Stranger Things season 2 episode 8: “The Mind Flayer”, recap and analysis
Season 2 · Episode 8 · The Mind Flayer
Matt and Ross Duffer write and direct. It goes online on Friday, October 27, 2017, with the other chapters, for a stated 47 minutes. The story takes place in early November 1984.
The eighth chapter fits into one night: a pane gives way, a man goes down alone, and the shadow gets a name. The escape plays out a few meters from the door, then the group meets again at the house.
The essentials
- Original title: “Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer”
- English title: “Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer”
- Writing and direction: Matt and Ross Duffer, as for chapters 1, 2 and 9
- Runtime: 47 minutes stated. The wiki gives 48 minutes and 42 seconds
- Release: Friday, October 27, 2017, with the rest of the season
- Story: A single night, early November 1984. The wiki places it on November 4 and 5
- Audience: 4.9 million viewers in three days, including 3.4 million aged 18 to 49
- On screen: The shadow does not appear. The chapter only gives it a name
Contents
- The file on the eighth chapter
- From the glass hall to the Byers' door, in edit order
- The lockdown: the pane, the elevator, the security room
- The basement: BASIC, the radio and the closet
- At the Byers': the AV club, the hive and a name taken from the game
- Behind the scenes: the scene shot on the floor and the stand-in
The file on the eighth chapter
The original title is “Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer”. Matt and Ross Duffer are credited with writing and directing it, as for chapters 1, 2 and 9. The stated runtime is 47 minutes. The series wiki notes 48 minutes and 42 seconds. It goes online on Friday, October 27, 2017, the same day as the season 2 release. In the United States, on television only, in three days, The Hollywood Reporter of November 2, 2017 cites 4.9 million viewers, including 3.4 million aged 18 to 49.
The story fits into a single night, in early November 1984. The wiki sets it on November 4 and 5. None of these dates is spoken on screen. The teaser of August 31, 2016 lined up nine provisional titles. According to the wiki, this chapter's was probably “The Brain”, with no way to confirm it. The title that stuck was known only on the day it went online. The shadow does not appear in the chapter that bears its name: it only receives that name there. The seventh chapter of season 2 heads for Chicago. Here, we return to the town and pick up where the sixth chapter left off.
White canvas bag, white handles. At the top, an arc of red letters edged in navy. In the center, a running mascot, head open in petals, red sweatshirt with a paw print. The pack's nickname is born in this chapter.
In the shopHawkins Demodogs tote bag20,90 €See the product
From the glass hall to the Byers' door, in edit order
The pane, the alarm, then the elevator. They want to put Will to sleep, and his mother does it. The credits roll. At the Hargroves', a window is open. On the road, four walkers follow a cry. In the security room, the power goes and only one man offers. In front of the dead gate, two arrivals. Then the basement, the closet, the hall. At the house, a call, a made-up word, a name taken from the game. The shed, then a door.
Neil comes home with Susan. Max is gone, and her bedroom window is open. He blames Billy for not watching her. Billy answers that he has a date, and that Max is not his sister. Neil turns violent, demands an apology to Susan, and makes him cancel the date. The order is two words: “Find Max.” According to the wiki, Billy listens to “The Four Horsemen”, by Metallica, while getting ready. When Neil and Susan arrive, “The Love You Save (May Be Your Own)” is playing. On the road, the beast has already molted three times. Steve lets slip that it ate a cat, and it becomes clear it was being kept. The fight is about the group's rule: Dustin hid the beast, Lucas told Max everything. A cry sounds in the distance. They walk toward it, and Lucas Sinclair recognizes the direction of the lab. At the gate, Nancy and Jonathan run into the group.
-
Evening The glass hall
A pane that was supposed to hold, an elevator they should not have taken.
-
Evening At the Hargroves'
An open window, a canceled date.
-
Evening The security room
Locked latches, one man who knows BASIC.
-
Evening The lab gate
Four walkers, two arrivals, no more power.
-
Night The basement
Breakers, a terminal, a closet.
-
Night The hall
A door a few meters away.
-
Night At the house
A call with no backup, a made-up word, a name taken from the game.
-
Night The shed, then the door
A tapped message, a door that opens on its own.
The lockdown: the pane, the elevator, the security room
The sixth chapter, “The Spy”, stopped on a creature climbing toward Hopper, at the edge of the pit. Here, we pick up at that moment. Hopper finds the beast behind a polycarbonate pane, said to be unbreakable. Others arrive, the pane cracks, the alarm sounds. The scientists take the elevator and are killed. The creatures come up in the same car. Owens and Hopper take the stairs.
Mike Wheeler wants Will put to sleep: he is the spy, and if he knows where they are, the shadow knows it too. Will struggles. His mother asks if he knows who she is. He hesitates, according to the wiki, and she puts him to sleep while apologizing. The group is then locked inside the Hawkins lab.
Gunshots are heard. Everyone takes cover in a security room, then the power goes. The locks are “fail secure”: if the power fails, the building locks. The breakers are in the basement, three floors down. Restoring the power is not enough. The computer has to be restarted, then the codes entered by hand. The condition comes from the doctor, answering Hopper: “You can't. Not unless you know BASIC.” He then mocks: “Shall I teach you French while I'm at it, Jim?” Hopper asks if he speaks that language. No. Bob offers. According to the wiki, he is the only one in the group who knows it.
Joyce protests. Bob reassures her: “Remember, Bob Newby, superhero.” Hopper and Bob take a dead guard's badge and radio. Hopper gives him his gun, with instructions in four beats: safety on, safety off, aim, press. He asks him to come back up at the first problem. Bob answers: “Don't wait for me.”
