Stranger Things re-review: recap season 2 episode 3 & 4 - read my verdict

It is time for our weekly trip back to Hawkins, Indiana. Boy, we sure are wracking up a lot of air miles with these regular flights.

After a slow start, plot wise at least, the looming threat over everyone’s favourite Midwest town becomes more tangible. The Upside Down is coming into the rightside up (our world) and causing some real trouble for our protagonists.

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But what did I think of the episodes and what did I spot on my rewatch? Join me to find out:

Chapter Three: The Pollywag

Synopsis: Dustin adopts a strange new pet, and Eleven grows increasingly impatient. A well-meaning Bob urges Will to stand up to his fears.

During my journey through the early episodes of Stranger Things, I have often touched on its focus on characters and how much of a strength it is. But I don’t think I’ve talked about it in terms of how our heroes are not the usual kind you see in TV or films.

Joyce is not a ‘girl boss’ kind of heroine, she is a world-weary middle-aged woman. Yet she is shown to be brave and heroic, willing to do whatever it takes for her family.

The second season has introduced Bob Newby, played by Sean Astin, and he is another version of this. He is a nerdy guy, but he is shown to be kind and caring, having found a sense of comfort in the man he is - as well as being utterly in love with Joyce in a truly charming way.

His warmth lets him bond with Will and he is the only one who doesn’t walk on eggshells around him. Unfortunately that has a tragic twist, his attempt to show Will how to stand up for himself, leads to the youngest Byers confronting the forces of the Upside Down in potentially disastrous fashion.

It is a deft piece of writing that elevates the episode, at least for me on this re-watch.

Chapter Four: Will the Wise

Synopsis: An ailing Will opens up to Joyce -- with disturbing results. While Hopper digs for the truth, Eleven unearths a surprising discovery.

Over the last year or so, I have been working my way through One Piece - ever since it started to be added to BBC iPlayer. It is not a voyage for the faint of heart, I will admit.

One of the interesting parts about that show (and I’m told the original books) is the way themes and ideas are paralleled and inverted. It makes the series feel cohesive in a truly staggering way.

The second season of Stranger Things feels like it is also doing some interesting inversions of the original set of episodes. Instead of Will being taken to the Upside Down, the Upside Down is taking him in our world.

Billy and Max are the dark side of a sibling relationship, in contrast to Will and Jonathan (even Nancy and Mike). The Hawkins Institute has a new boss and is trying to present itself as more helpful and working for the greater good, instead of Papa’s more overt mustache twirling.

We have one of the gang hiding a guest in their house, only this time instead of it being 11 in Mike’s basement, it is Dustin hiding the definitely creepy creature from the Upside Down dart.

This was the episode which really cemented this idea in my brain and made the second season properly click into place. It was with Nancy and Jonathan being detained by the institute that triggered it for me, since it is an inversion of Joyce and Hopper getting caught last season.

It makes the whole story feel cohesive and like the events of the first season are continuing to ripple through. But before I finish this week’s re-review, I just wanted to mention how scary this episode is.

The slow realisation that Will is possessed is terrifying, especially when he utters “he likes it cold”. Chills.

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