Stranger Things: Season 5, Chapter 2- The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler

 "Heavens to Betsy!"

This season continues to be brilliant, in terms of script and acting. It also looks amazing, a case in point being the initial sequence of the Demogorgon going after Holly and ultimately taking her, despite Karen's heroism and unorthodox usage of a wine bottle (fortunately, she'd drunk it earlier!)- it looks incredibly expensive on screen. And, well, it probably was. Clever, too, that the episode title harks back to the first ever episode, with Holly being in the same position as Will was... hence, I assume, the sequence at the start of last episode.

And I'll never listen to ABBA in the same way again...

The characters generally pair off so they get to interact, have character moments and be well used. Hence Robin and Will pairing off to rebelliously enact Operation Antennae behind Joyce's back, while singularly and ironically remaining in their respective closets, each of them unaware that the other is gay. Hence the lovely scene between El and Hopper as they come to understand each other and reconcile- both of them are stubborn punk asses, but they love each other. And... well, Hopper may be overprotective as a parent, but we understand why he's like that. And Sarah Connor has seen El in the car with Nancy. Oops. I bet the authorities cause lots of trouble arising from this...

Lucas is underused, but I appreciate how wise he's shown to be. Max is even more underused, a main character just lying down with eyes closed for two episodes. I hope things are as they seem and she's about to wake up.

Dustin is ok, mercilessly, just beaten up by townies who need taking down a peg or two. Him and Steve clashing over his reckless provocations is good stuff- they both care, but they're too emotionally constipated. And Steve's home truths to Jonathan about him and Nancy make for one unhappy van. But Steve, right now, is right about everything.

The ending is a shock, though, as Nancy (that hair, er, yeah...) and Mike discover that Holly's imaginary friend seems to have been... Vecna. Oh dear...

This is quite the climax and, once again, quite the episode. Season Five is firing on all cylinders so far.

Stranger Things: Season Two, Chapter One: MADMAX

"Don't walk or bike home. I know!"

A brand new season, and it’s October 1984, nearly Halloween, with The Terminator showing in cinemas and Ghostbusters merchandise abounding. It’s also a time of musical ferment reflected in the soundtrack; yes, we get Devo’s “Whip It”, as one might expect, but we also get, er, the Scorpions.

A year has passed and, as children do, the boys have adapted- except Will, who is being treated for PTSD by a shrink who, mercifully, knows the truth, but whose symptoms are much more physical as he still has a clear link to the Upside Down- and at one point glimpses in the distance a huge, spider-Like creature. Things have changed- Joyce has a new goofy boyfriend, Bob, played rather interestingly, given the obvious influence of The Goonies, by Sean Astin. It’s interesting, though, that Hopper takes a close interest in Will’s treTment nevertheless. He also investigates a field of poisoned pumpkins which, by the rule of Chekhov’s Gun, will certainly turn out to have been important.

Mike’s teachers have made a clear decision to be strict with him, to the point of forcing him to donate away lots of toys, “just a loaf of plastic” that we as viewers know will increase in value and so we tend to take his side, even those of us who are parents ourselves- he had to throw away Man at Arms and even the Millennium Falcon!

The boys are obsessed with arcade games now, and there’s a new girl in town from California- Max- Who is the new high scorer on all the important games. She will obviously be significant. Mike, though, is missing Eleven, and tries to reach her on the walkie talkie every day. He would hardly be pleased to learn she’s secretly living with Hopper, although he’s the only adult who knows the truth who is in a position to do so, but what happened to her? And why hadn’t Mike been told?

Just as shocking as the end is the beginning; there’s a young woman in Pittsburgh, aiding a getaway from a robbery, who had similar powers and “008” on her arm...

We also get to see Dustin’s home, we see that Nancy is still with Steve although a subtle love triangle with Jonathan is still humming along and, heartbreakingly, Barb’s distraught parents have hired a private eye- selling their house for the cruelty of hope.

Lots of irons in the fire, and a promising start.

Stranger Things: Chapter Eight- The Upside Down

“Mike, I found the chocolate pudding.”

Here we are then; the finale. Just four short days after Mrs Llamastrangler saw the first episode and with our time somewhat limited by necessary adulting. This is one addictive telly programme.

We begin with the gentle interrogation of Joyce and, well, the not-so-gentle interrogation of Hopper... But Hopper is clever, using the suggestion he may have told others what he knows as a basis for an agreement to let the two of them go and allow them through the portal through to the Upside Down. I’m not quite sure I fully buy the plausibility if this but it's in character and done with admirable sleight of hand. We also get some heartbreaking flashbacks of Hopper’s daughter slowly dying of cancer, and having a young daughter myself I find this harrowing. This certainly gives us a damn good reason why Hopper finds such meaning in making bloody sure that another parent doesn’t have to suffer as he did.

Meanwhile Jonathan and Nancy go hunting again, this time in Joyce’s home, setting a trap for the Demogorgon, while the kids hide in the school. We then get two parallel narratives as Joyce and Hopper explore the other dimension and find a captured and inert Will, while Nancy and Jonathan hunt the beast while being rudely interrupted by a contrite but highly annoying Steve. The scene where they try to revive Will and finally succeed is absolutely gripping, as is every damn scene in this finale.

But the climax simply has to involve Eleven and the boys, so the wounded Demogorgon turns up just as the authorities have the boys trapped, leading them all to hide from the ensuing massacre. The climax has Eleven seeming to destroy the monster... and vanishing in the process. Poor Mike, who almost kissed her earlier, is heartbroken.

It’s a rare example of a genuinely satisfying and exciting ending, and we also get a little Christmas coda, seeing Mike and Will with their happy families but also showing that Will is not unaffected by what happened- that snake thing on his mouth is delightfully disgusting.

