Dustin is with Steve
trying to lure out Dart the slime monster, and finally manages to get in touch
with Lucas to get him to come help
Dustin and Steve
check the basement where Dustin left the slime monster - only to find slime,
what looks like an open cocoon or shed skin, and a tunnel. Dart has escaped
which is not good.
They decide to lure
the creature and, along the way, Steve gives some dating advice to Dustin. This
ranges from the good: that keeping an interdimensional slime monster as a pet
is unlikely to impress girls to the very awful: that the best way to impress a
girl is to completely ignore her and shun her so she will then become obsessed
with you. This is terrible, awful advice and thankfully crashes and burns
He also tells Dustin
how he does his hair meaning that a) yes his hair is like that on purpose and
b) he is trying to perpetrate it on others. The 80s had much to answer for.
Also this teenager is completely devastated by his break up with Nancy and more
than a little pouty
They leave a trail of
meat behind them to the abandoned bus yard where they plan to ambush it with
big clubs and fire since that kind of worked with the adult demigorgon
Lucas has not given
up on reaching out to Max, going to her house to try and meet her. She
continues to be afraid of her brother, the arsehole’s reaction since he hates
Lucas (probably due to racism) and is generally a terrible person. She seems to
be trying to repair her skateboard which after his threats last episode
suggests he broke it
Lucas has come to
collect her to show her proof, taking her to the bus yard with Steve and Dustin
so he can show her the slime monster and offer proof for her story. Dustin
tries his new found tactics on Max who duly shuns him for being a sudden
arsehole. Instead she gets closer to Lucas as he expresses an interest in her,
her family (her father is still in California) and her toxic relationship with
her abusive step-brother. He reassures her, offers praise and is generally
pleasant to her and interested in her. This is much better than Steve’s advice
Which is when the
slime monsters arrive. Yes, plural. Dart is not alone and Steve is nearly
caught outside by them before he hurries to hide in the bus with the others,
desperately trying to defend themselves. It seems inevitable that they’ll all
be eaten very very soon - when something calls all the monsters off. More on
that lately
Catching up on Nancy
and Jonathan doesn’t take much. For the most part they celebrate spreading
their little exposure tape with the media, drink a lot of vodka and deal with
creepy guy being way too invested in their relationship. Even if he is
extremely accurate and insightful about their obvious issues between them
They do finally give
in to the sexual tension that night (which I kind of don’t hate but I say again
I was kind of invested in how people pursued relationships on this show that
weren’t based on who they were supposed to be with from a narrative point of
view, along with platonic opposite sex friendship).
They finally come
home and Jonathon realises something is up when he sees Joyce’s disturbing home
decorating
Now to the main group
- Will is hurried to hospital, screaming about burning though now it sounds far
more human and less supernatural and horrifying. Jim also gets decontaminated
while the Ominous Lab Men go to Joyce’s house and copy the map and take all the
evidence Joyce has.
Joyce is being very
vocal about how everyone is totally failing her and her son and how it’s
unacceptable and Joyce is determined and moderately scary and totally
unforgiving. Throughout this, despite having a whole lot dumped on him
suddenly, Bob is there to be supportive, helpful and completely onside with
Joyce - because he is a very very nice guy.
They also show Jim
the tunnel system and how burning the edges of the portal has completely failed
and how the network has now spread all over town. Jim wonders why they’re not
burning it - and they show him why by burning a small tentacle in Will’s
presence - instantly causing him agonising pain and proving the odd link.
Will also, ominously,
says the soldiers hurt “him” with fire.. And they shouldn’t have done that. It
upset him. Very very ominous
More worrisomely,
they have definite evidence that the possession is consuming Will’s brain and
memory - he doesn’t remember Bob or Jim. It’s clearly degenerative as well.
This is where I get
extra impressed by Grandfather scientist. See, I thought this guy was using a
pleasant demeanour to hide the fact he’s an evil demon scientist. Except he
isn’t. When his evil minions claim they should burn all the tentacles and screw
the boy who will die anyway, Grandfather man is actually genuinely angry and
threatens them against repeating it. He is hugely invested and desperate to
find a way to cure Will and stop the darkness without hurting Will
Kudos to Stranger
Things for having a group of amoral scientists who are not actually
moustache-twirling evil. Yes, Ominous Lab is not nice - but at least the head
of it isn’t evil incarnate, he’s a human, flawed but still a man.
Will offers an
opportunity - pointing to a part of the map saying that “He doesn’t want them
to see”. Mike remembers how he encouraged Will that he could be a spy and
everyone now seizes on this as an opportunity to strike back
They send a team to
this site and ominous fog starts billowing.
And Will starts
crying, saying “he made me do it”
Yes Will isn’t a spy for the monster, the monster is using Will as a spy - and to lay an ambush. All those monsters left Dustin, Steve, Max and Lucas alone because they had other targets
The team is
slaughtered. And Will tells his mother to leave - because it looks like the
slime monsters are heading to the Ominous Lab next
Ok I have to give
this episode a lot of kudos about humanising the Ominous Lab leader rather than
just have him being some sadistic monster scientist. I really like the humanity
there which so manages to override an almost genre required trope. And Will
turning out to be a mole for the monster equally works well as does Dustin and
Steve’s failure advice - all works really well and in complete defiance of so
many tropes.
