S2E9 · Chapter Nine: The Gate

Complete story — includes the ending

Mike is angry at Hopper for hiding Eleven from him. The group devise a plan to close the gate without killing Will. Hopper and Eleven head to the lab while Joyce, Jonathan, Nancy, and an unconscious Will go to Hopper's cabin to burn the Mind Flayer out from him, with the rest staying behind. Billy arrives looking for Max and has a fight with Steve; after Steve is knocked out by Billy, Max sedates Billy and makes him promise to leave them alone. In the cabin, Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy turn up the heat and successfully expel the Mind Flayer out of Will. While not part of the plan, Steve, Mike, Dustin, Max, and Lucas enter the tunnels to burn the core; as they flee from the alerted Demodogs, they encounter Dart, who lets them through after Dustin gives it nougat chocolate. Hopper finds Owens injured and neutralizes the remaining Demodogs as Eleven closes the gate. A month later, Murray, Jonathan, and Nancy's tape leak causes a scandal which forces the closure of the lab, and Owens facilitates Hopper's adoption of Eleven as Jane Hopper. At the winter formal "Snow Ball", Max and Lucas dance and kiss, as do Mike and Eleven, while Nancy dances with a heartbroken Dustin. The Mind Flayer watches the group from the Upside Down.