"The Rightside Up" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Erica

Though the gang has passed through the portal at the MAC-Z, it appears that it isn't able to reseal itself. Dr. Kay's troops head in while she interrogates the gatekeeper about the malfunctioning doors. A glance at a nearby shelf gives her the hint she needs to determine that some shortwave radio signals are the cause, and before long, she locates Erica and Mr. Clarke's hiding spot...and the Squawk truck outside. It's only a matter of time before the power starts shorting at the Squawk, where Vickie and Max nervously wait for next steps.

In the meantime, the group arrives at their first stop-- the Hawkins Lab. Mike asks El one more time if everything's alright, reassuring that they have one more fight and it'll all be over, but she doesn't respond to his concern. Instead, she disembarks with Hopper, Murray, and Kali and heads inside, unaware that they're being watched by Lt. Akers. Akers refuses to call this one in to Dr. Kay; he wants to take care of Eleven himself. The remainder of the team arrives at the Upside Down Squawk tower and begins the climb.

In Henry's mindscape and in the Abyss, the vessels are prepared for the next step of the plan, the energy of which causes a seismic shift in the area around his chambers. It starts the collapse of the Upside Down as the Abyss sinks to meet the real world.

In the lab, Murray loads the generators with fuel and proceeds to the roof with their C-4 while Hopper, El, and Kali find their way to the sensory deprivation tank. It stirs up worry for El, whose only memories of the place terrify her, but as soon as the lights come on, it's straight to work. Hopper goes over the plans with El and she asks him to promise not to take her out of the tank before Vecna is dead. He agrees on the condition that if their plan works, they get out of there-- Hawkins included-- to deal with Dr. Kay another day. She places the helmet on her head and descends into the tank. Across the room, Kali blindfolds herself. The tank is sealed. There's nothing to do but win.

Answer: Jonathan

The crew at the Upside Down radio tower begins their ascent and, halfway up, Mike speaks to Will about his earlier revelation at the Squawk, apologizing for not being there for his friend. Will says that he doesn't need to apologize though; he didn't know, himself, for the longest time. What matters is that Mike is still there and they're still best friends. In the meantime, they have a climb to make.

In Hawkins, Vickie nervously paces while Max tries to calm her down. When Vickie goes searching for snacks, Max falls into a dream state, finding herself able to walk again, having been drawn into El's mindscape to meet her and Kali. The trio proceeds until they locate Vecna in the Abyss, and this draws them into his memories where Max, worried about where they've ended up, attempts to follow the shortest path to where they need to be. Of course, that's when the military rolls up, Dr. Kay having arrived to collect whoever's at the Squawk. Vickie gives as much time as she can, hiding herself and Max behind the hidden panel to the basement.

At the top of the radio tower, the group pulls themselves up and prepares for the long and patient period in which they have to let the world above sink to their level. As the sky literally falls, Murray radios in to Hopper to let him know they're low on time. The situation is actually more dire than that. As the sky falls, the team notices that the tower's antenna doesn't line up with the rift in the sky, setting them up to be crushed with the structure.

At the absolute last moment, Max is able to find the passage into Henry's house, allowing El to cast Henry away from the dining room table and break the trance he set upon the children. She embraces Holly and says that she won't be leaving her behind this time, but the reunion is short-lived when the other kids refer to her as the monster. Max refuses to take this though. She can prove she's not the monster.

El's action manages to stop the worlds from colliding, but not before the radio tower's antenna starts to get crushed, nearly destroying the top platform. As the railing gives away, Steve nearly plummets off the side but gets saved, at the last moment, by Jonathan, who hauls him back up. Everyone is fortunate to have survived, and with enough reach to be able to pull themselves up and into the Abyss through the rift above.

Answer: Destroying the sensory deprivation tank

Henry comes to and finds El still in his mindscape, there to let him know that Max and Kali have already gotten the children out of the house. He draws El to him and reminds her that his powers can get the children back, but what he doesn't realize is that none of the kids left; Kali protected them from being seen or heard with an illusion of her own. It's enough to convince the children that they've been duped this whole time, only taking them to use them. He promises he'll find all the answers he needs in her head, but in the meantime, Max is able to get the children to escape. By the time he passes through the illusory wall, they're already off and running. Kali attempts to stab him with a knife, but he vanishes before their very eyes. They reunite with the kids out in the woods and head onward to the cave; Henry could come back at any moment.

One by one, the tower group is able to pull themselves up and into the Abyss world, emerging in the barren canyons that make up Vecna's home. Gazing out over the landscape, they realize they're interdimensional space travellers. The Abyss appears empty, at least from first glance, but Dustin notes that El is probably still fighting and keeping the monsters at bay.

