Kicking off with a possessed Will and a gruesome Demodog lab attack, this second-to-last chapter of the show’s second installment never lets up. The brutal death of Sean Astin’s Bob, as witnessed by Winona Ryder’s screaming Joyce, is genuinely horrific, after which our heroes get to grips with their nemesis and communicate with Will via Morse code. In the episode’s final seconds, the slippery corpse of a Demodog then hurtles through the window of the Byers’ house, and the front door swings open, revealing its killer: a bloody-nosed Eleven. Chills.
“The Bathtub” (Season 1, Episode 7)
The Season 1 finale, “The Upside Down,” is excellent—from Jonathan, Nancy, and Steve (Joe Keery) setting the Demogorgon on fire against the backdrop of twinkling fairy lights, and Hopper and Joyce journeying to the Upside Down, to Eleven disintegrating her enemy—but don’t overlook the episode just before it. In “The Bathtub,” the kids go on the run with Eleven in tow, and through the use of a makeshift sensory deprivation tank, she discovers the fates of both Barb (Shannon Purser) and Will. It begins with one of the most heart-in-your-throat moments of the whole show: as Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) and his cronies pursue and then drive head-first into Eleven and Mike, she causes their van to fly skywards, flip over, and crash to the ground. Cue the opening credits. There’s no bigger flex.
“The Vanishing of Will Byers” (Season 1, Episode 1)