This episode, and this season, are as good as telly gets. Sublime.

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.

Stranger Things: Chapter Six- The Monster

”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...

Stranger Things: Chapter Four- The Body

”I think somehow she’s channelling him.”

“Like Professor X!”

So the police have found Will’s body- that’s it, right? Joyce is just crazy and the gang are just deluded? This episode we begin by sharing their doubts- and Joyce (to the sounds of Joy Division’s splendid “Atmosphere”- loving the contemporary soundtrack) reaches seemingly her lowest ebb, in denial and chopping a hole in the wall of her house. And Mike lashes out at Eleven for supposedly lying- and then there’s Will, on the radio. It’s a beginning that has us on multiple tenterhooks.

Things then deepen as an already suspicious Hopper realised that Will’s autopsy was carried out by the cat ate, which is odd. It’s at this point that we, the viewers, know damn well that all is not what it seems and Joyce is right to refuse to identify the body, whatever Jonathan may say.

Nancy cracks during a lesson on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, realising that one of Jonathan’s ostensibly pervy photos shows something next to Barb, while the people as the lab speak of a “rift”. There is clearly some kind of Lovecraftian monster lurking in a reality at some kind of right angle to ours, and the way it’s being slowly built up is absolutely bloody terrifying as Mandy and Jonathan discuss the “man with no face”.

We end with a few revelations; Nancy and Jonathan develop a pivotal photo, the gang hear Will using the big school radio, and Hopper uses his fists to dig deeper into the conspiracy. Will is alive, and we just can’t stop watching.

Stranger Things: Chapter Three- Holly, Jolly

“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...

Stranger Things: Chapter Two- The Weirdo on Maple Street

“We never would have upset you if we knew you had superpowers.”

The focus for this second episode is the mysterious psychic girl, now ensconced in Mike’s basement and very insistent that no adult must know where she is or bad things will happen- as, of course, we have seen. It’s touching to see the growing connection between Eleven, as she tragically seems to be named, and Mike.

Meanwhile Joyce seems to be going off the rails after hearing Will’s voice in a phone call- but we see and hear what she does, which makes us emphasise with her. Plus Winona Ryder is VERY good. Will seems to be calling from wherever he is- and, in a nice nostalgic touch, this often tends to involve the then current “Should I Stay or Should I Go” from Combat Rock, a popular album from the Clash even if I personally think Sandinista was their last good album. We get a nice flashback with Jonathan teaching young Will about Joy Division, Bowie and Television as a good older brother should. We also get to see their douche of a dad, Lonnie, with a lot remaining unsaid- was he abusive?

Meanwhile, Nancy and her friend Barb (it’s weird seeing a teenager with glasses like that) are off to a party at the home off rich creep Steve, who wants to get inside Nancy’s pants. Creepily, Jonathan follows them and takes pictures of them while hiding- what’s he up to, seemingly perving around like this while his poor mother is receiving another weird phone call from Will and blowing up another phone and having weird experiences with light bulbs? This is eerie stuff in all sorts of ways. Especially when something starts pushing on the wall and impossibly distorting it. This is getting better and better.

And then poor Barb drips some blood in the pool and a monster gets her- yet another superb jump cut, and yet again not quite showing us a glimpse of the beast. This is exactly what horror should be. At this point I’m officially hooked.

Stranger Things: Chapter One- The Vanishing of Will Byers

”Mornings are for coffee and contemplation!”

So Mrs Llamastrangler have decided to watch Stranger Things now that Atypical is up to date. Mrs Llamastrangler took some convincing as she tends to resist things which are overly popular but, well, we’re now five episodes in and it’s only the unfortunate need for adulting that’s prevented us from bingeing further. We’re hooked.

This is the first episode, and by definition has a lot of work to do. There are the gang to introduce- Will, Lucas, Mike and Dustin, first seen playing D&D. This is (I think) 1982, so I’m wondering whether this is D&D or AD&D; I hope we find out. This is America, so they’re playing in Mike’s parents’ enormous basement, and this is the early ‘80s, so they all leave on bikes and mention X-Men #134 which, if I remember correctly, is one of the Phoenix Saga issues. Ah, the rush of nostalgia. I was five in 1982; these kids would be a few years older than me.

And then we have the horror stuff. The episode started with what looked like a scientist running through a corridor into a lift, and being grabbed by the unseen monster from the lift roof. And now Will goes into the science lab next to town... and vanishes, while a lightbulb does something weird. It’s all very well shot indeed.

We also meet Will’s mum Joyce (Winona Ryder, the only famous cast member) and Mike’s family including his older sister Nancy, as the ripples of Will’s disappearance spread across town. It’s already clear that, of the three remaining kids, we will be focusing on Mike. So far, with the horror and the POV of pre-pubescent boys, it feels very much like Stephen King’s It and its adaptations. The early ‘80s setting makes storytelling easier- no mobile phones (although the plot requires Sallie talkies!), no internet- and allows us to wallow in constant nostalgia. The fashions, the card, the hairstyles are all very well done, and it all looks like an American version of my early childhood.

We also get to meet Hopper, the local sheriff, gruff and not particularly likeable, at least at this stage until we learn he’s mourning a daughter (ouch), and a fugitive child stealing food from a cafe and who seems to have some kind of psychic powers. What’s shocking is that, when the cafe owner calls social services, he is shot and killed by the “social workers”; there is clearly a cover-up to return the girl to the nearby lab. Fortunately, she escapes, and is found by the boys.

As first episodes tend to be, this is a whirlwind. But I’m getting to know the characters and intrigued by the premise. The horror is also very well shot- unlike most current horror films- and the nostalgia is fun. More please.