Stranger Things, S2 Ep6- The Spy; Steve’s Redemption, Nancy is just terrible…again

Posted on November 20, 2017 by casewright

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Cold Open: E-Will is in agony, Hop is getting a rough shower, and Steve becomes a hero (that can totally do better than Nancy- seriously Mullet-Guy)!

Steve enters the storm cellar and finds …. nothing but Dart’s skin. It’s big now!

The Government shows up at Joyce’s Casa De Crazy and takes a bunch of polaroids.

Nancy and Creeper are prepping tapes of Reiser incriminating himself and they end up having sex. Yep, they do it with the prodding of a creepy alcoholic in a bunker…. really.

Reiser shows Hop that the upside down has grown.

If you feel like this review is frenetic, it really reflects the story. It was really terrible this episode. It bounced around like a cocaine addicted superball, but with a ton of corny heart to heart moments that made me seriously root for the Demagorgon and the Upside Down to win.

E-Will has difficulty recognizing people or acting. It really seems like both to me. In any case, he emotes that burning the vines hurt “It” and made the Shadowmonster angry. No one thinks that means Will has been compromised because like every episode this season the characters took stupid pills off camera.

Steve and Dustin have a long heart to heart on railroad tracks with meat to lure Dart to his death. It’s like “Stand By Me”, but boring. I’m being a little cruel here, but they deserve it. Steve is showing some pretty good acting these scenes and his character moves to pure hero, which is great, but the entire flow of the episode needs a page 1 re-write.

Hop gets outside and tries to talk to El, but his voice is to any empty prison- I mean cabin.

Steve and Dustin prepare to set a trap for the Demagorgon and Lucas and Max show up to help. When the night comes, the Demagorgon approaches, but isn’t enticed by the ground chuck. Therefore, Steve uses himself as bait. He’s officially a hero! I really thought they might kill him off here because he’d been humanized for so long. Just as Steve is about to do battle, there are now THREE demagorgons!!! THREE!!! One last season was suspenseful and awesome, but this one we have a shadowboxer, I mean monster, I mean whatever. Steve and the gang is about to be eaten, but the creatures are called off, why?

E-Will convinced the government to go after the “heart” of the vines in the evil caves, but IT’S A TRAP!!! Just as they get close, the demagorgons close in and we here the motion sensor sounds from Aliens….It’s kinda awesome and all the soldiers die.

Will tells Joyce that he’s sorry for laying a trap and that they should leave. There are three demagorgons about to attack the government facility. FADE TO BLACK.

See Below for a Hero:

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TV Review: The Walking Dead 8.5 “The Big Scary U” (dir by Michael Strazemis)

Posted on November 19, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Could it be that I just watched a Negan-centric episode of The Walking Dead that wasn’t terrible?

It’s true! I’ll admit that I rolled my eyes a bit when I saw that tonight’s episode was going to be about Negan and the Saviors. Last season, though there were a few exceptions (particularly the episode where Eugene was first taken to the Sanctuary), the Savior episodes were my least favorite. But tonight’s episode was actually pretty good.

That doesn’t mean that it was great, of course. To be honest, I’m not totally sure that you could ever have a truly great Savior episode. Whenever I watch the Saviors, I always find myself thinking about The Others on Lost. One reason why the Others were such a fascinating group was because they weren’t just one-dimensional villains. Whenever one of the Others would say something like, “We’re the good guys,” you could actually see their point. There’s never been that type of ambiguity when it comes to the Saviors. Negan is an asshole. He has chosen to surround himself with other assholes. They were all probably assholes before the zombie apocalypse and they’ll continue to be assholes until Sanctuary is eventually overrun by walkers.

