First Things First…
After that bad last episode with Emo El finding Kali and joining her crew, I’m ready to get back to the main story. We’re still on the cliffhanger from Episode 6, with the Demogorgons rising out of the Upside Down into the lab. Now I’m ready for this!
6 Things I Like
6. Dr. Owens, Good Guy
A couple of episodes ago, as it started to look like Dr. Owens was making a face turn, I wasn’t sure what to think.
I’m not convinced he’s 100% a good guy after his actions in this episode. I don’t doubt that there’s more shadiness to him and his role at the lab that’s yet to be uncovered.
But he’s certainly on the good guys’ side here.
He doesn’t just care about Will, either. Dr. Owens is the one using the intercom and cameras to guide Bob through the lab and to the exit after Bob reset the breakers and turned the power back on. And you can tell how seriously he takes it.
I mean, it’s literally a matter of life or death—for Bob. That doesn’t mean Dr. Owens has to care as much as he does. A true villain wouldn’t. But he’s with Bob the whole way. He tells him where to turn, when to stop, when to duck into a broom closet to avoid a monster… he checks on him to make sure he’s okay after a close call… you even see and hear his joy when Bob has the ingenuity to turn on the sprinklers to clear a Demogorgon from a certain area.
Ultimately, it doesn’t work out for Bob. But there’s no lack of trying to help on the part of the good doctor Owens. I hope we see more of this from him.
5. Billy’s Secret (Part One?)
Finally, we see why Billy is such an angry douchebag.
I was tempted to put this in the “Mixed” category, because the bully getting bullied himself by his father is as much of a cliché as all the clichés I’ve been complaining about with Billy this season.
But this scene really worked on me. I actually felt bad for him.
His father doesn’t look like much, but he’s menacing. And cruel. He even casually hurls a gay slur at his son. (Ever since Billy’s scene in the shower with Steve after gym class a few episodes ago, I’ve been wondering if Billy has another secret in that regard, despite portraying himself as a ladies’ man.)
But whether he is or isn’t gay doesn’t matter. The fact that his father calls him what he calls him is awful either way.
Now, I’m so curious how they’ll follow up on this. Earlier in the season, I said I wasn’t interested in a redemption arc for Billy. But this makes me intrigued about what that would look like.
Of course, it won’t be a redemption arc if he keeps telling Max not to hang out with Lucas because he’s the “wrong kind of people.” But we didn’t see any of that here.
4. Possessed
Once again, I can’t help but praise Noah Schnapp as Will.
It must’ve been gratifying for him to have such a meaty role this season after being offscreen most of Season 1.
What’s most impressive is that we usually think of Will as so frail… so easily victimized.
But now, as Will is possessed by the Shadow Monster (or Mind Flayer, which we’ll get to), he’s actually scary. He really seems like there’s malice behind his words. I’m loving his performance.
3. El’s Return
At the start of the season, I never would’ve guessed it would take until the end of the eighth episode—just before the season finale—for El to reunite with Mike and the rest of the crew.
But as this episode was going on, it was becoming clear that they were building toward a moment when she arrives in the nick of time and saves the day—just like she saved them last season.
I wasn’t crazy about that idea—until it happened.
When the dead Demogorgon comes flying through the window, then we see the door unlock without anyone touching it, and in she walks—all of it works.
And of course, seeing her and Mike react to one another is very emotional. Part of me wants to feel like Mike doesn’t deserve this reunion with her after how crappy he’s treated Max all season, but I couldn’t help myself. It’s really well done.
2. Bob Newby, Superhero
Poor Bob. He spends all season as kind of a putz. It’s clear as day that he and Joyce aren’t right for each other, no matter how good to her and the boys he is.
And now, he gets ripped apart by a gaggle of Demogorgons.
But he goes out a hero. Hopefully that’s worth it to him.
Without Bob, the rest of the group wouldn’t have escaped the lab. And he understands when he volunteers to go get the power back on that he’s probably not going to make it out alive, despite his and Dr. Owens’ best efforts.
I was a little mixed on Bob throughout the season. But now that I’ve seen his full arc, I have a feeling that in future rewatches, I’ll appreciate what he brought to the show.
1. Assault on Hawkins Lab
The attack of the Demogorgons is one of the most thrilling scenes the show has done so far.
It starts with the fact that the pit they come up from still looks like the gate into Hell.
Then, they break through the glass Dr. Owens was so sure was impenetrable.
We get a nice callback to the cold open from the series premiere, with lab workers trying to escape from a Demogorgon into an elevator, only for that to become their tomb.
There’s a really cool visual when the main group ducks into a control room, with a bunch of TV monitors. Before the power goes out, those monitors give them a good look at the entire lab—and there’s chaos and death everywhere.
Then of course, there’s Bob’s heroics and attempted escape. Plus, Hopper and Joyce both act heroically in their own rights, all while the Demogorgons are killing basically everyone else in the lab.
1 Thing I’m Mixed On
1. The Mind Flayer
I like the idea behind the Mind Flayer… and the name… and the cool illustration from the Dungeons & Dragons manual.
What I’m a little more skeptical of is the “hive mind” concept.
It would be one thing if it was simply a group of creatures, with one of them being the leader who can control the rest through a hive mind.
But here, there’s the Mind Flayer, or Shadow Monster, itself… connected to the Demogorgons… and connected to the vines… and maybe connected to the entire Upside Down?
I don’t dislike it, but I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around it.
1 Thing I Don’t Like
1. Mistreating Max
Mike is back to being a dick to Max, even though they seemed to have that breakthrough in the gym a few episodes ago. He still doesn’t want her in their party, no matter how helpful she’s been or how much she’s been through with them now.
But it’s not just him…
Dustin actually refers to her as a stranger when yelling at Lucas for telling her the truth.
Now, Dustin might be lashing out because he likes Max, too, while she’s gravitated to Lucas. But either way, everything she said previously about them treating her like shit is still true and still happening. Only Lucas has changed his attitude toward her for the better. Mike is still the same and Dustin is worse.
Tim Matassa
