SPOILERS

“Chapter Eight: Papa”

At first, I was just going to write up both episode 8 & 9 together in one post, but I decided that I wanted to split them apart. I did watch them back to back, which was a commitment of four hours. The 8th episode was an hour and a half. It did not feel like that though. These episodes flew by as the storylines continued to come together.

This has been a great season so far, though there are a few early story bits that did not work well. However, these storylines (basically the Russian gulag and the west coast crew) fired on all cylinders in this volume of the show. Mike and Will became huge pieces for the episode and the Russian tale became so much more than it had been on the build.

Episode 8 gave us some serious kick ass action from Eleven. Her confrontation with Brennen had me screaming at the TV and then her crashing of the helicopter that was trying to shoot her was amazing. Eleven’s reunion with Mike was emotional too.

Speaking of emotions, Will was talking to Mike, trying to convince him that Eleven would always need him because he was the heart of the group and he showed the mysterious painting. That made me happy because I had considered them looking at the painting after Will died. There have been plenty of rumors about which characters might die in this volume and it has made me anxious about all my favorites.

Thankfully, Matthew Modine was the first to go and that made me happy. I’ve wanted this guy to get offed the minute after he walked into the present day section of this show. It is all the better too that it was not Eleven who killed him.

Going back to Will, his monologue to Mike in the back of the pizza van about feeling different and not knowing how people will react was not just about Eleven and Mike. It was clearly about how Will feels different because (as plenty of people have speculated) Will is gay. The show has not said the specific words, but he is obviously implying it. And the words were beautiful and Will’s pain was powerful.

The Hawkins crew went about preparing for their plan to kill Vecna/Henry/1 by going to a gun shop and beefing up their weapons. They ran into Jason and his basketball vigilantes doing the same thing.

Part of the Hawkins crew plan was to offer up Max as bait so they could catch Vecna/Henry/1 in the Upside Down while he is mentally traveling to the regular world.

A great set up for the finale. The Hawkins crew with the A-Team “setting up the trap” section of the show was a great ’80s throwback. The nostalgia of the series has not been as relevant in this season’s episodes as it has been in the past.

Episode 9 is 2 1/2 hours long, which is longer than many movies so the conclusion is certainly going to be epic (since I have already watched it, I can let you know for sure).