“I dump your ass!”
I know this is completely irrelevant, but Little Miss Llamastrangler has just gone in for her first day of school today. I’m somewhat distracted by that, but I will do my best!
The cliffhanger resolution with something getting Billy is extended, rather terrifying, and shot like a horror movie- something which doesn't often happen on television drama but which happens here, something I’ve alluded to before but never really focussed on. It’s a fresh and exciting idea to have a serialised television drama, with room for characters to grow and develop, which nevertheless follows the directorial style and visual style of horror, as well as it’s many tropes. That Stranger Things does this, and does it so well, is especially to its credit given the generally poor standard of contemporary horror movies.
This is a clever episode, and not least because of the pun within the title. Less clever is Hopper, not doing as Joyce suggested and calmly discussing boundaries with El and Mike but instead aggressively making Mike tell El he can’t see her. That’ll go well.
Lots of seeds are being down for the season- magnets don’t seem to be working (would this noticeably affect electronics in 1985?) and Joyce is becoming obsessed. Old Mrs Driscoll has a very rabid rat in her capacious American basement which Nancy and Jonathan are secretly investigating for a story. And Steve and Dustin, good mates by now, are trying to decipher the Russian messages- and getting nowhere until the rather brilliant Robin takes over. I like her. She’s cool.
It’s lovely seeing Eleven and Max as friends, getting to do girly things together. And one thing that brings them together, leading to a rather fun day in the mall, is Mike’s rather obvious lying about how he can’t see her.
Meanwhile, Billy is now struggling as a lifeguard as he no longer likes the Sun- quite the warning sign. And we, through Hopper, meet the odious and cynical Mayor Kline, who is probably the big bad as he’s played by Cary Elwes. There’s a nice mix of plot and character as Joyce blows off a definitely-not-a-date with Hopper through her obsession with the magnets, and we get to see the rabid rat explode- and then ooze away, moving like a spider. Uuurgh.
We finally get the moment where El dumps Mike and, brilliantly, Will punctures the moment by asking if the boys can play D&D now. But we end with the revelation that the Russian message came from within the mall, and that Billy has now caught and possibly killed a fellow lifeguard...
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