First Things First…
Only two episodes left in the first season. I wonder if this is one of those shows where the second-to-last episode is the one where everything goes down.
4 Things I Like
4. Breaking Away
My prediction about Steve having a redemption arc looks pretty good.
His face is in a bad way after his beatdown from big, bad Jonathan. But his friendship with Tommy and Carol is even worse off. He finally sees how awful they are, and it looks like they’re done with each other.
Apparently Steve wasn’t even the one to put the graffiti about Nancy on the movie marquee. But he goes to clean it up.
It’s all predictable. But Steve is charming when he’s not being douchey. So I liked seeing him take his first step toward being a better person.
3. Blocked (by His Love of Science)
“You always say we should never stop being curious. To always open any curiosity door we find. Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?”
– Dustin
Good for Mr. Clarke for having such a cute date!
Even better for him if she sticks around after he puts their date on hold… on a Saturday night… to explain to Dustin how to build a sensory deprivation tank over the phone.
I really love his character. I was hoping Dustin would actually tell him what’s going on. You know he’d geek out over a parallel universe. And he’s smart enough to be useful… not to mention caring.
Yeah, he’d be a great part of the team.
That’s my hope for Season Two — get Mr. Clarke in on monster hunting and infiltrating the Upside Down.
2. Going Back
El has a lot of guts for willingly getting in that makeshift water tank, tapping into the Upside Down, and finding Will. (And Barb… poor Barb.)
It’s a cool scene as we go back and forth between her consciousness in the Upside Down (first in total darkness, then seeing more of it appear) and her body in the real world, where she’s in the tank, surrounded by the group, and Joyce is holding onto her.
It’s also a nice touch how Joyce’s voice echoes and El hears her while she’s in the Upside Down.
I still can’t get over what a cool concept the Upside Down is. So I’m loving it every time I get to even glimpse it.
1. Fugitives
The opening chase scene is the best scene of the episode, though.
It’s especially tense considering the kids are on bikes — and Mike has the weight of an extra person on his — and the bad guys are in vans.
El flipping one of the vans is obviously the big action piece. But the whole thing is well done because they can never quite put enough distance between themselves and the vans. And they’re rightfully freaking out.
Even with El hiding out in Mike’s basement, all the weird stuff going on might not have seemed that real to the boys. But now, with these guys on their asses and the distinct possibility of all getting captured and taken to the lab, it’s very real.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Barb’s Really Gone
El’s discovery of Barb’s decaying corpse in the Upside Down is way more grotesque than I expected. The horror fan in me loves that.
But I still can’t believe she’s in the show so little. I said early on that I was surprised she gets taken so early in the season. She was one of the breakout stars when the show first aired. And even though her dying got spoiled for me years ago, I still figured it’d be closer to the end of the season. I’m bummed we didn’t get more time with her.
3 Things I Don’t Like
3. Brother and Sister Coming Together
This whole situation has finally brought Nancy and Mike together. They’ve each lost a best friend in the Upside Down — one permanently, and one remains to be seen.
But I never felt any particular way about Mike and Nancy not getting along most of the season. So I didn’t feel any emotional connection to them making up.
It’s kind of amusing that maybe Nancy and definitely Mike start lying immediately after agreeing they’d have no more secrets from one another. But even that agreement doesn’t make sense. It’s good that the tragedy brings them together, but I don’t see why telling each other everything is a good solution.
2. Lucas’s Apology
It’s cool to have Lucas back on board. And for him to be nice to El for the first time all season. But why is he apologizing, exactly? Is it simply seeing how dangerous the lab looks, and the caravan of “bad men” take off for his neighborhood, that suddenly makes him understand why El wouldn’t go back? Does he even realize she was a prisoner there? I wish he would’ve taken an extra few seconds to tell her why he was wrong.
1. Meet the Wheelers
I didn’t enjoy any of the scenes with Mike and Nancy’s parents and the people from the lab.
Brenner in particular has left me cold all season. What he does to El is terrible. But I’ve yet to find him to be a compelling villain.
Mrs. Wheeler has had some good scenes this season, but they’ve all been with her kids, especially Nancy. Watching her get upset and Ted embarrass himself just doesn’t do it for me.
Final Thoughts
There are two excellent scenes — both where El gets to be the star — but the rest of the episode is just okay. I was surprised to see it’s one of the highest rated from Season One on IMDB. I found it weaker than most of the season. But I’m definitely excited for the finale.
Tim Matassa
