First Things First…
I didn’t even address the end of the episode—when Dustin hears a creature rattling around in his garbage can and opens it to see what’s there—in my last review. It didn’t really register for me in any way. But based on the title of this episode, I assume whatever he found is the Pollywog. And it’s probably important. So let’s see what this is all about!
5 Things I Like
5. Calling Out Hopper’s BS
“Friends don’t lie. You say ‘soon’ on Day 21. You say ‘soon’ on Day 205. You now say ‘soon’ on Day 326? When is ‘soon’?”
El
El is still pissed at Hopper for messing up on Halloween, after not letting her go trick-or-treating in the first place. And she puts the screws to him.
Hopper seems heartfelt at first when he tells El she’ll see Mike soon. But when she presses him, he’s evasive.
Here’s the thing…
“Soon” is one of those words adults throw around that don’t actually mean anything—when they have no intention on delivering soon, if ever.
Now, I don’t think there’s anything malicious in how Hopper is treating El. He’s not trying to mess with her emotions. And it really is dangerous for her to go out and risk getting found.
But she pushes and pushes on this issue in a way he’s not prepared for. And I’m glad.
As much of a sacrifice as Hopper is making by taking care of her and hiding her, he’s also not being honest or fair to El. And it seems like he takes for granted that since he’s taken on this “burden,” that should be enough.
The truth is that if he’s going to take her on, there’s more to it than just providing her protection, food, and shelter.
Of course, those are the necessities. But let’s face it—her life still sucks. She’s lonely as hell. And he knows it.
But as much as he’s doing his best to keep her safe, he’s also doing his best to ignore her loneliness because he doesn’t know how to fix it.
But this is his responsibility, too. It’s about time he owns that.
4. Planting the Seeds of a Beautiful Friendship
As El finally decides to rebel and foolishly leaves the cabin and shows up at school, we get more flashbacks to when Hopper first took her in.
These are sweet memories of some of their first interactions—of turning the cabin into a home, of setting up safeguards like all the locks on the door and the trip wire outside, of teaching her Morse code. We also get the Don’t Be Stupid Rules.
Then there’s a tender flashback of El asking if she has a mother. Hopper tells her of course, but that her mother is gone.
It’s nice to see how much Hopper cares. Because despite everything I just wrote in the previous point, whether or not he cares shouldn’t be questioned.
3. The Pollywog
The Pollywog starts out cute—kind of—but soon causes all kinds of trouble.
For one thing, it’s rapidly growing and mutating.
For another, it’s obviously from the Upside Down. Is this actually something Will puked up? Or the same type of creature?
I’m not sure yet, but he’s freaked out by it, and Mike and Lucas buy into what Will says right away. The only who doesn’t is Dustin, who found the Pollywog and has become way too attached already.
I’m anxious to see how this plays out—both in terms of how it affects their group dynamics, which are already tenuous, and if the Pollywog starts causing even bigger trouble as it continues to grow.
2. Will’s Vision
I still don’t know how to explain the episodes Will is experiencing any more than the characters do.
Are these visions? Is he getting glimpses into the Upside Down? Is he really transporting there—physically or psychically?
And did this giant smoky monster really just invade all his face holes?
I liked this as a cliffhanger.
1. Breaking Bad?
I was ready to hate this.
I despise the trope of a character seeing their crush doing precisely the wrong thing or talking to precisely the wrong person at precisely the wrong time. Especially when it’s not at all what they think. It’s always felt like such lazy storytelling to prolong an issue and keep the two people away from each other.
But in this case, something amazing happens…
El walks up to the gym and sees Mike and Max just when they finally start getting along, and it looks like they’re into each other. She’s clearly upset…
But instead of running away heartbroken that’s she’s missed her chance, El uses her powers to hurl Max off her skateboard.
Max doesn’t really get hurt. It’s more the idea that El would do that at all.
I commented a lot during Season One about how much she uses her powers to hurt people—that at some point she’ll need to reckon with all the people she’s hurt or killed. But to this point, they’ve all been bad guys. It’s been people from the lab imprisoning her or trying to recapture her, or bullies.