The walk is also the perfect opportunity for Steve and Jonathan, fresh off the live-saving grab on the tower, to bury the hatchet, with Jonathan admitting he doesn't like Steve, but not wanting him dead. The problems he had with Steve were problems he had with his relationship. Steve also admits that he never really saw a future with Nancy; he could've saved them the trouble. Both of them agree Nancy is special, and they want her in their lives. Turning the corner, the group comes face to face with Henry's chambers, where the kids are still trapped, and they plod onwards.

In the lab, Hopper nervously waits for a response from the Abyss crew and realizes that something is amiss, spying numerous green barrels of herbicide in the corner of the room as alarms start to sound. He turns the corner to find the ghostly spectre of his daugher, warning him that he knew all this would happen. Across the room he witnesses Kali talking to El about closing the vicious cycle once and for all by sacrificing themselves in the collapse of the Upside Down. Vecna speaks in Hopper's head as he draws his gun, explaining that he's seen into Eleven's mind and determined that this is the truth. As Hopper opens fire on Vecna, the apparition vanishes, revealing that he actually shot directly into the sensory deprivation tank. He smashes it open to save El but, as it turns out, he never shot her at all. And for all that, El, Kali, and Max are pulled from Henry's mindscape, awakening in their bodies. It's enough to alert Dr. Kay as to Max and Vickie's hiding spot, and the two are apprehended as she discovers the basics of 'Operation Beanstalk'.

Answer: False

In the lab, El and Kali are stuck. With no sensory deprivation tank, El is locked out from reentering Henry's mindscape. Instead, they need to head to the Abyss and join the others. Before El can leave though, Hopper confronts her, saying that even if Henry lied to him, she can't look him in the eye and say she's not planning on killing herself with the Upside Down. He refuses to detonate the C-4 until she's back in Hawkins. Kali aims a gun at Hopper, but he doesn't care. Instead, he begs El to think of a life beyond this night where she can fight for better. Because if anyone can make that real, it would be her, and she deserves that. That's when Murray walkies in, letting the group know the military has arrived.

Holly, left alone with the other kids, has no choice but to take a leadership position, guiding them all to the safety of Max's cave. All of the others make it in time, but Holly notices that Derek is missing. She's able to retrieve him just as Henry locates them, getting him to the cave, but he reaches out with his tendrils and drags her back into the woods. Derek is able to pull her back, saving her at the last moment to reunite with the others, where she can finally reassure the group that they're secure.

In the Abyss, as the group nears Vecna's lair, Will starts to have intense visions, coming closer and closer into contact with the hive mind. Henry, he clarifies, is alive. And worse, he's overcoming his own fears to further his plans. Stepping over the threshold, Henry passes into the cave entrance despite the traumatic memories of when he opened the case in the mine and was afflicted by the Mind Flayer's powers. Holly, realizing that they may no longer be safe, checks to find Henry slowly making his way closer, and it means making a run for it with the others, out into the desert and to the mine shaft. Joyce stays back with Will while he attempts to use his own powers to hold Henry back.

In the lab, the military rushes in, leading Hopper to take the girls and make a run for it, but they're halted by the waiting helicopter, flying out the window blasting its sonic waves to incapacitate them. Hopper picks El up to carry her through, but leaves Kali behind in the corridor, only going back when he places El in hiding in the melted room (unaware that Jonathan and Nancy were trapped there less than a day earlier). Unfortunately, while he kills the men who've come to capture her, he's caught unaware by Lt. Akers and knocked unconscious.

Answer: A piece of the Mind Flayer

While Hopper is incapacitated, Lt. Akers attacks and holds Kali at gunpoint, demanding that they relinquish El or he'll shoot. None of them notice that, while they withhold this information, Murray is on the roof rigging explosives together and tossing them down at the helicopter flying outside the lab. The chopper explodes, destroying the sonic blaster and knocking down Akers' men just as El arrives to fight back. She knocks the others unconscious but lets Akers shoot himself in the head. Unfortunately, it's too late to save Kali, who was still shot in the stomach moments before the explosion. She tells Eleven, with her last words, not to worry; her story was always going to end there.

On the roof, Murray congratulates the others for making it to the roof but doesn't realize that Kali is missing. Looking out over the Upside Down, she spies a shortcut route up along the boulders leading to the Abyss and decides to take it, knowing that when she gets up there, she can finally kill the real Henry. Hopper asks what comes next and she reminds him that all those years ago, he became her dad. That said, she's not a kid anymore, and she was never Sarah. Sarah didn't have a choice to make, but El does, and she needs him to trust her.

