3x06 Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum

[7.7/10] I’m a sucker for when TV shows go all impressionistic and do vision quest type material. Eleven not only going into the in between space to make contact with Billy, but seeing his childhood through his eyes, and then facing a warning from the Mindflayer, is very much my jam.

There’s nothing revolutionary about this material. We’ve seen Eleven do the Under the Skin-esque static journey multiple times before. Billy’s childhood is a dimestore “bully comes from abusive home” family history. And the “monster speaks in a deep echoey voice to warn the hero in a dream” thing is a cliché.

But it all totally works here. The silence, slow motion, and editing of Eleven’s journey make it stand out even relative to past excursions. As familiar as these family history is, I like getting a little more shading to Billy, making him a more tragic figure than the one dimensional jerk we saw in the last season. And it’s nice to have a real, conscious threat to Eleven and everyone else rather than the quasi-mindless one before, both to challenge the show’s superhero and to add a twist to the “humans vs. monsters” story we’ve already seen twice before.

There’s also some just plain nice personal conversations here. Two stand out in particular. For one, I really like the debate among the younger set over whether they should intervene in Eleven’s hunt for Billy or just let her be the master of her own limits. Max, who’s seen possessive male figures in her life cross lines, tells Mike to back off and let her figure this out for herself. Nancy, who’s just been through a situation of men putting limits on her agrees.

Mike, on the other hand, not only questions Max’s objectivity on the matter of how to use Eleven’s powers given that she was complicit in them spying on him and, more importantly, he declares, “I love her and I can’t lose her again.” It’s a strong moral and personal conflict, and everyone’s position on it is rooted in character and their recent experiences.

Likewise, I really enjoyed the conversation between Steve and Robin when they’re conked out on the floor after a failed attempt to hop their way to freedom. The two have superb chemistry together, and as cliché as the “I was a nerd obsessed with you in high school and you never even noticed me” setup is, their conversation feels so honest and real that it can’t help but be endearing. Robin’s confessions about unpopular kids wanting acceptance and Steve’s retort that he’s learned how little of what seems important in high school really matters is a nice way to bring them together through shared honesty and vulnerability.

It’s not quite as emotional, but I also really enjoyed the conversation between Dustin and Erica over whether or not Erica qualifies as a nerd. Erica’s been a real boon to this corner of the show, and Mike’s tangent about My Little Pony was the icing on the cake.

Right now, the only major weak spot of the show is the Hopper/Joyce portion of things. Things there are still just so corny, and not in a fun way. Hopper’s plan in every season is just to Leroy Jenkins his way through whatever situation presents itself (see: just letting Alexei theoretically drive away, which was stupid as hell). I like that they’re ringing Dr. Owen (Paul Resier’s character from last season) for help, but Joyce demands of the guy feel like the same shtick in a different guise. At least Murray is still entertaining.

Otherwise, we get some more cool/creepy action. The Mindflayer sluicing through the door to the room Nancy’s barricaded herself into is a trip, and unnerving in a truly gross sort of way. Eleven kicking its ass with her telekinetic powers continues to be cool as hell. And the ick factor ratchets up (in a good way) when the attendees of the carnival march to the steelworks factory to submit themselves to be absorbed by the Mindflayer. The monster is creepier, more intentional, and more menacing than ever this year, which is a bonus.

That said, I could do without the generic Russian dude threatening Mayor Kline in a carnival ride, which just felt like a bridge too far.

Overall though, things are really kicking into gear, the character relationships are developing nicely, and the threat is frothing to a boil. After a rocky start, things are definitely in gear now this season.

What a wonderful episode. The story was simply sensational and the characters played wonderfully. Full of tension and a lot of horror, this season is heading for a spectacular end. And Billy became my favorite character this season. This episode is certainly one of the best episodes of this series. Bright! First I'd like to talk about the script. What a well written script !!! The story is told in a very engaging way and holds you from beginning to end. The characters work very well and all the plots begin to be tightly tied. I am very curious to see aonda will give the last two episodes. What a sensational script! The direction is by Uta Briesewitz, who despite having left a little to be desired in the previous episode, in that he gives the best direction so far. Eele manages to blend a very emotional direction with explosive dynamism of the story that is in walking to a great apex. The characters are so well-driven that none of them went unheeded in this episode. And there was the ice cream shop Alexsey that gave a good mood to a tense episode. Beautiful direction. Already the visual of this episode proved much superior to the previous one, showing several beautiful scenes visually. The scenes of the beach with Billy's past were beautiful and dazzling, showing that this series has one of the best series pictures on TV today. Married to this, we have great visual effects work that are very well used. CGI in this series is very similar to a big budget movie. The scenes are very well crafted with the special effects, giving a naturalness to all the scenes. Already the soundtrack is very good and well used. It dictates very well the tone of the scenes and still gives a nostalgia of the 80s so that it does not take you out of the story. A true upgrade from the previous episode, which had the worst track in the series. Already the actors and the characters are sensational. Harbor, Winona and the Alexsey actor are sensational on paper. At the same time that they are going to suffer a dramatic charge, they are an excellent comic relief. And the actors are perfect on paper. Already Gaten and the triz of Erica are very duvertidos with a dynamics of cat and mouse. The actors work very well in the roles. Joe and Maya are also perfect like Steve and Robin. They also get a lot of excitement about the roles (they have the scene where they talk about college that is very pretty), they are very funny too. An acting show. Already in the nucleus of Eleven that shines is Millie that is excellent with its tormented Eleven. She can pass a lot of anguish from her character before her powers. And very exciting on paper. Sadie is also very much like Max's weasel. Already Caleb, Noah, Finn, Charlie and Natalia figured out and did not serve much. But the actors did their jobs well. But the star enlarge for me of the season is Dacre Montgomery. I loved getting to know more about the past of the tormented Billy and much of my anger from him dissipated with this episode. Eele is a very tragic character and the actor has shown versatility to deal with it. The best performance so far. Excellent work. Overall, this episode was one of the best in the series, hugging everything that makes Strange Things a bundle series. We had drama, humor and tension in the right measure and everything is heading for a sensational end of season. 10/10.