Stranger Things season 3 episode 6: “E Pluribus Unum”, recap and analysis
Season 3 · Episode 6 · E Pluribus Unum
An alarm, a translation, a steelworks. The fact file, the order of the scenes, the ducts, the interrogation room, the Key, then Billy's memory. The hospital and the haggling over the drink fit into a few lines.
Stranger Things season 3 episode 6 runs from July 3 to July 4, 1985. Erica goes through the ducts with Dustin. At Murray's the machine finally has a name. Eleven enters Billy's memory.
The essentials
- Full title: “Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum”
- Original title: “Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum”
- Runtime: 59 minutes
- Directed by: Uta Briesewitz
- Written by: Curtis Gwinn
- Release: Thursday, July 4, 2019, with the whole season
- Story: from July 3 to July 4, 1985
- Cast: Christopher Convery (Billy as a child), Beth Riesgraf (his mother, unnamed), Will Chase (Neil), Arthur Darbinyan (Dr. Zharkov), Misha Kuznetsov (Ozerov)
Contents
The chapter fact file
The title keeps the Latin motto: “Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum”. Uta Briesewitz directs. Curtis Gwinn writes. The director's career is presented alongside the directors of the show. The episode runs 59 minutes. It is released on Thursday, July 4, 2019, with all eight episodes. It is episode 23 of the show.
“E pluribus unum” is a Latin phrase. It means “out of many, one”. It is a traditional motto of the United States, approved in 1782 for the Great Seal. Since 1956 another motto has been adopted: In God We Trust. The Latin phrase is still on the coins. The wiki adds two remarks, on its own: it is said to be the only title in the show that is not in English, and it can refer to hosts merging into one body.
A working title, “The Birthday”, was sixth on a list shown in December 2018. That list is dated December 9, 2018. Andrey Ivchenko plays Grigori, Cary Elwes plays Kline, Peggy Miley plays Mrs. Driscoll. The officer in the room has no rank here: the wiki calls him Ozerov, and its pages disagree on a rank.
Steve in building bricks, blue sailor uniform, red neckerchief, a pink cone in his hand, a yellow bike beside him. It is the outfit he shows in the room.
In the shopBuildable mini figure Steve Harrington Scoops Ahoy14,90 €See the product
From the alarm to the steelworks
At the hospital Will Byers's neck reacts. “He's here.” The creature, born from Tom and Bruce, goes under a door. Eleven throws it through a window. Its remains flee into a sewer. Billy, who was watching, says to Heather “It's time”. The rest is covered in Nancy in season 3.
Under Starcourt the group sees the door held open. The guard, knocked down in the previous chapter, is gone. The alarm goes off. Dustin and Erica shoot into a duct. Steve and Robin are caught.
On the morning of July 4, on the site of the fair, Kline dresses down a carnival man whose stall blocks the main aisle. Grigori blames him for not having found Hopper. Kline talks about a “yellow convertible”. Grigori chokes him and leaves him only “one day”.
The rest takes place on July 4: the ducts, the cabin, the translation at Murray's, the rescue, then the steelworks during the festivities. The hospital scene is on the 3rd. Hopper says “Yesterday in the woods”. Billy stays in his room “on the Fourth of July”.
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Under Starcourt The alarm
Dustin and Erica take a duct. Steve and Robin are caught.
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The hospital The creature escapes
The neck reacts. The remains flee into a sewer.
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In the montage The fair
Kline and Grigori, on the site. “one day”.
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In the ducts Dustin and Erica
The twelve-and-a-half-day calculation, then “You're a nerd”.
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The cabin Eleven finds Billy
She comes out of the Void. “I found him.”
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At Murray's The Key, then the call
The machine has a name. The call goes through a library.
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The room The rescue
The green liquid serves as a diversion. Zharkov is electrocuted.
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The festivities The steelworks
The possessed gather and melt into one body.
Erica and Dustin in the ducts
Dustin sums up two years on the other side for Erica: the fire that kept the creatures at a distance, so Eleven could close the gate. She believes all of it, except the part about her brother. “My brother, Lucas Charles Sinclair?” She does the math: 0.3 miles in nine hours, about ten miles to the elevator, so twelve and a half days. “I'm good with numbers.”
Dustin answers “You're a nerd”. His evidence: math, politics, she does not like communism, and My Little Pony. He recounts the Midnight Castle adventure, where Tirek turns Applejack into a dragon, and declares himself a nerd.
In a room full of barrels they find a cart with no keys. Dustin does not see what is so hard about driving: Max did fine. He looks for a spare key. Erica sees a cage and asks the size. “Nine feet or so.” Dustin finds the keys. She takes an electric prod. “A deadly weapon.” She wants to get Steve and Robin out. Dustin would rather go for help. “Just trust me on this.” She is not interrogated, and she interrogates no one.
Steve and Robin in the room
An officer hits Steve. Steve repeats that he works at Scoops Ahoy and shows his uniform. “Look at my outfit!” He offers ice cream, the “USS Butterscotch”. The soldiers laugh. The wiki sees it as a nod to Chunk in The Goonies. The officer is the one the wiki calls Ozerov. Robin is thrown down beside an unconscious Steve. The wiki writes that she spits in the officer's face.
They are tied to chairs. A pair of scissors is lying around. They fall when they try to reach them. Robin laughs, then brings up Mrs. Click's class, “Mrs. Clickity-Clackity”, sophomore year, first period on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She sat behind him. She mentions his bacon, egg and cheese bagel, and says she was “obsessed”. Steve answers that popularity is not that great. “I liked being your schmuck.” The meaning of that obsession comes in the next chapter, on the page about Robin.