With all that in mind though, this was still a pretty good episode. If nothing else, this episode made it a little bit clearer why people started following Negan in the first place. Even when Negan was trapped in the trailer with Father Gabriel, he did not allow himself to show any fear. Instead, he was actually able to persuade Gabriel to make a run with him for the Sanctuary. Even his confession to Gabriel about his first wife mostly served to reveal that Negan is a master manipulator. He shared just enough to keep Gabriel intrigued. After spending almost all of previous season bellowing, Jeffrey Dean Morgan dialed things back just enough to make Negan interesting again. For that matter, tonight’s episode finally gave Seth Gilliam to show what he’s capable of when he’s actually given a decent line or two.

In the trailer, Negan told Gabriel that the Saviors would undoubtedly end up killing each other if they thought he was dead. That may have sounded arrogant at the time but it quickly turned out that Negan was correct. I think that’s also going to be the Saviors’s downfall. By literally setting himself up as the strongest man in the Sanctuary, Negan has also ensured that the Saviors are lost without his presence and direction. While all of his lieutenants may go out of their way to imitate Negan’s style, none of them have his leadership skills. It doesn’t matter how much Simon and Regina insist otherwise. They may say “I am Negan,” but everyone know that they’re not. That said, Negan’s sudden appearance after everyone had assumed he was dead will probably leave him in an even more powerful position. All messiahs return from the dead and Negan even returned with a man of God!

As for the rest of the episode, I didn’t really get the whole point of Rick/Darryl fight. (It did, of course, remind us of the difference between Rick and Negan. Rick forgave Darryl, something Negan would view as being a sign of weakness.) Josh McDermitt is obviously having a blast as Eugene. Eugene may be a traitor but McDermitt’s performance still makes me smile every week. And then there was weaselly Gregory, of course. I think we’re all ready to see a bunch of walkers pounce on Gregory.

As I watched tonight’s episode, I found myself making a few more predictions about the rest of season 8:

There’s no way that Gabriel is still going to be alive at the end of this season. He is so being set up for martyrdom.
If they get Dr. Carter back to Hilltop, does that mean that Maggie will finally have her baby?
Judging from the flashback/flashforward structure of this season (and the fact that they’re going to have to explain why Carl no longer looks like he’s 13 years old), I’m going to guess that there will be a considerable time jump between season 8 and season 9. Either that or Zombie Carl’s going to show at some point soon…

As always, we’ll see what happens!

TV Review: The Walking Dead 8.4 “Some Guy” (dir by Dan Liu)

Posted on November 12, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(SPOILERS)

(YOU GET THE IDEA?)

My heart is broken.

It’s funny. If Ezekiel had been the one to die, I don’t think it would have upset me as much. If Carol had died, I would have been sad but tears would not have sprung to my eyes. Rick? Hey, Rick should have died a long time ago. I wouldn’t have gotten upset. I would have said, “That’s life. No one’s safe.”

Instead, Shiva died and now my heart is broken.

What’s funny is that TSL co-founder and editor-in-chief Arleigh Sandoc warned me that Shiva was probably not going to survive. Based on what he had seen in the comic, he told me exactly what was going to happen to her. So, I can’t say that I was totally surprised. Even if Arleigh hadn’t warned me, I remember the walkers eating that horse during the first season. I know that animals aren’t safe in the world of The Walking Dead.

Still, it broke my heart.

Maybe it’s because I’m a cat person. Maybe it’s because Shiva died protecting her master, which is not exactly typical cat behavior. Ezekiel was at his weakest when Shiva sacrificed her life for him. And now that Shiva’s gone, Ezekiel is going to have to learn how to be a leader without her help. Before she died, he was shouting that he wasn’t a king. He shouted that he was just some guy who found a cat. The cat’s gone. Can Ezekiel prove that he deserves to be known as “your majesty?”

If not, maybe Jerry can step up and lead The Kingdom. Tonight, I was really impressed with Jerry and the actor who plays him, Cooper Andrews. They both did a great job. I know some people would say that Ezekiel should give the keys of the kingdom to Carol but I wouldn’t suggest that. Carol’s a badass but I still get the feeling that she’s just a day or two from snapping and killing everyone she sees.

