[7.7/10] I like that we’re making progress here. Every corner of the show is moving a little closer to the truth. I had my frustrations with the pacing of the season around episode two, but things have been moving along nicely here, giving us just enough to advance toward a greater understanding for both the audience and the characters, while not rushing things.
The most important of these in Joyce seeing Will. I’m not sure there’s been a more gripping moment in the show than the mother and son reuniting, if only for a moment, and giving us a glimpse into the shadow realm where he (and presumably Barb) are trapped and running from something terrifying. The desperation in Joyce’s voice, the fear in Will’s, the catharsis from the two of them making contact, are all very well done.
The same goes for the middle-schooler contingent of the show. The reveal that part of Eleven’s powers is the ability to channel someone’s speech via nearby speakers and transmitters is a unique and useful one. It gives us another flashback into her conditioning and torture, showing us more of what she’s suffered, but it also allows our pint-sized heroes to connect with their friend across dimensions and confirm he’s alive despite the body in the quarry. It’s a nice way for Eleven to redeem herself in Mike’s eyes, in addition to punishing his “mouth-breather” bully, Troy, after the jerks laugh during Will’s memorial assembly, with the ol’ freeze-n-pee.
Speaking of that memorial, it turns out it’s for nothing! One of the most interesting developments in the episode is seeing Hopper go all supercop here. Him beating a confession out of the state policeman, finding that Will’s corpse is actually a fake filled with stuffing, and deciding to get a pair of bolt cutters and go into the Dept. of Energy building shows him moving closer and closer to uncovering the shadowy conspiracy that’s led to covering up little kids’ deaths.
That conspiracy squad is suffering losses of its own. For the first time in the show, we see them intervening in a way that could be helpful to our heroes. Within that building, they seem to have a portal to that shadow realm, the place that Will described as “so dark and so cold.” The second one of Matthew Modine’s lieutenants walked in with a tethered hazmat suit, I just knew all they were going to be able to drag back was a bloody corpse (and apparently, not even that). It’s a cool and suspenseful way to communicate the dangers that lie beyond that door, even for government agents who are working with more knowhow and resources than the various kid brigades, parents, and local law enforcement trying to figure out what went down.
We also get some developments on the Nancy side of things. She seems to have finally figured out that Steve is a jerk when he’s more worried about getting in trouble with his parents than admitting what happened if it helps to save Barb. She also warms up to Jonathan, feeling sorry for him and having reason to talk further based on what she saw in his picture.
Therein lies the pieces of this show moving together. Nancy also describes a “man without a face,” a description matching the one Joyce gave to Jonathan. A newly developed picture confirms the image of some humanoid figure at the pool the night that Barb disappeared. It’s falling into place.
One of the frustrating things about Stranger Things is that the audience is pretty damn sure that something supernatural is going on, and yet not only are lots of the show’s characters skeptics (with good reason), but the people who could confirm one another’s accounts and put all of this together are on different corners of the show that don’t really intersect. Halfway through the season, the show is slowly but surely moving those corners closer together, unspooling more and more of what’s really going down, and I’m glad to see it.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-09-30T02:48:26Z
[7.7/10] I like that we’re making progress here. Every corner of the show is moving a little closer to the truth. I had my frustrations with the pacing of the season around episode two, but things have been moving along nicely here, giving us just enough to advance toward a greater understanding for both the audience and the characters, while not rushing things.
The most important of these in Joyce seeing Will. I’m not sure there’s been a more gripping moment in the show than the mother and son reuniting, if only for a moment, and giving us a glimpse into the shadow realm where he (and presumably Barb) are trapped and running from something terrifying. The desperation in Joyce’s voice, the fear in Will’s, the catharsis from the two of them making contact, are all very well done.
The same goes for the middle-schooler contingent of the show. The reveal that part of Eleven’s powers is the ability to channel someone’s speech via nearby speakers and transmitters is a unique and useful one. It gives us another flashback into her conditioning and torture, showing us more of what she’s suffered, but it also allows our pint-sized heroes to connect with their friend across dimensions and confirm he’s alive despite the body in the quarry. It’s a nice way for Eleven to redeem herself in Mike’s eyes, in addition to punishing his “mouth-breather” bully, Troy, after the jerks laugh during Will’s memorial assembly, with the ol’ freeze-n-pee.
Speaking of that memorial, it turns out it’s for nothing! One of the most interesting developments in the episode is seeing Hopper go all supercop here. Him beating a confession out of the state policeman, finding that Will’s corpse is actually a fake filled with stuffing, and deciding to get a pair of bolt cutters and go into the Dept. of Energy building shows him moving closer and closer to uncovering the shadowy conspiracy that’s led to covering up little kids’ deaths.
That conspiracy squad is suffering losses of its own. For the first time in the show, we see them intervening in a way that could be helpful to our heroes. Within that building, they seem to have a portal to that shadow realm, the place that Will described as “so dark and so cold.” The second one of Matthew Modine’s lieutenants walked in with a tethered hazmat suit, I just knew all they were going to be able to drag back was a bloody corpse (and apparently, not even that). It’s a cool and suspenseful way to communicate the dangers that lie beyond that door, even for government agents who are working with more knowhow and resources than the various kid brigades, parents, and local law enforcement trying to figure out what went down.
We also get some developments on the Nancy side of things. She seems to have finally figured out that Steve is a jerk when he’s more worried about getting in trouble with his parents than admitting what happened if it helps to save Barb. She also warms up to Jonathan, feeling sorry for him and having reason to talk further based on what she saw in his picture.
Therein lies the pieces of this show moving together. Nancy also describes a “man without a face,” a description matching the one Joyce gave to Jonathan. A newly developed picture confirms the image of some humanoid figure at the pool the night that Barb disappeared. It’s falling into place.
One of the frustrating things about Stranger Things is that the audience is pretty damn sure that something supernatural is going on, and yet not only are lots of the show’s characters skeptics (with good reason), but the people who could confirm one another’s accounts and put all of this together are on different corners of the show that don’t really intersect. Halfway through the season, the show is slowly but surely moving those corners closer together, unspooling more and more of what’s really going down, and I’m glad to see it.