“So, do you think Eleven was born with her superpowers like the X-Men or she acquired them, like Green Lantern?”
We begin with Barb finding herself in a weird, and very well-realised, other-worldly place, with a nasty looking monster- and then we cut away for maximum scares, again showing but a glimpse of the beast. Suspense, not spectacle; that's what makes good horror, and good horror this is. It's also a plus that the cinematography is deliberately quite retro and in line with the early '80s setting. Barb, however, is probably doomed. It's particularly nice how her peril is juxtaposed with Nancy having sex with Steve... although Barb's only climax is to fall into a pit. Let's hope Nancy had a better climax, although I doubt it. I bet Steve's the kind of utter wanker who thinks sex is over as soon as he's spurted.
Like the first episode with Will, this episode sees the terrible realisation slowly settling over Barb's friends and family that she is indeed missing. Understandably Nancy panics, and we see what an utter douche Steve is as his first thought is to hide from his parents what he was doing, Barb be damned. There's also a good scene between Nancy and Karen, her mother, as Nancy lies about what she did the previous night and Karen tears up, hopeless, not knowing what to do as her daughter slips away from her.
We also have Joyce going deeper and deeper into using lights to communicate with Will, with Jonathan understandably quite disturbed. And the kids plan "Operation Mirkwood" while trying to get Eleven to levitate one of those cool Kenner Millennium Falcons- I'm fairly sure mine is still in my parents' loft.
Interestingly, the cops visit the lab- and Hopper realises they're being lied to, turning him into a determined conspiracy theorist which, unlike in real life where conspiracies are generally a load of old right-wing bollocks, makes him a lot more likeable, along with the fact that he lost a child of his own. And further research on microfiche uncovers more details. The chase is on, Watson.
Things end on a bloody scary note, though, with Joyce’s clever Christmas lights ouija board telling her that Will is “right here” and he should “run”. And then the cops seem to find his body...
I know I should be interspersing this with blogging my other regular series. But this is a Class A substance here...
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