As for the rest of tonight’s episode … who cares? Shiva’s dead…

Okay, okay, I know. I’m a semi-professional blogger! I need to get through this post and mourn later. Okay, just a few observations:

Does everyone just have an unlimited supply of bullets all of the sudden? One of the few things that I liked about the previous season is that the show did try to realistically deal with the fact that there aren’t many supplies in the post-apocalyptic world. But this season, everyone just seems to be shooting guns for the Hell of it. I’m not an expert on firearms but I do know that bullets aren’t like knives or arrows. They can only be used once.

So, I guess Rick is suddenly an action hero! I’m not complaining. A Rick who can suddenly jump into a speeding jeep is still preferable to a mopey, indecisive Rick who can’t bring himself to fight back.

Let’s give it up for Khary Payton, who did a great job tonight! Ezekiel is a character who I’ve sometimes found to be annoying but Payton did a great job. I think one reason why it was so unsettling to see Ezekiel acting so desperate was because The Kingdom has always provided the grim world of The Walking Dead with a little bit of fantasy. It’s always served as an escape from all the terrible things going on in the rest of the world. It’s very existence is a tribute to the power and importance of imagination. Seeing the fantasy shattered was not easy and that’s something Payton wonderfully captured in his performance.

This season’s flashback structure actually paid off tonight. I’m occasionally skeptical of shows that do the whole nonlinear timeline thing because I often feel that it’s just a gimmick, as opposed to really necessary storytelling device. But tonight, seeing the contrast between the confident Ezekiel and the nearly defeated Ezekiel was undeniably powerful.

Speaking of nearly defeated Ezekiel, what about that Savior asshole who was holding him prisoner? Oh my God, that guy had to be the most annoying bad guy ever! I was so happy when Jerry split him in two.

Tonight’s episode was not bad. It was exciting. The pace didn’t drag. And it made me cry.

Shiva, R.I.P.

Stranger Things S2 Ep5 “Dig Dug”; Alt Title: Bad Ideas

Posted on November 12, 2017 by casewright

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Cold Open: The Evil Vines cover up the entrance Hop dug and he is trapped. He leaves a trail of cigarette butts for himself or someone. Then, the evil caves puff out some knock gas and Hop is on his back.

Nancy and Creeper get a room together and it’s more boring than awkward.

Hop wakes up and makes a quasi-gas mask and goes spelunking- Bad Idea #1.

There’s a subplot where Louis gets advice from his dad about girls and he tries to explain to Max last years events. It’s kinda boring. For the completists, Louis contrives a meeting with Max to explain all last year’s jazz.

There is a moment where Mullet Guy kinda comes on to Steve in the shower (At least, that’s how it came across to me). Who knows, maybe Steve and Mullet guy will find love? Honestly, it would be the first unpredictable twist of the season. I hope those crazy guys make it work! Steve, I get that you’re really into Nancy, but she’s in a motel room with Creeper. You could do worse than Mullet Guy. He works out and is a work in progress with great hair!

Dylan lures the teenage Demimoorgorgan into the storm cellar with baloney and it’s actually kinda scary.

Nancy and Creeper arrive at The Crank’s home. There are cameras outside and he opens the door in a t-shirt, robe, and I’m certain dirty underwear. They go into his lair to talk- Bad Idea #2. They enter for some reason and he even has a steel door creeper room. REALLY?! REALLY?! They play the tape Nancy made of Reiser totally incriminating the lab and they come up with a mediocre plan to discredit the lab and create a scandal not mentioning the monsters. That should work.

Bob stops by Joyce’s home and she creates excuses to keep him from coming in, but decides – Why not let him see my crazy house? He’s gonna find out we’re all nuts anyway and he’s into puzzles. He takes a couple of minutes to absorb in all the crazy- You did these drawings? Why…. exactly? BEST LINES OF THE SERIES!!!!

