History Recap / StrangerThingsS2E1ChapterOneMADMAX

On the outskirts of town, Hopper is visiting Merrill who filed the complaint about the poisoned pumpkins. Merrill complains that Eugene has had it in for him ever since he started encroaching on his pumpkin business, but Hopper sincerely doubts that "nice, old" Eugene would ever stoop as low as poisoning a competitor's pumpkin patch. Merrill insists that the timing is highly suspicious, seeing how it happened the day before Halloween, where sales are at its highest. Hopper spots something rustling in the nearby cornfield, and goes to check it out. When he goes to check it out, [[CatScare it turns out to be just a crow]].

Things in Hawkins, Indiana appear to have gone back to normal after the previous year's problems. Dustin (by searching under the couch's cushions), Lucas (by doing yard work) and Mike (by "borrowing" from Nancy) get quarters to go to the Arcade Palace, where they meet with Will, who is taken there by his mother. Dustin plays ''Dragon's Lair'' while the others watch, but he gets killed before he can kill the dragon. Dustin says that, at least, he still holds the record on ''Centipede'' and ''Dig Dug'', but the guy in charge reveals someone else has taken that position, someone nicknamed Madmax.

While Dustin argues with the guy, Will starts to hear something going on outside and follows, but when he turns around to call his friends, they have disappeared - and suddenly Will is transported to the Upside Down. A strong gust of wind blows the door to the arcade up, and Will goes outside to see an approaching red storming raging in the distance and he is utterly terrified of what he is seeing. He then hears Mike calling out for him, and everything goes back to normal. Mike asks Will if he is okay, but Will answers that he just needed some air.

The following morning, Chief Jim Hopper goes to the police station, where Murray Bauman, the local conspiracy buff, wants to talk with him, mentioning sights of a girl with psychic powers. Hopper humors the man, but when he gets a call from Flo about a local farmer getting his pumpkins poisoned, he leaves. The farmer shows him all of his pumpkins have died and are now rotting in one day's time, claiming the fault lies with another farmer, who has poisoned them in anger.

At high school, Will finds an article about his "resurrection" written over with "Zombie Boy". Later, the boys are at science class, when a new pupil joins them: the red-haired girl Nancy saw earlier. Her name is Maxine, but she answers to Max. The boys watch her as she skates around the playground, wondering if she may be "Madmax". When she leaves, she throws away a piece of paper that the boys take -- and find it admonishes them for looking at her. Just then, the principal shows up asking for Will: his mother's here to take him. The boys worry over Will and what may be happening to him. Meanwhile, someone is giving fliers for a Halloween party that will take place the following day, and Nancy tells Jonathan he ought to consider going, seeing that he could do with more friends and fun instead of just going trick-or-treating with Will and his friends. As they talk, Steve surprises Nancy with a kiss, while Jonathan leaves for home.

* JumpScare: A crow in the maize field give Hopper and the audience a good scare.

October 28th 1984. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A van is waiting in front of a building, and an alarm rings while several masked people run out and get inn, driving off just as police cars arrive to their position. The woman riding shotgun guides the driver through a route, and when they enter a tunnel, she raises her right hand as though gripping something; the roof of the tunnel collapses and the lead police car swerves to a stop, getting hit by the two following it. The passenger of the first patrol car admonishes the driver for stopping, and when the stunned man exits the car, he sees the opening of the tunnel is completely normal: the collapse was an illusion. As the van gets away, the woman's nose starts bleeding, and when she wipes it with her sleeve, a tattoo is seen on her left wrist: 008.

October 28th 1984. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A van is waiting in front of a building, and an alarm rings while several masked people run out and get into the van, driving off just as police cars arrive to their position. The woman riding shotgun guides the driver through a route, and when they enter a tunnel, she raises her right hand as though gripping something; the roof of the tunnel collapses and the lead police car swerves to a stop, getting is hit by the two following it. The passenger of the first patrol car admonishes the driver for stopping, and when the stunned man exits the car, he sees the opening of the tunnel is completely normal: the collapse was an illusion. As the van gets away, the woman's nose starts bleeding, and when she wipes it with her sleeve, a tattoo is seen on her left wrist: 008.