Dr. Zharkov arrives with his injector. “Did you even clean that thing?!” At first they feel nothing, then they laugh. “Morons. They messed up the drug.” Zharkov brings a tool toward Steve's nail. They confess the code, “The week is long”, picked up with Cerebro and decoded “in a day”. Steve drops the name Dustin Henderson. The officer describes him as “small, curly-haired”. According to the wiki Robin confesses, as the nail is about to be pulled. The alarm goes off.
Dustin pours the green liquid through the floor. The wiring is damaged. Ozerov leaves the room. Dustin and Erica come in. Zharkov is electrocuted. The wiki credits the act to Dustin and lists Zharkov as dead. Steve says “Henderson!” He adds that he was just talking about him.
Robin in building bricks, striped shirt, blue vest, red neckerchief, a cone, a green bike beside her.
In the shopBuildable mini figure Robin Buckley Scoops Ahoy14,90 €See the product
At Murray's, Alexei talks about the Key
Hopper brings back two Whoppers, fries, Marlboro and a strawberry Slurpee. Alexei wanted another flavor. “No cherry, no deal.” Hopper throws him out with the keys, then bets he will knock again within thirty seconds: Alexei is more afraid of his own people than of them. Alexei starts the car, cuts the engine and sends word that he likes strawberry too. “Neutron Dance”, by the Pointer Sisters, accompanies the car. The haggling is already covered on the page about Alec Utgoff.
Alexei calls the machine the Key. It demands enormous power. The houses the Russians bought sit close to transformers: they are stealing the town's power. Other Keys failed in Russia. A straw piercing a box serves as a demonstration. They also needed the place where the gate had already been opened, and that was still “healing”. It “is opening”. Murray translates.
Joyce goes to call the children. Alexei asks for the “Looney Tunes”. The wiki notes that he is watching a Woody Woodpecker cartoon, “Buccaneer Woodpecker” (1953). Whisky and vodka arrive, then Edison and Bell: can he turn it off? He answers that Edison knew how to turn off a light. Hopper makes him think of a “Fat Rambo”. The base is an impregnable fortress.
Hopper dials a number Sam Owens gave him. Someone answers: “Philadelphia Public Library”. His code is “Antique Chariot”, kept in his wallet. The message: the Russians are opening the gate, you get in through Starcourt, backup is needed, call back at Murray's. Murray says “You compromised me, Jim”. He will have to move. Joyce calls back as Antique Chariot's partner, “Wheelbarrow”. She demands that Owens come, then orders the return. The episode names no agency: you only hear that front.
Billy's memory
In the cabin Eleven searches for the possessed in the Void. Mike fears for her brain. Nancy calls back, on behalf of the Hawkins Post, the places goods had vanished from: nothing. Max and Mike argue. Mike says he loves her and cannot lose her again. The door opens. “I found him.” Billy is alone in his room, “on the Fourth of July”. It is a trap. Eleven thinks back to the memories of Terry Ives. An echo says “Rainbow… Sunflower”. “I need you to trust me.”
The beach is already covered on the page about Dacre Montgomery. Eleven says she is on a beach, and Lucas objects that there is none in Hawkins. She sees Billy's mother there, “She's… pretty”, then Billy as a child: “It's Billy. It's California. It's a memory.” Then the red storm comes. Inside: Neil at baseball, “You gotta slide!”, the blows, the mother leaving, Billy begging her, teenage Billy hitting other boys, then Maxine introduced as “your new sister”.
In the heart of the storm Eleven finds the steelworks. “Brimborn… Steelworks.” Jonathan finds the address: 6522 Cherry Oak Drive. She thinks she is back. The cabin is empty: she is still in the Void. Billy, in a deep voice: “Now we can all see you.” “You let us in.” They are building something for her. They will kill her, then her friends, then everyone.
During the July 4 festivities, some residents leave the party. The wiki names David and Adam. The possessed converge on the steelworks and melt into the body of the Mind Flayer, which comes out of the basement. The title, “out of many, one”, can be read in this image, according to the wiki. Excerpts from “Satyagraha”, by Philip Glass, act II, “Confrontation and Rescue”, accompany the scene. The page on the music of season 3 already notes it.
Erica in building bricks, light blue overalls over a yellow T-shirt, a slingshot, a blue bike.
In the shopBuildable mini figure Erica Sinclair on a bike14,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
What does “E Pluribus Unum” mean?
It is Latin: “out of many, one”. A traditional motto of the United States, approved in 1782 for the Great Seal. The wiki also sees hosts in it who become one body.
Who saves Steve and Robin?
Dustin and Erica. The green liquid damages the wiring and draws the officer out. They come in. The wiki credits Dr. Zharkov's electrocution to Dustin. Before this moment Erica is not in the room, and she interrogates no one.
What does Alexei reveal about the Key?
The machine demands enormous power. The houses the Russians bought, close to transformers, steal the town's power. Other trials failed in Russia. A straw and a box serve as a demonstration. They also needed the place where the gate was still “healing”. It is opening.
What does Eleven see in Billy's memory?
A beach, in the memory, then a red storm. Inside: Neil, the mother leaving, and Max introduced as a new sister. In the heart of the storm, the Brimborn steelworks, whose address Jonathan finds.
Where is the Mind Flayer hiding?
In the Brimborn steelworks. During the festivities of July 4 the possessed go there and melt into his body. He comes out of the basement. Through Billy's mouth he tells Eleven that she let them in.
Who directs the episode, and how long does it run?
Uta Briesewitz directs. Curtis Gwinn writes. The episode runs 59 minutes. It is released on July 4, 2019.
Why do Steve and Robin laugh?
The serum does not have the expected effect. They say the drug failed. According to the wiki the confession of the code comes when Dr. Zharkov moves toward Steve's nail.
