Refusing to believe Will is dead, Joyce tries to connect with her son. The boys give Eleven a makeover. Nancy and Jonathan form an unlikely alliance.
El proves to the boys that Will is still alive by making contact through Mike's walkie-talkie. They decide to use their science teacher Mr. Clarke's more powerful ham radio to contact Will.
At a memorial for Will, Mike confronts bully Troy and his friend laughing about Will's death. Before Troy can attack, El causes Troy to freeze and urinate on himself.
Using the radio, El and the boys overhear Will talking to his mother, saying he is afraid and that it is dark and cold where he is. Simultaneously, Joyce hears him through her living room wall and tears the wallpaper, revealing a flesh-like substance on the wall, with Will on the other side. She breaks the wall with an axe, but this opens only to her front porch.
Examining Jonathan's photo of Barb, Nancy realizes the monster is also visible. Jonathan realizes Nancy's description of the monster matches his mother's: a humanoid figure with long arms and no face. Hopper confronts the state trooper who found Will's body. Suspicious, he goes to the morgue, cuts open Will's body, and discovers it is a dummy. He heads to the laboratory.