October 28th 1984. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A van is waiting in front of a building, and an alarm rings while several masked people run out through the door, running into the van as police cars arrive to their position. The woman riding shotgun guides the driver through a route, and when they enter a tunnel, she creates an illusion that the mouth is collapsing to make the lead cop stop and crash. As the van gets away, the woman's nose starts bleeding, and when she wipes it out, a tattoo is seen on her wrist: 008.

The following morning, Chief Jim Hopper goes to the police station, where Murray Bauman, the local conspiracy buff, wants to talk with him, mentioning sights of a girl with psychic powers. Hopper humors the man, but when he gets a call from Flo about a local farmer getting his pumpkins poisoned, he leaves. The farmer shows him all of his pumpkins are dead and rotting, claiming the fault lies with another farmer, who has poisoned them in anger.

At high school, Will finds an article about his "resurrection" written over with "Zombie Boy". Later, the boys are at science class, when a new pupil joins them: the red-haired girl Nancy saw earlier. Her name is Maxime, but she answers to Max. The boys watch her as she skates around the playground, wondering if she may be "Madmax". When she leaves, she drops a piece of paper that the boys take -- and find it admonishes them for looking at her. Just then, one of the teachers comes, asking for Will: his mother's here to take him. The boys worry over Will and what may be happening to him. Meanwhile, someone is giving fliers for a Halloween party that will take place the following day, and Nancy tells Jonathan he ought to consider going, seeing that he could do with more friends and fun instead of just going trick-or-treating with Will and his friends. As they talk, Steve surprises Nancy with a kiss, while Jonathan leaves for home.

Joyce is taking Will to the Hawkins Energy Lab, where they find Hopper waiting for them. Inside, Will is checked over and Doctor Sam Owens, the new chief scientist of the facility, asks Will several questions about what he is seeing, with Will describing how one of the things is something that threatens to go, not after him, but after everyone else. Talking later, Dr. Owens tells Joyce and Hopper that this sudden uptick of visions may be caused because it will soon be the anniversary of Will's disappearance, and this may be affecting him. As they leave, Hopper tells Joyce to call him if things ever get bad. And the lab workers are shown using a flamethrower to burn something that is coming out of the gate to the Upside Down.

While Dustin and Lucas -- obviously enamored with the new girl -- confirm that Max is, indeed, Madmax, and Steve meet for dinner with Barbara's parents. Having noticed the "On Sale" sign outside the house, Nancy asks about it, and Barb's parents say they are selling the house in order to pay for a detective who may be able to find Barbara. Nancy goes to the bathroom and breaks down in tears, knowing that her friend is dead but she cannot tell Barbara's parents. Mike, meanwhile, gets punished for stealing Nancy's money, showing that he has been misbehaving much in the last year, ever since Eleven disappeared. While alone, he picks up the walkie-talkie and speaks through it as if talking to Eleven, telling her he misses her greatly and asking her to give him a sign she is still out there. Dustin and Lucas talk about the possibility of asking Max to join their group while they return to their homes: when Dustin parks his bike in front of his house, he hears something rocking the garbage bin, but figures it must be his mother's cat.

At the Energy Lab, the instruments that keep an eye on the Upside Down gate start to go haywire. Will wakes up to go to the bathroom, but when he leaves, he begins to have another vision of the Upside Down. The red storm is still raging in the distance, but is even more violent, and to Will's horror, the lightning from the storm reveals that there is some kind of gigantic spider-looking monster right in the middle of it. The creature notices Will and turns to look at him.

Hopper drives to a cabin in the middle of nowhere. He avoids a set of traps and knocks on the door following a pattern. When the door opens, he sees a plate with a [[TrademarkFavoriteFood half-eaten Eggo]] and admonishes the eater that they have talked about this: [[WhamShot Eleven sits in front of him]], telling him he was late, and the two have dinner together.

* DonutMessWithACop: While trying to shrug off Murray, Hopper attempts to help himself to a donut but Flo takes the donut away after a bite and gives him an apple.

