With time running out, and an assassin close behind, Hopper's crew races back to Hawkins where El and the kids are preparing for war.
This episode provides examples of:
- After Action Patch Up: There is a heartwarming scene between Mike and Eleven when he patches her up at a local supermarket after the Mind Flayer attack.
- Analogy Backfire: When Erica asks Dustin why they are hiding inside a theatre, he says it's to cool off like Lee Harvey Oswald
did. Then Erica reminds him that Oswald was found in a theatre and later shot to death. - Ankle Drag: The Mind Flayer monster does this to Eleven, latching onto her leg with a tentacle from its mouth. It takes multiple shotgun blasts from Nancy, then Lucas chopping it with an axe, to free her.
- Asshole Victim: Joyce decides to punch a guy in the jaw, then kick him in the balls. Her target? Mayor Kline, resident sleazy asshole in charge of Hawkins.
- Big Damn Heroes: Robin, Dustin, Erica, and Steve get found and are about to be killed by the Russians when Eleven uses her powers to distract the mooks with the car alarm going off before flinging the car at them.
- Bottomless Magazines: Unless Nancy was using the Escalation basic training, her using Hopper's shotgun was holding a lot more ammo than it was using against the Mind Flayer's Avatar.
- Bulletproof Vest: Grigori has one that helps him survive being shot by Hopper at the funhouse.
- Cacophony Cover Up: Grigori shoots Alexei with a silenced gun while a balloon bursts at the fair so no one ever heard the shot.
- Car Fu: Eleven saves Dustin's group by flinging a display car in the mall courtyard at the Russian mooks threatening them.
- Cassandra Truth: While the rest of the Wheelers are at the top of the Ferris Wheel watching the fireworks, Holly notices the trees moving but her mom urges her to stop focusing on the trees. Turns out, that's because the Mind Flayer's avatar is smashing its way through the trees.
- Coming-Out Story: As they're coming down from the drugs they were injected with, Robin asks Steve if he's ever been in love, and after talking about Nancy, he admits that even though they've been bickering all summer long, he likes her and is interested in her romantically. Robin's realisation that he's talking about her makes her curl up into a Troubled Fetal Position, and her actually coming out to Steve is tinged with how obviously terrified she is of how he'll react. Notably, even though this is the mid-'80s and homophobia is at high levels due to the AIDS scare, Steve doesn't treat her any differently after figuring it out; though he does seem a bit let down that she's not interested, he quickly gets over it to tease her about her crush on Tammy Thompson, assuring her he doesn't have a problem with her and still wants to be her friend.
- Comically Missing the Point: One can probably chalk this up to the drugs, but Steve has a particularly hard time wrapping his head around the plot of Back to the Future.Steve: (pauses his water fountain drinking) Wait, wait, the hot chick was Alex P. Keaton's mom?
Robin: Yeah, I'm pretty sure.
Steve: But they're the same age. (resumes drinking)
Robin: No, but... he went back in time.
Steve: (chokes down a mouthful of water; practically infuriated) Then why is it called "Back to the Future"?
Robin: He has to go back to the future because... he's in the past, so the future is actually the present, which is his time.
Steve: ... ... ...w-what? - Conspicuously Public Assassination: Grigori kills Alexei in the middle of a crowd, and manages to disappear like he was never there. Justified, as he had a silencer on his gun, plus he timed it with a popping saloon, so even with the noise, it wasn't loud enough to be immediately detected.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Dustin thinks Lee Harvey Oswald was a patsy, a Call-Back to a Hawkins Post He-Man Woman Hater repeating Mrs. Driscoll's belief about Lyndon Johnson killing JFK.
- Emotionally Tongue-Tied: Mike when he cannot spit out to Eleven what that thing is that makes people crazy.
- Everyone Can See It:
- Murray tells Hopper and Joyce to go have sex in the bushes during another argument. He then tells Alexei that the two aren't actually together, which surprises the scientist, who assumed that they were already together.
- It probably says something that even Ted and Karen Wheeler can see something going on with Hopper and Joyce, when they're so oblivious that they failed to realize their son hid his girlfriend in their basement for nearly a week, and only found out because they were told by the Government Conspiracy hunting her when she Escaped from the Lab.
