After Owens has Eleven transported to a retraining facility, an operative explains to Mike, Jonathan and Will that a Government Conspiracy puts El in danger. They hatch a plot to get back to Hawkins. Max finally explains to the others what's been happening with her, and it might mean her time is running out. The least of their worries—the basketball team on the prowl for Eddie—stops at the Sinclair home once they figure out they were tricked. Robin and Nancy pay a visit to a name from Hawkins's distant past. Meanwhile, Joyce's and Murray's trip to Alaska to free the imprisoned Hopper meets with an unexpected reversal.
This episode provides examples of:
- The '80s: In case you forgot. Erica tells Jason that Lucas will have to buy her a Nintendo to make up for covering for him.With Duck Hunt!
- An Aesop: Two in this episode:
- Do not hide your mental problems from people around you. The only reason why Max manages to escape Vecna is that she told her friends what was happening to her, and they were there to help her through it. Chrissy and Fred told no one (except one overworked, out-of-her-depth school counselor) what was really happening, and therefore had no support system to save them.
- Be mindful of signs of mental distress in others, especially loved ones. This even relates to El's story, where the police interrogating her don't seem to notice or care that she is clearly in shock, possibly disabled, and the victim of bullying.
- Agony of the Feet: Poor Hopper's feet are bloody and broken. How he doesn't lose his toes to frostbite is also TV magic.
- Analogy Backfire: When Hopper is referred to by the nickname of Steve McQueen's character in The Great Escape, he says he hopes not since the "Cooler King" was recaptured at the end of the movie.
- And Starring: "With Robert Englund."
- Armor-Piercing Question: Steve has loads of them upon hearing about Victor Creel. How did Vecna cross over into our world without a portal? Why did he suddenly stop after killing Victor's family? Why is he coming back now just to kill a few kids?
- Bavarian Fire Drill: Max gets Steve to drive her out to the cemetery by threatening to prosecute him for the "kidnapping of a minor" if he doesn't comply.
- Being Watched: Max feels the stares of the boys on her back when she sits at her desk to write her farewell letters.
- Blatant Lies: The entire speech Robin gives to convince Doctor Hatch to let her and Nancy speak with Victor. Also Yuri's untimely "death" by polar bear, before he reveals himself to still be alive and only making up a story to mess with Joyce and Murray.
- Bloody Tears: Creel's dead daughter in his flashback has blood running from her eyes.
- Break Them by Talking: Billy!Vecna hits Max with an especially cruel monologue after she reads her letter, even insinuating that a small part of her wanted Billy to die.
- Bust-Contrast Duo: Robin is far more hotheaded and impatient than Nancy when they're undercover. While they're both dressed in ridiculously conservative attire, their differing body types are highlighted when Robin complains about Nancy's ill-fitting bra.note
- Cavalry Betrayal: Yuri sells out Dmitri and Hopper's plot to the prison warden, along with drugging Joyce and Murray so they can be turned over to the KGB because both of those paid considerably more than the forty grand he would have made for risking his life transporting an escaping prisoner.
- The Cameo: Dacre Montgomery appears as Vecna's hallucination of Billy.
- Censored Child Death: While Victor Creel children's bodies are shown laying on the floor, his daughter's mutilation is more mild than what we've seen so far, and what actually happened to them when Victor was having a flashback isn't seen.
- Chekhov's Gun: When they're packing to go back to Hawkins, at the last second Will grabs the painting he was carrying in Episode 1 and stuffs it into his bag. It winds up being important in Episode 8.
- Cliffhanger: Subverted. Max's running from Vecna ends with a Smash to Black associated with the show's cliffhangers. We get a full four seconds of blackness and fading music (enough time for multiple reactors to drop F-bombs in their videos in disbelief), a second of "Max! Max!" followed by a smash from black to Max opening her eyes. The scene afterwards ends with a Fade to Black.
- Consulting a Convicted Killer: Nancy and Robin pay a visit to Victor Creel in prison, hoping to get some clues out of him regarding the current events.
