Billy roams Hawkins in a daze after the Mind Flayer's attack, and as Nancy and Jonathan investigate, Joyce makes a strange discovery and Mike lies to Eleven.
Billy stumbles out of the steel mill and peels out in his broken car. He stops at a payphone to call 911, but hangs up when things get trippy.
Memory flashes reveal a creature attack in the factory that had some kind of tendril on his mouth, like we saw previously with Will. Now in the Upside Down, Billy discovers a crowd of dark figures and demands to know what they want, but is shocked when a doppelganger of him steps forward. The next day, Eleven becomes concerned when Mike doesn't show up and calls him; he stumbles through the excuse about his grandma despite Hopper having told her the old woman is fine, claiming he can't see her. To her confusion, his mom interrupts, and after Mike deals with her, Eleven says he could come over after they see his grandma, but he turns her down. Eleven realizes he's lying, so he pretends his mom is calling him and rushes a goodbye, so Eleven wordlessly puts the phone back. Overjoyed, Hopper rides into town and to share his success with Joyce. He says he'll tell her everything over dinner, clarifying that they're just friends. Powell calls Hopper to town hall where people are protesting, and on his way out, Hopper stumbles over some magnets on the floor. Joyce tries to clean up, but discovers they no longer stick to the metal shelves. At the Hawkins Post, the men irritate Nancy by mocking a slight mistake, and she leaves to report on the call about diseased rats by lying that she has a doctor visit. She pulls Jonathan along, saying they won't be allowed to do this if they ask and can just ask for forgiveness. Despite his complaints, she points out their boss Tom will thank them if this is real, and if they're fired, it's no loss because the place is terrible.
Dustin visits the mall where Steve is ecstatic upon seeing him, though their handshakes and joy earn Steve Robin's mockery.
Gushing about Suzie, Dustin reveals how the others ditches him, much to Steve's surprise, and tells him about the Russian message he intercepted. He believes they could become American heroes, requesting Steve's help with translation. Eleven interrupts Max's skateboarding to talk about Mike; the other girl is positive he is lying. Simultaneously, Mike tells Lucas and Will about hid predicament. While Will tries to set up D&D, Lucas says he wishes Mike had let him help, and Max urges Eleven to ignore Mike's calls and dump him if he doesn't explain. Bringing up his own failings with Max followed by them getting back together, Lucas takes Mike out, leaving Will behind, and Max has Eleven go out to have fun. At the pool, the moms await Billy's shift, and after noticing him go into a caged area, Karen follows; he seems to have been drinking one of the chemicals. She apologizes for not showing up, having not wanted to hurt her family, but he is in a daze. He imagines slamming her head into a shelf, then tells her to stay away and takes his shift, no one noticing his strange condition as the light bothers him. Back at the mall, Robin becomes annoyed and bored dealing with kids, and interrupts Steve and Dustin's meeting as the former points out music in their recording. Aware of their situation since they're so loud, she offers to help since she speaks four languages and claims to have good ears, so Steve swaps out. Nancy and Jonathan meet the cheerful Mrs. Driscoll, who invites them to her basement where there are numerous chewed-through bags of fertilizer. Though Nancy tries to explain things away, Mrs. Driscoll is certain the rats ate the fertilizer despite it sounding crazy, as she thinks they might have rabies. They hear a loud bang, and Mrs. Driscoll leads them to a large covered cage that is shaking and she says contains a rat she caught.
With people protesting the Starcourt mall, Hopper goes in to see Mayor Larry Kline (Cary Elwes), trying to cut to the chase that the man wants him to disperse the crowd.
Kline makes excuses for the mall situation, claiming that despite the loss to mom & pop stores, it has brought in jobs and stores. Hopper tries to hurry the situation, saying the people are exercising their right to protest, and though Kline says they don't have a permit, Hopper reminds him it wouldn't look good for his re-election if he forced them away. Kline explains he's planning a massive event for the upcoming Fourth of July, knowing it's all the voters will remember later, and says that since he needs quiet to think and plan, he wants Hopper to disperse the people. Against Hopper's rules about crowds, Eleven joins Max at the mall to go shopping, narrowly missing the boys, who are there to buy an apology gift. As the girls search for something fitting who Eleven is, Joyce, who is trying to figure out the magnet issue, leaves the empty store to pay a visit to Mr. Clarke. Back at Mrs. Driscoll's, Jonathan tries to snap a photo of the rampaging rat, and Nancy's calls around about rat issues turn up nothing. As Jonathan swaps out his film, the rat starts convulsing, but Nancy pulls him away just before is explodes like the others. The puddle of goo that remain slides through the cage bars and, becoming an amorphous blob, runs off. While Mike and Eleven's trips come to a crushing interaction, Joyce makes a discovery with Mr. Clarke's help, and Billy receives orders from the Upside Down.
