Will, Mike, and Joyce. Will wakes with a start, telling Joyce that he thinks that Hopper is on the verge of survival. After briefly cutting to the waking Hopper, we take a look at the Sinclair family having breakfast. Reflecting on his last conversation with Max, Lucas asks his father what he does when Lucas’ mother is mad at him, to which his father nonchalantly replies that he simply apologizes and gets her whatever she wants. Lucas then exits, saying that he’s going to hang out with Dustin, implying that he really is going to tell Max what really happened last year.

We now see Dustin’s mother looking for her cat, Mews, who, in the previous episode, was eaten by Dart. Dustin fakes a phone call, keeping his mom in the dark. After sending his mom away, Dustin prepares to confront Dart by leading him into a cellar. Although his plan fails, he is able to force him in. Meanwhile, Eleven hitchhikes to her mother’s house. Her aunt, Becky, doesn’t let her in, but Eleven uses her powers to unlock the door. When Eleven sees her mother, Terry, Terry is mumbling a string of seemingly random words. Eleven tries to talk with her, but she can’t in the regular world. We cut back to Nancy and Jonathan, who are now at the house of the conspiracy theorist Murray Bauman. The teens are shocked when Murray knows their names, but still come in. They see a string of pages, leading to the theory that Eleven is Russian, causing Nancy and Jonathan to have to explain what actually happened. Meanwhile, Max goes to the arcade, only to find the Dig Dug machine out of order. Keith, one of the workers, tells Max that they have another machine in the back, but instead we see Lucas, prepared to tell Max what happened, on the account that Keith would date Nancy. As Lucas begins to tell the story, we cut to Will, Mike, and Joyce, trying to finish Will’s “puzzle,” in order to find Hopper. Bob pulls into the driveway, offering to help Will’s “sickness” with some brain teasers. While Joyce originally tries to send him away, she realizes that Bob might be able to help find the puzzle. As Bob realizes that the drawings are in fact the tunnels that Hopper was in, Hopper tries to contact the police. He finds that the vines are scared of fire, but he still struggles to get out.

We now see Dustin trying to reach the others on his walkie-talkie, saying that it’s a “code red.” He only finds Lucas’ sister Erica, who says that she does not know and doesn’t care where Lucas is. We now go back to El and Becky, the latter who says that Terry is experiencing a long, continuous dream. El realizes that the lights are flickering, which Becky waves away and says that it’s simply old wiring. El thinks otherwise, saying that Terry wants to talk. We switch back to Bob, trying to find the correct scale in order to find Hopper. Bob finds the approximate location, and the four drive off. Dustin bikes to Mike’s house, but does not find Mike, as Mike was with Will. He meets Steve, who is ready to apologize to the equally absent Nancy. The two form an alliance to kill Dart. Hopper is still trying to escape, but his efforts seem in vain as the vines start to strangle him. We cut back to Lucas finishing his story to Max, who still doesn’t believe him. As Billy picks Max up, he tells her to stop hanging out with Lucas, possibly hinting at racist ideals.

We now see Nancy and Jonathan showing Murray a tape of Dr. Owens, explaining what happened. As Murray tries to think how to show the truth, he realizes that they can “water it down,” making the story more believable. We now see Dr. Owens, who finds that heat gives the dust particles a reaction. Cutting back to El, Becky blindfolds her so she can talk to Terry. We hear Terry’s seemingly random mumbling. “Breathe.” “Sunflower.” “Three to the right, four to the left.” “Rainbow.” “Four-fifty.” Terry pulls Eleven into a memory, explaining her mutterings. “Breathe” was Becky, telling Terry to do so as she was giving birth to Eleven. As El was taken from her, Terry woke in a room with a sunflower, explaining the second word. “Three to the right, four to the left” was the code for the safe where she held her gun. As she tried to infiltrate Hawkins Lab, she shot a policeman. She found El and another girl in a room with a rainbow on the door, hence the fourth phrase. She was taken away before she could take Eleven back, and was tortured. The device, of course, was set to four-fifty.

El takes off the blindfold, seeing Terry muttering the same words. We cut to the Byers (sans Jonathan), Bob, and Mike, now at the site of the tunnel entrance. Joyce and Bob try to dig into the hole. They drop down, looking for Hopper, as Owens and his men arrive to burn down the vines. Joyce and Bob free the police chief, while Owens’ men get to work. As the soldiers start to set the vines on fire, this has an effect on Will. Will starts spazzing out on the hay, as if electrocuted. We cut to black.

I quite enjoyed this episode, and I think that this is the episode that really kicks off the intense plot, splitting the characters up. The camerawork was really spectacular, and all the actors played their role very well. I especially praise Winona Ryder and Caleb McLaughlin, as they played their respective roles of Joyce Byers and Lucas Sinclair extremely well. Lastly, I think that the episode had great transitions, and was able to switch storylines quickly and effectively.

This is just another one of our many Stranger Things reviews. If you have any questions, please email me at lchiang@friendscentral.org. Thank you!

About the Author

Riley Roche
Writer for Phoenix enquirer. Class of '22. Favorite thing to write about: Tech.
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