First Things First…
Amazingly, we’re already through a quarter of the season. Last episode was good, but now I’d like to understand more of the mystery. What’s up with the rats? What are the monsters they’re forming into? What is Billy supposed to build? Is this all the Mind Flayer at work, or is there something else from the Upside Down? And how do the Russian scientists play into everything?
At the same time, I’m desperately hoping we get back a more normal Hopper. And I’m curious if Mike and El will get back together right away. I can’t imagine her dumping him is meant to be too serious or long-lasting, but I guess we’ll see.
4 Things I Like
4. The Perfect Girl Right in Front of You
Dustin is a wise young man. It doesn’t take him long to spot that Robin is awesome. And he has no problem sharing this with Steve, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.
I think Steve and Robin would make a good match, even if she’s not Steve’s “type.”
After all, as Dustin argues…
“What’s your type again? Not awesome?”
Robin seems more likely to call Steve on his BS quickly, and without beating around the bush, as opposed to Nancy, who’d act passive-aggressively whle pretending everything was great until she got drunk and her real feelings would spill out.
But this isn’t about dunking on Nancy. It’s about Robin being a great addition to the cast so far.
3. Creepy Investigations
There’s a lot of creepy investigating going on in this episode.
Hopper and Joyce head back to Hawkins Lab, which is boarded and chained up. Seeing that place abandoned and dark, with all the damage done by the Demogorgons still present, makes it very creepy. And their investigation ends when Hopper gets knocked out by the guy with the motorcycle. I didn’t comment on him last episode, but we saw him in the same place as Hopper twice—at City Hall when Hop was waiting to talk to the mayor, and at the restaurant bar when Hop stumbled out drunk. I assume he’s part of the Russian crew, and that we’ll learn about him soon enough.
Speaking of the Russians, Robin cracks the code! She, Dustin, and Steve participate in some legitimate spycraft and watch a delivery that’s being protected by soldiers with machine guns. And they—stupidly—almost get caught.
Plus, Jonathan and Nancy return to Mrs. Driscoll’s house to see if they can take the rat she captured and show it to the dicks at the newspaper—proof that something messed up is happening. Of course, they don’t know what we know—that that rat exploded. So instead, they arrive and find something even more disturbing—Mrs. Driscoll infected, acting like a rat, eating from a bag of fertilizer.
Lastly, El uses her powers to spy on Billy and gets a lot more than she bargained for when she sees Billy with Heather, the lifeguard he abducted. The scariest moment of the episode is when he sees her, even though she’s not really there in the physical world.
2. He’s Back
Unless I misunderstood, it looks like the Mind Flayer is back, as I feared, and he’s possessing Billy.
I still don’t get how it happened, or how the rats and the rat monster are connected. But it looks like Billy was probably possessed at least partially at the end of the season premiere.
And as he watches El and Max leave Heather’s house, it seems like recognition dawns on him and he realizes El is the one with powers—the one who closed the gate to the Upside Down and—almost, I guess—trapped him away.
As for Heather, maybe we’re revisiting the Hive Mind concept? That was the Mind Flayer’s thing, after all. And it would explain why she does what Billy tells her to and cracks her father over the head with a wine bottle.
I really was hoping for a new villain/monster this season. But using Billy as the Mind Flayer’s vessel is smart because he’s already so unlikable.
1. The Fall of Castle Byers
Through the early part of the season, I felt like Will was getting left behind. He didn’t have a storyline and just seemed like the same old Will, wanting to play D&D all the time while Mike, Lucas, and Dustin all have other things going on. So Noah Schnapp really didn’t have anything to sink his teeth into.
Well, that changes in this episode…
Will calls out Mike for ruining their party and only caring about his girlfriend, at the expense of his friends.
The truth is, they both make some valid points. Mike always acts like a bit of a dick, but he’s not wrong for outgrowing their games.
We really see in Will the pain and sadness that come from growing up, when you and your friends drift apart. Will just wants things to be like they always were. And who can blame him, when he’s lost so much time—first to being trapped in the Upside Down, and then to being possessed by the Mind Flayer.
He wants to be back where he’s most comfortable, doing what he’s comfortable doing, with the people he’s most comfortable with. But that’s not how life works. And in his anguish, he destroys Castle Byers, which we know has always been his sanctuary and represents his individuality.
It’s crushing to watch him destroy something so dear to him—his acknowledgment that life has shifted irreversibly for him and his friends. Their age of innocence is over, whether he’s ready for it or not.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Russians
I keep harping on this, but the Russian angle still feels out of place to me. In a show about the supernatural, having this real-life geopolitical threat from the 80’s to contend with feels less exciting.
1 Thing I Don’t Like
1. Insensitive
“Slow down, slow down. I just want to get this exactly right, okay? You stand me up… no phone call, no apology, because you had to go to Scott Clarke’s house.”
Hopper
Joyce can be single-minded when she’s onto something. And she’s worried about the Upside Down. But she’s oblivious to having stood up Hopper the night before, and also callous and uncaring when he calls her on it. I don’t buy it.
Despite her sudden zealousness about electromagnetic fields, she’s too kind a person to act the way she acts—especially toward Hopper, someone who’s always there for her and her family, and is a longtime friend.
Tim Matassa
