First Things First…
I don’t know what the title means, but I’ll wait to see if it comes up in the episode before I google it.
Last episode ended with Tom and Bruce dying in the hospital, but their bodies goo-ifying and reforming the same monster—or same type of monster—we’ve been seeing all season. I still don’t know if that’s the Mind Flayer itself. It seems to be what’s been doing the flayings, but we’ve also seen the monster present alongside Billy and Heather possessed, so I’m still confused about how it all works. But if it IS the Mind Flayer, Jonathan and Nancy are face to face with it. I wonder if one or both will get flayed.
Also, we left Steve, Dustin, Robin, and Erica under the mall, in hostile territory, looking at the machine that’s opening a new gate to the Upside Down. Steve and Dustin know what it is, of course. I’m not sure what’s going to happen here. Will they find a way out, or is this where they get captured?
7 Things I Like
7. Lucas’ Pride in Mike
I’ll have more to say about Mike professing his love for El in a minute. But here’s a related point…
When Mike says he loves El, Max and Nancy both look shocked, but Lucas grins. Not smiles—grins, as if he’s really proud of his friend for admitting something so private and powerful, and for standing up for his girlfriend.
6. Nerd in Disguise
“All the pink in the world can’t disguise the irrefutable fact that centaurs and castles and dragons and magic are all standard nerd tropes. Ergo, My Little Pony is nerdy. Ergo, you, Erica, are a nerd.”
Dustin
I love Erica. But I also love Dustin’s realization when he says, “Holy shit. You’re a nerd.”
He points out that Erica is a math whiz… a political junkie… AND a hardcore My Little Pony fan. Doesn’t get much nerdier than that.
5. Hopper’s Mojo
When Hopper lets Alexei leave with the stolen convertible, Joyce and Murray get more and more agitated, but Hopper stays calm and is sure Alexei won’t actually leave. It cuts back and forth between Hopper explaining why Alexei won’t leave, and Alexei unlocking his handcuffs, getting in the car, starting the car, and beginning to drive off. I thought the whole scene was to make Hopper seem like a dope again. But it turns out he’s right all along. He plays it perfectly and gets to look smart and cool for a change this season.
4. “All for You”
At the end of El’s time in Billy’s mind, she talks directly with Flayed Billy and learns the truth—the Mind Flayer’s entire plan is based around her.
Presumably, the Mind Flayer has known all along he wasn’t yet strong enough to fight El. We see that at the start of the episode. And the episode closes with ALL the flayed making their way to the steelworks warehouse, turning into goo, and being subsumed by the Mind Flayer, which grows every time a new person becomes part of it.
I like how intelligent this plan is. The Mind Flayer battled El last year, knows she’s responsible for opening a gate to the Upside Down in the first place, and almost got trapped back in the Upside Down when she closed the gate. He knows how powerful she is, and he knows he needs a plan to beat her.
3. Ass-Whooping
Speaking of the Mind Flayer’s plan, and knowing he needs to get stronger to battle El…
Their showdown at the start of the episode is way more one-sided than I expected. El whoops his ass.
She’s grown so strong and confident in her powers. She just flings this monster against the walls and ceiling, and then throws him out the window. All this sets up the importance of the Mind Flayer executing his master plan at the end, because at this point, even looking as big and terrifying as he does, he’s obviously not strong enough to fight El yet.
2. March of the Flayed
As we learn about the Mind Flayer’s plan through Billy’s conversation with El, we see all the flayed—beginning with Heather and her mom—activate and march toward the warehouse. They’re mindless zombies at this point who look like they’re dying anyway. This scene looks straight out of a horror movie, and it’s awesome.
1. Arguing About El’s Powers
“I’m just trying to demonstrate how careless Max is with Eleven’s powers. In fact, how careless all of you are. You’re treating her like some kind of machine when she’s not a machine, and I don’t want her to die looking for the flayed when they’ve obviously vanished off the face of the Earth. So can we please just come up with a new plan because I love her and I can’t lose her again.”
Mike
Mike believes Max is careless with El’s powers and is always encouraging El to use them, whether for silly reasons like spying on the boys, or potentially overextending herself by continuing to search for the flayed when they don’t really know how long she can last.
Max throws this back in Mike’s face, though, and says Mike is trying to control El by discouraging her from using her powers.
I like the philosophical question at the heart of this—does El risk using her powers endlessly, not knowing what the repercussions could be, because she might be able to help? Or is it too dangerous?
They both make valid points. And though I tend to side with Mike in believing Max is too careless, Max makes the ultimate point—El has agency to decide for herself.
2 Things I’m Mixed On
2. Steve and Robin’s Heart to Heart
We learn—at the same time Steve learns—that he and Robin have a bit of history. Of course, it’s history only Robin remembers. She recalls having class with Steve, and how she was obsessed with him, but he never noticed her.
It makes sense that they start talking about things like popularity and being cool—the things everyone wants but that are ultimately a huge waste of time—right when they think they’re gonna die. But the stuff about Steve being an asshole back then feels out of place.
Under different circumstances, this could have been powerful. Like, if Steve had convinced Robin to investigate against her better judgment, and she only agreed because she was obsessed with him, it’d make sense to dredge up the muck about what a bad person he’s been. But Steve isn’t responsible for their predicament. He didn’t talk her into helping. She wanted to help.
1. Billy’s Memories
El actually goes into Billy’s mind to see where he’s been and to find the source, where all the flaying started. But she gets a lot more than she bargained for, seeing his memories.
It gives us more insight into Billy when we see him being mistreated by his father even when he was a little boy.
Maybe the point is to make Billy more sympathetic as we know he’s being controlled and isn’t responsible for all the flayed people who are dying in Hawkins. But this scene feels more for the audience’s sake than for El’s sake.
1 Thing I Don’t Like
1. Translating for Smirnoff
The scene where Hopper interrogates Alexei, and Murray translates, could’ve been a lot more fun. Instead, Alexei gives real answers—which we know from the subtitles when he’s speaking Russian—and then Murray translates exactly what he said.
It’s how translation is supposed to work. But it doesn’t work well on TV, because we see most questions get answered the same way twice.
Tim Matassa
