Enzo / Dmitri Antonov (Stranger Things): the Russian guard who saved Hopper in Kamchatka
Character · The Kamchatka guard · Season 4
Enzo is the code name of a Russian guard, Dmitri Antonov, the man who gets Joyce the message that Hopper is alive, and Hopper's only ally in a Kamchatka prison camp. Bought for money, then betrayed, then locked up in turn, he ends up beside the man he was guarding, facing a Demogorgon in an arena. This page brings together everything: who he is, why “Enzo”, his son, Yuri, and what season 4 does with him.
The essentials
- Name: Dmitri Antonov, guard at the Kamchatka prison camp
- Code name: “Enzo,” from the restaurant where Hopper and Joyce were supposed to have dinner
- Appearance: season 4 (March 1986)
- Motivation: money for his son Mikhail, then survival
- Ties: Jim Hopper, Yuri Ismaylov, Joyce and Murray
- Played by: Tom Wlaschiha
- Status: alive; escapes the camp with Hopper, Joyce, and Murray
Contents
Played by
Tom Wlaschiha
It is Tom Wlaschiha who lends his face to Dmitri “Enzo” on the show.
Image: Stranger Things series, via hips.hearstapps.com.
Who is Enzo?
The name first appears on a scrap of paper hidden in a Russian doll delivered to Lenora Hills in March 1986: a phone number, and a signature, “Enzo.” Joyce understands at once. Enzo's is the restaurant where Hopper had invited her to dinner in 1985, and where he never showed. Nobody else knew that name. Hopper is alive, and he found a man to say so.
This man's name is Dmitri Antonov. A guard in a Kamchatka prison camp, in Siberia, he agreed to get Hopper out for forty thousand dollars, to give his son, Mikhail, a life. He is neither a hero nor a traitor: a corrupt official who wants to leave. The show will make much more of him.
When the plan fails, betrayed by the smuggler Yuri, Dmitri is arrested and thrown into Hopper's cell. The two men, the guard and the prisoner, become companions in captivity, then in escape, then in the arena. Enzo is the most human Russian character on the show, and the only one who leaves it free.
You have to remember what the Russians are in the show before him. In 1985 they are uniforms under a mall, a machine, a killer in a raincoat. Dmitri is the first to have a name, a son, a price, and a sense of humor. Season 4 spends long scenes in his prison, and it is through him that the Kamchatka camp stops being a backdrop and becomes a place where men live, cheat, and hope.
His duo with Hopper is also the mirror of the other duos of the season: Steve and Dustin, Robin and Nancy, Joyce and Murray. Two people who do not look alike, stuck together, and who end up trusting each other because they have no choice. The show loves this mechanism, and it pushes it here to the end of the world.
Why “Enzo”Enzo's is the Italian restaurant in Hawkins where Hopper had made a date with Joyce in the summer of 1985, and where he left her alone at the table to go investigate. When he picks a code name from his cell, he takes that one: a word Joyce, and she alone, will recognize. The missed date becomes the message that makes her cross the world.
In the shop: a piece from the show's universe that goes with this file, chosen by us.
In the shopMen's Chief Hopper Hawkins Police T-shirt39,90 €See the product
Enzo in 1986, week after week
March 1986The message
From the camp, Dmitri organizes the sending of a doll to Joyce with a phone number. She calls; he answers. He demands forty thousand dollars, to be delivered to a smuggler in Alaska, Yuri Ismaylov, in exchange for Hopper's release. Joyce and Murray raise the money, selling what they can, and fly to Alaska without telling anyone.
March 1986The betrayal
Hopper tries to escape during forced labor, with Dmitri's help. He almost makes it: he reaches the meeting point, an abandoned church, where Yuri is supposed to pick him up. But Yuri has sold everyone out: he hands Hopper to the Russians, turns in Dmitri, and plans to sell Joyce and Murray. Dmitri is arrested and locked up with the man he was helping to flee.
March 1986The arena
The guards take the prisoners, Hopper and Dmitri included, into an underground arena, and release a Demogorgon. The other inmates die. Hopper and Dmitri survive, thanks to fire and the arrival of Joyce and Murray, disguised as Yuri and his prisoner. The small group escapes, finds Yuri's plane, and discovers that the Russians are keeping other creatures in the camp.
March 1986The return to the camp
On the night of the battle of Hawkins, Hopper, Joyce, Murray, and Dmitri go back into the prison to weaken the hive: they burn the creatures with a flamethrower while, on the other side of the world, the group attacks Vecna. Dmitri leaves the camp free, with the promised money, and disappears from the show on that escape. Season 5 does not bring him back: for once, the show lets a character leave without drama, with what he came to find, and a son somewhere waiting for him. It is the gentlest ending a Russian has ever had in Hawkins.
