First Things First…
I don’t know how they can top the incredible high of the Vecna reveals. But, being that they released this episode and the season finale separate from the first seven, I think these last two are both gonna cook.
I’m a little hesitant with this title, though. Brenner has traditionally been one of my least favorite characters. And naming an episode after him with only two left worries me. I have to admit, though, I’ve enjoyed him more this season, especially in the last episode. We’ve seen more of his human side, but also some sick shit, like him torturing a child with an electric collar.
I assume we’re going to start bringing everyone back to Hawkins now. The California crew wasn’t even in the last episode, but they’ve got to be coming back. Plus Hopper, Joyce, and Murray (and hopefully Enzo) should finally return from the Soviet Union. Sounds like a party…
7 Things I Like
7. Argyle Comes Through
“Since when did we decide Nina was a physical building and not a small woman? Sounds like a small woman to me.”
Argyle
I’m not the biggest fan of Argyle. No shade, but stoner characters just aren’t typically for me. And he’s been nothing but comic relief so far. But that made it all the sweeter to see him come through in an important way.
Despite his belief that Nina might be a small woman, Argyle is the one who spots the military-grade tire tracks that lead their group right to El when they’re lost in the desert.
6. Robin’s Heartbreak
We hadn’t seen Robin’s crush, Vickie, in quite awhile, but there she is in War Zone—along with seemingly all of Hawkins—with a boyfriend.
Steve still thinks Vickie digs girls, despite her present company. But Robin is crushed.
Of course, she later tries to play it off as unimportant, saying…
“…in the face of the world ending, the stakes of my love life feel spectacularly low.”
But it wouldn’t be a human story if those worldwide, interdimensional stakes weren’t balanced by the very real wants and needs, hopes and dreams, of these characters we love. It’s at precisely a time like this when Robin’s crush, along with all the other relationships and romances among these characters, matter most.
5. Vecna’s Pawn
“I want you to tell Eleven. I want you to tell her everything you see.”
Vecna
There are three things I like about the way Vecna uses Nancy…
- He shows her who he was/is. We saw this during the big reveal last episode, and it continues at the start of this one. She walks through Vecna’s memories. (Or, more accurately, she’s terrorized through Vecna’s memories.) So not only does she learn he was Henry Creel, she also sees him as Number One and learns of Vecna’s connection to El. This means the Hawkins gang can plot immediately, and they don’t have to wait for El to return to learn the truth.
- Vecna shows Nancy visions of what’s yet to come. He reveals his plans. We don’t get a great look at them because the cuts are fast and furious. And there are a lot of chiming grandfather clocks interspersed. But we know he’s coming to Hawkins.
- I also like that Vecna releases Nancy. I thought they might pull the trigger and off Nancy because the only thing that’s broken his curse is music, but they just saved Max that way a few episodes ago. It would’ve been lame if they saved Nancy the same way. Turns out, they don’t have to. I just never considered Vecna would let her go because he’s carrying out his own plans.
4. Secret Demogorgon Cloning Facility? (Plus a Mystery Box)
The facility Hopper and Enzo are being held in is a lot more than just a prison.
On their way out, they find tanks of small Demogorgons suspended in liquid, or amber, or something. Being that we’re still in the 80’s, I’m not sure cloning technology exists yet, but I guess if anyone would have it, it might be a top-secret Soviet lab.
Either way, I don’t know what they’re planning, but it’s more interesting than just having one Demogorgon on site to prey on prisoners.
There’s also a tank with some sort of black smoke. I’m not sure what to make of this, but it seems very Upside Down-ish, and it kinda looks like the black smoke that entered Will in Season 2, which was how the Mind Flayer possessed him. So I’d like to find out.
3. Ready for War
After the big town hall, where Jason riled up the townsfolk, he and his teammates weren’t in the last episode. But they’re back, at War Zone at the same time our crew arrives.
Nancy has a harrowing confrontation with Jason. And I really feared for Erica, because as Lucas’ sister, she’d be high on their list to interrogate. She looks terrified when she spots the jocks and realizes they’re everywhere, no matter what direction she turns. And she’s not one to scare easily.
Plus, who knows what these guys capable of now. Even though I thought more was going to happen than actually happens, it’s a tense scene. The jocks will have to factor into the finale somehow.
2. Saying Goodbye to Papa
“I came here to try and understand who I was. To see if I… if I was the monster. And now I know the truth. It is not me. It is you. You are the monster.”
