First Things First…
I’m so ready to head to the Upside Down—and for real now, not just in Will’s episodes. Let’s see what kind of trouble Hopper gets into down there (unless, of course, he’s able to get right back out the hole he dropped through).
I’m also dying to know what’s gonna happen with Dart. I mean, there’s a baby Demogorgon on the loose in Hawkins that’s growing rapidly.
And speaking of Dart, I’m also so anxious to see how the Dart situation plays out among the boys. Dustin is gonna have to own up to his lies sooner than later.
6 Things I Like
6. Baby Kali?
When El communicates with her mom and sees glimpses of her past, one thing she sees is herself as a toddler, sitting in a room with another little girl—who looks conspicuously like she could be Kali.
I’ve been waiting for Kali to return since the season premiere. Before then, it had never crossed my mind that there might be other “special” kids like El out there. But ever since we met Kali in the cold open of Season Two, I’ve really wanted to find out more about her. Yet we haven’t seen or heard a thing since.
Until now.
With only three episodes left this season, I have to think she’s about to start factoring in. So (assuming this is her) I was excited to get this tease here.
5. Lucas Goes into Business for Himself
“Listen. I’m gonna tell you the truth about everything that happened last year. But if anyone finds out, you could be arrested. Possibly killed… do you accept the risk?”
Lucas
Truth vs. lies has been a major theme this season. In particular, the mantra “friends don’t lie.”
It’s good to see Lucas take that to heart. He basically incinerates the party’s rulebook by telling Max the truth about Will, El, and the Upside Down. But something tells me he’ll own up to it, rather than lying to those guys.
As for Max’s reactions, I feel bad for Lucas. He obviously likes her and is trying to make things right. Yet she scoffs at him and blows off his whole story—and his effort, and the risk.
That said, I can’t blame her. They HAVE treated her shitty. And it IS an unbelievable story. But like I said last time, she’s grown on me. And I really like her and Lucas together (even if her racist older brother—or step-brother—doesn’t).
4. Spying on the Shadow Monster
“You’re like a spy now. A super-spy. Spying on the Shadow Monster. If you know what he’s seeing and feeling, maybe that’s how we can stop him. Maybe all of this is happening for a reason.”
Mike
Mike’s reframing of Will’s connection to the Shadow Monster makes a lot of sense. It’s similar to Harry’s connection to Voldemort, or even Mina Harker’s connection to Dracula.
And it plays out nicely with Will’s freaky scribbles of the vines/tunnels. As Bob figures out, he’s basically created a map of Hawkins, which means Will has clued us in that the Upside Down is spreading through the entire town.
Of course, despite how the connection helps in this situation, there’s potentially a huge downside. As Will asks…
“What if he figures out we’re spying on him? What if he spies back?”
Considering their connection, can the Shadow Monster harm Will whenever it wants?
This might not have been intentional on the monster’s part, but when the lab people get into the Upside Down and start torching some of the vines, Will starts to violently shake and reacts as if he’s being burned alive. It sure seems like that’s because of their connection.
3. Dart Is a Menace
“I’m sorry. You ate my cat.”
Dustin
This shouldn’t be a surprise. Dart is a literal monster from another dimension.
His best moment is when he spots Dustin through the crack in the shed door when Dustin is trying to hide from him, and when Dustin looks away and then looks back out, Dart is much closer. Classic horror movie stuff.
I’m still curious how he’ll factor into the overall Upside Down storyline this season. I mean, a Demogorgon was the Big Bad of Season One—at least as far as the monsters go, not the humans—but now it’s more about the Shadow Monster and the vines. How will Dart connect to them?
2. Hopper in the Upside Down
Hopper’s time in the Upside Down is frightening.
He’s in a dark tunnel, there are a ton of particles floating that can’t be healthy to inhale, the vines are very much alive and nearly kill him, and he keeps getting spit at by other nasty pieces of the tunnel that must also be alive—and who knows what kind of liquid that is.
Every moment spent in the Upside Down is harrowing.
Also, despite the seriousness of almost losing one of our best characters, the “Hey Bob… Hey Jim” casual greetings after the rescue while still down there are hilarious.
1. Decisive Dustin
Dustin might be a moron who made some terrible decisions about Dart. And now he’s doubling down by continuing to lie about it.
Yet I can’t help but be impressed by how decisively he acts when trying to clean up his mess.
Even though he doesn’t want to tell anyone what he did, his plan for getting his mom out of the way, trapping Dart, and presumably getting Steve to help kill him he does without hesitation. He sells the hell out of his pretend phone call with Mr. McCorkle and is a very convincing liar to his mom. (I know, that’s not normally worthy of praise, but I didn’t think he had it in him to handle this.)
Even in that moment when Dart spots him in the shed and stalks him, Dustin ACTS. Rather than waiting for Dart to attack, he steels himself, opens the door, and comes out swinging his hockey stick.
Plus his persistent Code Red calls, and even the way he talks to Mike’s dad (and basically tells him he’s useless)—he really shows up in this episode.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. El Finds Mama
I guess I’m not totally invested in this storyline. And I’m not going to like it if the only way El can communicate with her mom remains the blindfold method.
But it does feel like a big step forward for her. And if there’s any part of this I’m excited to see play out, it’s Hopper’s reaction. He has no idea El ever pieced together that her mom is still alive, let alone that she’s gone out and found her.
Despite their massive blowup last episode, I wouldn’t be surprised if he feels some sense of betrayal after he upended his whole life to protect El. And I’m sure she’ll feel betrayed, too, because he hid this from her AND lied about it.
2 Things I Don’t Like
2. Everything Is Fine, Nothing to See Here
It was nice to see Bob get a chance to show off that big brain of his.
But knowing how smart he is—and how sensitive—how can Joyce act like a crazy person, ask so much of him, have Will’s scribbles decorating every room of their house, and then just be like, “Nooo, everything’s fine.”
When Bob reminds Joyce that she can talk to him, she’s like, “Yeah… what’s the problem, exactly?” as if this isn’t super weird.
I don’t dislike this because I care so much about her treating him badly. But she can’t be this much of an idiot to think he’s not going to see something is severely wrong.
And she even gives him a rule about not being allowed to ask questions. So clearly everything isn’t fine.
1. Everybody Loves a Nice Watered-Down Drink
I was actually on board with Nancy and Jonathan taking their recording to Murray, the investigator from the season premiere, and seeing what a crackpot conspiracy theorist he is.
They have the smoking gun. They have Dr. Owens admitting culpability for Barb’s death on tape.
But then we get to their solution. And logically it makes sense. Murray tells them how easy it would be to deny or bury the tape when he says…
“Those people, they’re not wired like me and you, okay? They don’t spend their lives trying to get a look at what’s behind the curtain. They like the curtain. It provides them stability, comfort, definition. This… this would open the curtain, and open the curtain behind that curtain, okay? So the minute someone with an ounce of authority calls bullshit, everyone will nod their heads and say, ‘See? Ha! I knew it! It was bullshit.’ That is, if you even get their attention at all.”
And this is a great insight about human nature—how most people prefer their typical “ignorance is bliss” existence to reality. Didn’t The Matrix already teach us this?
So logically, their solution of “watering down” the story to make it more palatable for the public to accept makes sense.
They say they’ll blame Barb’s death on dangerous toxins… a leak from the lab… something scary but familiar…
I just can’t think of anything LESS interesting.
I’d love to see how Hawkins—and the public at large—would react if they put out the full tape and pulled back the curtain on the Upside Down—even if nobody bought it.
Tim Matassa
