The shocking news about Mrs. Baxter happens right after Episode 9 of Stranger Things: Tales from ’85. Dustin runs back to the garage to keep things in order and tells the group to go home for now.
Dustin tells everyone that Mrs. Baxter is now their main suspect in all the strange things that have been happening as they leave and say goodbye to Nikki. Mrs. Baxter, on the other hand, decides to leave town on her own and tells her daughter she has until the evening to pack up and go with her.
Nikki is torn. Even though they had talked about leaving before, she now wants to stay. She goes to Mike’s house and goes down to the basement, where she tells the group what’s going on.
This news comes just after the group agrees to look into whether or not Mrs. Baxter is connected to the strange vines. They start to think she has lost control of what she made and is now trying to get rid of the proof before she disappears.
Dustin gets Nikki to keep her mother busy long enough for the group to look around her house. They think they might be able to find proof that she is connected to the strange things that have been happening. Their theory gets stronger when they find a tree outside Nikki’s house that looks just like the one in Charlie and Rosario’s visions.
The group finds the source in a creepy, hidden greenhouse behind the house. Will and Max look for things in the office while Dustin and Lucas sneak inside. Inside, they find video of the vines and clear proof that Mrs. Baxter was involved.
But things outside get dangerous. Nikki puts on her headphones, which starts a chain reaction without her knowing it. The last green thing reacts, sending particles into the sewer system, where the mutants can find them.
The group meets up again at the house and finds a hidden lab under the greenhouse. They use a walkie-talkie to get in touch with Mike and tell him and Eleven everything they have found, such as the strange green substance that seems to bring plants back to life.
Not long after that, the mutants attack the car that Mike and the others are in. At the same time, the rest of the group goes down to the underground lab and finds a “Queen” creature in a glass containment unit. The symbols and sketches they had seen before match what they find.
The group fights the mutants in a coordinated way. Eleven is in charge of the fight, but things get worse even though they try to stop it. Mrs. Baxter finally hits the last creature with her car, which stops the attack for a while.
Just when it looks like things are under control, something else comes up. Mrs. Baxter says she is not the real mastermind when asked. She says that Daniel is the real scientist who stole her serum and is to blame for everything. Daniel then comes out of the lab, grabs the kids, and shows how angry he is.
The vines pull Eleven away in the middle of the chaos and down into the sewers, putting the group in a lot of danger as the end of the story approaches.
Review of the Episode
Mrs. Baxter is revealed to be a red herring in this episode, which is a big twist. Daniel becomes the real villain. It changes what we thought we knew before and adds a new layer to the mystery of Hawkins and the experiments that have to do with the vines.
But it also makes people think. If Daniel worked at Hawkins Lab, it seems unlikely that he wouldn’t be watched after what happened before. The finale might need to explain this inconsistency more.
With Eleven now in jail and the group broken up, the last episode is going to be very important. The big question is whether Nikki and the others can get back together in time to stop Daniel and save Eleven.
