Mr. Clarke in Stranger Things: the science teacher who explained the Upside Down without knowing it
Character · Mr. Clarke · Seasons 1 to 5
Mr. Clarke, in Stranger Things, is the science teacher at Hawkins middle school. A tightrope walker on a wire, and a flea that walks under the wire: that is the image Mr. Clarke uses to explain to Dustin and Lucas what a parallel dimension is, without knowing he is describing the Upside Down. The ideal teacher, always available, never suspicious. Here is who he is.
The essentials
- Name: Scott Clarke, middle-school science teacher, head of the AV club
- His lesson: the acrobat and the flea: the parallel dimension explained
- His return: Season 5, recruited by Murray
- Played by: Randy Havens
Contents
Who is Mr. Clarke
The middle school science teacher, the one who started the AV club and gave the boys their Heathkit radio, with which they will try to reach Will in the Upside Down. In November 1983, when Dustin and Lucas come ask him questions about parallel dimensions “for a game,” he answers seriously, with the tightrope walker and the flea: the tightrope walker can only go one way on the wire; the flea can walk underneath, upside down. He has just explained the Upside Down to children who are going to go there.
The Dustin Henderson T-shirt, his best student.
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His lessons, season by season
| Season | What Mr. Clarke explains | To whom |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parallel dimensions, the acrobat and the flea; how to make a sensory tank | Dustin, Lucas, Mike |
| 2 | Nothing more: he remains the teacher, in the background | The class |
| 3 | Electromagnetism and demagnetized magnets, which lead to the Russian machine | Joyce |
| 5 | His knowledge is used to locate the group; he is recruited by Murray | The party |
The sensory-bath scene, in Season 1, is the most useful: he is the one who gives the group, by phone, one evening, the salt-bath recipe that will let Eleven find Will. He never asks why.
Season 3: Joyce's magnets
In 1985, Joyce comes to see him at home with magnets that no longer stick to the fridge. He receives her in the middle of a figure-painting session, and explains that it would take an enormous machine to demagnetize a whole town. Joyce deduces that a machine exists: it is the Russians, under Starcourt. Once again, Mr. Clarke has given the key without knowing the door.
Randy HavensThe actor, seen in comedy series, played Mr. Clarke in four seasons out of five, always with the same gentleness. Fans made him the teacher they would have wanted.
Season 5: recruited
Under the quarantine, Murray, disguised as a truck driver, recruits Mr. Clarke: his knowledge is used to locate the group and understand what the army is handling. For the first time, the teacher knows why he is being asked questions. He goes through the end of the show alongside the adults, in his place: the one who explains.
Why the character matters
Because he embodies what the show thinks of science: not Brenner's lab, but a middle-school teacher who answers children as if they were adults. All the party's discoveries go through one of his lessons.
His lessons, in detail
| Year | The lesson | Who it serves |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | The acrobat and the flea: a parallel dimension, explained with a paper plate pierced by a pencil | To the boys, to understand that Will is “on the other side” |
| 1983 | The audiovisual club's Heathkit ham radio | To Eleven, to pick up Will's voice from the Upside Down |
| 1983 | The sensory bath, explained on the phone one Friday evening | To Dustin, to build the inflatable pool in the gym |
| 1985 | A magnet does not demagnetize on its own: you need a huge machine | To Joyce, to understand that something is working under Hawkins |
| 1987 | A tracer, and the opening of the military base | To Erica, Murray and the group, to find Dustin and enter the Upside Down |
The Dustin figure, radio in hand.
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Why he always answers
Mr. Clarke has a rule he states as early as season 1: curiosity opens every door. He answers his students' strangest questions without ever asking why, on a Friday night on the phone while he watches a horror movie with his girlfriend, or in 1985 in front of his board-game figures. That refusal to be surprised makes him, without his knowing it, the group's best ally for four seasons.
The Duffers said they wrote the character after their own science teachers, and after the adults in 80s films who take children seriously. Randy Havens plays him with a gentleness that has never varied, from the 1983 classroom to the 1987 military base.
The 1987 return, in detail
The last season finally brings him into the story. In episode 5, Erica proposes recruiting Dustin's science teacher to build a tracker, while Lucas prepares the radio-tower plan. In episode 7, with Erica and Murray, he mounts a makeshift experiment to locate Dustin in the Upside Down, and Eleven opens a gate to bring the group back.
Then, with Erica, he opens the military base to let Murray's truck through, which drives the whole group into the Upside Down for the final battle. The teacher who had explained the parallel dimension with a cardboard plate ends up opening the gate to it. It is one of the most discreet, and most satisfying, loops in the show.
Randy Havens, and the surprise return
Randy Havens has played Mr. Clarke since the first episode of 1983. Absent from season 4, he was among the returns announced for the last season, with Linnea Berthelsen as Kali and Amybeth McNulty as Vickie. For fans, it was the most unexpected return: nobody imagined the science teacher in the final battle, and yet it is he who, with Erica, opens the military base.
The character has a particularity: he has never known what he was doing. For four seasons, he answers questions without knowing what is at stake; in 1987, he finally discovers the Upside Down, and the show gives him no scene of shock. Mr. Clarke, faced with a real parallel dimension, does what he has always done: he helps.
Mr. Clarke in three lessons
-
1983
The paper plate and the pencil: the parallel dimension explained in one minute.
-
1985
Joyce's magnets, and the idea that a huge machine is turning somewhere under the town.
-
1987
Erica's tracker, then the military-base door.
Three lessons, four years apart, and a teacher who ended up entering his own demonstration.
The Season 1 poster.
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TakeawayThe science teacher, and the AV club. The acrobat and the flea: the Upside Down explained. Joyce's magnets, in 1985. Recruited by Murray in 1987; played by Randy Havens.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Mr. Clarke in Stranger Things?
Scott Clarke, the middle-school science teacher and head of the AV club, who explains parallel dimensions and the sensory bath to the boys in season 1.
What is the lesson of the acrobat and the flea?
The acrobat can only go one way on the wire; the flea can walk underneath, upside down: that is the image of a parallel dimension, the Upside Down.
Does Mr. Clarke come back in season 5?
Yes, recruited by Murray during the quarantine, to locate the group.
Who plays Mr. Clarke?
Randy Havens.
What does Mr. Clarke do in the last episode?
With Erica, he opens the military base to let Murray's truck through, which takes the group into the Upside Down for the final battle.
Who inspired Mr. Clarke?
The Duffer Brothers' own science teachers, and the adults in 80s films who take children seriously, according to the creators.
Does Mr. Clarke have a family?
The show shows him a girlfriend, Jen, with whom he watches a horror movie in 1983 and paints figures in 1985. Nothing more is said about his private life.