Bob realizes: 1) the vines are a map of the town. 2) the vines are hydrophobic. E-Will trips out and sees Hop is in trouble. Yep, Hop is enveloped by the vines and it appears to be the end of our intrepid Sheriff.

El gets to her Aunt, meets her catatonic mom, and realizes just how much her mom has gone crazy. There is no there there, or so it seems. Her mom indicates that she is ready to communicate with some flickering lights. El goes into the imbetween and her mother show’s El: her birth, her abduction, another psychic playmate, a botched rescue, her mother’s ECT treatment by Evil Modine, and tonight’s winning lotto numbers- guess the fake!!!!

Bob creates a map to scale to find Hop with coordinates divined from E-Will’s drawings. Pretty cool, Hop was last season’s breakout- this year is All About Bob!!!

Evil Reiser learns that the Hawkins soil is ALIVE!!!!!! That’s pretty much it for him this episode.

Bob figures out Hop’s rough location and is amazed they bring him along to help. Awwwww. E-Will, Mike, Joyce, and Bob are looking for Hop and E-Will goes into his head and says to make a right. Joyce and Bob arrive at the cave entrance for Hop and Bob doesn’t seem phased that he’s going into another dimension. Good for you, Bob! Thanks for taking this in stride. They rescue Hop. The vines are about to overtake our trio, but the government arrives with flamethrowers and start burning the vines, sending E-Will into a painful seizure.

Steve and Dylan are paired up to deal with the teenage Demimoorgorgan, but it’s escaped!!!! WHA?!!! It has broken out into the evil caves and is now loose in our world. Dylan, this is 100% your fault! You are the biggest bad idea of them all! – Bad Idea #3.

This episode wasn’t too bad. People acted kinda stupidly as is usual this season, but at least Bob acted as a counter-weight to all the dumbassery. Cheers!!!

Stranger Things S2 Ep 4 “Will the Wise”; ALT Title: Everything that is WRONG with season 2

Posted on November 12, 2017 by casewright

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Cold Open: Joyce is trying to find Will who is busy getting possessed by black smoke “Supernatural” style. The Smoke Monster fully enters Will and he becomes…. YES—

E-Will. —You’re Welcome, America.

Analysis: The smoke monster is everything that is wrong with Season 2. Season 1: the big bad was a predator- corporeal, eating, breathing, and reproducing. This season: it’s a smoke monster- ethereal and spooky, essentially an evil spirit. Evil spirits are fictional and it destroys the idea of the Upside Down. The Upside Down is a PARALLEL universe: what is here is there, but different because it evolved without the sun. There aren’t spirits here running about, so there shouldn’t be spirits there running about. That’s why season 2 fails! The creators undermined their own mythology for the sake of creative expedience and it drains the scares right out of us.

Joyce tries to wake Will, but he can’t remember what happened because E-Will is being all E-Will.

Hop sees El and is justifiably pissed, but imprisoning a teenager is just not a workable solution. Hop tries to ground El and it goes…about as well as can be expected with a teenager with terrible super powers. She hits Hop with a book, throws furniture around, and blows the windows out. They’re also a lot alike; they both react without thinking.

Hop, you’re not the best Dad. You take crazy risks without the slightest concern whether or not you will come home to your ward. Grow up!

Nancy easily lies to the now placeholder Cara Buono that she’s staying at Stacy’s…. and it works. UGHHH. It’s actually a plot to catch the lab guys red handed and give the data to the Crank from episode 1. She and Creeper are faux-waiting for Barb’s mom and then get “captured” by the government guys. It’s legit 1980s creepy and one of the few good scenes of the episode.

Joyce is trying to nurse E-Will back to health. His temperature is below normal and she tries to give him a bath. Joyce you should really read- Chicken Soup for the Demonic Soul.

We get a very hamfisted clue as to how to defeat the smoke monster: E-Will is scared of the bath water. Side note: there is a cool juxtaposition with Mr. Clarke describing fear responses in organisms.

