History Recap / StrangerThingsS2E2ChapterTwoTrickOrTreatFreak

* AmbiguousSituation: It's not made clear whether or not Eleven killed the hunter who stumbled upon her cooking the squirrel. She hit him in the head with a burning log, hard enough to at least knock him out, then stole his coat and hat. Assuming he was only unconscious, she left him without insulation and exposed to the elements in the middle of an Indiana winter.

* MistakenForCheating: Eleven mistakes Mike's interaction with Max at the gym as flirting. It hurts.

In the present, Eleven gets dressed as a ghost and asks Hopper to allow her to go trick-or-treating, arguing that no one is going to recognize her with that disguise, but Hopper tells her it is a risk they cannot take, lest she get found and taken away again. Hopper tries to teach her about compromise, with Eleven classifying it as "halfway happy", and promises to return earlier with candy so they can watch scary movies.

* TimeCompressionMontage: Used throughout the episode to show what happened to Eleven after the end of Season 1. First she's seen surviving destroying the Demogorgon right after it happened, then there are two seperate scenes of her living in the woods around Hawkins several months later, complete with her hair growing out.

* JumpScare: A couple.

* JumpScare: Three: when Eleven pops up behind Hopper in her ghost costume, when Max jumps in front of the boys wearing her Halloween mask, and when a group of three older boys jump out in front of Will.

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: El's backstory of how she survived in the woods is shown in flashbacks. The change in her hair length clues us in about the time skips between events.

Eleven, after destroying the Demogorgon, appears in the middle of the school's Upside Down equivalent. Naturally scared, she runs around the place, calling for Mike, until she finds the hole the Demogorgon went through to come to the real world. She approaches it but sees flashlights from the other side and hides until everyone leaves; she widens the hole with her powers and passes through, getting back to the real world. She walks to Mike's house, but she finds it surrounded by policemen: they are there to warn the family she may be a danger to the family and to warn them if she ever comes around. Two of the agents interrogate Mike, but he tells them he does not know where Eleven is, and even if he did know, he would not be telling them. The agents tell Mike of the danger Eleven represents, and Eleven, who is listening in, runs away, but not before Mike notices she is there: Eleven hides in the forest from the agents, who correctly guessed that Mike had seen her.

In the present, Eleven gets dressed as a ghost and asks Hopper to allow her to go trick-or-treating, arguing that no one is going to recognize her with that disguise, but Hopper tells her it is a risk they cannot take, lest she get found and taken away again. Hopper tries to teach her about compromise, with Eleven classifying it as "halfway happy", and promises to return earlier with candy and then they can watch scary movies.

Joyce shows Will's drawing to Hopper, noting it matches the sight from her home's frontyard and pointing out that, when Will describes what he sees, it feels to him as if they are real: Hopper points out that he knows people who have PTSD says it may actually be Will having flashbacks to his time in the Upside Down. The two reminisce on old times before Hopper leaves.

Eleven, after destroying the Demogorgon, appears in the middle of the school's Upside Down equivalent. Naturally scared, she runs around the place, calling for Mike, until she finds the hole the Demogorgon went through to come to the real world. Waiting until she can tell there is no one at the other side, she makes a bigger hole with her powers, getting back to the real world. She walks to Mike's home, but she finds it surrounded by policemen: they are there to warn the family she may be a danger to the family and to warn them if she ever comes around. Two of the agents interrogate Mike, but he tells them he does not know where Eleven is, and even if he did know, he would not be telling them. The agents tell Mike of the danger Eleven represents, and Eleven, who is listening in, runs away, but not before Mike notices she is there: Eleven hides in the forest from the agents.

In the present, Eleven gets dressed as a ghost and asks Hopper to allow her to go trick-or-treating, arguing that no one is going to recognize her with that disguise, but Hopper tells her it is a risk they cannot take, lest she get found and taken away again. Hopper promises to return earlier with candy and then they can watch scary movies.

At the Byers', Joyce has a small scare when she does not see Will in his bed - he is at the bathroom - and sees a disturbing drawing Will has made of the monster he saw the previous night, but Will lies to her, saying it's for a story he is writing. But problems are forgotten for a while: it is Halloween, and Dustin, Lucas, Mike and Will are going to school disguised as the Ghostbusters. Mike and Lucas get in a bit of discussion because they are both going as Venkman, but Dustin stops them when he points out no one else is disguised, making them the target of others' mockery. Dustin and Lucas see Max passing by, and resolve to speak with her later.

Joyce shows Hopper Will's drawing, noting it matches the sight from her home's frontyard and pointing out that, when Will describes what he sees, it feels to him as if they are real: Hopper says it may actually be Will having flashbacks to his time in the Upside Down. The two reminisce on old times before Hopper leaves.