* GetawayDriver: Seen in the prologue, where we're introduced to 008.
* HeadphonesEqualIsolation: One scientist staffing the evil facility is apparently stupid enough to play music on his headphones loudly enough to drown out the sounds of the instruments telling them something bad is happening.
* HumanWeapon: Discussed when the ConspiracyTheorist early on suspects El to be a [[RedScare Russian]] weapon.
* InsistentTerminology: Mike insists he is "borrowing" cash from Nancy, not stealing.

* PunchClockVillain: The workers at the facility seem on pretty friendly terms with each other, even if they're still poking around in things they shouldn't.
* RealityEnsues: Even a year after everything that happened, there is still consequences running.

** Barbara's parents are still trying to look for her, and Nancy is still affected by her friend's disappearance and death.

** Hopper drives to a small cabin in the woods. He enters, dodging tripwires as he does. He gets a drink from the fridge, and starts talking to someone in another room. The camera pans down to a dinner table, where a half-eaten [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Eggo]] is lying on a plate. El comes in shortly afterwards.
** The introduction of 008

The following morning, Chief Jim Hopper goes to the police station, where the local conspiracy buff wants to talk with him, mentioning sights of a girl with psychic powers. Hopper humors the man, but when he gets a call from Flo about a local farmer getting his pumpkins poisoned, he leaves. The farmer shows him all of his pumpkins are dead and rotting, claiming the fault lies with another farmer, who has poisoned them in anger.

* BathroomStallGraffiti: Discussed around the dinner table at Mike's house when his mother complaints about him having graffitied one of the school's bathroom stalls upon which Mike replies that everyone was doing it. Then the father comes in with [[JumpOffABridgeRebuttal "So if your friend jumps off a cliff, you're gonna jump, too?"]] upon which Mike rolls his eyes and gives up.

While Dustin argues with the guy, Will starts to hear something going on outside and follows, but when he turns around to call his friends, they have disappeared - and suddenly Will is transported to the Upside Down. A red storm rages outside, and Will is left terrified of what he is seeing: Mike comes and asks him what's wrong, but Will says there's nothing going on.

At Joyce's workplace, she is checking some numbers when a man comes in, asking whether they have something available: Joyce says she will check on the back. Moments later, Joyce and the man - Bob, her boyfriend - are passionately kissing in the back. Joyce reminds him they are meeting that night for a movie.

At high school, Will finds an article about his "resurrection" written over with 'Zombie Boy'. Later, the boys are at science class, when a new pupil joins them: the red-haired girl Nancy saw earlier. Her name is Maxime, but she answers to Max. The boys watch her as she skates around the playground, wondering if she may be "Madmax". When she leaves, she drops a piece of paper that the boys take - and find it admonishes them for looking at her. Just then, one of the teachers comes, asking for Will: his mother's here to take him. The boys worry over Will and what may be happening to him. Meanwhile, someone is giving fliers for a Halloween party that will take place the following day, and Nancy tells Jonathan he ought to consider going, seeing that he could do with more friends and fun instead of just going trick-or-treating with Will and his friends. As they talk, Steve surprises Nancy with a kiss, while Jonathan leaves for home.

While Dustin and Lucas - obviously enamored with the new girl - confirm that Max is, indeed, Madmax, and Steve meet for dinner with Barbara's parents. Having noticed the "On Sale" sign outside the house, Nancy asks about it, and Barb's parents say they are selling the house in order to pay for a detective who may be able to find Barbara. Nancy goes to the bathroom and breaks down in tears, knowing that her friend is dead but she cannot tell Barbara's parents. Mike, meanwhile, gets punished for stealing Nancy's money, showing that he has been misbehaving much in the last year, ever since Eleven disappeared. While alone, he picks up the walkie-talkie and speaks through it as if talking to Eleven, telling her he misses her greatly and asking her to give him a sign she is still out there. Dustin and Lucas talk about the possibility of asking Max to join their group while they return to their homes: when Dustin parks his bike in front of his house, he hears something rocking the garbage bin, but figures it must be his mother's cat.

Will is at home in his room, drawing a picture of himself as a zombie, when Jonathan comes to speak with him. Will mentions that he is fed-up with everyone treating him like he is going to break at the first turn and that he is a freak, and Jonathan tries to cheer him up by telling him 'freaks' are cooler. The two of them, along with Bob and Joyce, spend the night watching movies, but then the phone rings, and Joyce's mood is soured by her memories of last year.