What defines him
Mikhail, of whom we only see the name. All of Dmitri's corruption sits in a child to whom he wants to offer a life other than Siberia.
He helps Hopper for the money, then because they share a cell. Enzo becomes an ally by force of circumstance, and stays one by choice.
He mocks the American, his plans, his optimism. In the bleakest camp on the show, Dmitri is the one who laughs.
Corrupted, betrayed, imprisoned, thrown into an arena: he comes out of it all. The only Russian on the show that the story spares.
Key moments
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The doll
A folded paper, a number, a name. Joyce reads it, and her life turns over for the second time.
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The phone call
Dmitri, in an office at the camp, answers an unknown woman in California and sets his price. The first Russian on the show you hear negotiating.
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The abandoned church
Hopper waits for Yuri there. Yuri arrives with soldiers. Dmitri, a few kilometers away, does not know yet.
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The shared cell
The guard thrown into the prisoner's cell. Two men who owe each other nothing, and who are going to save each other's lives.
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The flamethrower
Back in the camp, he burns the creatures alongside Hopper. The corrupt soldier has become a wartime ally.
Another piece from the selection: a piece from the show's universe that goes with this file.
In the shopLego bearded Jim Hopper mini figure14,90 €See the product
Their ties
| Person | What he or she is to Dmitri | The key moment |
|---|---|---|
| Jim Hopper | The prisoner he sells, then with whom he survives | The arena |
| Mikhail | The son he does everything for | The price of forty thousand dollars |
| Yuri Ismaylov | The smuggler who betrays him | The abandoned church |
| Joyce and Murray | The Americans who come, in disguise, to get him out | The camp, in a Russian uniform |
| The camp guards | His former colleagues, who have become his jailers | The arrest |
Not to be confused
| People often say | In reality | The landmark |
|---|---|---|
| Enzo is a Hawkins restaurant | It is Dmitri's code name, after that restaurant | The matryoshka doll |
| Enzo betrays Hopper | It is Yuri who betrays them both | The abandoned church |
| Enzo dies in the arena | He survives and escapes with Hopper | The return to the camp with the flamethrower |
| Enzo comes back in season 5 | No; his story ends with the 1986 escape | Season 4 |
A rarer confusion: Dmitri is not Alexei. Alexei is the Russian scientist kidnapped by Hopper in 1985, who liked slushies and who dies at the fair. Dmitri is the 1986 guard, who lives. Both are the sympathetic Russians on the show, and both have the merit of having given Hopper an opponent who became a friend.
Our Enzo products
The Kamchatka camp marked fans of season 4: posters and T-shirts inspired by the matryoshka doll and Hopper's escape. We pick every piece ourselves, and claim nothing beyond our passion for the show.
To go with your reading: a piece from the show's universe that goes with this file.
In the shopChibi Jim Hopper hat keychain12,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
Who is Enzo in Stranger Things?
Enzo is the code name of Dmitri Antonov, a guard at the Kamchatka prison camp where Hopper is held in 1986. Bought for forty thousand dollars, he sends Joyce a doll containing a message, then, betrayed by the smuggler Yuri, is locked up with Hopper and escapes with him.
Why is Enzo called Enzo?
After Enzo's, the Hawkins restaurant where Hopper had invited Joyce to dinner in 1985 before leaving her alone at the table. From his cell, Hopper chooses this code name because only Joyce can recognize it. The message signed Enzo proves to her that Hopper is alive.
Does Enzo betray Hopper?
No. It is Yuri Ismaylov, the Alaska smuggler, who sells everyone to the Russians: he hands over Hopper, turns in Dmitri, and tries to sell Joyce and Murray. Dmitri pays for that betrayal by being thrown into the same cell as Hopper, and the two men become allies.
What happens in the Kamchatka arena?
The guards release a Demogorgon on the prisoners, Hopper and Dmitri included. The other inmates die. The two men survive, with fire and an improvised spear, until Joyce and Murray arrive disguised as Russians. The group escapes, then comes back to burn the camp creatures.
Does Enzo come back in season 5?
No. His story ends with the 1986 escape and the return to the camp to burn the creatures. He leaves free, with the money promised for his son Mikhail, and the show does not bring him back.
Who plays Enzo?
Tom Wlaschiha plays Dmitri Antonov in season 4. The images on this page come from the show and its promotion; they remain the property of their rights holders.