- Failed a Spot Check: The Party doesn't notice a piece of the Mind Flayer having been left behind in the store they patch Eleven up in. Billy finds it and confirms that's where they last were. Justified, as it blended in with the blood from her wound, and they were hyper-focused on getting Eleven healed, and also happened upon a potential solution to the Mind Flayer.
- Groin Attack: Joyce does this to Mayor Kline, after punching him in the jaw.
- Gorn: A particular moment during the Mind Flayer's attack. Eleven uses her psychic powers to literally rip its head in half vertically, giving her and her friends an opening to escape. It's very gruesome.
- Hall of Mirrors: Hopper has his confrontation with Grigori in a funhouse full of mirrors which he uses to his advantage.
- Impeded Communication: Dustin tries to tell the rest of the party that the Russians are in Hawkins. Unfortunately, the low battery on his walkie-talkie garbles the transmission so much that Mike can't understand him.
- Incompatible Orientation: Steve is straight and attracted to Robin. Robin, however, turns out to be lesbian and only considers him a friend. Luckily Steve's totally fine with it, only playfully roasting her on her choice of crush.
- Interesting Situation Duel: Hopper ends up facing off against Vasilev, and later Grigori, in the fun house, using the implements inside to his advantage.
- Internal Reveal: The Party reunites and trades info on what they've discovered so far.
- Jerkass Realization: Mike has one regarding how possessive he's been of Eleven.
- Left the Background Music On: Dustin calling the rest of the Party over the radio from the projection booth for Back to the Future lets the dramatic moment use Back to the Future's bombastic score at exactly the right moment.
- Lock-and-Load Montage: A montage shows the kids preparing weapons and blocking entrances to Hopper's cabin in anticipation of a Mind Flayer attack. The latter doesn't work, as it sends tentacles to smash through the windows, then bursts through the ceiling.
- Mushroom Samba: Steve and Robin are still in the middle of one in this episode, best exemplified when they take a moment outside the theater to look at the distorted ceiling of the mall... then rush into the bathroom to puke their guts out.
- Oh, Crap!: Dustin and his friends have a collective reaction like this when they see a Soviet agent in the crowd filing out of the mall before he spots them and goes after them.
- Parental Obliviousness: Hopper and Joyce find out just how useless Ted and Karen can be.
- Present-Day Past: On the shelves of the grocery store are a sea of retro cereal boxes... and a singular box of modern-day Millville Gluten-Free Cocoa Rice.
- The Radio Dies First: The battery of Dustin's radio goes flat, which makes it harder to communicate with Mike.
- Recycled Soundtrack: For the Back to the Future scene mentioned above, the Stranger Things producers actually got the rights to use the BttF score.
- Skewed Priorities: While trying to hide from the Russians, Steve and Robin insist on watching Back to the Future in the theater, despite that being nowhere near as important as escaping with their lives. Justified, as they're still loopy from the Truth Serum.
- Lucas empties his backpack of random bits and bobs when trying to offer something to help with Eleven's leg wound. When told to get a washcloth and bowl, he and Will happen upon a fireworks stand and immediately get distracted. Eventually subverted, as it turns out that a powerful firework is a major help against the Mind Flayer.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Hopper beats up a Russian agent inside the county fair's funhouse... to the tune of circus music.
- Tempting Fate: Max ridicules Lucas' idea of assembling explosives because they have Eleven. Given the events of the next episode, it's a damn good thing he doesn't listen to her.
- Trash the Set: Hopper's cabin gets wrecked by the Mind Flayer's monster.
- Troubled Fetal Position: Robin momentarily adopts one when she gears up to confess she's a lesbian to Steve. She's silent for long enough that Steve has to ask if she's okay.
- Use Your Head: Hopper gives one of the Russian mooks a headbutt during their fight at the funhouse.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Played with. When Steve and Robin run to the bathroom to puke their guts out, the scene is shown from above so the bulk of the vomit is hidden... except for the bits that miss the bowl and get smeared all over the toilet seats. There's also the moment before they flush it away where it's seen unobstructed.
