Watch: Stranger Things S02e08

“The gate,” she said, her voice a rasp. “I have to close it.”

: The group realizes they must heat Will’s body to a point where the Mind Flayer’s "virus" finds the host uninhabitable.

Dustin hit the carpeted floor of the Starlight Video store. The lights were normal. The clerk was still leaning on his elbow, staring at a small black-and-white TV. “You guys buying that or what?” the clerk asked. Watch Stranger Things S02e08

The scene blurred. The living room dissolved into the deep, cavernous maw of the Hawkins National Laboratory. They were suspended in the air, watching as Eleven rose on a platform of pure willpower, her small frame silhouetted against a towering rift of pulsing, organic red light. On the other side, the Mind Flayer—a spider-like titan made of storm clouds and malice—loomed, reaching out with limbs that spanned miles.

The vacuum of the closing rift sucked the air out of the boys' lungs. They tumbled backward, falling through a tunnel of static and synthesized music. Thump. “The gate,” she said, her voice a rasp

The clerk sighed, pointing toward the back corner. “Sci-fi is in the back. If it’s not there, it’s checked out.”

: The group splits up—Hopper and Eleven go to close the Gate, while the others deal with the hive mind at the "Hub." The lights were normal

Dustin hit the counter with a stack of crumpled notebook sketches. “We need something with a hive mind,” he demanded, his voice cracking with the urgency of a boy who had seen a demogdog in his own storm cellar. “Something where the brain controls the limbs from a distance.”