And when she hurt Lucas in Season One, it was in the heat of a big argument among the group where she lost control. Plus she sends breakfast plates careening at Hopper at the beginning of this episode. But again, that’s in the heat of an argument and seems accidental.
I think this is the first time she intentionally turns her powers on someone who doesn’t deserve it.
I don’t necessarily love the idea of seeing El and Max as rivals whenever El finally comes back to them. But I’m very curious now to see if this affects the path El takes, and if she breaks bad more than this.
3 Things I’m Mixed On
3. Telling the Truth?
I’m not sure what the deal is with Nancy going to Radio Shack. I thought maybe she was going for something that would scramble her voice so she could tell Barb’s parents the truth anonymously. But she calls Barb’s mom and tells her right away that it’s her. Does she realize people are listening on the other end? Is that the point? Is she trying to prove that by seeing who shows up to the meeting place she names? I’m confused by this scene.
2. Bumbling Bob, Bullied by Mr. Baldo and Bringer of Baloney Sandwiches
“What do you say, big guy? Wanna go for a ride in the Bobmobile?”
Bob the Brain
Bob is such a bumbler. I liked him at first and felt he was good for Joyce. Even though it’s clear they’re not right for each other, she needed someone good, caring, and stable. Hopper is only about one-and-a-half of those three, but Bob is all three.
But now, I’m not quite sure what it is. Maybe he’s just too corny… he puts Joyce on too much of a pedestal…
Here’s what he says to Joyce after telling her about the video of Will being bullied by older kids, and her saying she’s gonna kill them:
“That’s what I love about you. You punch back. I was never really one to put up a fight. I struggled a lot like Will when I was a kid. With bullies. It’s the ones like us, that don’t punch back, that people really take advantage of, you know? They rub your nose in it just a little bit more. I don’t know why they do that. Maybe it makes them feel powerful. I don’t know. But hey, look at me now. I get to date Joyce Byers. Ha! Are you kidding me? I get to date Joyce Byers. See, it all works out in the end, doesn’t it?”
He’s so nice, and so honest, and so vulnerable, and I want to like him. But it comes off just a little too pathetic.
I mean, he shows up at her job with baloney sandwiches in brown paper bags for them.
Plus, he’s so out of his element giving Will advice about how to handle his problems, no matter how well-intentioned he is. I have to think the monster Will keeps seeing in the Upside Down is at least a level or two beyond Mr. Baldo.
1. Who Runs This Town?
I guess we got some clarification here. Hopper is in cahoots with Paul Reiser’s doctor, which Joyce doesn’t seem to know about. So I’m mostly reserving judgment until it plays out further.
The doc definitely acts like he has power over Hopper. At first he scoffs at the idea of Hopper giving him orders. But Hopper convinces him to run tests on the rotten pumpkins and crops when he says…
“I keep things nice and quiet for you. And you keep your shit out of my town. That is the deal. I have done my part. Now you do yours.”
2 Things I Don’t Like
2. Dustin Acting Like a Moron
“A bond? Just because he likes nougat?”
Mike
I love Dustin, but he’s annoying in this episode.
I guess a lot of people get like this when it comes to their pets. But it’s not just his attachment to Dart, the nougat-loving Pollywog.
Even the way he bursts into Mr. Clarke’s class late, makes a commotion on his way in, then immediately starts having a group discussion with the guys when he sits in the front row. And even after getting called out, he then turns all the way around to talk to Max, who’s in the back of class. He’s got to have developed more discreet ways of communicating with his friends during class. He seems totally incompetent here.
1. More Nancy/Steve Drama
I’m so much more interested in how things will play out with Barb’s parents, and if Nancy will actually tell them the truth, and what that will lead to, than I am about the wedge this issue is driving between Nancy and Steve. It kinda feels like they’d both be better off without each other. At least Steve doesn’t accept her drunkenness as an excuse for her to say whatever she wants and not have it count.
Tim Matassa
