First Things First…
Based on this episode’s title and description, I think we’re finally getting back to Kali. I’ve been waiting to see her again since the season premiere. Ever since then, I’ve been intrigued by the idea that other gifted kids like El are out there.
Of course, we’re revisiting her just as the story has reached a fever pitch. So I don’t love the timing. Especially if we’re putting the Upside Down’s attack on the lab on hold.
2 Things I Like
2. Kali’s Power
When we first met Kali in the season premiere, she made the cops chasing her and her friends see an overpass crumble and block their way, or something like that, and it caused a pileup. I thought to myself then, that’s a pretty cool, useful power to have.
We see it again here. She makes one of her crew see spiders crawling all over himself. (I mean, it’s cruel, but it got his attention and got him to stop harassing El.)
The coolest example is when the cops bust into their hideout. Kali and her crew are out in the open, but she makes the cops unable to see them. They just see the warehouse as empty.
Normally when a story involves mind control, the powered person can control someone else’s actions. In this case, she can make people see a kind of optical illusion, which is a unique spin on an idea that can be conventional.
1. Sisterhood
“Nothing is wrong. I just feel… whole… now. Like… a piece of me was missing, and now it’s not.”
Kali
Things don’t ultimately work out between El and Kali. El seems to realize she’s not vengeful like Kali is. She’s killed when she’s had to, but she doesn’t want to seek out people to hurt. And she has sympathy, even for someone who hurt her.
Still, I like that Kali cares about El.
Yes, she wants to use El’s powers for her crew’s benefit. And she tries to manipulate her. But there’s a bond between them because they went through similar things at the lab. And you see it from the moment El reveals her powers and the number on her arm, and the two embrace.
0 Things I’m Mixed On
3 Things I Don’t Like
3. Him Again?
The Brenner vision is just Kali messing with El. But the dude they hunted insists Brenner is still alive.
I hope that’s not true. I just wasn’t a fan of him in Season One. I don’t want them to find some weird explanation for bringing him back. And since there’s so much evil coming from the Upside Down, I don’t see any reason the doctor from the lab has to come back as some sort of unkillable mastermind.
2. Gas Station Robbery
Kali uses her power to make the gas station attendant think he sees the bathroom flooding, so when he walks away to deal with that, the crew robs the place. But when he comes back out of the bathroom with a gun on them, she doesn’t do anything. Why?
1. This Is Our Payoff?
This is the biggest disappointment I had with the episode—what was even the point?
I’ve mentioned Kali multiple times since the season premiere. Of all the ways they could have opened Season Two following such a successful first season, they chose to use the cold open to introduce Kali, and the idea that there are others from the lab like El out there with powers. That made me think this would be a major storyline with far-reaching implications.
Yet our only payoff is this one episode where El finds Kali—something her mother points her to do—just so she can decide to return to Hawkins?
This seems like a total waste of time—and a waste of a really good idea.
Tim Matassa
