In 1984, Joyce is happily dating Bob Newby, one of her high school classmates. Still traumatized from the previous year's events, Joyce is overprotective of Will, no longer letting him bike around town by himself. With Hopper, Joyce regularly takes Will to Hawkins Lab, where the lab's doctors monitor his health and state of mind. Given her past experience with the lab, Joyce does not trust its new director, Dr. Sam Owens, who has replaced Brenner following the latter's disappearance.
Joyce grows increasingly worried about Will, who begins having frequent "episodes" where he experiences realistic visions of the Upside Down. Owens tells her that Will is likely experiencing the "anniversary effect" of the previous year's traumatic events. Joyce remains unconvinced, even as Hopper, a Vietnam veteran, also suggests that Will might simply be suffering from PTSD. Hopper arrives at the house and asks if Will can remember anything from his most recent episode. After Joyce promises Will that she will not take him to Owens, Will says that he does not remember anything other than a shadowy figure he had been drawing previously, which the children call the Mind Flayer. Due to Will's inability to adequately describe the monster, Joyce asks if he can draw it. He agrees, but when Joyce and Hopper take a careful look at his pictures, they only see scribbles and lines. Joyce notes that some of the lines connect, which leads her and Hopper to figure out that the drawings form a map of interconnecting tunnels under Hawkins.
