5 Things I Like
5. Will’s Coming of Age
Will is a bit sidelined this season, along with the rest of the California crew. But when he’s on screen, he has quite the emotional journey.
Not only does Will’s presumed queerness come to the forefront, as he has a couple of heart wrenching scenes with oblivious Mike. But he comforts Mike, who’s afraid he’s losing El, while delivering these tender monologues and dying a little on the inside.
Something beautiful comes out of Will’s pain, though…
Jonathan, whose relationship with Nancy is on the rocks and who’s having a rough go of it, has always been at his best as Will’s big brother and protector. And we get to see him step up as a big brother again. He sees what Mike fails to recognize about Will’s pain, and he makes it clear he’ll aways be there for Will. Amazingly, one of the most emotional scenes of the season is between these two in a pizza kitchen.
4. Everybody’s Best Friend
I’ve come all the way around on Steve from where I started with him in Season 1. He’s had one of the best character arcs, and he has fantastic chemistry with anyone he’s paired with.
We get more of him and Dustin, his admirer/protégé/little brother figure. And we get more of Steve and Robin, his platonic female best friend.
We also get just a handful of scenes with Steve and Eddie, but they’re really strong. As Eddie points out, they’re natural enemies, and Eddie has a hard time accepting Steve is a good dude. That makes their scenes all the more resonant.
Most surprising, though, is that I came to enjoy his scenes with Nancy. I never would’ve guessed I’d be happy to revisit the possibility of Steve and Nancy getting back together. Not because I’m so invested in Nancy and Jonathan, but because I’ve never cared much about either relationship. But Steve has grown so much that him sharing his dream with Nancy of driving around in an RV with a big family one day—and later telling her that she’s always part of that dream—is really sweet.
Steve’s growth, and his difference from Jonathan, is never more stark than during Jonathan and Nancy’s awkward reunion in the finale, when Jonathan says something about Steve needing a babysitter. It’s so clear Steve is acting like way more of a grownup than Jonathan now.
So, yeah, good on Steve for becoming one of my favorite characters on the show.
3. Hello and Goodbye, Eddie Munson
Eddie is a great new character, and it’s a bummer that he dies at the end of the season. But man, does he go out in a blaze of glory. His epic rendition of “Master of Puppets” in the Upside Down plays a key part in the fight against Vecna. And in the end, he runs toward danger, not away from it. He gets to die proud of himself, maybe for the first time in his life.
But his death wouldn’t be nearly as meaningful if we hadn’t fallen for Eddie throughout the season.
He’s a lot like an older version of the main boys. He’s an underdog. And although I thought at first that I wasn’t going to like him, based on his cafeteria theatrics in his first scene, I was on board with him by the end of the season premiere, after his great scene selling drugs to Chrissy in the woods.
Deep down, Eddie is a tenderhearted guy. He’s a weirdo, but not a freak. And he becomes a hero.
2. The Trials of Max
Max is front and center for much of this season. Her guilt over Billy’s death puts her in a different emotional state from where we’ve ever seen her. She’s broken up with Lucas, and she’s pulling away from all her friends.
But, that guilt, and the grief it causes, put her directly in Vecna’s crosshairs, which brings her back in the fold. This gives us some incredible scenes, like her famous near-death scene in the graveyard (and Vecna’s mind lair), set to “Running up That Hill.”
And it gives us some quieter moments with Lucas—my favorite of which is in the Creel house, when he asks her out and she says yes through writing on pads, in total silence.
Now, because Vecna nearly kills her again in the finale, I’m dying to know what happens with Max next season. Will she recover her sight? Will she recover at all?
1. Vecna Brings the Horror
I’m so impressed and pleased with how the show doubles down on horror this season. A lot of that has to do with Vecna, who’s the scariest villain the kids have faced. It helps having a humanoid monster, as opposed to the Mind Flayer possessing others, or being in black smoke form. And the Mind Flayer’s monster from Season 3 is scary, but this is a different type of scary.
Vecna’s entire history really starts to flesh out the show’s mythology, too. I was skeptical when this season kicked off with a flashback to the massacre at Hawkins Lab—something we knew nothing about prior. And as we kept revisiting those scenes, I was never sure they were going to land the plane. But they tie everything together brilliantly by making the friendly orderly at the lab the original kid with powers (#1)… and Victor Creel’s son… and Vecna himself. I never even expected Vecna to have been someone else from the show first, but they make it make sense.
