With Billy's help, the Mind Flayer arrives to finish El off as her powers go on the fritz, and Dustin heads to his radio to assist Hopper, who enters the lab.
Though Murray's radio is silent, Joyce and Hopper know the kids at the mall are theirs, and we see those kids are dealing with a screaming El.
With the Mind Flayer's essence in her leg, Jonathan fetches a wooden spoon and starts heating a knife, while Robin fails to calm everyone. Jonathan has El bite the spoon, and with one hand gloved, cuts open her wound and reaches inside, but she screams to stop when he fails to grab the creature. Howling in pain, she uses her powers to extract the creature, with a window breaking behind them. She hurls it across the room, where Hopper crushes it. The kids hurriedly explain everything to the adults, with Steve having come to accept things easily, and Robin sitting in the back. Murray enters with the schematics Alexei helped him draw and plans with Hopper, but Erica interrupts that he doesn't understand the scale and will get them killed. He argues with the girl, but Dustin finally explains their discovery of the ventilation system from the storage room, only for Hopper to deny his offer to navigate. As Hopper arms himself, Dustin makes up with the others, and the sheriff tosses him a radio, agreeing to let him navigate from a safe spot. Dustin and Erica points out the signal won't reach, so they request a head start to get to Dustin's ham radio, and Hopper gives Steve the keys to their stolen car. While Murray runs through his keys with Jonathan and Nancy, Joyce assures Will that she'll be fine, having decided to join Hopper in the lab. El tells Hopper her "battery" is low but will recharge, and she wants to fight, but he wants her to stay safe. Mike says it's time to go, and Hopper tells him to be careful.
Hopper argues against taking Joyce, but she and Murray point out Alexei said it would take three people to blow up the machine.
Meanwhile, Nancy leads the kids to her car, which to her confusion won't start, so she pops the hood and Jonathan discovers the ignition cable is missing. They hear a revving car and spot Billy, so Nancy ushers everyone back inside. In the elevator, Murray and Joyce explain he'll be pulling out wires in one room, which will give her and Hopper the opportunity to key the machine's keys and blow it up. Hopper is unsure, causing Joyce to argue with him once more, so Murray interrupts and says it's a good plan that will hopefully get them in and out un-spotted. Of course when the elevator opens, they face a wall of Russian guns, so Murray rushes forward and claims a lieutenant called them needing documents. When questioned, he struggles to name a soldier, so Hopper pushes him aside and guns down the forces and steals a uniform. On the road, Robin mentions how special Suzie must be, which leads to Erica and Steve doubting her existence. Dustin has Steve turn off the road, but the car gets stuck going up the hill, so they get out to run the rest of the way. The radio is buzzing with multiple calls from Mike, who is requesting an emergency lift as the others prep for Billy and the Mind Flayer. Nancy assures Max the gun she's checking is just a precaution, and after jokingly asking about the car El flipped, Jonathan says they could use its ignition cable. The group is unable to push the car over, so El, against Mike's wishes, tries her powers, but struggles to budge it at all. Back in the bunker, Murray easily gets the group past a checkpoint and reaches the vent, where he makes contact with Dustin and says he'll call if he needs them. He reminds Joyce and Hopper to smile and nod at any soldiers, and enters the vents. Mike and the others succeed in pushing the car over, and as Nancy and Jonathan try to get the cable, Max points out El digging through the trash. She fishes out a coke can, and recalling the tests from her childhood, tries to crush it to no avail. As Jonathan looks under the hood, Will's gets a feeling, and Max notices glass roof bending. Mike yells to Nancy and runs with El and Max as the Mind Flayer crashes in.
Hopper and Joyce argue lightly due to the former worrying about El, but he admits they're making a good team, and she jokes about being his partner. He reminds her she's moving soon, but she surprises him by asking for a date.
Dustin and Erica direct Murray through a junction, but Steve spots activity at the mall, so Dustin calls in, only for the Mind Flayer to destroy Mike's radio. Dustin keeps trying, but Nancy's group is stuck behind the car and Mike's is in a stall, so Steve and Robin run to help and Dustin radios Murray, which Hopper picks up. The kids cower in fear as the Mind Flayer searches the mall, and Mike suggests they run up the stairs since the creature's back is turned. Max says they won't make it, so El suggests they go through the Gap, but they step on broken glass as they do, bringing them the Mind Flayer's full attention. As it sends a tentacle in to find the group, Murray arrives at his destination and begins pulling cables, causing the key to spark and sending the base on high alert. Lucas pops a balloon with his slingshot, which sends the Mind Flayer to another store just as it was finding the other and allows both groups to flee. Though Nancy's is able to escape with some help from Steve, the Mind Flayer is on their tail, and Hopper discovers a problem with Murray's code, so Dustin tries getting the help of Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo).
