Stranger Things: Chapter Seven- The Bathtub

“Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?”

You can tell it’s the penultimate episode as all the goodies are getting together; yes, the eRly scenes are full of the men from the lab chasing Eleven and the boys but it isn’t long until Joyce and Hopper find them, and by that point both Nancy and Jonathan are on board. The battle lines are drawn. This obviously needs to happen for plot reasons. Before this, though, and importantly, Eleven sends a van or baddies flying through the air which causes the gang to all become friends again- Lucas apologised to Eleven and shakes hands with Mike. All is well, at least within the gang.

But they’re fugitives; the baddies have successfully enlisted Mike’s wary parents and, presumably, those of both Lucas and Dustin, whose families have been conspicuously absent all season. But this just draws all the protagonists together, able at last to join forces and compare notes. If this episode, unlike the others, feel as though it’s shaped by plot necessity then, well, it is; you can imagine this all being planned on a board in a writing room. But it’s all unavoidable in a penultimate episode and shows just how good the writing has been that you don’t notice the plot structure holding everything up.

The expanded gang conjures up a makeshift sensory deprivation tank for Eleven, and we learn both that poor Barb is dead and that Will is alive, hiding, in the version of his den that exists in the Upside Down. So Joyce and Hopper head off to the lab to sneak in to the portal, but this time are well and truly caught. Meanwhile Jonathan and Nancy are off hunting again; you can tell it’s the penultimate episode. Especially as we end with a proper cliffhanger as the Demogorgon gets Will...

One more episode. Go on, let’s.