First Things First…
What’s so interesting to me is not just finding out if Will is or isn’t dead…
And if the place where Will and Barb are/were is the Upside Down…
But if Eleven really could’ve helped more. It sure seems like she knows Will is alive, and probably knows where he is, but she either can’t or won’t say it.
I still don’t know how the experiments on her are related to the Upside Down and the monsters that have made it into the real world. I’m hoping to learn more here.
And with this episode title, I’m sure it’ll have a lot to do with Will’s fate, one way or another.
3 Things I Like
3. “Pretty”
Eleven hasn’t had much dialogue so far. So Millie Bobby Brown does a lot of acting with her face. And she’s surprisingly good for a kid. Some of her reactions are subtle but really cute.
One of my favorites is when she first sees herself in the mirror wearing makeup and a wig. Even before Mike calls her pretty — which she repeats — her eyes get wide for the first split second as she takes in her reflection in amazement.
I love the purity of her reactions to such basic things. I’m curious to see if she’s going to “normalize” and adjust to the real world as the series goes on. But for now, as much as it’s awful the shit she’s been put through, I enjoy this slightly off-kilter version of her.
2. Exploring the Upside Down
At this point, I’m just going to assume it’s the Upside Down we’re dealing with here. What else would it be?
One of the many mysteries wrapped up in the larger mystery is how there’s this portal — or “rift,” as they call it — right there in the lab.
Even the entryway into this place is scary as shit. And it’s so messy and gross — a total juxtaposition to their sterile lab. But it’s cool that the bad guys at the lab are exploring it.
We don’t get any answers here, though. Just confirmation about how dangerous it is. Only a small piece of Shepherd, the dude who goes in, comes back out.
I imagine they’ll try again. Or other monsters will come out. Or some of our protagonists will go in.
Either way, it’s cool knowing that “door” exists.
1. Hopper’s Dual Personality
Hopper is getting more extreme in his investigative methods. He buys drinks for the trooper who pulled Will’s body from the water, the beats the crap out of him to get answers about why he was someplace he shouldn’t have been… he punches out another government official so he can get to the body in the morgue… and he performs an illegal autopsy.
He’s much more competent and more of a badass than I expected coming in.
At the same time, I love the other side of his personality.
Look at how he treats Joyce at the beginning of the episode. He empathizes her… he tells her he doesn’t think she’s crazy (even as she’s acting batshit insane) … he brings up his daughter’s death to try to bring Joyce back to reality… he even sleeps in his truck in Joyce’s driveway that night to make sure nothing happens to her.
It’s clear Hopper cares — about Joyce, about what happened to Will, and about Hawkins — without ever seeming soft.
2 Thing I’m Mixed On
2. I Guess Nancy Doesn’t Mind Being Spied On
Nancy and Jonathan are teaming up now. In a way, I like the pairing because they can help each other. He seems to have caught a (the?) monster on camera, so Nancy knows she’s not insane for what she thought she saw in the woods, and Jonathan realizes his mom isn’t insane after all.
But she hasn’t said anything about the fact that he spied on her and Steve and the others, and took pictures of them, except to make light of it.
It’s good that he apologizes anyway, but I have a hard time believing she’d act this way. It would be one thing if she was begrudgingly working with him because he might be able to help her find Barb. Or even if she forgave Jonathan. But she just acts like the whole voyeurism incident never even happened.
1. The body
So… is Will’s body stuffed with fluff?
The fact that they have a body at all (it’s hard to tell if it even looks like him, which I guess is standard with corpses) is something I can roll with and wait for an explanation.
But he’s stuffed like a stuffed animal. I don’t know… it’s clearly a big reveal that it’s not actually him, but it comes off a little silly to me.
1 Thing I Don’t Like
1. The bullies
I continue to dislike everything about the bullies. In a show where there’s such nuance with other characters, these two are so one-note. And even when they get their come-uppance — well, when Troy gets his come-uppance when Eleven freezes him and causes him to pee his pants — it’s predictable and not enjoyable.
Final Thoughts
I like how the mystery is slowly being peeled back. This doesn’t hit the high notes of the last episode, but it’s really good.
And we now have four groups investigating for different reasons…
- The boys and Eleven know Will isn’t dead and are trying to figure out how to contact him…
- Joyce knows Will isn’t dead and has been in contact him but doesn’t know how to get to him…
- Hopper is trying to unravel a government conspiracy — without knowing what it’s about, how deep it goes, or how Will’s disappearance is involved…
- And now Nancy and Jonathan have identified the faceless monster in a photo, which indicates a connection between the disappearances of Will and Barb.
For the halfway point of the season, I’m immensely intrigued. There have been enough small reveals while keeping the overall mystery secret.
Tim Matassa
