[7.7/10] My favorite scenes in this one corresponded to my favorite moments in a lot of episodes -- namely the ones between parents and children. They’re the parts of Stranger Things that feels the most real. It’s striking, for a show steeped in alternate planes of existence and extradimensional threats how genuine a lot of those interactions feel.
That’s chiefly felt in the scenes between Eleven and Hopper. There’s such anger at both of them. Hopper is frustrated that Eleven would put herlse fat risk like that, and especially made that she’d disobey him. It comes from a place of love but also of anger. Eleven, for her part, is a typical teenager, wanting her freedom and not liking being cooped up or told what to do. But more than that, she has a lot of baggage from being kept somewhere and told its for her own good, and it’s painful for her to be separated from the people she cares about
So things get real and they get hurtful. Eleven tells Hopper that he’s like Matthew Modine. Hopper threatens to send ehr back to the lab with “one phone call.” Eleven uses her telekinesis to throw a book at Hopper. Hopper rips out the T.V. connection. It’s tense and emotional, especially when things look like they might have cooled down only for Hopper to again play bad cop with his surrogate daughter.
As cute and endearing as their interactions have been up to this point, this episode is hard to watch for being the negative image of that, a scary look at parent and child pushed to the edge, the usual intergenerational disagreements kicked up a notch when one side of the equation possesses supernatural abilities.
That seems likely to become a deeper schism, when in the act of cleaning up the resulting mess, Eleven finds Hopper’s research file on the “Hawkins Lab” and manages to discover her mother. The scene where she traverses that in-between space to find Irene, and this woman she’s never met but somehow knows emerges from her stupor and utters Eleven’s birth name is startling. Watching her then disappear into smoke, as Eleven cries her young eyes out, is heartbreaking. It’s part and parcel with the open wound and harrowing parental interactions we get here.
That extends to Joyce and Will. Their relationship isn’t combative, just one of concern and fear. Joyce is worried that something has happened to her son, something that’s changing him, scaring him, keeping him from being the boy she once knew. Will, for his part, is suffused with some force he doesn’t understand, one that’s giving him thoughts and feelings he’s not prepared for. The way that Joyce is so supportive and nurturing to her son, while clearly deeply afraid herself, mixed with some shockingly good acting from the young performer who plays Will, conveying not just his deep anxiety over what’s happening to him but the sense of being possessed at times, makes for an emotionally potent set of scenes.
But the less emotional material works well too. Let me be frank -- the fact that Nancy and Jonathan’s plan works is ridiculous. Why the feds would be startled enough by the suggestion that they might tell Barb’s parents what’s really up, but wouldn’t search these two nosy teenagers on the way in or the way out strains credulity.
But I like what happens when they’re in the facility. Once again, Paul Resier nicely walks the line between being a cuddly teddy bear and being frightening and threatening. He is the iron fist in the velvet glove, which makes him a compelling replacement for the MAtthew Modine character -- different in temperament but filling the same role in the show.
To the same end, I like that we get his perspective and motivation here -- decrying what his predecessors did as both a major fuck-up and ethically wrong, but also emphasizing the importance of cleaning up that mess by any means necessary. That means “clearing the weeds” of their bridge to the Upside Down every day, and it means doing the same in terms of the truth, preventing it from getting out, lest the Soviets use it against us somehow, something that plays into that era’s anxieties neatly. It’s still kind of nuts that the teenagers’ plan works, but those scenes do a lot to develop Paul Reiser as both a character and an antagonist.
There’s some good material with the boys too. We get some well-crafted group dynamics, with Lucas resenting Dustin for not showing up in the hunt for Dart, Max resenting Lucas for not sticking up for her when she’s excluded by the rest of the group, and Mike resenting Max for...well...just not being Eleven. It leads to a lot of good scenes where the kids act like kids, in all their internecine glory, and all of them are struggling with what they can and can’t tell one another.
We also get a few more hints on the major arcs/threats from the Upside Down. Hopper uses “Will the Wise” and his “true sight” via a series of crayon pictures to figure out that there are vines containing the atmosphere of the Upside Down emerging from the Lab Building. Of course, he doesn’t test or anything, just starts digging until he dives into one of them, because Hopper’s only plan ever is to Leeroy Jenkins his way through anything.
We also get the big hint that Dart is actually a baby Demogorgon, one that’s graduated from eating nougat to eating Dustin’s mom’s cat. It’s definitely a scary scene, and shows Dustin messing with things beyond his control or understanding. My crazy theory is that the Shadow Monster Will keeps seeing is the mother of the Demogorgons, and part of the anger is not just at the humans messing with her realm, but that they’re killing and/or stealing her babies, which explains why she’s drawn to Will given his connection/possession.
The only other detail of note is that Billy is racist and...maybe gay for Steve? Their scenes together are kind of weird, and I’m not sure where exactly the show’s going with them. So far, Billy has been such a one-note, seemingly abusive asshole that him turning out to be gay, and partially sublimating his anger at having to hide who he is would at least give him another dimension as a character.
Overall, another strong outing from season 2, one bolstered in particular by great performances and well-written scenes between Eleven and Hopper on the one hand, and Joyce and Will on the other.
What pisses me off the most about this episode was Dustin becoming so retarded to the point that lead to this episode's ending. He's always been one of the smartest of the gang (well, they all are), so this whole Dart thing felt a wee bit too much out of character for him. Apart from that bit of sloppy writing, this episode finally delivered the goods (this season was being a bore-fest, compared to the first one)!
I'm not really a fan of Eleven (yes, we're few, but we're out there), her scenes have been so annoying because now she's just acting like a spoiled brat with superpowers the whole time (she was awesome in the first season, though). But I got admit I was surprised with the actor who plays Will. He seemed like your average kid actor in the first season (I barely connected with him then, he seemed to me to be the worst actor of the bunch), but he's taking things to a whole new level, this season!
I'm sure Hopper is gonna regret going solo inside of what is clearly a creation of the Upside Down world. In fact, I have no idea why he had such a brain fart like that. Sloppy writing, again?
And Nancy, oh boy... Everyone's hating on her and then... WHAM!! Badass bitch with a plan. Nice!
Review by mauriceBlockedParent2022-06-22T01:22:51Z
why are the characters so irritating in this season—dustin, el, and that guardian of max whose name didn't stick to me bc who is he to remember anyway?
i didn't like the way el behaved in this episode; she's being selfish and irrational by making her feelings get the best of her at the expense of both her and hopper's lives. she needs to understand where hopper is coming from as well; he just wants to protect her. but el acts like she can protect herself alone from the evil men in the lab :))))))) let's see what that stubbornness can cause to her and possibly, to hopper as well.
and please max's guardian is so freaking annoying????? that dude got anger issues way more than you and your family have combined (i mean, at least one member of every family have this or are you non-asian?). i just can't stand the way he treats max like a puppet he can easily force to follow him. it must be traumatizing for max to live up to her asshole guardian/companion's shouting. however, it's still a mystery why they landed to hawkins? like what happened to them? are they antagonists in this season or what?
and lastly, dustin facing the consequences of his stubborn actions. i think dasurv :rolling_eyes::rolling_eyes::rolling_eyes: that's what you get for prioritizing your desires over the safety and precautions of the people around you, especially that he's already been warned about that creature. you are my favorite from your group, dusty, but you're disappointing me rn.