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With personal life matters out of the way hopefully (knock on wood). I (Sarah) can continue with my watching escapades of Stranger ThingsI’m still hoping to post at least 2 recaps and reviews a day while maneuvering around my work outside of Legion of Leia. Also, be warned. Potential SPOILERS! I repeat with flashing neon lights – SPOILERSSSS!!!

This episode deals with the aftermath of the discovery of Will’s body. We start off with Joyce frantically trying to explain to Sheriff Hopper and her eldest Jonathan that she had been communicating with Will before a creature had started to climb out of the wall to chase her. She insists that Will is alive and that there is no way that he’s dead. There is some serious tension between Hopper and Joyce as they banter back and forth. It’s indicated that Hopper can emphasize with Joyce since he’s been in her position before, having lost his daughter. It isn’t until Joyce pleads with Hopper to believe her that you see the emotional investment he is going to make in following the clues leading to her son.

Meanwhile, Mike is upset with ‘Eleven’, blaming her for providing false hope when she had said to him and his friends that Will was alive. They had, instead, been there when the police were called in to pull Will’s body from the quarry. ‘Eleven’ uses her powers to connect to Will in the other dimension in order to prove to Mike that his friend is alive. Note: we get to see quite a bit of ‘Eleven’ and her abilities this episode, giving us a much better insight into what she can do. They lose the signal to Will, but Mike thinks that they can get a better signal from their school if they use the AV club radio. In order to sneak ‘Eleven’ in, the boys band together to create a feminine disguise that is very reminiscent of E.T. Mike seemed to take particular care of dressing up ‘Eleven’ as he helped her with her makeup and gave her an approving glance. Once they all agreed that she looked pretty and passable, the gang set out to school.

At the school, they head to an assembly that is being held by the school in Will’s honor. After listening to a couple of bullies say mean things about Will, Mike confronts them after the assembly in front of everyone. As one of the bullies goes into beat on Mike, ‘Eleven’ freezes him and makes him urinate and embarrass himself in front of his peers. The gang head to the AV lab where ‘Eleven’ is able to connect them to Will. This triggers a flashback where we get to see how Dr. Brenner trained ‘Eleven’ to track people in order to extract information from them.

Netflix

Netflix

Joyce is able to connect to Will at the same time as the gang, hearing a pounding sound and hearing her son call out to her. Frantically, she locates the pounding and starts peeling back the wallpaper to reveal a distorted surface underneath with Will’s head pressed against the wall. He tells her where he is, but there is a growling in the background. Will becomes more frightened, wanting to stay with his mother but Joyce tells him to run. She picks up an ax she had brought in the house and starts chopping at the wall. Unfortunately, there is nothing beneath it and she’ll now have to figure out a way to patch up the wall. Joyce’s act of chopping severs the connection ‘Eleven’ has to Will and causes an electrical surge that ends up lighting the AV equipment on fire. The gang quickly escape, carrying a weak and bloodied nose ‘Eleven’ with them.

While the kids and Joyce are trying to locate Will, Nancy is trying her damnedest to find Barb. She can’t get any help from Steven because he’s more focused on his parents kicking his ass for hosting a party. The cops aren’t any use either, lowkey slut shaming her for having sex with Steven in front of her mom. That was definitely not the best way to break the new to a parent that de-virginizing has occurred. Nancy ends up going to Jonathan because, as revealed in last episode, he was there taking pictures of Steven’s party the night Barb vanished. They go to the photography lab to have Jonathan blow up the photo he took with Barb sitting at the pool. When done they both see the image of the creature behind Barb, lurking in the shadows. This image proves that what Joyce had been telling Jonathan about a creature chasing her had been true. It also proves that Nancy wasn’t just seeing things when she went back to Steven’s place to look for Barb.

Meanwhile, Hopper can’t shake the feeling that something is fishy, especially once the state police have taken over the morgue that houses Will’s body. After hearing Joyce denounce the body as not belonging to her son and after hunting down the state trooper that called the body and beating the crap out of him to get information, Hopper sneaks into the morgue to figure out what’s going on. After punching a state trooper, he goes and finds Will’s body. Although, on the surface, it looks like Will, Hopper can’t shake the feeling that something is off. He takes out his knife and slices Will open, revealing that his body is a dummy stuffed with cotton. The plot thickens…

GENERAL MUSINGS AND THOUGHTS

  • Grief reveals itself in strange ways. I very much like how this show is exploring this through the various characters.
  • Why does no one except Nancy care about Barb’s disappearance? I mean, shouldn’t the parents at least care? Poor Barb.
  • Knowing that the creature is supposedly faceless, I can’t help but think it’s related to Slenderman.
  • We only see Dr. Brenner briefly in this episode but, man, he has no problem sacrificing others for his work. Bad Doctor is bad.
  • Moral of this Story: Don’t trust the government…ever.
  • It’s weird seeing ‘Eleven’ with blonde hair.

 

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Sarah Musnicky

Sarah is a freelance writer and self-described workaholic. She loves fantasy and sci fi and will admit having dual loyalties between Star Trek and Star Wars as well as Marvel and DC. When she's not being socially awkward, she is in a corner obsessing over dragons, cute things, and a need to master all languages on the planet. She would like to be a professional blanket burrito when she reaches the peak of maturation.

1 CommentLeave a comment

  • Hi there!

    I just started watching Stranger Things this summer and I’m so happy about it. This episode really touched me (s1 ep4) because I think it is extremely beautiful to see Hopper so dedicated and determined to discover the truth about Will. I imagine that every father in the world should and could have this type of love for their own child. And even better is the fact that Hopper has no relation to Will. He neglected everything to sneak inside the lab. I love that!!

    OK, so I read your about me section and I wanted to message you about your love of languages. Have you learned Spanish? I desperately want to learn and to teach my young children. I have been searching for language immersion elementary schools for them. But, if I cannot find one then I will not let that stop me from teaching them. Curious about your journey to learn languages as I am unsure how to make this goal real for us.