Nancy and Jonathan in hot water at the Post, Hopper and Joyce visit Kline, and as Robin finds a way into the secret room, Mike plans to deal with Billy.
While preparing for bed, El can't shake the feeling that something was wrong with Billy and Heather, but Max excuses everything they saw except the blood.
Meanwhile, paramedics take Mrs. Driscoll away and ask Nancy and Jonathan what happened, and Billy and Heather take the girl's parents to the steel mill, where the Mind Flayer, revealed to be manifesting as the rat remains, infects them. Hopper wakes deliriously to Joyce caring for him and throws up; she says he's been out for a while, and he remembers being attacked. He discovers he's naked, as his clothes were soaked, and she theorizes that the man was government. He points out the guy wouldn't have been sneaking around. Joyce shows him the man's license plate she wrote down, only to admit a lot of it could be wrong. He says it could take weeks to track the guy's car, but she reveals that's not what he was driving. Lucas tries to radio the sleeping Max about their problem, but she shuts it off. She almost hangs up when they call the phone, but listens when she realizes it's Mike, who begs her to come over so they can explain everything. They try to radio Dustin as well, but he's busy at the stakeout, having discovered an armed guard has a keycard, and Steve suggests he fight the guard. Over at the Hawkins Post, one of the reporters mocks Jonathan and Nancy, who are outside the boss's office while a cop speak to him. He calls them in and chews them out for repeatedly going against his orders and breaking laws to get this story, and reveals Mrs. Driscoll is a paranoid schizophrenic. Nancy tries to protest, but he calls the situation crazy and says the Driscoll family is threatening litigation, so he fires them.
Will tells the others about the times he's felt the Mind Flayer, comparing it to when you drop on a roller coaster but that your whole body goes cold, which only happened in the past when the creature was near.
El reminds him she closed the gate, but he suggests that when she did, they locked the MInd Flayer on their side. Using some quick art, he suggests that the part of the Mind Flayer that was in him could've stayed after they got rid of it. Max is hesitant to believe this could happen, but they think the Flayer would've attached itself to a new host, which gets El's attention. Hopper and Joyce go to the mayor's office, where Hopper asks about the motorcycle guy, having remembered he was there when Kline called Hopper in days before. Kline plays dumb, then says it could be the maintenance guy, but Hopper says the man was leaving Kline's office when he saw him. Kline claims to not remember, so Hopper brings up scandals for the mayor that he's kept quiet, saying it's not a game, but Kline counters with Hopper's infractions. Threatening to go to the paper with this, Kline warns him to not even bring up his daughter for his issues, and tries to open the door, so Hopper slams his head into it. Kline cries out, claiming he doesn't know the man as Hopper beats him, so Hopper puts one of his fingers in his cigar cutter. The secretary, after trying the door, goes for her phone, but Joyce rips cord the cord and asks if she was gonna call the cops. As he presses down, Kline reveals the guy brings him gifts and works for the mall, which Hopper doesn't believe until he says they wanted Hawkins property. Hopper releases him, and though Kline doesn't know what they wanted the land for, Hopper knows there would be files somewhere. Kline warns him to not mess with these people, but Hopper says he should worry about himself and forces Kline to come with him. Nancy rants about her and Jonathan's former boss, Tom, failing to see the truth and believing he's on drugs, earning only Jonathan's annoyance. He reminds her he said she should drop the story, and claims she lives a sheltered life of money, so she doesn't understand why losing the job is a big deal to him. They argue about whether it was a job or just humiliating, and both feel the other doesn't understand what their hard times are like. Mrs. Wheeler is surprised to see Nancy home so early, so her daughter tearfully says it was a light day.
Robin returns with blueprints of the mall, revealing that while there's no other doors into the area the Russians are guarding, there are air ducts.
Steve tries to push Dustin through their duct, since the latter's cleidocranial dysplasia allows him to squeeze into tight spaces, to no avail. As they try, Robin notices Lucas' sister Erica, who has returned for more free samples. Will and the others watch Billy at the pool, and though Max things there's nothing strange, they note he's oddly wearing a long shirt and the Mind Flayer is likely hiding. Will explains the Mind Flayer goes dormant until it needs you, and Mike says they can't wait for him to do something to show he's the host, so the boys head inside. He suggests they hide out until after the pool closes, then lure Billy into the sauna, where they can lock him in and crank the temperature up. Erica examines the vent and says that she's not sure she wants to help, since there's nothing in it for her, so they bribe her with ice cream. Robin shows goes over her route nd that she'll hop down when it's safe and let them in, but she brings up the guard and says there could be booby traps. She claims this sounds like child endangerment, so Dustin appeals to her patriotism, but she doesn't care and instead brings up capitalism. Explaining how a person's services earn them more, she demands free ice cream for life since she's valuable. Hopper takes Joyce and Kline to the mayor's house, where he gives them the property transfer deeds from his safe. He claims he doesn't know why they want the land but that they're bad news, which is why he has the deeds in his safe, and this is a case of protection. Joyce realizes all the property is near the lake, and by extension the power plant, and they realize her magnets fell after the power outage. Remembering Clarke said it would take a massive amount of power, she theorizes that the lab is at one of the properties. Hopper jokes that she should come work for the PD, then rushes back to Kline, who is trying to escape out a window. Mrs. Wheeler gets Nancy to come out, and the girl explains she thinks Jonathan might be right: she was only thinking about her desire to be right, as if she was wrong, that means everyone was right about her being a kid who doesn't know what she's doing. Karen says the world is a tough place where you're constantly told you can't do things, until most people give up, but asserts that Nancy is a fighter. They joke about where she got it from, and Nancy says it's from Karen, who reveals pride in her daughter for having stood up to the jerks at work. She continues that if Nancy is sure she's right, she should take the story to a bigger paper. While Nancy takes Karen's advice, Dustin and the others literally get to the bottom of the mall case, and though Billy visits the sauna, he and Heather have been busy.