Hop is with Joyce and Will and trying to get him to describe his E-Willness and he can’t unless he uses …..crayons? Will, I get it- you’re the artsy one of this D&D tribe, but as Daniel Tiger tries to instruct my girls- Use your words…. Use your words. There we go. Will uses drawing to craft what is revealed to be a network of vines. Joyce uses the drawings as her latest Crazy Home Journal interior decorating and puts them up everywhere.

We return to El cleaning up the house and finding The Trapdoor of Contrivance. We see a box labeled Vietnam. So, Hop is a Vet, not a surprise. El discovers the evil lab box and finds stuff on her mom. El uses her mojo to go to the imbetween and make contact with her. El’s quest begins to find her mom.

Hop reveals that he might be the worst Dad/Cop ever and realizes E-Will’s drawings are vines and he takes E-Will’s statement that they are killing to be literal and rushes off without consulting anyone about his plans or whereabouts or any backup whatsoever civilian or otherwise. Hop, how did you get through Vietnam or even your teen years?!

Dylan looks for his “pet”. His poor mom is a fright looking for their cat. Dylan finds Dart eating Mr. Snuggles or whatever he’s called.

Hop digs down into the pumpkin patch and enters a tunnel of Upside Down and for hamfistedness the camera rotates making him upside down on the screen.

NOTE: smoke from Supernatural and this show below….

Stranger Things S2 E3 -“The Pollywog”; ALT Title: I Used To Have a Role on Stranger Things

Posted on November 7, 2017 by casewright

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Cold Open: Dustin brings the Wee Kaiju into his home. Really?! Really?! If you think it crosses anyone’s mind that the Wee Kaiju came from the Upside Down, you’d be wrong. Even though it looks like a Wee Kaiju, Dustin battled the Upside Down, it’s scared of light, and …. I give up.

Hop spends a lot of the episode trying to make amends with El with waffles. We learn that her captivity has been going on for almost a year and SHE IS BORED. There are a series of flashbacks of Hop finding her, taking her into his Uncle’s abandoned cabin, and an amazingly sad house cleaning montage. I love a good montage, but this one made my heart hurt a little. Hop establishes three rules all that involve El being under house arrest. So, she breaks out and goes forth into the village below.

Bob tries to coach Will on facing his fears, which would be good, but here in Monsterville, Indiana – it’s very very bad advice. Then, he goes to school. That’s it.

Mr. Clarke is trying to teach and Dustin busts in bothering everyone and Mr. Clarke tries to roll with it. Of course, he and Cara Buono are marginalized this season and it is awful. Dustin shows all the boys and the Red Haired Girl the Wee Kaiju and no one connects it to the Upside Down for like a while. The Wee Kaiju escapes, they play the gremlins song, and it’s almost watchable. Will doesn’t want the Red Haired Girl to help and she totally crushes on him. El watches on and goes all psycho ex-girlfriend and makes her fall off her skateboard.

Will, you should really consider moving far far away and try not to date another Secular Carrie.

Dustin finds the Wee Kaiju and hides it to keep it safe from the villagers. Dustin — SHAME!!!!

Hop has a mini-quest and tells Paul Reiser that the rot is emanating from the lab and I guess they should check on it.

Nancy spends a lot of the episode talking about herself. Then, she decides to spill the beans to Barb’s parents on an unsecured line. This would be fine except for this: her mom who was all up in her business last season wasn’t even phased that she took Creeper up into her bedroom, with electronic equipment, and during school hours.

Winona also starts to believe Will is seeing a monster.

Will goes into the Upside Down, faces the shadow monster, and gets possessed “Supernatural” style.

All in all this season is like a chewed-on jigsaw puzzle- contrived connections and a gushy mess.

TV Review: The Walking Dead 8.3 “Monsters” (dir by Greg Nicotero)

Posted on November 5, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Before watching tonight’s episode of The Walking Dead, I was starting to worry that I might be impossible to please.