At the Energy Lab, a technician goes through the gate to the Upside Down to repair the sensors that got fried the previous night. Dr. Owens, though, is not as optimistic as the others, going through his interview with Will while working with a stress ball.

At her cabin, Eleven channel-surfs using her powers to change channels, when she hears something outside: a squirrel chattering. Eleven has a flashback to her killing a squirrel to eat, but while she was roasting it she was found by a man wearing heavy winter clothes: using the squirrel as a projectile, she knocked the man out and stole his jacket and cap, running away in the cold.

Hopper arrives to the police station to find a truck full of more rotting pumpkins: the same farmer that was accused in the previous episode of poisoning pumpkins is now accusing the other man of doing the same with his harvest, revealing that all the families selling pumpkins have suffered the same problem.

Max meets with her stepbrother Billy to go home. Billy clearly hates Hawkins, calling it a shithole. The two argue aloud, blaming each other for their being stuck at Hawkins. Angrily, Billy decides to gun his car for Dustin, Lucas and Mike, who are riding their bikes back home, much to Max's horror, and she forces him to swerve the car just before the boys get hit.

Hopper investigates one of the pumpkin farms and realizes the problem may be a lot bigger than he thought, because there are signs that the rotting may be a sign of something worse.

Night falling, Hopper is still marking the rotting plants when he realizes he is late for his 'date' with Eleven, buying a kid's candy so he can at least fulfill that part of his promise. Eleven is waiting for Hopper, watching Frankenstein, when she receives a Morse signal from Hopper, telling her he is going to be late: she flashbacks to last winter, to herself walking through the forest, when she finds the dead drop Hopper made for her back then. Angry, she turns off the radio.

At Loch Nora, the group is getting a lot luckier with their candy, but Mike is not exactly as enthusiastic about Max as Dustin and Lucas are. Will stops for a second while the others get ahead, but when he follows them three elder boys scare him and he falls to the ground, instantly starting to see the Upside Down. Will gets frightened as he sees a huge tentacled shadow creature going after him, and he hides behind a wall, with Mike shaking him from his vision. Mike decides to cut the party short and takes Will home, while Max asks what is going on.

Jonathan arrives to the party, where he talks with a girl disguised as someone from Music/{{KISS}}. She flirts with him briefly, but he not too good at reciprocating. Meanwhile, Nancy is getting drunker by the moment and Steve tries to stop her, but in their struggle he accidentally pours a punch glass over Nancy's clothes. The two go to the bathroom, and Nancy tells Steve she is fed up with having to pretend everything is alright and being in love. Steve is clearly hurt by this revelation, leaving in a huff, and Jonathan is left worried.

Mike and Will make it back to the former's home, and Will explains what is happening to him, asking his friend not to tell the others, thinking they would not understand. Mike mentions that Eleven would understand, and that he sometimes feels like she is around. The two share an uneasy smile. Meanwhile, Jonathan brings a drunk Nancy back home, getting her in bed before leaving.

At Eleven's cabin, Hopper arrives and apologizes for being late, but Eleven gets herself closed in her room with the television, obviously angry because Hopper did not keep his promise. Channel-surfing again, she decides to turn on a point full of static and puts on a bandanna over her ears, inducing herself to go into the void. In here, she sees and hears Mike talking to her through his walkie-talkie, and she makes to touch him, but, while Mike appears to notice she is "close", Eleven fails to make proper contact with him, making her break down in anguish.

Dustin arrives home, and notices the trashcan is shaking again: when he opens it, and peeks in, he sees something he obviously was not expecting.

* AlienKudzu: Averted, then played straight. The rot killing the pumpkins has spread to other crops, making it seem like a plant blight. However, Hopper then discovers a fungus/slime combination covering the surrounding trees, hinting that it is an invasive species from the Upside Down.
* AmbiguousSituation: It's not made clear whether or not El killed the hunter who stumbled upon her cooking the squirrel. She hit him in the head with a burning log, hard enough to at least knock him out, then stole his coat and hat. Assuming he was only unconscious, she left him without insulation and exposed to the elements in the middle of winter.
* BedsheetGhost: Eleven dons a sheet in this fashion hoping to convince Hopper to let her go Trick-or-Treating.
* CallingMeALogarithm: Inverted. Dustin think being called "presumptuous" is a good thing.
* CrazyPrepared: Hopper has developed a security system with El to keep her safe, from booby-traps outside the cabin, to coded knocks at the door. He also won't let El go trick-or-treating, and has become extremely protective of her in general. However, considering she is being hunted by the government, who are still closely watching Hawkins, this is entirely justified.

* DrivesLikeCrazy: Billy nearly runs the boys down simply to screw with Max.