So dang. Hopper went full Batman with Kline in this episode, and I loved every second of it, especially with how creative he got.
This series has made me love David Harbour's abilities, and he and Cary Elwes show a great deal of their acting prowess in this scene. Hopper takes the advantage when he brings up the potential scandals he could cause for Kline, only for the mayor to fire back with his own transgressions. While Kline has a point in what he's saying could hurt Hopper, what he fails to understand is the sheriff doesn't really give a crap. As Hopper sits listening to his info, you can tell he's trying to contain himself, and I could tell something bad was about to happen as he stared, culminating in the moment Kline brought up Hopper's daughter. Somehow he was dumb enough to turn his back, a terrible move considering three things: Hopper had locked the door, he's angry and willing to do whatever's needed to protect everyone, and Kline BROUGHT UP HIS DEAD DAUGHTER. Even for a typical person, this would be crossing the line, but combining this with Hopper's issues, what he's been through, and his determination is not good. I expected he was just going to brutally beat the answers out of Kline, but enjoyed how things turned and that Joyce got involved. She also made me laugh after pulling out the phone cord by pointing out the secretary would be calling the cops on the sheriff. Hopper putting Kline's finger in the cigar slicer was a great twist on him getting info, especially since we saw the slicer last time he was in the office. This episode really does a great job showing the varying styles of everyone in the show, with Hopper going incredibly violent to get info while Nancy is tricky. Much like Hopper refusing to stop when Kline won't give him answers, Nancy repeatedly manages to stay determined despite her terrible coworkers. Nancy has made mistakes along the way, but her questionable methods of getting info reminded me of how a lot of famous and important news reports came from people having to do questionable things. There have been people who went undercover at asylums, like Elizabeth (Nellie Bly) Seaman, who went undercover at an asylum to help reform. Nancy knows something terrible is going on, especially since she's experiences strange things in Hawkins before, so it must be frustrating that no one believes her. I'm surprised Jonathan is as "meh" about the whole thing as he is, because while he certainly needs the job, he's also been at the heart of some of Hawkins' strangeness. It's sad to see the anger that comes between the two of them and how they come close to breaking up, but I'd hope the writers understand the two shouldn't just give up on each other after a single fight. While they're constantly serious, the sections with Dustin are more comedic despite their dark mission, especially because of how the group just makes fun of each other. He and Steve already have a brotherly relationship that at times has them mocking one another, but then there's Robin, who jokes about both of them, and now we've got Erica in the mix, who seems smarter than the average kid. With plenty of business savy, she easily manipulates the group into getting what she wants in return for her services with the vent. I love how Robin repeatedly ends up being the brains of the group, coming up with things the feuding boys wouldn't consider without the focus being that she's a girl. Then there's the segments with Eleven and the others, where feuding parties have to come together and put their differences aside. Will's feeling that the Mind Flayer is back comes at the perfect time considering what El saw, giving them a perfect reason to continue suspecting Billy. Max is still unconvinced, being the group member with the least experience with everything, but the others are able to point out flaws in the situation. Weirdest of all, like Mike said, is how Billy is wearing a shirt, and I hadn't realized at first how true this really is, considering how long the shirt is. Seriously, I hadn't noticed it at first, but how does no one find it strange that Billy, who normally just wears trunks at the pool, is wearing what looks like a dress now? Mike comes up with an excellent plan to lure Billy into the sauna, knowing heat is the Mind Flayer's weakness, but he still has issues communicating. He just asks that the girls trust him as he says only boys can come along to hear his plan, and at one moment tries to apologize to El, but she has arguments of her own, and he at seems dismissive of her words. She's come to her own conclusion about their relationship I hadn't thought much about, and while it's similar to what Hopper had said, I feel like she landed at a slightly different place than him. Whereas Hopper seems to just dislike that El is spending time with a boy, she is realizing that she needs time away from the boys occasionally. This group might be mostly back together, but the different stories going on throughout Hawkins are getting more dangerous, and the Mind Flayer is still working.
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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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