The basement: BASIC, the radio and the closet
Bob goes down alone. To hold on, he talks to himself. The power comes back. Upstairs, they understand he has done it.
They talk by radio. Bob types, says “Open sesame”, and the doors open. He then repeats “Easy-peasy”, already said upstairs when he was given the gun. According to the wiki, the screen shows November 11, 1984, while the night is that of the 4th.
Joyce Byers heads for the exit with Will, asleep. The doctor warns that the west stairwell is no longer clear. Bob has an idea and draws a creature away: a diversion. Then the doctor promises to flag the surprises and stays at the screens to guide Bob. Slowly, the next one on the right, then the stop. A door on the left, a closet door. The order is clear: “Get in the closet.” A creature passes. Then the way is clear to the front door.
A broom falls, and the chase begins. Bob, played by Sean Astin, reaches the exit, finds the group and stops to smile. The creature knocks him down. Hopper, who respects Bob's wish, pulls Joyce outside. Everyone leaves by car: Jonathan's, and Hopper's police car, according to the wiki.
String lights and letters, in a living room at night overrun with vines. A beamed ceiling, a sofa under a checked throw, two lamps with orange shades.
In the shopByers living room poster and alphabet wall26,90 €See the product
At the Byers': the AV club, the hive and a name taken from the game
Hopper calls for help. On the other end, he is asked if he has called the police. He answers that he is the police chief. Joyce stays silent, according to the wiki. Mike shows a game Bob brought. He tells the group that Bob founded the middle-school AV club: a petition at school, then a collection for the gear. Mr. Clarke learned everything from him. He adds that they will not let him die for nothing.
Dustin says the pack cannot be stopped alone, and he invents the word Demodogs. The nickname is forged in a few sentences, from the game's monster and the word dogs. Mike talks about an army: if you stop the leader, you stop the rest. The virus the doctor spoke of links Will to the tunnels, to the creatures and to the other side. If the vines hurt, Will hurts. Then comes the lesson from class: a hive mind, a superorganism, a brain at the center. The hive is set out in the article on the season 2 monsters.
Dustin links that brain to the Mind Flayer. According to him, it is a monster from an unknown dimension, which enslaves other peoples by taking control of their brains. The name is taken from Dungeons & Dragons. Someone scoffs that it is a children's game. The answer is that it is a manual, and a quarrel sets “metaphor” against “analogy”. Dustin explains that in the game you beat this creature with an army of the undead. Joyce wants to kill it, for Will and for Bob. Mike: Will knows the weakness, and he can no longer spy if he does not know where he is. In the same breath, Nancy thanks Steve, Dustin apologizes for the hidden beast, Mike tells Max that what took Eleven also took Bob, and Lucas announces judgment day if the shadow finds them.
The shed song has its own article: Should I Stay or Should I Go. Will is tied down, lamps aimed at him, the walls covered. His mother, his brother and Mike tell him memories. He taps HERE in Morse. Jonathan puts the song back on, then the message becomes CLOSE GATE. The phone rings, Will understands where he is, and they put him to sleep again. The group arms itself. Outside, the cries stop. A creature comes through the window. The door opens on its own: it is Eleven, who has just killed the beast. According to the wiki, she has no line. Mike and she look at each other. The last chapter of the season begins there.
Behind the scenes: the scene shot on the floor and the stand-in
According to the wiki, citing Vulture, Bob was supposed to die as early as the third chapter. A first version even made Will, fully taken, his killer in the car. His death was pushed back as the character grew on them. They thought of letting him walk out alive, then had him die for the story.
According to the wiki, they first filmed the reactions of Joyce and the others. Bob's actor stayed on the floor all day. Handheld camera, and slow motion.
The beasts of the chase are computer-generated, but someone had to be there in front of him. Paul Graff, the season's visual-effects supervisor, says they first thought of a real dog. Then the writer Kate Trefry offered. They chose her for her build and her energy, put her in a suit to tackle Bob, then erased her in favor of the creature. She had already written the sixth chapter. The wiki files the pane's beast among the still-young Demogorgon. Two echoes: Hopper holding Joyce back reprises a scene from Aliens, released in 1986, two years after the story. Paul Reiser, who plays the doctor, was in that film. Mike and Eleven's reunion was first planned for the Snow Ball in the last chapter. According to the wiki, this is the last appearance of Bob's actor in the main cast.
The one who comes back in the last scene: a girl in the center, hands held out, five children behind her, two of them holding a lit lamp, and four-legged creatures in front of a red arch. She says nothing in the chapter.
In the shopDuvet cover season 2 Eleven and the demodogs69,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
What happens in season 2, episode 8?
The lab locks. Bob restores the power, Owens guides him by radio, and the group gives the shadow a name once they are home. Eleven opens the door at the end, without a line.
Why is the episode called “The Mind Flayer”?
The group gives the shadow that name, from a creature in the game. According to the wiki, the shadow itself does not appear in the chapter.
Why does Bob go down to the basement alone?
To reopen the doors, the computer has to be restarted and the codes entered. According to the wiki, Bob is the only one in the group who knows BASIC.
Who guides Bob by radio?
Owens, still at the camera screens. He also warns that the west stairwell is no longer clear.
Who invents the word “Demodog”?
Dustin, at the house, after the escape. He forges the nickname from the game's monster and the word dogs.
Does Eleven speak in this episode?
No, according to the wiki. She kills a creature, the door opens, and Mike and she look at each other.