Eleven
Brenner’s truest motives remain unclear to the very end.
No matter what he says, and what El does or doesn’t believe, I’m not sure we ever get a full picture of who he is. And his complexity is why he grew on me as this season went on.
As best as I can tell, he does love El, in his own way. But that doesn’t stop him from using, manipulating, and gaslighting her to get what he wants.
He really seems to believe his own bullshit when he tells her, “Everything I have done was for your own good. For your own protection,” right after revealing his men have taken Dr. Owens hostage and will kill him if Eleven disobeys and tries to leave.
And as ludicrous as it is to believe he’s so selfless, it’s easier to believe he believes it when, instead of trying to save himself when the military arrive, he carries El out of the bunker and tries to escape with her, only to be gunned down himself.
The irony of his final moments is that every action he takes to protect El only happens because of something reprehensible he’d already done to her.
Like, why does he have to carry her out of the bunker? Because he just drugged her with a sedative to keep her there against her will.
His final action after being shot multiple times is to remotely disengage the electric collar around El’s neck so she can remove it—a collar he put on her while she was unconscious to maintain control over her.
After all the lies and manipulation, but also what may have been very real tenderness we’ve seen from Brenner, it’s only fitting that his sendoff is one of mixed emotions.
When El goes to him as he lays dying (at least, presumably dying—we can’t know for sure), she calls him Papa and leans forward so he can cup her face, then takes his hand.
But when he rambles on and on again about having done everything for her, and calling her his child, and saying he needs her to understand, she refuses to acknowledge that she understands. She absolves him of nothing.
Instead, she sheds a tear, then puts his hand down and says “Goodbye, Papa,” while he’s clearly still alive and cogent.
1. Talking in Code
“These past few months, she’s been so lost without you. It’s just, she’s so different from other people, and… when you’re… when you’re different, sometimes… you feel like a mistake. But you make her feel like she’s not a mistake at all. Like she’s better for being different. And that gives her the courage to fight on.”
Will
It’s kind of amazing, with the season we’ve had, that my top two things of this episode are not from the Hawkins/Vecna storyline and aren’t related to horror.
Will gives Mike an entire speech telling him how much El needs him and how much he means to her, but it’s so painfully obvious he’s really talking about himself and his own feelings for Mike.
It’s heartbreaking because Will gets more emotional as he goes, but Mike either has no idea what’s really behind his words or is being willfully ignorant about it. Either way, Will is staring out the window in tears by the end as Mike smiles, heartened by Will’s words, realizing he’s an important part of El’s life after all.
Meanwhile, Jonathan listens to the whole thing, and the look on his face says it all. He gets it, and he’s crushed for his little brother, who he’s always looked out for and protected. I mean, Jonathan helped save Will from the Mind Flayer. But he can’t save him from this.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. Escaping Siberia
Enzo has made it clear over the past few episodes that even if he and Hopper survived the Demogorgon, they’d still have to escape the prison. Joyce and Murray’s arrival makes it a little easier, but there’s still work to do. So I shouldn’t be surprised that we’re still dealing with them here, and that their escape is still a storyline. But honestly, I would’ve been totally okay if we skipped ahead to them back in the US.
The one saving grace is the cloning stuff. But beyond that, I can’t believe we STILL don’t have them back, and now we’re up to the season finale.
2 Things I Don’t Like
2. Where Are the Parents?
I wrote last time that they’ve got to finally start pulling in the parents, at least to some degree. At this point, it’s getting ridiculous that they’re utterly clueless. And after Lucas, Erica, Dustin, and Max snuck out right under their noses, in the middle of a police interrogation, they can’t just play this off as nothing.
Now, it looks like the kids were gone all night, with no intention of going home until after they fight Vecna, but we don’t check in with the parents at all. No look-in to see if they’re freaking out… or to see what the police are doing to help them find their kids and figure out what the hell is going on…
How do we leave this out? I’m not asking for any long scenes, but this is important enough to see what they’re doing and thinking.
1. Military Intervention
I haven’t written about the military aspect of this season, with Sullivan hunting down El, because their scenes have mostly been short, and I just didn’t have much to say.
But now that it all comes to a head, with a big budget climax where El brings down a helicopter, I have to say, I just don’t care about any of this.
There’s so much plot already that these guys feel extra. Granted, they provide a way out for El after Brenner makes her a prisoner again, but that could’ve been worked around. I don’t think this is a terrible storyline or anything, but it’s unnecessary.
Tim Matassa
