Stranger Things – Chapter Five: The Flayed

By: Nicole Rodenbaugh

Erica (Priah Ferguson), Steve (Joe Keery), Robin (Maya Hawke) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) are screaming for their lives as the secret room continues to fall downwards in what appears to be an elevator shaft. Robin clings to the shelves while Steve yells at Dustin to hit something, anything on the button pad. The secret room stops falling abruptly. Robin lets everyone know that the button pad won’t work because it’s keypad activated. Erica says she has to be back tomorrow because she only told her parents she was going to sleepover. Steve yells back that he is not worried about her parents because they may end up dead in a Russian elevator. Dustin points up and asks the team to climb out the hatch. Dustin and Steve climb on top. Steve and Dustin look up and Steve asks Dustin, “What was that you said about climbing?” His voice echoes up what appears to be a never ending elevator shaft. It is apparent they cannot climb the distance.

Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) arrive at a driveway with the name HESS on the mailbox. They enter the house and they hear a noise below them. Unbeknownst to Joyce and Hopper a motorcycle enters the same driveway. They enter the basement to hear people speaking Russian and they are surrounded by a red glow and strange equipment. Two men are squatting down, Alexei is dressed in office attire (Alec Utgoff) and the other in a custodian outfit. Hopper asks them who they are and they reply in Russian. Neither party can understand each other. Joyce yells to Hopper because she hears heavy footsteps above. There is a Man in Black named Grigori (Andrey Ivchenko) with a large gun walking around. The Man in Black walks down stairs. He follows the sounds of mumbles and sees the custodian Russian man is tied up and his mouth is stuffed with a rag. Hopper comes behind the Man in Black with his gun to his head and tells him not to move.

The Man in Black taunts Hopper to shoot him. Joyce and the other Russian man are hiding and listening. Hopper tells him if he doesn’t put his gun away he will shoot him. Hopper counts to three, firing the gun. The Man in Black moves and dodges the shot, grabbing Hoppers arm and throwing him. They tussle and Hopper drops the gun. The Man in Black is firing his gun all around the room. Joyce dodges the gun fire and grabs Hoppers gun. Hopper yells to Joyce to run. He handcuffs one of the Russian men to him and run out of the house. The Man in Black continues to shoot at the three while they run out. They jump into the car and Joyce cannot start the car. Joyce finally starts the car and begins to drive. The Man in Black starts shooting at them now as Joyce drives away. Hopper asks Joyce if she still thinks it’s our government.

A phone rings. Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) is in bed. He yells for it to stop. Nancy (Natalia Dyer) is on the phone. She informs him that she is at the hospital with Mrs. Driscoll. She asks for Will. Jonathan tells her he is not home. She asks if Will is safe. He asks why?

Joyce is talking to the Russian man they kidnapped. She is asking if the magnets are because of Alexei’s work. Alexei is barely understanding. Hopper is trying to fix the Bronco in the background. He turns around and tells Joyce to shut up. She replies she is making progress with Alexei. Hopper says we know he works for Starcourt and is Russian. He asks Joyce to try to start the Bronco. It’s not working and you can hear electrical sparks. Alexei yells at Hopper to stop. Hopper jumps off the car and a puff of smoke and fire explodes from the hood. Joyce jumps out before it gets worse. Hopper, Joyce and Alexei now start to walk in the woods when everything around Hopper disappears. He is standing in Darkness alone.

We then see him walk and water under his feet. Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is channeling Hopper’s location. She confirms she found him. Will (Noah Schnapp), Max (Sadie Sink), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) are watching El and asking where Hopper is. She confirms he is in the woods. Then, she tells them Hopper is headed to Illinois. El and Max go into the bathroom together. El is looking at a mark on her neck. It is from her previous fight with Billy. Max asks if it hurts and she says only when she talks.

Mike, Will and Lucas are attempting to make plans for their next steps. Mike wants to handle the situation with just their group since they can’t make sense of where Hopper is or is headed. Lucas tries to reason with him against his plan. Will suggests El will know how to beat the Mind Flayer. They wonder what the girls are doing in the bathroom. Mike tells the boys that the girls are conspiring against him. Max yells out that they can hear everything. A knock comes from the door. Jonathan and Nancy are standing there looking concerned.

Dustin is trying to use his walkie-talkie to contact the group from the Secret Room/Elevator. Steve pees down the side of the elevator shaft. Robin asks him to point it elsewhere. Erica is trying to bust open the container with green goo. Robin ask why and Erica responds humans can live without eating but they need water. So, she will drink it if she needs to. Robin hears a noise from the side of the room. She yells to everyone that they have company. Two Russian Men speed up in a cart and start to carry out boxes. They smell urine. They leave with the boxes. The door is starting to close. Steve slides under just in time to use the green container to hold open the door. He summons the team to all leave through the gap. The container breaks and the green goo leaks out. It starts to burn a hole in the floor and door. Robin asks Erica if she still wants to drink it. They turn to gasp at a never-ending hallway.