I'd been seeing people say the season finale tore their hearts out, and I can see why, especially considering Alexei's death just an episode ago.
This episode, the sad moments come in the middle as the Mind Flayer gets close and the Russian assassin enters the lab in his Terminator style. I feel like Alexei's death is the saddest despite what happens this episode, because some things we see this episode come as the result of heroic sacrifice, but Alexei's death was an assassination. The man had just begun to enjoy some pleasures of American life and hoped to become a citizen, only for the soldier to come along. I mentioned in my last post that I had a problem with this death, however, and it's that somehow no one notices anything. In some other posts I've mentioned how people have learned you can really get away with a lot in a large crowd, and the initial shot makes sense. The assassin is using a silenced weapon, and there are loud noises to drown the shot out as well, so no one hears anything. Though I'm surprised no one spotted the gun, all he seemed to do was walk by Alexei, and the shot went through his prize doll, so the wound wasn't visible. The issue I had comes in after this, as Alexei drops the doll and staggers in a bloody shirt, and Murray cries out and runs toward him. I feel like this should've gotten at least a bit of attention, especially from those around Murray, and there were people who specifically looked at Alexei as he struggled. Despite that, it was saddening to see Alexei go out the way he did, and while there are a lot of sad moments ending this episode off, there is hope for one character. Gotta say, I loved Suzie's arrival, especially because early on I assumed it had to be revealed she was real, to prove the naysayers wrong. The two are absolutely adorable, and the scene in which she helps is hysterical, but at the same time causes problems for the group. Suzie doesn't know what's going on, and as a result sees the situation as Dustin not contacting her for so long and then requesting a number. Because of this, she has a demand of her own, costing everyone valuable time as Hopper and Joyce wait in the bunker and Nancy's group flees the Flayer. I can't say I hate Suzie or this scene, however, as it gets me smiling every time I watch it, which has been quite a few times already. It's cool seeing things pay off in this episode, like the Mind Flayer being seen atop the mall like in Will's vision from last season. A more recent payoff comes later in the episode when Lucas and Will's fireworks come in handy, and they allow for a powerful scene with Dacre Montgomery. Dacre does an incredible job as Billy throughout the series, and a moment between him and Eleven shows the pain from a sad, damaged young man. There are also touching moments for Hopper and Joyce this episode, as they finally take Murray's advice and open up to one another. The two start this moment by arguing again, but it's clear to everyone Hopper is looking to pick a fight to avoid worrying about El. Joyce doesn't let him do so, coming back with a joking prod and understanding what he's doing, and asks him to take her on a date. The kids get to show off their ingenuity, especially Dustin, who realizes he can easily direct Murray to help, and going to Suzie for Planck's Constant. Jonathan gets a few moments, as although his plan to help El failed, his quick thinking getting the supplies was perfect. He's also the one to point out they can take an ignition cable from the wrecked car, which had seemed useless before. Nancy acts as the one to keep the younger kids calm while the adults are in the bunker, and gets a purely awesome action moment when they return to the car. Then there's Lucas, who holy crap, saves everyones lives and gets the Mind Flayer away from El in two ways with his slingshot. His shot of course distracts the Flayer to another store, but it helps in another way, as when everyone gets outside, it assume El is with them and chases the car. Because of this, El, Mike, and Max are safe from the Flayer for at least the moment, as it doesn't realize its target is actually still in the mall. I like how we keep going back and forth between all the locations, as every few minutes one group that seemed to be in a perfect position faces a problem. Initially just in the mall, we soon go into the bunker, then follow Dustin's group to the radio, Steve takes us back to the mall, then his new group heads out again. The Mind Flayer just keeps having to chase them back and forth as well, and the writing does a good job bouncing us around. It's just one problem after another popping up and soon followed by someone having a quick solution that leads into another problem. I'm incredibly curious to see where the writers are going with El's power loss, as it's clearly a problem that will persist. The Mind Flayer getting inside her likely affected her powers in some way, and I would think the stress of how much she's been using them played a hand. I had though Mike was right to be worried a few episodes ago, because the group has been having to rely on El's powers quite a lot, even in weakened states, and when they were at the store, she lost a lot of blood. After removing the Mind Flayer's parasite, she isn't even able to crush a can, which is now a classic thing for the show since it's what "Papa" had her do to train her power. The Duffer Brothers keep coming up with perfect ways to build this world further and continue the story, and though they don't plan to keep it going forever, I'm hoping they continue to impress for quite some time.
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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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