At the Energy Lab, the instruments that keep an eye on the Upside Down gate start to go haywire. Will wakes up to go to the bathroom, but when he leaves, he begins to have another vision of the Upside Down, this time one showing a huge red storm and a large spider-like monster walking towards him.

* WhamShot: Two:

* WhamShot: Hopper drives to a small cabin in the woods. He enters, dodging tripwires as he does. He gets a drink from the fridge, and starts talking to someone in another room. The camera pans down to a dinner table, where a half-eaten [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Eggo]] is lying on a plate. El comes in shortly afterwards.

!!Tropes:

* ContrastingSequelMainCharacter: Dr. Sam Owens is far more friendly and personable than Dr. Brenner and as a result his staff is more relaxed, almost to the point of neglectfulness, but are also more helpful and less antagonistic.

* FieryRedHead: Maxine has bright red hair and has a bit of a temper.

* {{Tomboy}}: From what we see of Max, from her refusal of the feminine "Maxine" to her skateboarding, willingness to argue with her brother and skill at video games, it seems to be a given.

* RepressiveButEfficient: Averted: the scientists staffing the evil facility are apparently stupid enough to play music on their headphones loudly enough to drown out the sounds of their instruments telling them something bad is happening.

* WhamShot: Hopper drives to a small cabin in the woods. He enters, dodging tripwires as he does. He gets a drink from the fridge, and starts talking to someone in another room. The camera pans down to a dinner table, where a half-eaten [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Eggo]] is lying on a plate. El comes in shortly afterwards.

In Hawkins, things appear to have gone back to normal after the previous year's problems. Dustin (by searching under the couch's cushions), Lucas (by doing yard work) and Mike (by "borrowing" from Nancy) get quarters to go to the Arcade Palace, where they meet with Will, who is taken there by his mother. Dustin plays ''Dragon's Lair'' while the others watch, but he gets killed before he can kill the dragon. Dustin says that, at least, he still holds the record on ''Centipede'' and ''Dig Dug'', but the guy in charge reveals someone else has taken that position, someone nicknamed Madmax.

Will is at home in his room, drawing a picture of himself as a zombie, when Jonathan comes to speak with him. Will mentions that he thinks Jonathan should have more friends, but Jonathan replies he prefers to be Will's friend than a boring someone's. The two of them, along with Bob and Joyce, spend the night watching movies, but then the phone rings, and Joyce's mood is soured by her memories of last year.

* DissonantSerenity: Kali/Eight during the car chase in the intro. Her friends are all panicking about the multiple police cruisers pursuing them, but Kali remains stoic throughout and calmly gives directions to their GetawayDriver. She even seems to meditatively center herself before using her [[MasterOfIllusion powers]] to cut the pursuit short.

* DissonantSerenity: Kali/Eight during the car chase in the intro. Her friends are all panicking about the multiple police cruisers pursuing them, but Kali remains stoic throughout and calmly gives directions to their GetawayDriver. She even seems to meditatively center herself before using her [[IllusionMaster powers]] to cut the pursuit short.

* GetawayDriver: Seen in the prologue, where we're introduced to [[spoiler: 008]].

* SamusIsAGirl: The party is rather stunned to learned that the mysterious "Madmax" is none other than their new classmate Maxine.

* WhamShot: Hopper drives to a small cabin in the woods. He enters, dodging tripwires as he does. He gets a drink from the fridge, and starts talking to someone in another room. The camera pans down to a dinner table, where a half-eaten [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Eggo]] is lying on a plate. Elle comes in shortly afterwards.

* WhamShot: Hopper drives to a small cabin in the woods. He enters, dodging tripwires as he does. He gets a drink from the fridge, and starts talking to someone in another room. The camera pans down to a dinner table, where a half-eaten [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Eggo]] is lying on a plate.

* WhamShot: Hopper drives to a small cabin in the woods. He enters, dodging tripwires as he does. He gets a drink from the fridge, and starts talking to someone in another room. [[spoiler: The camera pans down to a dinner table, where a half-eaten [[TrademarkFavoriteFood Eggo]] is lying on a plate.]]