OK, this is more like it.
I have to say that the kick off to Stranger Things 3 had me a little worried that after a two year absence, the show had forgotten how to do it’s thing. While a shift to the summer months and a far bigger canvas delivered a bigger playground and a different, more playful tone to keep things from getting stale, there was a feeling that things had gotten sillier rather than stranger.
However, despite an opening episode that seems to be riffing more on the works of John Hughes and Garry Marshall that it was the likes of Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter, this second episode manages to restore a good deal of the equilibrium fans had come to cherish. With the Upside-Down having more of a presence this time out and the rampant, teen-movie influences actually have something to add to the plot, it seems that the show is finding its feet once more just in time for those good summer vibes to fade into something far darker.
While it’s usually Will Byers who proves to be the whipping boy for whatever shenanigans come out of the Upside-Down, this time it’s rage fueled ladies man Billy Hargrove who bares the brunt of the latest attempt of the Mind Flayer to cross over in our reality. But after suffering the usual side-effects of sharing a brain with a malevolent entity (controlling voices in his head, aversion to sunlight, epic flopsweat), he soon starts doing his new master’s bidding by kidnapping a hapless fellow lifeguard and offering her up to his squishy new overlord.
Meanwhile, the effects of this latest incursion have been noticed by the usual suspects and it’s time for yet another multi-pronged investigation that’ll no doubt meet up in the middle. While Joyce Byers goes to teacher Mr. Clarke to figure out the mystery of her sporadically failing fridge magnets, Jonathan and Nancy have managed to sniff out a story concerning a ferocious, hyper rat who soon pops into a gooey state and oozes out of confinement. Elsewhere, the new union of Steve, Dustin and Robin skive from selling ice cream to focusing on decoding the secret, Russian message Dustin accidently picked up on his ham radio, but discover that the source of the messages is located far closer to home than the Soviet Union. However, while all of these things will soon add up to something apocalyptic, the main stories here are tales of romance that are spectacularly crashing and burning.
Overjoyed at finally getting Eleven and Mike to seperate for the first time in weeks, Hopper celebrates by seemingly innocently shooting his shot by inviting Joyce to dinner to “celebrate”, but unfortunately because Joyce has become typically obsessed with the behavior of her fridge magnets, she accidently stands up Hopper who uses booze to compensate. However, most shocking of all is that Eleven, after getting a chance to cut loose like a teen girl for the first time in her life thanks to Max, finally confronts Mike about his recent lies and takes him down with four words that prove to be more devestating than any tekekinetic mind blast: “I dump your ass.”.
If I’m being completely honest, there’s still a fair amount of issues floating around the second episode of Stanger Things that cause the previous one to feel so off, but now the sci-fi aspect is in full swing, the darker parts of the episode manage to keep the more goofier bits in check, although it does result in a fair bit of tonal whiplash. While we get moments of Billy fantasising smashing in the skull of Mrs. Wheeler within a genuinely heartstopping vision rubbing up awkwardly with Mr. Clarke reentering the show like something out of Revenge Of The Nerds, but there’s definitely a sense that the balancing act is slowly starting to reassert itself. A good example of this is the winning trio of Steve, Robin and Dustin who proves to be the early headliners of the season thanks to some killer chemistry and while the double act of Dustin and his surrogate big brother would have been enough to help it excel (that greeting handshake), the addition of a sardonic Robin (“How many children are you friends with?” pushes the group into the realms of the truly magnificent. In fact, you can tell that the trifecta of wannabe code crackers is prime television because literally all they’re doing is sitting in a back room trying to translate Russian and you genuinely feel like you could watch it all day.
Also aiding the episode immensely is the fact that the show manages to split up Mike and Eleven and actually frame it as a good thing. Despite us awwww-ing and them getting together a prom last season, their transition into loved-up teens has been deliberately horrific, but despite Hopper putting the fear of God into Mike about dating his “daughter”, Eleven has become suspicious about this sudden cooling off period. This is where Max not only comes in, but utterly justifies her existence by taking Eleven out for a shopping trip that not only blows her mind, but allows her to form her own likes and feelings outside of what Mike and Hopper wants. It’s a massive step forward for Eleven as a character as it helps her evolve in a way beyond her super powers and I have to admit, watching Mike get shit-canned after how entitled he’s been acting proves to be incredibly satisfying.
Elsewhere, others find themselves in something of the standard holding pattern. Jonathan and Nancy’s trip to photograph a crazed rat is far more about the emerging, globulous mass of this season’s creature than it is about the characters and Joyce standing up a drunken Hopper over fridge magnets has a long way to go before it picks up steam. However, suffering the most, oddly, is Will who because he’s no longer being targeted by dark forces, now has nothing to do except tag along and pine for the old days where all they would do is just play D&D. Still, the episode certainly hits its 80s quota thanks to the introduction of Cary Elwes as Hawkins’ cigar chewing mayor who seems to be going for the Larry Vaughn award for unscrupulous leadership with every toothy grin he can flash.
But among the near-constant needle drops and fashions that could make your eyes bleed, the fact that Dacre Montgomery’s uber-intense Billy is now the sweaty poster boy for interdimensional invasion means that there’s finally a real edge to the monstrous goings on. In fact, Billy was a fucking psycho before he had an evil consciousness cannonballing into his free will, so now seeing him twitch, snarl and kidnap his way through the episode means that he’s much more of a legitimate threat than a dark eyed Will Byers ever was (sorry Will).
Even though there’s still the odd tonal wobble, Stranger Things recovers its footing to the extent that normal services have almost been fully resumed. However, while the show is fully admitting that it’s teen characters are growing and changing everyday, it needs to make sure it doesn’t accidently alter the people we’ve come to care for. I mean, you can’t expect Steve, Robin and Dustin to do everything.
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