Back at the Wheeler’s house Nancy tells everyone that the same thing is happening to Mrs. Driscoll that happened to Will. Mike tells them she is “flayed.” He says the Mind Flayer flays people and takes over their minds and controls them. El confirms Heather was flayed. Nancy asks who Heather is and the kids respond, “Holloway. “Nancy and Jonathan look at each other and say “Tom.” Everyone runs up the steps and out into the car. Nancy hits the bikes backing out.

The Man in Black finds the Bronco. He continues through the woods after Joyce, Hopper and Alexei. Alexei starts to run. Hopper and Joyce yell and run after him. Alexei stops and Joyce and Hopper catch up. Alexei found a 7-11. The three of them grab drinks. Joyce calls to check on Will from the Payphone. Hopper tells a man he is taking his car and he throws Alexei in the back. Hopper and Joyce tell the man that Alexei is a very dangerous criminal and they speed away while the man is screaming about his car.

Dustin, Robin, Steve and Erica are walking down the hall contemplating what the hallway is for and what the green stuff is. Dustin suggests it’s not something as simple as poison. They think it’s something used to power a nuclear weapon. They ask if the mall is a cover for this hallway. Dustin and Steve sidebar to ask if it could be connected to the previous supernatural events. The walkie-talkie starts transmitting Russian. Robin says the signal can reach the surface if they can hear it.

Nancy and team enter Tom Holloway’s home. They call out to Tom and Heather. It’s cold in the house and they smell chemicals. They enter the kitchen where all the cleaning supplies are laying around. They assume the flayed are drinking chemicals to create something by mixing them. Will never drank chemicals while under the Mind Flayers control. Nancy found the wine bottle Tom was attacked with since he had a head wound. She realizes he was attacked and tells the team. They find rope and realize they transported Tom somewhere. El flashes to her first encounter seeing Billy (Dacre Montgomery) disappear in her vision. She tells the group that’s why Billy faded because the Mind Flayer doesn’t want to be found. They want to find the source to stop the Mind Flayer. Will suggests they let Mrs. Driscoll go to follow her.

The Man in Black walks into the 7-11 and ruffs up the cashier (Michael Silvio Fortino) to get information about Hopper. Hopper and Joyce are dragging Alexei out of the car. They walk up to Murray’s hideout. They talk to him through his surveillance system. Murray (Brett Gelman) answers the door with a shot gun. He demands Alexei’s surname. Murray answers him in Russian. Murray yells at Hopper for bringing an enemy of the state into his home. Joyce pulls Hopper aside to tell him Murray is crazy and it will not work. Hopper says that’s calling the kettle black, referencing Joyce’s mental state. Joyce yells at Murray telling him he is asking like a jerk and she just wants to know why the magnets are falling off her fridge.

Steve and the gang turn a corner in the hallway and they see men dressed in what looks to be radioactive gear and tens of people walking around. Some are scientists and others are military with guns. Erica says she saw the communications room. She says it had lights and stuff in there. Steve doubts her, but Robin says she will take those odds. They sneak past the staff to the room. A man in military gear is sitting there. He turns around and reaches for his gun. Robin tries to talk to him, but shaken he reaches further towards the gun. Steve tackles him and knocks him out. Dustin grabs the keycard to use back in the elevator. Robin walks up steps to a blue glow. They all go up and see the laser pointed at the portal to the Upside Down. The green containers are being placed into the machine by men in radioactive suits.

Nancy and team walk into the hospital. The nurse stops them and only lets Nancy and Jonathan in due to limits on visitors at a time. In the elevator heading to Mrs. Driscoll’s room Nancy apologizes to Jonathan for being mean. Jonathan apologizes for being wrong. In the waiting room Mike and Lucas fight with the vending machine. El uses her power to shake out the snacks. Lucas tells Mike to talk to El.

Immediately upon Nancy and Jonathan entering the hospital room Tom (Michael Park) walks in and the lights start to flicker. Jonathan hits him over the head. He barely stops to acknowledge it. Bruce (Jake Busey) appears and they both chase after the pair. Mike offers El M&Ms in the waiting room and tells El he likes her new look. Nancy and Jonathan are still running from Tom. We see nurses and doctors laying in blood puddles in the hall. Nancy and Jonathan run into a room and lock the door behind them. Bruce breaks in the door and throws Jonathan down. Nancy stabs him with scissors, but this doesn’t stop him and he ominously follows her out of the room. The lights are flickering and Bruce is calling her name. Tom enters the room to find Jonathan wounded and unresponsive. He is standing over Jonathan with scissors. Bruce pulls back a curtain and Nancy hits him in the face with a fire extinguisher. Tom can feel the hit, too. This gives Jonathan time to grab the scissors. Both Jonathan and Nancy land blows at the same time to Tom and Bruce. They both fall to the ground. They start to shake and disappear into a pile of flayer goo. The goo starts to slowly moves toward each other down the hall. It joins to create a large flayer creature. It squeals.