REVIEW: Stranger Things, Episode 103
Stranger Things continues with episode 3 of this first season, entitled “Chapter Three: Holly Jolly”, in which the search for Will Byers continues.
After finding a piece of clothing that could be Will’s (but that we know it isn’t) in a pipe that leads to the Hawkins National Laboratory, Sheriff Hopper and two other police officers go to this place to investigate. Hopper isn’t very hopeful they will find Will in there, but he wants to be sure. After knowing that there is a camera which is filming the other end of the pipe, he asks to see the recordings, but Hopper isn’t at all satisfied with what they showed him because he knows those recordings aren’t from the night of Will’s disappearance. What is most frustrating about this, is that we know they seem to be wasting their time going there and talking to those people, because one: they’re not going to tell them anything; and two: what they are hiding isn’t Will, but the fact that Eleven disappeared on that same night. Unfortunately, Hopper doesn’t know neither of these things, so he goes to the library to try to learn a bit of this lab’s history, finding out that the facility is rumored to make experiments on children.
Meanwhile, we continue to watch Joyce’s struggle not to go crazy, but that seems to be a mission which failed, at least that is what most people think, but we know better. After realizing last episode that Will can make the lights flicker, Joyce buys lots and lots of Christmas lights and hangs them around most rooms of the house. Joyce spoke to her son for a few moments, learning that he is alive but not safe. However, she quickly realized that wasn’t going to work, because to find him she would have to ask more than yes or no questions. That is when she hangs the lights in a wall and draws letter near each lamp, just like an Ouija board, but a lot more ready for Christmas. When she puts her “board” to work, Will just tells her to RUN, and that is when, for the second time, the wall seems to want to give birth to a monster, making Joyce start running for her life.
At the same time, in the aftermath of the previous episode, Nancy looks for Barb, at first not all too concerned, but getting more and more worried as time passes. Even though they don’t care at all about her friend, Nancy continues to hang out with Steve’s friends, and I have to say that they really piss me off. I really don’t know why she continues with them, or better, yes I do, it is because of Steve but, even though he is not as irritating as the other two, he is just as much of a jerk. I am glad Nancy finally realized this, closer to the end of the episode, when she just gets up and walks away from them.
Lastly, after Eleven said she knows where Will is, Mike, Lucas and Dustin ready themselves for an adventure after school: they are all going to Mirkwood to finally reunite with their friend. As I have been saying, I really love the chemistry between Mike and Eleven, and I totally ship Meleven (not sure of this is the official name, but I like it), so I don’t have to say that I loved the scene in which Mike gave Eleven his watch so that she would know what time to meet them. After school (and also after another session of bullying: I really hate those two annoying bullies), the gang prepared to find Will. While on the way, my Meleven heart continued to beat really fast, because Eleven saw an injury Mike had, thanks to the bullies, and it was really cute that Mike didn’t want Eleven to think he “was such a wastoid”. Shortly after, the gang reached their destination, everyone was surprised that they stopped at Will’s house, not having any idea what was going on. While there, they heard the sirens of the police not far away, so they chased after them. I think it is safe to say that everyone was surprised with what they found at the lake: Will’s body. After this, we saw what is, in my opinion, the best scene from this show so far: Mike yelling at Eleven, and then getting home and starting to cry.
This episode was, as usual, a really great one. Lots of great scenes from Joyce, just like last episode, and then that amazing scene in the end made this episode the best one so far. But that is what Stranger Things does, it only escalates, so ready yourselves for what is to come. I am giving this episode a 9.0/10.
The forth episode is entitled “Chapter Four: The Body”, and maybe Will isn’t quite as dead as it seems, so don’t miss it.