3x02 Chapter Two: The Mall Rats

This second episode was better than the first, though the whole teenage crisis of Eleven and Mike was very unnecessary. But Billy's plot really is very interesting. He seems to have been consumed by evil. I loved the meeting of Steve and Dustin with the mission to decipher a message. And Jonathan and Nancy are having a cool plot this time around. After this summary, I would like to talk about the script. The story of this second episode was much better, not creeping. I found Billy's plot very sinister and the episode caught me with an engaging and well-told story. Direction remains flawless. The Duffers are excellent and they manage to drive the plot to unexpected places. Other than that they are two visual artists. Seriously, with every episode of this series, the look improves too. The scenery and scenery are stunning. The special effects of the monsters are spectacular that appear to be movie effects. Strange Things is a very well produced series. Speaking of the characters and actors, I would like to test the actors of Steve, Dustin, Nancy, Jonathan, Joyce and Billy. The characters have the most attractive bows this season. Billy has embraced the evil that is consuming him and I want to see how far he goes. His scene leading the girl to be devoured by the monster was creepy. Dustin and Steve are a great duo. They have chemistry and I liked the addition of Robin with them. The mystery of the Russian message was intriguing. Already Nancy and Jonathan are finally doing something relevant. They are on the trail of the possessed rats and I liked how their dynamics worked. Joyce begins to realize that things are strange and sought help. Already the bad part was the children's teen drama and Hopper being an asshole. Actors such as Noah, Finn, Mille and Habour are fine, but their characters in this episode were undercut. Get them together with Max and Lucas in this. They were totally blank. Although I enjoyed a bit of seeing a funeral that killed the scientist on the scene of the Hopper asshole show. Anyway, the episode was a lot better than the first one, but I think the best is yet to come. 8/10

[6.9/10] Well, Billy isn’t dead, so we’re already starting off on a bad foot here. But honestly, I like what they’re doing with him! He’s pretty terrible as a jerk teenager, so turning him into some kind of possessed pod person, and having him play things in a different direction, is at least a positive move for the character.

He’s legitimately scary here, especially in the flashes we get where imagines hurting Mrs. Wheeler and where he does harm his fellow lifeguard. I’m always a little leery of violence against women being used for cheap shock factor on television, especially with some unfortunate rape-y undertones to him taking the other lifeguard to the fireworks factory, but I’m at least willing to see where Stranger Things goes with all of this.

Likewise, I like the notion that the Upside Down is doing doppelgangers, Twin Peaks-style now, with ominously voiced doubles who want to “build something” and otherwise transgress our world. It’s an interesting twist on the budding conflict between our world and theirs.

I also like that we get more Dustin and Steve as a team, carrying over their great rapport from last season. Robin seems like a worthy addition to their crew, and the three of them trying to unravel Dustin’s recording of a secret Russian transmission is a good project for the group. There’s a lot of funny back and forth among the trio, and while it’s a little silly that hearing a common tune is enough to convince Steve that the Russians are transmitting from the mall, I like where this is headed.

The problem is that nothing else in the episode fully works. Most of it is pretty cheesy, and even the parts that are superficially enjoyable are weighed down by some dumb stuff.

Case in point, while the show is really going overboard with the needle drops this year, I liked seeing Eleven and Max pal around at the mall together. Especially given the low-key beef they had last year, it’s nice to see them be friends and able to commiserate with one another and, you know, be kids. There’s a lot of fun to be had with Max helping Eleven branch out a little and enjoy herself.

But god, the whole “Mike is lying to her about not being able to see her because Hopper told him if he doesn’t back off, he’ll never be able to see her” is such a convoluted, wacky TGIF-type storyline. The same goes for Max’s advice to Eleven about how to deal with Mike, and Lucas’s advice to Mike about how to deal with Eleven. It feels like baby’s first romcom, and not the live-in, relatable lives these kids led up to this point. Count me in with Will who wishes they were just playing D&D together or something.

The same goes for the shtick with Hopper. Him continuing to pressure/try to trick Joyce into a date, mispronouncing wines, and getting sloshed when she stands him up doesn’t feel like the down-to-earth, rough-around-the-edges, but likeable local constable we’ve known for the last two seasons. Instead, he’s become this weird, bumbling sitcom dad character, and I don’t like him at all.

Joyce stands Hopper up because she’s too wrapped up in an electromagnetism lesson from Mr. Clark, the kids’ science teacher. He continues to basically just be Mr. Exposition on the show, but him jamming to a Weird Al song made for my favorite song cue in an episode that had scores of them.

We’re also back to Nancy and Jonathan -- teenage detectives, which has never been my favorite mode on the show. Nancy’s bosses and coworkers at the paper continue to be cartoonish pigs, which hurts what they’re going for here. And the two of them following up on the old lady who reported the rabid rats is just standard issue for them by now, without much intrigue or interest to what they’ll do/find this time. That said, the inside out rat sluicing through the bars and crawling around was sufficiently weird and gross to grab my attention.

Last but not least, we’re introduced to Mayor Kline, who wants to clear out people protesting the way the mall is hurting the town’s local businesses, so he can focus on his patriotic celebration which he frames as “the only thing voters will remember.” I’m a big fan of Cary Elwes from The Princess Bride, but as with the newspaper folks, he’s written as such a generic, caricatured craven politician that even with a good performance, Mayor Kline has no force as a character.

Overall, this one is an improvement on the season premiere, if only because it’s a little more fun, and there's some better material for the Dustin/Steve/Robin triumvirate and even for Billy. But this is still a step below where Stranger Things has been over its first two seasons.