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There was that ad in the '80s that said "It's 10:00 p.m.,

do you know where your children are?"

It's like, "Hey, parents, are your kids home?"

And… case in point.

-…so I thought maybe… -Mom!

I always loved the fact that Karen was oblivious.

-Ted! -The clueless mom.

Is someone else here?

She's had no idea really what's happened at all.

Finally…

the Demogorgon does come to the Wheeler house.

-Action! -What?

-Mom! -Holly.

We were talking about a Wheeler house attack

all the way back in season one.

It's something we put off and one reason we put it off

is once monsters breach that house,

it changes everything for Karen.

And we wanted to keep that mystery alive.

We wanted her to not know

or get involved in what her kids were involved in.

Whatever you saw, baby, it's just a nightmare.

-No! Mom! -Holly comes in and…

At first, Karen doesn't believe her, of course.

Like, what could this be? "You're having a bad dream."

You've got to believe me! Please.

But she starts to hear, you know, these banging noises from outside,

so she makes the split-second decision

to hide her and Holly in the bath that she's making,

in the bubble bath.

That scene took over

maybe a week to rehearse and to film.

We filmed in this bathtub with a clear wall.

Karen?

Day five of the Demo attack scene.

Big swings today.

Hopefully no misses.

Go!

-Cutting. Tail sticks. -Cut!

Holly, get back!

I don't think she's processing what she sees.

Stay away from my daughter.

But just goes into that natural mama instinct

of like, "Don't mess with my kid."

Mom, no!

And then gets into pretty much a fist fight with the Demogorgon

with her wine bottle.

See, it came in handy, all that drinking.

Just has a really good payoff.

Cut!

-All right, cut! -Cut!

Cutting.

I love working on this show

for the obvious reason that we get to make huge monsters.

But also Karen Wheeler's Demogorgon wounds

were a fun one.

It being our first Demogorgon attack that we see,

it was important to kind of establish what they would look like,

so every time you see

a Demogorgon attack from that point on,

you visually have this in your mind

that they're this horrific.

I've been slashed, punctured by the Demo, slashed here.

I've lost… I'm going to be losing a lot of blood

and my ability to speak.

It's been really fun.

I was very excited to read the scripts

and really just thankful to be part of the fight

and like really go at the monster.

Get closer with that initial hit.

Cara's been doing an amazing job

of really showing the audience who Karen really is,

that she's not who we expected.

That she is like her daughter and would've been more like Nancy

had life not taken her in a different direction,

so we wanted to give her sort of a real badass moment.

-Pick up the pace. -Vitals. Talk to me.

Female. 46 years old.

Nancy and Mike are both affected by Holly's vanishing.

Because, obviously, she's taken

but also because of how bad of shape our parents are.

They both barely escape with their lives,

and so I think there's like a real sort of guilt

of us not saying something to our parents before

on what's been going on.

In some ways we're shooting like a sci-fi, fun show,

but then there are these really intense moments

that are like, "Gosh that is so devastating."

A lot of it is the writing.

I think, you know, those moments that the Duffers give us

to really let those emotions shine through.

-Cut. -Cutting.

The Duffer brothers really care about the characters,

and they have worked for the last 11 years

non-stop on this show, and their passion has not waned.

They've always been very collaborative, open,

interested in our thoughts and opinions kind of directors.

Without them and their trust in us,

we wouldn't have the incredibly fortunate careers

that we have now.

It's something that any actor absolutely dreams of,

is being a part of something like this.

I wish… I wish I had better news.

There's a lot of things going on in Lucas's head.

He's reminiscing on the times

that Max was able to have a conversation

and speak to him.

I think he holds that burden of wishing he could've saved her

in that moment.

He feels like it's his fault that she's where she's at.

He was there to protect her and he couldn't.

He feels weak.

It's a lot of guilt that Lucas is feeling

so the best he can do is just go there every day

and be there for her.

Hey, Max, if my theory is right, we're running out of time,

so if you're planning on resurrecting any time soon, now is the time.

Which brings us to you.

Arriving looking like Rocky Balboa.

So basically of all the crawls, this was like the one to miss.

Everybody has those relationships that kind of like go…

when you know someone long enough,

you're friends long enough,

you go through these waves of kind of getting along

and then sort of these growth spurts.

This right here is your problem.

Yeah, that's where these two characters are at right now,

is they're maybe a little bit at odds

but still have a real deep sense of care for each other.

You poked the bear one too many times.

Your concern for me is overwhelming, Steve.

My concern? I've shown nothing…

This is the biggest season we've ever had in terms of action,

in terms of visual effects.

But I think ultimately what people want is

they want to see these characters together one last time.

The friendships,

the complications of those friendships.

-I don't want to talk to you. -I don't want to either.

Good.

Good.

Good.

Everything is totally fine. Except for your mom's plan.

No offense to your mom, but come on.

Whereas your plan is genius.

-You think so? -Totally. Yeah.

Will has done such a wonderful job in the past couple of seasons

of creating this little divide between him and his friends,

where in the second season there's this tremendous closeness

and togetherness and "we're all the same."

And I think that's a common experience as kids.

When we're little kids, we're all like, "We're all the same."

"We're all together."

And then as people get older and go through puberty

and developmentally change, you feel different than your friends,

and I think Robin sees that

and see that he's going through something, and that he's lonely.

Robin is kind of that supporter for Will throughout the season

to help him find himself and come to terms with who he is

and without her, I think he would be lost

so it's really a special bond they form this season.

…Mrs. Harris's class, fifth grade?

It's so cool.

Though come to think of it, it's not even a mandala,

it's just a spiral.

-I heard laughter. -What?

In my vision.

Kids laughing, playing.

What does that have to do with a monster lair? Will!

-Where'd you learn to do this? -Max.

First, clean. Then disinfect. Then bandage.

You're more like me than I'd like to admit.

What? A stubborn punk ass?

You heard that?

You talk loud.

Hopper is kind of a harder man from a different time

who doesn't know how to express himself.

Just been around long enough to know that…

you can't count on anything in this life.

I think he's a deeply good guy,

and I think he's misguided in the way that he expresses it.

And I think there is, you know, a purpose in art

to be able to connect with those people,

and maybe try to reveal something about what that means

as a person in our world.

Which is why whatever happens from here on out,

wherever this blood leads, I need you to do what I say.

So don't be a stubborn punk ass like you?

Yeah. Don't be a stubborn punk ass.

I think he's sort of a beautiful old stalwart of a character

that I love and I hope other people love as well.

Mike is very much focused on the crawls

and trying to get Vecna, and once Holly is taken,

I think this season gets almost back

sort of into a season one mode

where everyone's trying to find this person.

Did Holly ever talk to you about Mr. Whatsit?

It's his sister.

He's taken it upon himself to, you know, lead as part of the gang

to try to find Holly.

We just need your help.

We think someone knows where Holly is.

And knows why she was taken and where she is.

We just don't know where he is.

It feels like there's something coming.

Did Holly ever say if he has a first name?

Something scary is on the other side.

Are the others here yet?

I guess I've just kind of slunk off into the darkness and stewed.

And now I'm back for revenge.