We look back at how
El ended up with Jim as we see a series of flashbacks
After El killed the
demigorgon last season she didn’t vanish - she went into the Upsidedown and
searched through it for Mike - eventually finding an ominous red hole leading
back to the real world. She quickly used her powers to expand it so she could
return to the real world
That ominous red
light seems to be a worrisome theme.
She made her way to
Mike’s house - only to find it surrounded by Ominous people trying to convince
everyone she’s a dangerous weaponised Russian spy. Mike isn’t remotely
co-operating and Karen doesn’t seem to be a big fan either.
She flees to the
forest, scraping a living killing squirrels with her mind so she could cook
them… she was found by a man who seemed to offer help - but possibly discovery
too. She used her telekinesis to throw him against a tree… dead or injured we
don’t know. But she flees with his jacket and hat; definitely torn and guilty
by this.
Until she finds the
food Jim leaves her….
And now it’s
Hallowe’en and El wants to go out - she can wear a costume and not be
recognised… but Jim nixes it. The Rules mean there’s no risk. There’s a huge
confrontation and she pouts when he lays down the law. So he offers her a
compromise - he will buy lots of candy and they can both get fat eating it. And
teaches him the word “compromise”
Awwww they’re soooo
cute together. Utterly utterly cute: and El is still learning English
Over to the others:
Joyce is still supe concerned about Will. She has great trouble letting him out
of her sight and is also very troubled by his clear pictures of the Upside
Down. Will, tired of people fussing, lies about having more episodes though
Joyce doesn’t believe him. Jim does try to sooth her - because Will’s symptoms
are very much like PTSD and they need to support him.
At the same time
Jonathan is an awesome, supportive big brother. We also have nice little hints
of everyone else’s family as well which is nice to see
The nerd club in
geeky fashion have all dressed as ghostbusters (which is cool but also a
problem since no-one else at school is in costume and a lot of adults don’t recognise
it. But it does have a nifty argument from Lucas at the idea that he must be
Winston since he’s Black).
Lucas and Dustin are
still obsessing over and stalking Max. Hey I guess it’s ok that they’re getting
their own storyline but can it… not be this? She does call them stalkers and
call them out for their presumption.
We also see that
Max’s brother Billy is basically The Worst.
Also the Worst are
the Ominous people who are still being Ominous and exploring the tunnel -
they’ve set up some kind of outpost in the Underneath connected to the computer
- but the red lightning storms keep knocking it out. Just in case we didn’t
realise Bad Things are Coming
And if you didn’t
realise, we have Will. Still frustrated about everyone treating him
differently, he tries to hide his Episodes, even from his brother who continue
to be awesome and supportive. While trick-or-treating, Will is consumed by a
vision of a big dark shadowy monster lurking over the town and Mike hurries to
support him - and keep his secret (which kind of sidelines Lucas and Dustin but
Max did join them for trick or treating). They commiserate about why will wants
to keep things quiet along with Mike still hoping to find El.
Nancy is also having
issues with not being able to share what happened with others - in particular
she wants to tell everyone what happened to Barbara, to give her parents some
closure and to remind everyone else that Barbara actually existed since
everyone has forgotten about her. She’s angry, she’s upset and Steve saying
they can’t tell anyone is sensible, but it’s also self serving and hard to
hear. And when they go to a party to be “normal teenagers” at Steve’s
suggestion she gets drunk and lashes out at Steve (who is desperately trying to
cut her off). She calls everything bullshit, including the idea she loves
Steve… who last episode was basing his future career and plans on being with
her. Steve leaves (already taking hits from Billy the New Worst) and Jonathan
is the one who takes Nancy home. It’s messy, it’s full of emotion and oh yes
it’s painful but so real and such a mess.
Jim has another
problem to investigate - plans are dying. Firstly pumpkins rotting in black goo
(which I am informed is not normal) spreading to other crops and trees. He
tries to track the line of it while some creature makes lots and lots of scary
scary noises but is never seen. This does make him late for his promised return
to El and she’s definitely not happy when he comes home
And yes they’re still
adorable, even as she turns tv channels with her powers. She’s also using a
blindfold to try and reach out to Mike through the Upside Down.
As for that ominous
noise - Dustin finds a creature in a bin. I’m going to guess it’s the thing
making the noises but he seems pleased to see it not afraid.
Hey remember how I
said last episode that I really liked how we had all of these platonic,
non-romantic, non-jealous relationships between men and women? Yeah, let’s
shelve that. We have Jim clearly more and more focused on Joyce while her
current partner more and more being cast as, basically, boring. At the same
time Jonathan is showing more and more jealousy towards Steve and attention
towards Nancy. It’s a shame because this was such a unique element of this
show.
El and Jim together
are precious - especially since Jim is clearly out of his depth but so clearly
cares. I think Will desperately not wanting to tell his story is a very real
depiction of many people dealing with trauma and mental illness - a desire for
“normality” that pretty much rests entirely on “fake it until you make it”. And
from that we also have Nancy’s own frustrated lashing out. I do like how real
these people and their struggles are.
