Saturday 31 August 2019

Stranger Things: Season 2, Chapter Three- The Pollywag

"He's like a living booger!"

So Dustin has found a little slimy creature, unknown to science, that dislikes light and which he has rather taken to in spite of the fact it's obviously going to turn into something dangerous- after all, it's 1984, so it must be Gremlins. It initially looks as though this episode is set to be as crammed with pop culture episodes as the last one, which was unusually pop culture-heavy even for Stranger Things.

After a short early flashback, though, filling in the gaps concerning how she came to be with Hopper, Eleven is not happy. Hopper keeps stringing her along about when it will be safe to see Mike again, and "friends don't lie". She's well mardy. And well might she be. Hopper means well, but subconsciously this is about filling the hole left by his daughter. Eleven has just exchanged one prison for another; no wonder she dismisses Hopper's cautious rules.

Meanwhile Billy sets about asserting his alpha male status over Steve by being a twat and, interestingly, denies that Max is his sister. Meanwhile Steve confronts Nancy about what she said the previous night; are they over? She certainly runs straight to Jonathan and the two of them start plotting. Nancy rings Barb's mum and says she has something to tell her but, interestingly, doesn't tell her immediately but arranges to meet- and is heard by baddies listening in. Is she deliberately setting herself up as bait?

Otherwise, Will connects with the rather decent seeming Bob- and Joyce realises through the medium of VHS that the best Will has been drawing exists in reality, and drives off to find her son, panicking. But the lads are obsessed with Dart, Dustin's new creature, which is growing at an alarming rate and which, Will suspects, and he's obviously right, is from the Upside Down. Mike has that much-delayed clash with Max, and Dustin lies about finding Dart, hidden under his hat. Three episodes in and the plot seems less linear, with different plot threads everywhere, although the thread of the poisoned pumpkins continues to develop.It's good, it's fun, it's exciting, but it feels less like it has a particular story to tell.

Awesome cliffhanger, though, with Will in the Upside Down; has that monster got him? Is he dead?

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