In looking back on season two of Stranger Things, “Chapter Five: Dig Dug” has lots going on, at second look. First, Will is a spy. Also, Mews gets eaten. Plus, we learn Nancy, Jonathan, and Murray plan to expose the government. Further, Eleven’s mother, Terry Ives, has powers; however, the government turned her into a vegetable. Moreover, Eight makes an appearance. These are just some scenes that peaked my interest in this second go around of Stranger Things 2.

In this airing, we learn Will is a secret spy. That being said, he spies on the MindFlayer since they share a common nervous system. He does spying to determine the location of Chief Hopper.

When it comes to spying, Mike knows a thing or two. Mike explains to Will, saying: “Maybe that’s good. Just think about, Will. You like a spy now. A super spy, spying on the shadow monster. If you know what he’s seeing and feeling, maybe that’s how we can stop him.”

In “DigDug,” it’s the end of the world, and Nancy has a question for Jonathan. Nancy smiles to Jonathan saying, “Don’t you think it weird that we only hang out when the world’s about to end?”

During this broadcast, we learn Dustin’s mom is a Democrat. She has a Mondale/Ferraro sign on her front lawn. You can see the scene in one of the scenes.

However, we learn, too, Dustin lies to his mom. He does this on the phone to Mr. Mckorkel. Later, he tells his mom that the cat is wondering around outside.

Later, while Dustin is at school, Dart, one of the MindFlayer’s minions, eats the family cat, Mews. When Dustin comes home, he has a few words for Dart: “I am sorry. You ate my cat.” With that, Dustin locks Dart in a bunker for eating the cat.

Elsewhere, armed with the tape recording about Barbara’s death, Nancy wants to go public with the truth; however, Murray doesn’t want to rush the truth.

“You don’t need me to believe you. You need ‘them’ to believe you. ‘Them’ with a capital T. Your priests, your postmans, your teacher. The world at large. They won’t believe any of this…. Oh, that’s easy to bury [the tape]. You’re being naive Nancy. Most people, they’re not wired like me and you, ok? They don’t spend their lives at trying to get a look behind the curtains. They like the curtain. It provides them stability, comfort, definition. This will open the curtain, and open the curtain behind that curtain, so ok, the minute someone with an ounce of authority calls bullshit, everyone will nod their heads and say ‘See. Ha. I knew it. It was bullshit.’ That is, if you even get there attention at all.”

In regards to the truth about Barbara’s death, Murray believes the public will only accept a watered down version of the truth.

“We moderate it. Just like this drink here. We make it more tolerable. Perhaps, Barbara was exposed to some dangerous toxins. Something scary, but familiar. Close enough that it hits the man right where it hurts. They’ll go down.”

Ironically, a watered down version of the truth is happening in real life. It’s the end of this world; however, a public will only accept that truth if it’s earthquakes, pandemics, wars, or famines. This is the only kind of watered down truth the public will believe since they “like the curtain.”

In a sad moment, Nancy expresses her feelings about Barbara’s death. Nancy says, “Those assholes that killed Barb.”

Even though it’s kind of a minor thing in “Dig Dug,” actual newspapers were a thing in the 80s. Luca’s dad reads the Hawkins Post in the morning at breakfast. Today, most people just read the news online.

Also, in this segment, we see cigerettes in one scene with Chief Hopper. However, back in 1971, Congress banned cigerettes advertisements in the USA on TV. That being said, cigerette ads were allowed in magazines. Apparently, cigarettes are making a comeback.

Here’s another thing about “Digdug”: When referring to the title, I am not sure if they mean the video game or if they mean Chief Hopper. In the beginning, the Stranger Things kids are at the arcade and Max wants to play the video game “Digdug”. However, other scenes show Chief Hopper stuck underground and trying to dig his way to the top of the ground. Anyway, maybe, they mean both, or they are the same thing.

Toward the end of “Digdug,” we learn about Eleven’s real mother, Terry Ives. Apparently, she had powers like Eleven. Terry’s nose bleeds when she uses her powers to make contact in the upside down.

Also, it’s “Digdug” where we learn something terrible happened to Eleven’s mother, Terry. While in a trip to the upside down, Eleven sees a vision of Terry with a gun at Dr. Martin Brenner’s laboratory. At this point, Eleven sees Terry looking for her baby, Jane. Finally, Eleven sees Dr. Martin Brenner aka Papa giving Terry extreme shock treatment. As a result, today, Terry is a vegetable who sits in a room alone while repeating words to herself. These terrible things happened after Terry lost her appeal against the laboratory for trying to get custody of Eleven when she was a baby.

Lastly, Eight, Eleven’s sister with mirage powers, makes an appearance in “Dig Dug”. In one of the scenes of Terry’s memories, Eleven sees Eight. Eight and Eleven are playing in one of the rooms at the laboratory. That being said, Eleven has lost lots of memories of her family.

Overall, “Chapter Five: Dig Dug” had lots of stuff which I missed on first watching it. On my first take, I missed the whole thing that Will is a spy. Also, I totally forgot Mews gets eaten. And, I was glad that Nancy, Jonathan, and Murray exposed the government; especially, for turning Eleven’s mother, Terry Ives, into a vegetable. In retrospect, I enjoyed this episode more in the second round of Stranger Things 2.