- Continuity Nod: Steve checks with Dustin whether the radio has batteries. He has reason to worry because the radio's batteries ran out of power at a critical point the last time they were in a dangerous situation together, at the mall.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Agent Harmon spends most of his assignment watching TV with his equally goofy partner. But when a raid of gunmen storm the house, he kills five of the better-armed intruders with no support and escapes with his charges intact, though he does take a bullet for his troubles.
- Damsel out of Distress: Max manages to get out of the tentacle tree by her own willpower and run to safety.
- Darkest Hour: All hope seems lost for the Hopper/Joyce plotline. Hopper is recaptured, while Joyce and Murray are double-crossed by Yuri and ready to be sent to the Russians.
- A Death in the Limelight: Subverted with Max. She finds out that Your Days Are Numbered and becomes the focal point of this episode. Furthermore, on the brink of death, she gets a series of Happy Flashbacks with dramatic music playing. But she manages to cheat death and return to the world of the living with the help of her friends.
- Death of a Child: The "demon" didn't spare Victor's daughter from her mother's grisly fate while Victor thought his son was killed too, but... Also, during WWII, he accidentally shelled innocent civilians, with a baby burning in its crib something that especially haunts him.
- Delivery Guy Infiltration: The boys attempt to invert this by ordering a pizza in the hopes of using it as an escape method, as the driver will be their friend Argyle. Unfortunately, this backfires when the Army raids the house, as the agent answering the door drops his guard thinking it's the pizza delivery and gets shot. Then Argyle *does* show up, allowing for the originally planned escape.
- Dramatic Drop: Joyce drops her coffee cup in slow motion when the sedative overwhelms her.
- Also Max when she exits the trance.
- Driven to Suicide:
- Max's hallucination of Billy insinuates that sometimes, in the darkest hours of the night, the guilt she feels from his death makes her wish she could "follow [him]".
- Victor tried to kill himself to join his family, but the asylum staff stopped him, though it was already too late for his eyes.
- Drugs Causing Slow-Motion: Joyce's vision slows and becomes blurry as she realizes the coffee Yuri gave her and Murray was drugged.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Steve crosses the line by threatening to punch Dustin so hard that his teeth will fall back out; he apologizes afterwards.
- Exact Words: After drugging Joyce, Yuri promises to reunite her with Hopper. Just not in the way she planned/paid for.
- Eye Scream: Poor Victor Creel. He cut out his own eyes with a razor blade after being arrested for his family's deaths.
- Face-Revealing Turn: When Victor turns around in his cell to face Nancy and Robin, revealing his nasty and still festering eye wounds.
- Foreshadowing:
- While on their tour of the facility, Nancy notes that the garden for patients to spend their time outdoors seems like any of them could just walk out. The director says they could, but they don't want to. When their cover is blown, Nancy and Robin are able to escape through the garden.
- Mike tells Will they will solve the new crisis "as friends. Best friends." Will looks devastated, foreshadowing the implicit reveal of his feelings for Mike.
- Grave-Marking Scene: The scene of Max sitting in front of Billy's grave and pouring her heart out to him.
- "Hey, You!" Haymaker: After pretending to have broken his hammer and requesting a guard to give him a new one, Hopper sneaks into the shack and lets out a whistle before bashing the guard's face in with said broken hammer.
- Hates Wearing Dresses: Nancy makes Robin wear some of her clothes for their appointment and Robin complains the entire time.Robin: I can't breathe in this thing, and I'm itchy! I'm itching all over!
Nancy: It's not all about comfort, okay? We're academics.
Robin: Who are evidently coming straight from an Easter brunch. Also, this bra that you gave me is really pinching my boobs.
Nancy: Okay, could you just let me do the talking? If that's even possible?
Robin: It's not only possible, it's inevitable, because shortly I'll be dead from strangulation. - Holding the Floor: Robin launches into a humongous rant towards Hatch, both to try and convince him to let them talk to Victor, and out of frustration that they're very close to getting to their lead but get denied by bureaucracy.
- Idiot Ball: Despite having been established as a paranoid Conspiracy Theorist, Murray somehow manages to fall for a very basic Slipping a Mickey trick done by Yuri, a Russian smuggler he barely knows.
- Impairment Shot: The blurry vision from Joyce's POV when Yuri's sedative kicks in.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Despite the sheer amount of bullets flying during the raid of the Byers house, none of the younger characters get hit once.