Holly proceeds to bring the children through the tunnels, having them proceed through the same tunnel that she and Max took to escape Henry's mindscape earlier, and in doing so she finds the fire poker she dropped there on her first visit. Henry pursues the kids into the tunnel, but Holly thought ahead, doubling back to ambush him. Though he knocks her out, she brings him deep enough to encounter his memory head-on, returning to the moment at which the man with the case shot at him. While Henry contends with his fear, Will sees through his eyes, watching as Henry commits murder and then opens the fateful case, discovering a piece of the Mind Flayer, sealed away until he places it into his palm. It would consume him from that moment on.

Will realizes, as Henry does, that the Mind Flayer never wanted Henry to find the cave because it didn't want him to remember what really happened. Without that influence, he would have been nothing, and not committed to his evil ways. It used Henry to bring it forth, just like Henry used Will as a vessel. Will begs Henry not to let it win-- he can resist it-- but Henry refuses. It showed him the truth, he says. The world is broken, and this is the way to mend it. He does not believe it controlled him, and he never controlled it.

In the Abyss, the group runs to Henry's lair only to find that it isn't simply a lair at all. Instead, the massive spires rising from it awaken and drop to the ground, revealing that the lair was never just a chamber at all, but the body of the Mind Flayer, rising to stake its claim to these worlds.

Answer: Joyce

As the Mind Flayer awakens, it releases a roar and pursues the group across the Abyss, blocking their escape with its claws until it's struck from the side by a massive boulder. The gang only realizes that they've been spared because Eleven has arrived, racing across the canyon to join the battle. She rushes towards the Mind Flayer and leaps into the air in front of it, tearing a hole in its front to let herself into its central chamber and ripping Vecna from its inner workings with her mind. The others realize that she can hurt it and they reverse course, and it allows the boys to put their campaign skills to good use, devising a plan to attack it from above if they can get up the canyon walls. Nancy volunteers to be bait as they set out.

Inside, El and Vecna battle, El's agility proving to be quite effective, especially when Nancy opens fire on the Mind Flayer outside. She's able to draw the creature into a narrow canyon, barely giving herself room to hide away before Steve and Robin unleash their flamethrower and molotov cocktails, severely weakening Vecna in the process. All of the damage on the outside allows El to use her abilities to impale Vecna on one of the spikes inside the creature, and moments before he can lash out, Will is able to use his powers to add to the onslaught. As El thrusts Vecna against the spike, the creature is brought to its knees and left as nothing more than a shell. The heart of the Mind Flayer stops beating as the others arrive.

Nancy is first to reach El, and she finds the children-- Holly included-- still lashed into their bindings and attached to the creature. She starts freeing them, one-by-one, finally bringing her sister back to consciousness and freeing her of the Mind Flayer's influence. As the kids come to, however, so does Vecna, despite his grievous wounds. As the others come closer to investigate, it's Joyce who comes closest, recalling not only what happened to Will, but to Bob years earlier. She takes the axe from her back and slams it into his neck over and over until his head finally severs from his body.

Answer: Mike

Dustin is the one to call in the good news to Hopper and Murray who, still waiting on the roof of the lab, have yet to be informed. Vecna is dead; the threat is over; the kids are saved; they're on their way back. Everyone made it. All they need to do is hit the music, start the bomb, and leave the Upside Down behind forever. Murray arms the C-4, starts the record ("When Doves Cry"), and they drive off, reuniting with the truck on their way back to the MAC-Z gate.

It's when they pass through the gate that the mood shifts from relief to dismay as both vehicles hit the spike carpet when they return. Dr. Kay's forces surround each and remove the occupants, splitting them up and blasting them with the sonic guns on-hand. Unfortunately, Dr. Kay can't find who she's looking for-- El isn't present amongst them. When Mike and Dustin look over at the gate, however, they see her standing at the edge of the portal, still in the Upside Down.

Mike is pulled into her mindscape and he begs her to get out of the Upside Down before it's destroyed, but she concedes that she can't; if she's alive, it will never end. She asks him to explain this to the others for her and thanks him for everything. One day, she says, he'll understand her choice because he always has since the day they met. He begs her not to leave, but she says she loves him and will always be with him. They share one last kiss before he's sent back into reality.

In the MAC-Z, all the others can only watch in the final moments as the song comes to an end, the C-4 sparks, the exotic matter is destroyed, and the Upside Down collapses in on itself, opening to the vast nothing of space between dimensions and sealing itself away.

And with that, the gate is no more.

Answer: Conformity

In the aftermath of the event that the town of Hawkins refers to as the Great Earthquake, people rebuild. It takes eighteen months before Robin takes the mic back up as Rockin' Robin at the Squawk. There are no more fences or military forces in town; people are back doing the things they like. As Robin plays a sound effect on the air, she gets the wrong one, an unfortunate consequence of Steve having taken up the role of coach for the town's little league baseball team. Hawkins' curse, she says, might finally be lifted.

