Stranger Things Season 3, Episode 2
The second episode starts off with Mike getting caught in a lie about his grandma being sick. It’s unclear as to exactly why he actually does this, but my assumption is Hopper made some false promise. When Eleven confides in Max, she enlightens her about boys and suggests she “dump his ass” for lying to her.
Then there’s some mall montages, which make for fantastic interludes between the more intense moments of this episode. Madonna’s “Material World” aptly plays thorough these sequences while Max, Eleven, Mike, Lucas, and Will separately navigate department stores and experiment with fashion and fads. Eleven buys new clothes that aren't Hopper’s hand-me-downs, and Mike brainstorms ideas for a make-up present. Eventually they bump into each other outside the mall, and Eleven executes the dumping. Cue Foreigner break-up song.
At this point in the show we can see something has got to Billy. Only there is still uncertainty as to what. One thing is for sure—he is very sweaty and haggard. He shows up to the pool for work sporting a nasty burn on his upper arm. The distorted line of vision used to simulate Billy’s disorientation in this scene is highly unsettling, and his poor co-lifeguard Heather is fooled into thinking he needs a doctor.
Meanwhile, Nancy and Jonathan respond to a curious inquiry regarding rats eating fertilizer. They make a house call to Mrs. Driscoll, whose basement has acquired this rat problem. The old woman shows them one she managed to catch, rabid and reeling in a cage, before it splits into a bunch of intestinal guck, and in Blob-like fashion slithers out onto the floor.
This is the first episode where we meet Hawkins mayor Larry Kline (Cary Elwes) who summons Hopper to deal with a strike occurring outside town hall. Hawkins has been in protest over the loss of local jobs following the opening of the Starcourt Mall, and many are pissed off at Kline for having passed budgets enabling these lay-offs. Kline smugly requests Hopper flash his “little gold badge,” and in slimy politician fashion, breaks up the assembly detracting from his concentration. Mayor Kline in a lot of ways is Larry Vaughn, the mayor from Jaws. For one, he’s corrupt as hell. (Pay attention to who is stalking down the hall past Hopper.) And considering the larger horrors at play in this season, Kline is very much a babe in the woods, unknowingly inviting dangers to prey on Hawkins and its residents.
End scene: Billy back at the barn, and we get a glimpse at what is infecting him, the rats, and now another. This town once again is about to deal with another daunting sci-fi entity, but this one is a hell of a lot more gross.
