First Things First…
Based on the episode title, I assume we’re going in on the idea of Will spying on the Shadow Monster. I still want to see what happened to him at the end of last episode, though. He reacted like he was being burned alive as the soldiers burned some of the vines in the Upside Down.
Also, how is the Dustin/Steve dynamic going to play out? Is the plan actually to kill Dart with the spiked baseball bat?
Plus, what will Hopper be like after his ordeal in the Upside Down? Will he reunite with El? Will he find out she’s with her mother?
There’s a lot of good stuff to look forward to here. Even the things I wasn’t crazy about, like the plan Jonathan and Nancy hatched with Murray to water down their story—I’m still interested in what happens next.
8 Things I Like
8. Hopper’s Apology: Too Little, Too Late
In the midst of the craziness Hopper has to deal with—first his recovery after he’s rescued, followed immediately by being with Joyce and Will—he finds time to radio home and apologize to El.
And it’s a really strong apology. There’s no pretense of being angry. There’s no holding back how much he cares about her. He realizes none of that matters. He tells her he’s sorry and doesn’t want to lose her. It seems his near-death experience has changed him, and he just wants to do right by El.
The problem is she’s not there to hear it.
She’s actually not in this episode at all—and Hopper still has no idea she’s found her mother. This scene is even more effective because as the camera pans through the cabin while he’s talking, you don’t just see she’s not there—you also see the mess she made, with all his files strewn about. I’m so intrigued how he’ll react when he gets back and realizes what she’s gotten into.
7. Descending into the Pits of Hell
I’m a sucker for the Upside Down. So I loved it when Dr. Owens takes Hopper on an elevator ride. Just the visual of them going down really looks like they’re descending into Hell, and it looks awesome.
6. Hallelujah… They Finally Did It!
“Listen… there’s a pull-out sofa in my study if you want it. But if I were you, I’d just cut the bullshit and share the damn bed.”
Murray
Nancy and Jonathan finally did it, and all it took was a little prodding and surprisingly accurate analysis from Murray, of all people.
(One day when they’re married, they’ll get to tell all their friends that their first time together was in Murray’s bunker 😬)
Seriously, I like the way this played out, with both of them so uncertain—yet so certain—at the same time. When Nancy opens her door that final time, I expected Jonathan to be opening his door too. I didn’t expect him to be right in front of her already. It wasn’t exactly a groundbreaking way of finally getting a “will they or won’t they” couple together, but it was cute.
And in the morning, just classic stuff from Murray when he says…
“So, Jonathan, how was the pull-out?”
5. Dustin’s Mentorship Begins
“It’s not about the hair, man. The key with girls is just… just acting like you don’t care.”
Steve
Dustin and Steve are a funny pair. I like how Steve gives him all this advice about getting girls that he’s been totally unable to follow with Nancy.
Dustin’s cluelessness and innocence are charming too.
But I think what I like most about this—and I can probably say the same thing about the next pair of characters I’ll get to—is that they’re dealing with these issues of the heart, these insecurities, against the backdrop of hunting down an interdimensional monster before it hunts them.
No matter how dire things get—in Hawkins or anywhere else in the world—love and relationships will still cause stress and anxiety, and they’ll still drive people to do crazy things.
4. Mad Max & the Stalker
I don’t think Max has any choice now but to believe Lucas.
I’m glad this shared experience—harrowing as it is—has brought them together. Max actually opens up to Lucas about why she and Billy came to Hawkins from California, and how Billy takes his anger out on her. Lucas manages to comfort her by telling her how awesome and smart she is. He definitely does NOT act like he doesn’t care. And yet we see after the attack on the bus that they had been holding hands in the heat of the moment.
Now the question is, will this drive a wedge between Lucas and Dustin?
3. Tortured
“No. The soldiers. They shouldn’t have done that. It upset him.”
Will
The cold open continues from the end of the last episode—with Will in unspeakable pain.
Through a crude experiment, we learn for sure that Will’s connection with the Shadow Monster has made him susceptible to get hurt when the vines from the Upside Down are harmed.
Through everything Will is forced to endure, Noah Schnapp once again proves himself to be an exceptional actor. His anguish feels so real that it’s actually hard to watch, especially when they ask him where it hurts and he screams “EVERYWHERE.”
But he’s also creepy as hell when he wakes up. His words make it sound like he’s himself because he refers to the Shadow Monster as “him,” not “I.” But his tone is so off, and he barely remembers the people around him, that it seems like the monster is in complete control. And that might be the case, based on the next point…
2. The REAL Spy
Will warned us of this, but I didn’t heed his warning. And I don’t think anyone else did, either.
When Mike first said Will could use his connection to spy on the Shadow Monster, Will brought up the fact that it could spy on him too.
We see that play out, but too late, when we realize that Will pointing out where to send the soldiers in the Upside Down to stop the Shadow Monster is all a ruse—something he’s forced to do—to send them to their deaths.
I definitely didn’t catch onto this until it was really happening, but it’s a great revelation.
Also, after the soldiers are killed, what’s coming up out of the Upside Down and into the lab as the episode ends? It doesn’t look like Demogorgons, even though they attack the soldiers. Is there something else?
1. Demogorgons Everywhere!
“Hey! Dickheads! How come the only one helping me out is this random girl?”
Steve
I don’t actually know why there are so many more Demogorgons now. But I love the hunt for Dart. It starts right at the beginning of the episode when Steve goes into Dustin’s cellar to kill Dart, only to find Dart managed to dig through a wall and open a gate into the Upside Down. That’s another revelation I didn’t see coming.
And then another is when Steve puts himself on the line to serve as better bait, only to realize there are more Demogorgons stalking them than just Dart.
When they attack the bus with the kids screaming inside, it’s one of the best, most tense scenes in the entire series so far.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. The Schmuck Cares After All?
Dr. Owens actually seems to have Will’s best interests at heart. He can’t explain the connection to the Shadow Monster any better than anyone else, but he stands up to the other doctors who want to continue immediately with their burn even if it kills Will.
He’s still painting with shades of grey, and I’m not sure what to make of him right now. So I’m throwing him here.
1 Thing I Don’t Like
1. No Qualms About Cheating
I already mentioned that I liked the Nancy/Jonathan scenes and the fact that they finally have sex, but there is one thing worth noting…
Nancy’s feelings for Jonathan are genuine. But when she decides to sleep with him, it seems like Murray’s comments about how she’s afraid to accept herself for who she really is, and how she retreats to Steve, have stuck in her craw. That’s what gets her out of bed and to open that door.
Despite the fact that Murray is almost certainly right—she doesn’t really love Steve—Nancy still seems like a girl who wouldn’t want to cheat on her boyfriend. Now, we don’t know her every inner thought, but as far as we see, this never even crosses her mind.
I’m not saying it’s unrealistic for her to have gone through with it. But I think she would’ve struggled much more with the idea of whether she was okay with cheating.
Tim Matassa
