What I’m Watching: Stranger Things

Stranger Things: Season 3, Episode 2 “Chapter Two: The Mall Rats” (B+)

It’s quite a trip getting back into this show’s universe, but I’ve decided that I’m going to try to finish this most recent season, which premiered way back in July, by the end of the year. I’m not sure what to make of the supernatural developments, namely Billy coming face-to-face with himself before knocking Karen out and seemingly sacrificing fellow lifeguard Heather to some beast and the rat that Nancy and Jonathan saw exploding and then oozing out to become something much more terrifying. You’d think that our friends would pay more attention to Will now that he’s back and perfectly alive, though he’s only interested in playing games rather than helping out his good bud Mike, who’s not doing a great job of navigating his fear of Hopper and his affection for Eleven. After a thoroughly enjoyable shopping trip with her new girlfriend Max, Eleven’s deliberate style of speaking made her delivery of “I dump your ass” all the more biting. Hopper’s celebration definitely didn’t go as planned after Joyce stood him up to spend time with Scott, and that coupled with all this protest stuff is going to send him off the deep end. Dustin and Steve were way too excited to see each other when he stopped by the ice cream shop, and I’m glad that Robin asserted herself so that she could help them translate the Russian words. Steve was the unexpected MVP of the hour when he deduced that this recording was considerably more local than they suspected.