I spent all last season complaining that The Walking Dead was too talky and slow-paced. Then last week’s episode was pretty much nonstop action and I ended up getting bored out of my mind, largely because I didn’t feel like I had any sort of emotional stake in any of the characters. When tonight’s episode started, I was literally wondering if perhaps I’m destined to never be truly satisfied with anything that happens on The Walking Dead.

When the episode started with the attack still going on and Morales and Rick still talking, I was a little bit concerned. I was really worried that the entire episode was just going to be the two of them discussing what constitutes morality during the zombie apocalypse. I honestly didn’t remember much about who Morales was so I have to admit that I wasn’t terribly affected by his tales of woe and death. Morales explained that he lost everyone. Rick mentioned that he had lost a lot of people that he cared about. (Rick didn’t mention that most of them died as the result of Rick being a terrible strategist but no mater.) I was really starting to get concerned that the conversation was never going to end but then Daryl showed up and killed Morales. Thank you, Daryl. From now on, whenever a minor character threatens to hijack an episode, Daryl kills them. That’s the new rule.

The episode definitely picked up after the death of Morales. In fact, thing got so much better after Morales died that I almost felt as if, by killing Morales, the show’s producers, writers, and directors were specifically telling us, “Don’t worry. We learned our lesson last season. We’re not going to let random characters wander in and take over the show this season.”

As for the rest of the episode, I know that many would probably say that the fight between Morgan and Jesus was a highlight and I’ll agree that it was a very well-done sequence. (It helped that it was combined with scenes of Rick and Daryl fighting their own battle, for once giving us a chance to understand where all of these characters are in relation to each other.) The scenes with Aaron and Eric were definitely the episode’s emotional high point and the sight of Eric wandering around as a walker served as nice reminder that, before it all became about Negan and Alexandria, The Walking Dead a show about … well, the walking dead.

For me, though, the best part of tonight’s episode was Gregory showing up at Alexandria and begging to be allowed to come back in. Maggie, of course, immediately noticed that Gregory was driving Father Gabriel’s car. Gregory lied and said that he had just found the car. (Of course, we all know that he deserted Gabriel, leaving him with Negan.) When Maggie said that Kal had told them that Gregory went to see Negan, Gregory announced that Kal couldn’t be trusted.

Suddenly, Kal leaned over the side of the wall.

Gregory looked up at him. “Kal,” he sad.

Kal gave Gregory the finger.

Now, it may be a case of me being easily amused but that one hand gesture made the entire night for me. It was so simple and yet so appropriate that it was pure genius. If Gregory had been caught telling lies about Rick, Rick would have launched into a speech about why no one is allowed to lie in this new world. If Gregory had been caught telling lies about Negan, we would have had to spend three episodes listening to Negan’s lecture. Gregory got caught telling lies about Kal and Kal responded quickly, silently, and efficiently. Everyone on The Walking Dead should try to be more like Kal.

Anyway, Maggie did let Gregory back into the compound. Rick probably would have shot Gregory in the head. Maggie does things differently.

Speaking of which, at the end of the show, Rick promised a savior that he would be allowed to escape if he would just tell Rick and Daryl where they could find a case of guns. The savior told them and Daryl promptly shot him in the head. I can’t say that I blame Daryl. That’s just the way things work in the heartless world of The Walking Dead.

Anyway, despite a shaky start, this episode turned out pretty well. It was certainly a huge improvement on the previous two episodes of this season.

Allow me to end this review with a question and prediction.

First, the question: “Where’s Carl?”

A prediction: The first half of season 8 will end with a zombiefied Carl walking towards Rick. I know that would be a major departure from the comic book but, honestly, it makes sense. On the show, only two or three years have passed since Rick woke up from that coma. In the real world, it’s been nearly 8 years and Chandler Riggs isn’t getting any younger.

We’ll see what happens!

