What I’m Watching: Stranger Things

Stranger Things: Season 3, Episode 4 “Chapter Four: The Sauna Test” (B+)

It’s a rare relief to see our characters actually onto the right targets on this show, with Eleven rightfully suspecting Billy of being more than a little bit weird when she and Max found him acting strange with Heather and her parents. At least the two of them were open to answering the phone from the boys when they kept calling in a code red on the radio, though Eleven isn’t anywhere close to forgiving Mike for not treating her well. I was very worried that Max was going to crack and decide to let her brother out, but the mind flayer managed to reveal his presence before that happened and he burst out. Eleven was a good match for the mind flayer but she wasn’t strong enough, and it was freaky watching Nancy panic as Mrs. Driscoll’s body went crazy at the same time. The sight of that whole army of mind flayer drones at the end of the episode was extremely disconcerting, and let’s hope that Robin, Steve, and Dustin can be just as resourceful as they were in this instance by hiring a small assistant by offering her lots of free ice cream to give them a leg up on their enemies. The mind-flayed Tom was very angry at Nancy and Jonathan, and unfortunately the real Tom was mean and terrible enough that they didn’t realize he was being possessed. Now their relationship also appears to be in jeopardy. Hopper didn’t waste much time going back and forth with blackmail with Larry, and that situation got violent fast. This season, now at the halfway point, is definitely heating up.