Stranger Things season 2, episode 5, Dig Dug, recap: Eleven's origins

Warning: this recap contains spoilers!

We’ve passed halfway and the picture is becoming clearer. A horrifying supernatural force is spreading beneath Hawkins – and has forged a potential life-threatening metaphysical connection with Will. Elsewhere, Nancy and Jonathan’s attempt to expose the truth of what happened to Barbara has led them to conspiracy theorist Murray – yes, the bearded crazy from episode one.

But the real emotional punch came with Eleven’s storyline, as she witnessed the degradations that drove her mother into a state of catatonia. It was horrible to watch – a reminder that, when it wants to, Stranger Things can be much more than an exercise in Eighties nostalgia. Here is the rest of what we learned. 

1. So the monster is spreading under the town – and now it’s symbiotically linked to Will

Can things get any worse for the unluckiest kid in Hawkins? Apparently so. In a mildly suspenseful final scene – let’s be honest, nobody watches Stranger Things for the pulse-pounding action –  Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Bob (Sean Astin) locate the tunnels where police chief Hopper (David Harbour) foolishly ventured on his own (and without telling anyone – which doesn’t sound terribly police chief-like).

Just in time, too, as he’s about to be devoured by squishy tentacles – a rather boring cliffhanger, to which too much time has been devoted (unless you’ve a super fancy TV, it boils down to endless shots of Hopper flailing in the dark). 

However it’s only as the Hawkins Laboratory technician in the biohazard suit springs in to torch the tentacles that the episode finally plays its hand. Will (Noah Schnapp) is psychometrically linked to the tendril-sprouting beastie. As it burns, he collapses in a fit of shrieking. Stranger Things has in theory inflicted some horrific punishments on its kids – Will in the Upside Down, Steve forced to grow his hair like that. But this is a rare example of full-bore, gut-punching horror as, Exorcist-like, Will thrashes and screamed on the ground. 

Stranger Things | Season 2 recaps

2. Which aspect of Eleven's origin story did you find most horrifying?

"Breath, sunflower, rainbow,…450" Eleven’s mother, Terry (Aimee Mullins), mutters over and over. As Eleven plunges into the woman's subconscious, she unravels, at terrible length, the mystery of the woman’s vegetative state. She had given birth to Jane / Eleven (“breath”), only for the baby to be snatched away by “Papa” (aka Dr Martin Brenner)  as she recuperated in hospital room bedecked with flowers (“sunflower”) – leading her to storm Hawkins Laboratory, where her daughter was concealed behind a door marked with a rainbow. But Terry was apprehended - and her brain frazzled with electro-shock device set to 450. As rendered in nightmarish bursts of first-person imagery, it was horribly disquieting – another step away from nostalgia-for-nostalgia’s sake towards something more unnerving. 

3. Was there a clue as to the identity of Kali from episode one? 

There is another easily-missed detail in the Hawkins Lab: the girl in the room with infant Eleven. Is this a younger version of Kali, the psychokinetic punk we met all the way back – and it really has been quite a while – in episode one? Stranger Things is taking its time clarifying the who, what, and why of that cold open van chase. Finally we’re inching towards an answer - and not a moment too soon (taking our calculators out, baby Kali is potentially too young to fit the bill – perhaps the Upside Down will explain away the discrepancy). 

4. We're adoring the Nancy – Jonathan Road Movie

A night in a grotty motel, oodles of romantic tension, top level cute banter before bed-time. Yes Nancy (Natalia Dyer), we knew you'd be better off with the nerd who was under your nose all along! "What happened to us – after everything you just disappeared," she says, wondering why they had drifted apart after striking a connection last season. Jonathan's frank answer is that post-Upside Down Will had needed him more – a response that did not cut any ice. 

5. Well done Dustin on no longer cuddling up to your killer pet Demogorgon

The violent devouring of the family moggy proves the deal-breaker for Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) as he finally sees the light regarding his adorable demon-lizard "Dart". Sensibly donning ice hockey gear, he sets a “breadcrumb” – actually burger – trail to an external basement, and then knocks the monster in. So it's out of sight – but what's he going to do when his mother gets home? The last we see of Dustin, he and Steve (and hopefully Steve’s baseball bath with the nails in it) are headed back to take care of the creature. Let’s hope it doesn’t turn out to be a major antagonist through the remaining four episodes – the monster design is overly familiar, with Dart’s Demogorgon-style quadrangle mouth feeling like a leftover from last season. Give us something weird and new Stranger Things – not a remix of your greatest hits. 

6. Is Murray too over the top for Stranger Things? 

We first met Hawkins’s resident conspiracy theorist in the opening instalment when he bothered Hopper with stories of a Russian spy with psionic powers. But now Nancy and Jonathan have tracked him down and shared their recordings of Dr Owens’s incriminating confession about Barb. As portrayed by comedian Brett Gelman (last seen in BBC3’s Fleabag) he's an high energy motor-mouth (perhaps you are reminded of John Turturro in Transformers). There's comic relief potential here – and it's only when you see a conventionally over the top character that you realise how serious Stranger Things usually is. It remains to be seen, though, whether Murray enriches the mood – or spoils it. 

7. Is Bob the Brain all he seems? 

Is anyone else having second thoughts about Joyce's overgrown hobbit boyfriend? How surprised would be if he was a planted by the authorities to keep tabs on Joyce and her son? No – just me? Okay, then. Either way, he finally proves of use, as he helps translate the Hawkins schematic map Will subconsciously etched with his crayon drawings. It’s an overlay of Hawkins – and a key to Hopper’s whereabouts (you could have just told were you were going, chief). 

8. Was Stranger Things laughing at itself?

Set phasers for meta as Stranger Things holds a mirror to itself and winks broadly. "It was a bit derivative in parts – I just wish it had more originality," says Max (Sadie Sink), after Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) tells her the truth about Eleven and the disappearance of Will the previous year.  "Come on seriously – how gullible do you think I am?” 

Meanwhile, the series is venturing into social realism with Billy disapproving Max's friendship with her African-American pal. It's somewhere Stranger Things has never previously gone – discounting Lucas’s row with Mike over not wanting to be the black Ghostbuster. Is it a good fit with the show's retro, escapist sensibility?