A Blast From The Past: Degrassi of the Dead

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, Halloween and this year’s horrorthon are both nearly over.

Since I started things off with The Curse of Degrassi, it only seems appropriate for me to end my part of it with Degrassi of the Dead! This 10 minute film takes a non-canonical look at what would happen to everyone’s favorite Canadian high school if there was a zombie apocalypse!

(By the way, I know what you’re thinking but this was actually made in 2007, long before the premiere of The Walking Dead.)

Enjoy watching Drake turn into a zombie!

Horror on TV: Thriller 2.20 “The Hollow Watcher” (dir by William F. Claxton)

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Here’s one final episode of Thriller for this October’s horrorthon!

In this episode, we learn what happens when you stuff a dead body in a scarecrow. The scarecrow stalks you!

Seriously, scarecrows are so freaky.

Enjoy!

Stranger Things 2, S2 E2, Trick or Treat, Freak; ALT Title: Halfway Happy

Posted on October 31, 2017 by casewright

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Happy Halloween!!! Stranger Things 2 is in full-swing, but with some new twists like characters behaving stupidly out of character to move the plot forward.

The episode begins with El saying, “Goodbye Mike.” *sniff* BUT, she didn’t die after killing the Demimooregorgan! Instead of dying, she went into the Upside Down, escaped, and became feral in the Indiana woods living off squirrels and mugging hunters for their coats. Really. So, Yay?

Present day, she’s living with Hop who protects her by raising her in isolation. She wants to go Trick or Treating. Hop refuses. Instead he offers a compromise: he’ll get home early, they’ll eat candy, and watch a movie. Hop calls this a compromise – Halfway Happy. With the phrase Halfway Happy, Hop encapsulates the theme of his life, her life, and our experience as viewers: Halfway Happy.

Hop is halfway happy because he gets to be a dad again- Kinda.

El is halfway happy because she doesn’t have to live as a feral monster in the woods, but is isolated from any normal life.

Mike and the boys are halfway happy because they are safe – for now.

We are halfway happy because it’s season 2 and I’m reviewing again!

Here comes the stupid:

Joyce and Hop review Will’s spider beast drawing and are convinced that it’s all in head. WHY?! They’ve been to the upside down. They’ve seen monsters! Why are they incredulous?! WHY?!

We learn that Madmax’s brother is likely wanted and an asshole. But, I gotta write- his mullet is EPIC! Points for that!

Hop investigates more rotting pumpkins and loses track of time and misses eating candy with El. He doesn’t believe Will’s new big bad drawings, but show him some gooey trees and he’s all in baby! I wish there were more to that subplot, but there just wasn’t.

Young Judah Friedlander is really dumb this season. Did he get a TBI?! He doesn’t know what words mean like presumptuous and rescues an unidentified whatever (baby demimooregorgan from his trash). WHY?! He is somewhat popular with Madmax- good on him for that.

We learn that El has honed her skills to go into the black room by using a blindfold and thinking really hard. Good on her for that.

Will emotes with the same face again this episode as he is harassed and put into the upside down with a shadow monster. Also, a disappointment because the last big bad was a tangible threat out to “Suck your blood”.

Nancy is going through some growth. She’s feeling guilty about Barb. I didn’t think that sociopaths could develop emotions. But, here we are – Another character that is out of character. She gets drunk, breaks up with Steve, and gets taken home by Creeper. The parents never wake even a little, which is out of character for Cara Buono who was up in everyone’s business last season.

I’m starting to think that this season is a transition for the creators who never envisioned this story continuing. The first season ended like a great Beowolf Epic. El sacrifices herself and the hope of love for her quest. Hop goes all into redeem himself as a fallen knight for redemption. This season, in contrast, falls flat because it doesn’t know where to go. The monster is dead and this new one lacks suspense because he’s not even corporeal. The Duffer Brothers might be using this season as transition to figure out a new compelling narrative- at least to think so makes me Halfway Happy.

Happy Halloween!

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