On the same day, Hawkins' Class of 1989 is set to graduate. Lucas and Max are still together; Dustin is valedictorian and set to go to school a day's drive away; Mike appears to be missing, and has been since the previous night, but Hopper finds him at the town memorial statue, seated right where the gate in the MAC-Z used to be. As it turns out, Mike isn't okay with moving on yet, but Hopper has to remind him that El made her choice. Mike can either blame himself forever and suffer for it, like he once did, or he can accept what happened, and her choice, and live the best life he can.

The Class of 1989 takes their seats as graduation while their friends and family watch on from the crowd, and when Dustin heads up to the microphone to give his valedictorian speech, he talks about the good and the bad times over the past several years, commenting that in 'Dungeons & Dragons', players find chaotic good and chaotic bad. In the chaos Hawkins had, the walls between people broke down for the good and he made friends with people that probably never should have ever been his friends if not for what they faced. It helped him become a better person. He decries the school's aim to restore conformity as he tears off his graduation robe and reveals a Hellfire Club t-shirt, much to the Principal's disappointment. All the while, Mike can't stop thinking about El and what happened that night.

When the speech ends and the graduates get the chance to chat, everyone praises Dustin for his rebellious decision. The gang is even invited to a party. Mike has a better idea for them though.

Answer: Yes

At the Squawk, Jonathan, Nancy, Robin, and Steve enjoy drinks on the roof of the building, Steve spending his time trying to convince the others of how great Hawkins is, though none of them take the bait since they've moved on. Steve is thrilled with where he's found himself, coaching the kids of town, but also teaching them as part of his role; he's come into his own. Jonathan, meanwhile, has gone to film school at long last, and is hard at work making his own movie. Robin is attending Smith College; Nancy is at Emerson...or at least she was before she dropped out to take a job at the 'Herald'. She didn't want to stay in school, instead opting to try out the real world.

Robin admits that what she misses about Hawkins is the four of them, hanging out. Steve suggests that they meet up, once a month, in Hawkins, but Nancy suggests somewhere more neutral. They land on Philadelphia-- Robin has a relative with a big place there-- and they can actually keep in touch. They cheers to nothing keeping them apart.

At dinner, Hopper orders himself and Joyce the finest items on the menu, determined to celebrate a once-in-a-lifetime day with good news. Hopper says it'll be quiet in the cabin when they leave, but they don't need to stay there. In fact, he already has something in mind. Within nothing tying them down in Hawkins, he has a job offer in Montauk, New York as their chief of police. The kids would be closer and they can start fresh, together.

Hopper and Joyce don't need to decide right then and there, but there is one point he needs her to decide on. As he drops to one knee and nods to the band, he asks her to marry him. There's no hesitation when she says yes, takes his hand, and shares their first dance as an engaged couple.

Answer: Play 'Dungeons & Dragons'

On the night of their graduation, the group doesn't go to the afterparty. Instead, they head to the Wheeler house, seating themselves around the table for the culmination of Mike's 'Dungeons & Dragons' campaign, facing off against Strahd in one last battle. In the end of it, the kids are frustrated; only Will remains as the surviving party member, and he can't do enough damage to take out the villain, much to the group's frustration. While the others concede, Max angrily starts to destroy things in the room. Will is just about to make his final roll when Dustin stops him, remembering that they can call upon a mage to help them in their time of need. Fortunately, the plan works. A mage emerges from the mist, blasting Strahd with a beam of light, ending the campaign with a win as the party lives out their lives in comfort, wealth, and happiness.

Max criticizes Mike for the trite ending, claiming that a master storyteller would see them off with greater panache, and it leads him to revise their conclusion. Mike says the happiness and comfort part is true. Lucas' knight and Max's zoomer retire from battle and settle down together, their love growing stronger with each passing day. Dustin's bard, craving knowledge, spends his days in study, and while he's devoted to his studies, he still has time for adventure. Will the Wise travels onward to a new place, finding happiness in a new future where he finds more acceptance. As for the storyteller, he keeps telling his stories, inspired by his friends, and one day he hopes those stories can proliferate. But the one story, about the mage, is the one he can never tell-- the real story at least.

The others have to wonder what the real story is, and he tells them what he believes to be the truth. When the mage cast sunbeam, she expended the last of her energy and she vanished. But no one questioned how she cast that spell when her magic should have been suppressed. In the excitement of battle, no one noticed her cleverness. She tricked everyone-- the evil-doers and her friends-- escaping while her sister cast one final illusory spell. Mike would like to believe that while no one knows where she went, she took herself somewhere beautiful and far away, a small town to call home, safe from harm. At last, she can find peace and happiness.

Karen calls the group up for dinner and they pack their things, wiping away their tears. As they place their campaign books on the shelf and leave the basement, Holly and her friends rush past, taking their seat at the table to start their own campaign.