STRANGER THINGS Recap: 2x04
This episode sure makes a lot of headway on just what horrible nonsense is happening to our collective tiny son, William “Just A Button” Byers, and also introduces this season’s version of the string lights, god, yeah, shivers, joy and good-fright shivers. I also find the development that what is eating at Will is connected to what is leaching the life from the pumpkin patches a real good one. I’ll take Spooky Crop Magic for Every Plot Conceivable, Alex!
Stranger Things 2, Chapter Four: ‘Will the Wise’
The Duffers & Co know we’ll all be binging this show, so they just run nearly every episode right into the next. It is a bit of jolt to drop back in after even a short week-long break, actually! Not disorienting, just kinda like jumping into a pool instead of taking the steps.
So here we are gathered around Will, who’s standing stiffly on the field, eyelids fluttering. Mike’s hand on his shoulder, then both of Joyce’s, who had raced over to the school on her mom intuition. In the Upside Down, the tendrils of this smokey monster are still rushing into his eyes and nose and mouth, holding him hostage in our world, until at last it must be done with him, and lets him go, his eyes snapping open on the field with a gasp. I don’t know what you DID, Monster, but I HATED IT, and I will find a way to kick your ass, I’ll do it!!
Loved this recap! I had to just bulletpoint my reactions, because there were a few!!
- Juxtapose Will in the first ever episode telling Mike “The Demigorgon got me” and now breaking down with Joyce “It got me, Mom” and cry forever.
- Not gonna lie, I see the appeal of baby D’Art too. It’s absolutely bonkers, but I get why Dustin imprints on him so hard, especially since there’s been a running theme of him feeling left out of the group. He hides it pretty well, always pastes on a brave face (Dustin my son!), but there’s been these little crumbs dropped pretty consistently about how alienated he can feel. I think that’s also why he forms such a strong bond with Steve later. These are things he doesn’t have to share with anyone (though he will, because he’s Dustin) but are seemingly just for him. IMO, Dustin just generally has a lot of love in him, and he wants somewhere uncomplicated to put it. Too bad that happens to be a LITERAL MONSTER. Boy, run!!!
- I really don’t understand this weird rivalry thing they were trying to push with Billy and Steve, even less so since it was dropped later on. But kudos to my boy Steve just refusing to engage. I love one (1) mess of a teenager constantly trying to be better.
- I NEVER NOTICED THE HAWKINS LAB BOX WAS UPSIDE DOWN WHAT
- The ending scene with Hopper just dropping into the Upside Down and the camera actually turning is one of my favorite cinematic scenes ever. It tells us exactly what we need to know and how fucked the situation is without any expository dialogue, just Hopper speaking for all of us. Oh Jesus indeed.
YES YES YES STRANGER THINGS CHAT :D
1. Nooooooooooo! God that phrasing kills me, because its simplicity is so childlike, and somehow more frightening. To be “got” by a monster, what does this mean!!
2. Ahh this is so true, like that bit in the first season when Dustin explains to Mike that he understands that he’s not anyone’s best friend because he moved to Hawkins later. My intelligent, loving boy, who just wants to share both!
3. It’s fascinating that it’s so one-sided, because it must mean that they just wanted another way to show Steve’s developing character, and figured “Steve silently takes the high road” would endear him to us. And it does! It creates this nice pattern wherein Steve doesn’t fight boys anymore, he just fights monsters. We know watching the way he responds to Billy’s taunts that he won’t ever push Jonathan around again, for instance. Like when Jonathan is brought up as a rival when they’re in the shower, Steve’s been such a pacifist this whole scene that it doesn’t even cross our minds that he might go threaten him—that’s not Harrington’s style anymore.
4. ~ SIGNS ~ & ~ SYMBOLS ~
5. Yeesss. When this show gets its visual language right, it REALLY REALLY GETS IT RIGHT. Stranger Things’ attention to period detail & authenticity in set dressing gets a lot of deserved attention, as it’s gotta be up there with Mad Men in recent glowing successes in that field. But what I feel it doesn’t get enough praise for is how strong their production design choices are in service to telling the story. As much as I adore the instantly iconic look of the Upside Down, which lets them do what they do so well at the end of this episode, my favorite is always how the plot visually takes over the Byers house. Honestly I wonder if the fact that this doesn’t happen in Stranger Things 3 is part of what feels missing in that season.
