“Stranger Things 2” Episode 5 Recap

Here’s where we start out at the beginning of episode 2.5:

• Will can feel what King Smoke Monster feels and see what he sees, which is both super creepy and probably helpful.
• Nancy Drew and Emo Jonathan are shacked up in a terrible small town motel that reminds me of the places I stayed in with my parents while torturing them as a hardcore AAU swimmer for Carmel in my youth. Sorry!
• Dustin is in full gear after finally realizing he made terrible decisions about Dart.
• Eleven has hitched a ride with a trucker (Indiana is the “Crossroads of America” after all) in hopes of finding her mom.

And here’s what we know by the end:

Bob the Brain—aka Rudy, aka Mikey—really knows his cartography. He deciphers Will’s drawings and leads the crew to Hopper. After cutting him loose from slimy tentacles, the two men exchange casual pleasantries. Because, Hoosier hospitality.

Eleven, neé Jane, finds her mom and her mom’s vaguely clueless, but very kind, friend. Our girl El does a deep dive into Momma’s psyche where she discovers the root cause of the woman’s rambling and more importantly how (if not why) she ended in the lab’s nefarious clutches.

I think this is as close to a Gilmore moment as this show gets.

Murray, the crazy journalist, is 1984’s Carrie Mathison from Homeland in that he is bonkers, but also a little bit right.

Dustin and Steve have paired up to find and kill the ever-growing and insanely dangerous Dart, maybe with a baseball bat. All I know is that this has the makings of the unlikely buddy comedy I never knew I wanted. They’re like a precursor to Turner & Hooch.

Oh, and Lucas (whose little sister is the best) spills the beans to Mad Max, whose relationship with Billy Cougar Mellencamp is officially defined as a step-sibling. Plus, Mike’s mother throws out a random Margaret Thatcher reference while keeping her phone line occupied for two hours, which is just a sad reminder to us “olds” that young people today have never heard a busy signal.

Until next ep, Hoosier Hawkins fans!