Summary: Dustin and Lucas finally work up the courage to talk to Max and they become friends. She is invited to join them for trick or treating. Nancy and Steve go to a party to help Nancy get over Barb. Nancy gets drunk and tells Steve she doesn't love him. Jonathan is supposed to take Will trick or treating but goes to the party instead, leaving Will with his friends. Jonathan takes Nancy back home. Will ahs another episode while trick or treating and talks to Mike about it. Hopper discovers that crops are mysteriously dying. El is upset when Hopper doesn't keep a promise and tries to contact Will. Dustin sees something in his trash can.
The Good: This was very good. Stranger Things is definitely improving this season. I liked that there were several emotional scenes this episode. Last season was fairly devoid of much emotion, but this season is giving a lot of attention to emotion. Several different story arcs for the characters culminated with emotional scenes in this episode, and it was really good. This level of storytelling is much more satisfying than what we have gotten before. I'll address each storyline individually. First of all, the Dustin/Lucas/Max plot. This was just as hilariously fun as it was last episode and the 2 idiots were hilarious as they struggled to interact with Max. It was nice to see the three become friends by the end though. Max has also become a lot more interesting after this episode (see: The Unknown). Next I'll take on Nancy's story this season, and it is a HUGE step up from the crappy teen drama stuff we got last season. The writing is vastly improved and it makes it easy to relate with both Steve and Nancy in their situation and by the end of the episode both come off as extremely likeable and it's sad to see what happened to them. Steve came off really well here and felt like a genuinely good person. Nancy on the other hand is traumatized by what happened to Barb, and rightfully so. It's emotional to see her suffering and gives her a much more gripping storyline to work with. And I think that the final break up scene worked very well because of this. Both characters' mindsets make sense and both are likeable and logical, so it's very saddening to see them finally give in to their problems and leave each other. The scene was written well and it worked on pretty much every level, showcasing the improved writing of this show. The Will storyline was excellent too. I loved the continuity when Jonathan let Will go on his own. It was simple storytelling for Jonathan to leave Will on his own since he doesn't want to treat Will like a freak. It was simple, it worked but it also set up for something to happen when Will is alone. The set up is obvious and it gave the episode some good tension to make us fear for Will. So when he finally zaps back into The Upside Down, it's expected that something will happen and the scene was very tense. But it's not the tension we close out on, rather we close out on a brilliant scene between Mike and Will where both of them get to open up to each other and talk about what happened. It didn't feel forced and surprisingly felt very real and emotional, so kudos to the writer for pulling that off. Lastly, I also enjoyed the El storyline. Her flashback at the beginning was good as it gave us some confirmation on what happened to her after she vanished. While I do have some problems with the story (see: The Bad), I enjoyed it overall. El comes off really well as somebody who is upset to be so alone all the time and her reaction to Hopper screwing up was understandable. It's also very interesting to see her trying to go back to Mike. Her seeing Mike was a pretty sweet scene to end off with too. The Ghostbusters sequence at the beginning was also great fun. Well done director. The Bad: I had some major reservations on El and Hopper's story to prevent it from reaching greatness. On Hopper's side, his story feels too similar to last season's which is a little annoying. I would hope for some change but it doesn't seem like I'll get it. From El's side, my main confusion comes from her travelling the world without the bathtub. How did she know to do that and why not just do that instead of the whole set up last season? It felt really convenient. The show also felt a bit too cliché with this storyline. It was obvious that Hopper would forget about El, so I wasn't surprised when he panicked since he forgot. I did get a laugh out of him getting candy from the kid though. I had some other problems too. I don't like the familiarity of another secret lab storyline. We have seen enough of that last season, I don't want any more. The man in charge also feels like a Dr. Brenner 2.0 on every level so I really don't care to see more of that. Joyce and Hopper reminiscing felt like a scene from season 1. We needed something like that a while back, not now. It also feels a little stupid that nobody else wore a costume on Halloween. That would never happen in real life. My biggest problem for sure though was Billy. He is obviously a villainous asshole, but I was really annoyed when he tried to MURDER INNOCENT CHILDREN. I don't care what situation he is in, how does murdering random kids help anything??? It would get him in serious trouble and felt like a completely childish and downright idiotic move. Nobody would actually do that, so it felt like a serious breach in my immersion. The Unknown: Is the lab getting power from the Upside Down? Does that have some connection with the new monster? Or the crops? Why are the crops destroyed? What caused it? What is the Monster and why does it make such a weird sound? What is its goal? Why is it in Hawkins? What did Dustin see at the end of the episode? What happened to Billy and Max? Who are they and what have they done? Why does Billy seem to blame Max for whatever happened? Why does she think he is responsible? And of course, what happened? Best Moment: I really liked Mike and will's conversation, so that takes it for me. Character of the Episode: I'll say Steve this time for being such a good dude throughout. Conclusion: The writing and storytelling has definitely improved this season, but that doesn't mean there aren't flaws. If these flaws can get ironed out, this show absolutely has the capability to reach new heights. This season is looking promising so far. Score: 64
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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