Ending of season 2 of Stranger Things explained: Will's exorcism, the gate closed, and the Snow Ball
Season 2 · The ending · Explanations
Season 2 ends with a clean victory, the only one in the show: Will freed, the gate closed, the creatures dead, and a middle school dance where everyone dances. Then the camera turns around, and the monster is still there. Here is the ending explained, and why it is not one.
The essentials
- The exorcism: Will heated until the shadow leaves him, in Hopper's cabin
- The gate: closed by Eleven, from the lab, with Hopper
- The tunnels: set on fire by Steve and the kids, to draw the demodogs away
- The last frame: the Mind Flayer, above the middle school, in the Upside Down
Contents
Explanation of the ending: Will's exorcism
The Mind Flayer has lived in Will since the fall, and it likes the cold. Joyce, Jonathan and Nancy take him to Hopper's cabin, tie him down, and raise the temperature: radiators, the stove, until Will screams. Joyce, with a poker heated white-hot, forces the shadow out; it bursts from his mouth in a black cloud and flies out the door, toward the Upside Down. Will is free, and the hive has just lost its spy.
The Will Byers T-shirt, the possessed boy freed.
In the shopWomen's Will Byers T-shirt39,90 €See the product
Eleven closes the gate
Meanwhile, Eleven, back from Chicago, goes down with Hopper to the bottom of the lab, facing the gate that has become a living wall of flesh. The demodogs pour in; Hopper fires, Eleven stands, rises into the air, and closes the gate with her mind, screaming, with everything she has. The demodogs collapse as one: cut off from the hive, they die, like all the Mind Flayer's soldiers when you close the gate.
| What is settled | What is not |
|---|---|
| Will is freed from the shadow | He stays tied to the hive |
| The lab gate is closed | The Mind Flayer is intact, on the other side |
| The demodogs are dead | A fragment of the shadow remains on our side |
| Eleven has papers: Jane Hopper | Brenner is still alive, somewhere |
| Bob is dead | Joyce does not get over it |
The tunnels
So that the demodogs do not defend the gate, they have to be drawn elsewhere: Steve, Dustin, Lucas, Max and Mike go down into the tunnels under the pumpkin fields and set fire to the hub, in the middle, where everything meets. Dart, Dustin's demodog, lets them pass for a chocolate bar. It is the only time a creature from the Upside Down shows gratitude.
Bob's roleBob Newby died two episodes earlier in the lab lobby, restoring the power. His death gives the ending its weight: the victory had a price, and a kind man paid it.
the Snow Ball
A month later, Dr. Owens hands Hopper a birth certificate: Jane Hopper, born of Terry Ives, adopted. At the middle-school snow ball, Dustin, styled by Steve, dances with Nancy; Lucas with Max; Will with a stranger; and Eleven, arrived late, with Mike. Their first real kiss. Outside, Hopper and Joyce smoke in a car. It is the show's happy ending.
The last image
Then the camera turns: the middle school, seen from the Upside Down, under the spores, and above it, immense, the Mind Flayer, watching. The gate is closed, but he is still there, and he waits. Season 3 shows that a fragment of the shadow stayed on our side, woken by a Russian machine under Starcourt. The 1984 victory only bought time.
The Mind Flayer figure, the monster that is waiting.
In the shopLego Will Byers mini figure on a bike14,90 €See the product
The last episode's three fronts
| Front | Who | Objective | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hopper's cabin | Joyce, Jonathan, Nancy | Heat Will until the shadow leaves him | Nancy's poker makes the shadow come out, and it flees into the night |
| The tunnels | Steve, Dustin, Lucas, Max, Mike | Burn the heart of the network to draw the demodogs away from the lab | The fire catches, Dart lets the group through, the pack turns back |
| The lab | Eleven and Hopper | Close the gate opened in 1983 | Eleven seals the gate; the demodogs, cut off from the hive, collapse |
The three actions are synchronized by the script: the exorcism deprives the shadow of its spy, the fire drives the pack away, and the closing of the gate cuts the link. If one had failed, the other two would have been useless, and the show says so explicitly through Mike, who first refuses to let Eleven leave alone.
What the ending settles, and how
The season closes several files opened in 1983. The lab shuts: the tape recorded by Nancy and Jonathan at Murray's, aired to the press in a softened form, causes its closure and the recognition of Barb's death, whose parents can finally mourn. Eleven gets a legal existence: Dr. Owens gives Hopper a birth certificate in the name of Jane Hopper, with the instruction to keep her hidden one more year.
The fight between Steve and Billy, at the Byers', also settles a score: Billy, who was threatening Lucas, is put out of action by Max, who sticks a sedative syringe in him and threatens him with Steve's nail bat. That moment fixes the balance of power between brother and sister until the next season.
The shadow above the middle school: what it announces
The last image, the giant shadow standing above the middle school seen from the Upside Down while the dance ends, says one simple thing: the gate is closed, but the monster is not dead. It is watching. Season 3 will show how it comes back, through another gate, opened this time by the Russians under the mall, and how it takes a new host, Billy.
With the hindsight of the last season, the image says more. This shadow is the form that, in the Upside Down, the entity inhabiting Henry Creel since the mine takes. It is not only watching the middle school: it is watching Will, whom it marked in 1983 and possessed in 1984, and whom it will try to use again in 1987.
The Season 2 poster.
In the shopWill Byers jacket66,90 €See the product
TakeawayWill freed by heat, in Hopper's cabin. Eleven closes the gate; the demodogs die. The Snow Ball: first real kiss of Mike and Eleven. Last image: the Mind Flayer above the middle school.
Frequently asked questions
How does season 2 end?
Will is freed from the Mind Flayer by heat, Eleven closes the lab gate, the Demodogs die, and a month later everyone dances at the snow ball. The last image shows the Mind Flayer above the middle school, in the Upside Down.
How is Will freed?
Through heat: the shadow hates heat. Joyce heats Hopper's cabin until the shadow comes out of Will.
Why do the demodogs die when the gate closes?
Because they are linked to the Mind Flayer's hive; cut off from him, they collapse as one.
What does the last image mean?
That the Mind Flayer is intact and waiting. Season 3 brings it back through a fragment left on our side.
How does the lab close?
Thanks to the cassette recorded by Nancy and Jonathan at Murray's, where Dr. Owens acknowledges Barb's death. Released to the press in a softened form, it is enough to have the site shut down.
What does Owens hand Hopper at the end?
A birth certificate in the name of Jane Hopper, which makes Eleven Hopper's legal daughter, on condition of keeping her hidden for one more year.
Why does Eleven have to close the gate from the lab?
Because the gate opened in 1983 is in the basement of the lab, at the end of the hallway where Hopper goes with her. It is the only point from which she can seal the passage in a single gesture.
How much time passes between the closing of the gate and the dance?
About a month: the gate is closed in early November 1984, and the snow ball is on December 15.