- Dustin adopts a strange new pet, and Eleven grows increasingly impatient. A well-meaning Bob urges Will to stand up to his fears.
- Dustin finds a slug in his garbage and believes it is a pollywog. He calls the creature Dart and becomes obsessed with it. Bob tells Will that he had nightmares in the past and only resolved his fears the day he faced his fear and asked to go away. When Will sees Dustin's creature, he recalls the slug he had spat out in the bathroom. Nancy convinces Jonathan to tell the truth about Barb's fate to her parents. Will has another episode and decides to face the shadow monster in the Upside Down.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Dustin smuggles a slug he found in the garbage can into his house and puts it in a terrarium. He feeds the creature a 3 Musketeers bar and names it D'Artagnan (Dart for short).
It is the previous winter and Hopper is walking through the woods. He leaves more food in the box, quietly observed by Eleven. Eleven follows him, afraid but trusting that he will help her.
Back in the present, it is the morning after Halloween and Eleven is still mad at Hopper, who makes her a "triple decker Eggo extravaganza." They talk about Mike, but Hopper tells Eleven that she cannot see him for everyone's safety. They argue about when she will be able to see him.
Dustin does some research trying to identify his new pet. Bob drives Will to school and tells him about nightmares about a clown he had as child, which stopped when he told it to go away. Hopper does some more investigating into the rotten vegetable crops.
The scene flashes back to Hopper bringing Eleven to his grandfather's cabin in the woods and tells her it will be her new home. There is a montage of them fixing up the cabin and setting up protective measures while listing to a Jim Croce record. Hopper sets some ground rules for Eleven, forbidding her to leave the cabin without him so that the people from Hawkins Lab won't find her. In the present, Eleven leaves the cabin alone.
Steve and Nancy argue because Steve did not drive her to school. She does not remember telling Steve that she doesn't love him at the party or Jonathan driving her home. She tries to downplay it, but Steve asks her to tell her she loves him, and she cannot.
Dustin shows Dart to the boys and Max. He tells them that his research has ruled out the possibility of Dart being any known species, meaning that Dustin has discovered a new species. Will remembers spitting up a slug from the Upside Down in his sink the previous Christmas.
Hopper shows Dr. Owens the map of the crop contamination and suggests that it's coming from Hawkins Lab. He asks Owens to test the fields in case whatever is poisoning them is coming from the Upside Down. We learn that they have a deal - Hopper keeps the town quiet about what Hawkins Lab is doing and Owens doesn't let anything from the Upside Down get out.
Dustin goes to show his discovery to Mr. Clarke, but is stopped by Mike. Will tells the others that he saw something like Dart that made the same sound in the Upside Down meaning that Dart has somehow come from the Upside Down. Mike and Lucas want to take Dart to Hopper, but Dustin refuses, thinking that Hopper will kill Dart. They see that Dart has grown since the last time they saw him. Dart grows legs in front of the boys and runs away into the school.
Nancy and Jonathan make a purchase at RadioShack. Nancy calls Mrs. Holland and says that she has information about Barb. She asks her to meet her the next day to discuss it. We see that Hawkins Lab is listening in on the conversation.
Eleven runs into a mother pushing her child on the swing and asks directions to the school. The mother asks El where her parents are and El causes the swing to wrap around the swing set. Later, Hopper and Owens are in the pumpkin field and Hopper gets a report of a strange girl. El sees Mike's bike at the school and is emotionally affected. She enters the school where the boys are searching for Dart. Mike and Max argue about her hanging out with the group, Mike saying that they don't need anyone else. He mentions El and Max is confused. El hears their voices and watches as Max skateboards around Mike, seemingly jealous of Max. She causes Max's skateboard to come out from under her.
Will finds Dart in a bathroom. Dart has grown significantly and shrieks at Will, causing Will to have an episode, bringing him back to the Upside Down. A giant shadow chases Will out the door. Will remembers what Bob said about standing up to the thing in his nightmares and tells the shadow monster to go away. The shadow surrounds Will and enters him through his mouth and eyes.
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