Poor Joyce just can't seem to catch a break. At the very least, her issue now is magnets not working, which isn't quite as bad as losing her son to monsters.
The same could be said for Will, though I'm happy his issue now is just the others getting girlfriends, and he gets to be home, rather than again suffering directly in the Upside Down or as the Mind Flayer's slave. Rather than the focus of a manhunt, Will is now able to just be a kid, and his desire to just play D&D with his friends sets up a lot of comedy for the group. It's bad enough two of his friends are just focused on his girlfriends, but Dustin is now mixed up with a Russian conspiracy, while Will is just trying to set up a board. Though Jonathan is also just trying to do what he does, he's now getting pulled in as well, since Nancy and his work at the paper got him mixed up with the rats. It's unfortunate that the duo didn't stay to observe the rat, and I'm honestly surprised they didn't, since it was strange for the excited animal to suddenly convulse. From a journalism standpoint, watching what happened could've given them information to take somewhere like an animal control group, and from a story standpoint, they of course would've seen it explode into goo. It's understandable that Nancy would be in a rush when it seemed like little was happening, but the two could've discovered something important if they'd waited. I'm also feeling bad for Billy, though of course this is partially because of seeing things online since the season came out. He's most definitely a prick, but he doesn't deserve to be turned into a Mind Flayer slave like Will previously was. At the same time, there is a likely easy solution to the scenario, as long as the others find out what's happening, since they've been through it with Will. Billy is exhibiting similar symptoms to Will from last season, in particular a weakness to heat since the sun burned his elbow so horribly. Because of this, if the main group finds out, we as fans know they can hurt the Mind Flayer and try to help by using intense heat. He definitely deserves some recognition for resisting the situation as well, I'd say, as he has no idea what's going on, and despite confusion in the Upside Down, when he has the opportunity to attack Karen, he warns her to stay away. I love that Dustin and Steve's relationship has only improved now that he's back, and Robin's snide comments that poke a lot of fun at the older boy. Steve has developed a kind of big brother relationship with Dustin, expressing pride in him for things like getting a girlfriend, and agreeing to their crazy scheme. Despite how crazy it sounds, there really isn't anything for Steve to lose getting involved, especially if it turns out to be little. Dustin's friends are so busy with their lives they'd likely see it as a waste of time they could've spent dealing with the Eleven situation, but what is there for Steve to look forward to other than this? Working a job he loathes, so not much. The situation is perfect for comedy, especially from Robin, who is constantly able to make fun of the duo, like when she talks about speaking multiple languages and convinces them "You are dumb" in Pig Latin was something amazing. With little understanding of the situation and how the danger they could be in, the group is able to keep the situation light and add comedic relief to the show. Eleven and Mike's breakup is a point I'm not really into, mostly because I don't get why he won't just tell her the truth. Of course I remember that Hopper, who has a lot of power in the town, threatened him a bit, but it's not like Mike and the others are powerless. He's with the powered Eleven, and I feel like she could get angry that he let Hopper come between them, but would be more furious that Hopper did this. Not only did he causes problems that broke them up; he lied to her, and is pretending to not know what's up with Mike, all because he thinks they were together too much. Mike should definitely apologize for lying, but I don't understand why he's not considering how angry Eleven will be with Hopper rather than him. Speaking of Hopper, I like the relationship between him and Mayor Kline, a typical kind of thing where the goodhearted cop lets little things go in a small town while the business-minded mayor focuses on his campaigns. There's clearly some kind of history between the two, talking about each other in a familiar sense and with Hopper not even looking forward to the meeting. I also in general was just happy to see Cary Elwes, whom I've enjoyed in movies like Quest for Camelot, The Princess Bride, and the Saw franchise. With Billy giving in as the Mind Flayer exerts its control, things are getting deadly in Hawkins once again, but others are getting close to discovering the truth.
1 Comment
8/24/2023 05:11:35
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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