* InternalReveal: How did El escape the Upside Down? She walked over to a previous tear in reality made by the Demogorgan, and ripped through it, minutes after killing the monster.

* JumpScare: When Max jumps in front of Will wearing her Halloween mask.

-->'''Eleven''': No, Ghost.
* LivingShadow: Whatever the EldritchAbomination in the Upside Down truly is, its limbs in end in mist-like shadows. It adds substantially to the creep factor.
* MundaneUtility: We see El using her psychic powers to zap through the TV channels.
* NightmareFuelColoringBook: Wills starts creating creepy drawings much to his mother's concern.
* ThePromise: Hopper makes a big promise to El to be back at 5:15 pm but he forgets about it and turn up late. Big drama ensues.

* WhatDoesSheSeeInHim: Jonathan apparently thinks this about Bob and Joyce. However, at this point he is treated as an unreliable narrator, as Bob has been nothing but loving and kind to Joyce and her children, and is apparently the only person in Hawkins to treat Will normally.
** It seems to be less that he thinks Bob is a bad person, and more that he thinks Bob is an absolute dork. Which he is.

* ClarkKentOutfit: Billy, despite being a high school student, turns out to have the abs of an underwear model.

--->'''Hopper''': Jesus!
--->'''Eleven''': No, Ghost.

* InternalReveal: Several:
** How did El escape the Upside Down? She walked over to a previous tear in reality made by the Demogorgan, and ripped through it, minutes after killing the monster.
** How does Hopper know Joyce so well, when they were not friends at the beginning of the series? Apparently he actually IS a Hawkins native, and was a childhood friend of Joyce, and quite possibly a former lover as well. It gets a bit awkward between them when they are reminded of this.

* ProperlyParanoid: Hopper has developed a security system with El to keep her safe, from booby-traps outside the cabin, to coded knocks at the door. He also won't let El go trick-or-treating, and has become extremely protective of her in general. However, considering she is being hunted by the government, who are still closely watching Hawkins, this is entirely justified.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Steve reacts this way when Nancy belittles him and implies that she doesn't love him.

* BedsheetGhost: eleven dons a sheet in this fashion hoping to convince Hopper to let her go Trick-or-Treating.

Dustin arrives home, and notices the trashcan is shaking again: when he opens it, and peeks in, he sees something he obviously was not expecting for.

* AmbiguousSituation: It's not made clear whether or not El killed the hunter who stumbled upon her cooking the squirrel. She hit him in the head with a burning log, hard enough to at least knock him out, then stole his coat and hat. Assuming he was only unconscious, she left him without insolation and exposed to the elements in the middle of winter.

* AlienKudzu: Averted, then played straight. The rot killing the pumpkins has spread to other plants, making it seem like a plant blight. However, Hopper then discovers a fungus/slime combination covering the surrounding trees, hinting that it is an invasive species from the Upside Down.

At the Energy Lab, a technician goes through the gate to the Upside Down to repair the sensors that got fried the previous night. Owens, though, is not as optimistic as the others, going through his interview with Will while working with a stress ball.

Jonathan arrives to the party, where he talks with a girl disguised as someone from Music/{{KISS}}. Meanwhile, Nancy is getting drunker by the moment and Steve tries to stop her, but in their struggle he accidentally pours a punch glass over Nancy's clothes. The two go to the bathroom, and Nancy tells Steve she is fed up with having to pretend everything is alright and being in love. Steve leaves angry, and Jonathan is left worried.

* FriendshipMoment: Will shares what he is seeing with Mike, who tells him about his feelings that he sometimes sees Eleven is around. The two agree that, if they are going crazy, at least they are going crazy together.

* WildTeenParty: Nancy, Steve and Jonathan all attend one.

Jonathan arrives to the party, where he talks with a girl disguised as someone from Music/{{KISS}. Meanwhile, Nancy is getting drunker by the moment and Steve tries to stop her, but in their struggle he accidentally pours a punch glass over Nancy's clothes. The two go to the bathroom, and Nancy tells Steve she is fed up with having to pretend everything is alright and being in love. Steve leaves angry, and Jonathan is left worried.

Jonathan arrives to the party, where he talks with a girl disguised as someone from Music/{KISS}. Meanwhile, Nancy is getting drunker by the moment and Steve tries to stop her, but in their struggle he accidentally pours a punch glass over Nancy's clothes. The two go to the bathroom, and Nancy tells Steve she is fed up with having to pretend everything is alright and being in love. Steve leaves angry, and Jonathan is left worried.

* ScreamsLikeALittleGirl: Lucas when Max jumps them.

It's finally Halloween, and the boys are more than excited to be dressing up as the ghostbusters and go trick-or-treating.