We also see more of the Upside Down than ever this season. I’m always game for spending time there. Plus, we learn a little more about its history when we see that El actually opened a gate prior to Season 1 when she banished Vecna there.
3 Things I’m Mixed On
3. Jason and the Satanic Panic
As Jason becomes more convinced of Eddie’s guilt and of Hellfire’s satanic pursuits, he becomes a scary villain in his own right. He has a harrowing confrontation with Nancy at the gun store.
But I don’t like the way his fight with Lucas in the Creel attic plays out, where he whoops Lucas’ ass for quite awhile but then gets knocked out by a couple of quick shots.
And throughout the season, I couldn’t help but think the whole storyline of jocks vs. geeks/freaks was a little cliché.
2. The Return of Dr. Brenner
I wasn’t a fan of Brenner in Season 1. So I was unhappy when this season started with him, and even unhappier when I found out for sure he wouldn’t just be in flashbacks but was somehow still alive.
That said, he grew on me.
I didn’t love all the scenes at the bunker with him, El, and Dr. Owens. But I did come to see him as a much more complicated figure.
I think he’s a man who has a fundamental misunderstanding of love—but who does love El the only way he knows how, while still doing terrible things to her and even treating her as his property.
I also like the way he goes out. Not the military intervention and big shootout. But he helps El with one of his dying gestures. And, in turn, despite her complex feelings toward him, El doesn’t give him the validation as a father he desperately craves. That’s one of her finest moments, and it couldn’t have come if Brenner hadn’t been back in our story.
1. The American in Russia
I still think it was an awful decision at the end of last season to tease that Hopper was still alive in the very same episode in which they just killed him off. That put this storyline behind the eight ball from the jump.
Once we got the official reveal of Hopper surviving and being captured by the Soviets, they also dragged this on way too long. I just wanted to see him back in Hawkins, dealing with Vecna and fighting alongside the kids.
But as much as I’m inclined to knock this whole storyline because of that, I have to give it its due. If not for Eddie, Enzo would’ve been my clear favorite new character. (Sorry, Argyle.) He and Hopper have tremendous chemistry, and their conversations about life, and love, and especially about fatherhood are special.
From there, it’s cool to see them fight a Demogorgon side by side.
Unfortunately, that fight, plus their battle against the escaped Demodogs after they break back into the prison, isn’t a sufficient replacement for having them in the real fight, even if what they do here helps the kids in Hawkins and in the Upside Down.
4 Things I Don’t Like
4. Where Are the Parents?
I harped on this in the last few episodes, because there are clear examples of the parents knowing their kids are in danger, but then us not getting any follow-up on the parents trying to protect them, or at least find out what they’re up to.
This feels more like a writers’ decision to not give the parents more screen time, rather than writing the parents as uncaring or negligent. But if that’s the case, it’s a poor choice.
Even with their lack of understanding of what’s really going on in Hawkins, they still believe there’s a murderer loose in town who’s killing teens, and their kids were out past curfew at the scene of one of the murders the night after it happened. So it comes off negligent if we don’t have more involvement from the parents by now.
3. Mike Can’t Say “I Love You”
I knocked this when I first saw it become an issue between Mike and El because it came out of nowhere. It feels like they made it up just so, when Mike finally tells El he loves her during the piggyback, it gives her the upper hand against Vecna. But it’s not true to Mike. He may be an oblivious dipshit, but it’s always been clear he’s in love with El.
2. Jonathan’s Lies
I haven’t been overly invested in Jonathan and Nancy’s relationship since Season 1. And as I said earlier, Jonathan is at his best when he’s looking out for Will.
But they did him dirty here.
The way he rationalizes lying to Nancy about college, and how he’s okay letting their relationship slowly fade away, is moronic. I hate everything about the way he acts this season except when it relates to Will.
1. More Stalling
I won’t belabor this point because it’s so closely related to Hopper’s time in Russia. But Yuri double crossing Joyce and Murray—and Hopper and Enzo—is egregious stalling. I was so mad when I realized he was playing them, and not because he’s a villain, but because I thought we’d wrap up these storylines and get everyone back to Hawkins for the finale.
Joyce and Murray have a good rapport. And Yuri is entertaining enough. But there’s nothing as compelling here as Hopper’s budding friendship with Enzo to lift it out of this category.
Tim Matassa
