”You read any Stephen King?”
The pre-titles is tense, with Jonathan frantically looking for Nancy in the upside Down as the beast attacks her- and the way he pulls her slime-covered body out of the tree is a visually memorable moment. Shockingly, the gap in the tree immediately closes; they were just him time. Does this mean portals can spontaneously open and close, at least in the general vicinity of a main one?
Meanwhile Joyce and Hopper finish comparing notes and are now, it seems, a united force. But a shocked Nancy, after a symbolic shower, Nancy stays with Jonathan for reassurance and, understandably, has him sleep in her room overnight. It’s obvious this is going to cause trouble. Just as shocking are Hopper and Joyce’s investigations- Eleven’s Mum (her real name is Jane) was subjected to experiments with LSD and isolation tanks while pregnant and believes her daughter to have been born with psychic abilities, taken away, and the whole thing covered up as a “miscarriage”. Brr. No wonder poor Terry has withdrawn from the world.
Meanwhile, the boys and Eleven are still all divided between themselves, and the episode’s attempts at truces all fail, in spite of Dustin’s best efforts and wise role playing-based warnings about the dangers of splitting the party. But it gives us a touching scene between Dustin and Mike where Dustin calmly accepts that Mike’s best friend was always Lucas, and that’s ok.
The scene with the homicidal bullies pressuring Mike to jump into the water far below is chilling, and reminiscent of It; this is a Stephen King reference I’m getting but it’s clear there are many that I’m not. Fortunately Eleven comes to the rescue in a kick as way with her telekinesis, levitating Mike out of danger and breaking the bullies’ bones. Unfortunately she collapses, worn out, and disappears into the absolute darkness that we’ve always seen in her flashbacks. Even worse, she confesses that she opened the gate to the Upside Down and blames herself, even though she plainly did it under duress. That’s heartbreaking.
Things are about to get worse, though; the baddies are on to the gang. Time to intravenously inject another episode of this Class A drug...
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