- Internal Reveal: Jason finds out that Lucas was a member of the Hellfire Club, thanks to Lucas' little sister spilling the beans.
- Ironic Echo: During their fight in the previous episode, one of the things Eleven castigated Mike for was never signing his letters "Love" like she did; he used "From". The letter she writes which Agent Stinson delivers does the same thing, which seems to be the point where Mike realizes he's majorly screwed up.
- Mundane Luxury: After a year of torture and imprisonment, forced to subsist on nothing but slop and bread, the simple taste of peanut butter is enough to nearly bring Hopper to tears.
- Nerves of Steel: Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, Agent Harmon keeps completely cool during the raid and manages to pick off five soldiers and reload multiple times, all while protecting Jonathan, Will and Mike. His nerves only break when he takes a severe bullet wound to the side.
- "No. Just… No" Reaction: Steve reacts this way when Max suggests a trip to the graveyard to pay Billy a visit.
- Not So Stoic: Vecna, who up to this point has been seen only with a neutral frown upon his face, actually smiles once he captures Max in his mindscape. Partially done a second time after Max frees herself and attempts to escape, in that while he's still frowning, this time it seems to be due to active anger about Max's escape as opposed to just a resting expression.
- Power Floats: Vecna makes Max levitate like his previous victims, resulting in an iconic image that was in fact used (with its context not stated) in the S4 trailers. When she gets out, she drops to the ground.
- The Power of Rock: Of a sort, at least; Max's friends are able to pull her mind out of the Upside Down by putting a pair of headphones on her unconscious body and playing her favorite song, "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" by Kate Bush, which gives her the mental strength to access her happy memories and fight against Vecna.
- Pun: In the episode description on Netflix. "Max is in grave danger". The most dangerous moment for her occurs at a grave.
- Recognizable by Sound: Victor said an "angel's voice" guided him to safety from the demon, and then turned away and started humming the song. Robin correctly guesses an Ella Fitzgerald song was playing on his radio.
- Red Shirt Army: Sullivan's troops, who have full military gear and automatic weapons, attempt to take Mike, Will, and Jonathan into custody...but Agent Harmon, who's in a civilian suit with just a pistol and some spare magazines, kills five of them before getting shot and being forced to retreat with The Party.
- Rewatch Bonus: Several parts of the episode take on more meaning after watching episode 7. Victor's son is either obscured, out of frame, or just out of focus during Victor's retelling about the demon's attack on his family. Furthermore, the demon's attack sent the boy into a coma from which he didn't wake up instead of outright killing him like his mother and sister.
- Rhyming Names: Yuri seems tickled that "Murray" and "Yuri" (sort of) rhyme.
- Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Vecna appears as Billy to Max in order to get under her skin.
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Said almost word for word by Hopper to Dmitri about Joyce. Dmitri isn't convinced but lets the matter drop.
- Shown Their Work: There is indeed psychological basis to the idea that music can reach a place in a catatonic patient's brain that other forms of stimuli might not.
- Slipping a Mickey: Yuri drugs Joyce and Murray's coffee, knocking them out and giving him the opportunity to turn them in to the KGB.
- Spider Swarm: In the Upside Down, Max notices spiders crawling up from underneath her shoe.
- Tentacle Rope: Vecna ties Max to a pillar with his tentacles while she's mentally trapped in his realm.
- Throwing Out the Script: When Dr. Hatch makes it clear he has no intention of letting Nancy and Robin talk to Creel, Robin improvises by using her Motor Mouth tendencies to spin a story about Creel's story inspiring her to become a psychiatrist and the difficulties women in that field face. Much to her and Nancy's surprise, it works.
- Title Drop: When trying to make amends, Max writes letters to everyone, including Billy.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Erica ends up revealing to Jason that Lucas was a member of the Hellfire Club. She has no idea that this ends up putting her brother and his friends in danger, as she hardly knows anything about Jason beyond him being a popular jock.
- Your Days Are Numbered: Max realizes that she'll be Vecna's next victim and her time is running out.
- Zipping Up the Bodybag: There's an overhead shot of police officers covering up Fred's body.
