[00:00:05] Speaker A: Welcome to Investigating, a movie and television rewatch podcast, where we're currently analyzing each episode of Stranger Things with no spoilers. We are your hosts, Leah and Sarah,
[00:00:16] Speaker B: and if you love Stranger Things, this is the podcast for you.
[00:00:32] Speaker A: Foreign.
Hey, guys. Welcome back to Investigating Stranger Things. Today we're talking about season one, Episode two, the Weirdo on Maple street, written and directed by the Duffer Brothers and aired July 15, 2016.
And it's so funny. I. I never really look at the titles of the episodes for.
Especially, like, on Netflix, because it just automatically rolls over into the next episode, and it kind of just feels like it's just a continuation. But it's kind of fun doing the podcast because I'm like, oh, I actually have to pay attention to the titles now, and they actually mean something. So that's kind of fun. Yeah.
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Is this title about Jonathan?
[00:01:19] Speaker A: Is this so.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: That's so funny.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Liter.
[00:01:31] Speaker B: I was watching this episode, so, like, in my head, the timelines are all just, like, so fucked up. Like, yeah, I didn't realize that Barb gets snatched up or something in this episode. Like, I didn't realize that that happened in this episode.
[00:01:46] Speaker A: When?
[00:01:47] Speaker B: Later. I don't know. I thought it happened, like, in season two.
What?
[00:01:52] Speaker A: Okay. I was gonna say that's. Yeah, that's a little far.
Yeah.
[00:01:56] Speaker B: So it was a nice surprise. I was like, oh, we're already here. Like, this is nice.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: You know how you watched.
You're like, yes, the ball is rolling. Things are happening.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: Things are happening. I like it.
[00:02:12] Speaker A: This is a really good episode. I don't know what you thought about it, but I. I really, really enjoy this episode a lot. There's so many different things that are really picking up. We were already starting to flesh out a lot of characters. I feel like we're starting to get kind of a grasp of on who these people are. But then there also is a lot of subversion happening, which I also really, really love.
But, yeah. What did you think of the episode apart from, you know, the weirdo and Barbie?
[00:02:36] Speaker B: The Weirdo in the Bush.
[00:02:39] Speaker A: The Weirdo in the Bush. We're gonna rename our episode titles the Weirdo in the Bush.
Yeah. No, I thought, like, an innuendo. The Weirdo in the Bush.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: No, I swear to God, I was watching that last scene. Like, that scene where he's, like, snapping pig. No, don't do it, Jon.
Yeah, don't do it, please.
[00:03:00] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, we'll talk about that for sure.
[00:03:04] Speaker B: No, but this was a. This was a good episode. I feel like they're slowly starting to drop lore and, like, more information about the characters, like you said.
And it's funny because we're starting to see the dynamics of, like, how it'll be across the show, like, starting to form now, which I really like.
I thought the stuff. Like, all this stuff with 11, I don't. I don't remember a lot of stuff, obviously, because it's me.
It's me, you, girl.
But, yeah, some of the stuff was, like, really dark. Like.
[00:03:39] Speaker A: Yeah, it's very dark.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: I feel like.
[00:03:42] Speaker A: Okay, so again, I've seen this episode in particular probably like, 10 times now, and every time I watch it, it just gets darker. And I don't know if that's just because I'm getting older and my kids are approaching that age. I mean, not that it wasn't dark when my kids were babies or before I had children, but, like, it's just really, really dark and disturbing. And Millie Bobby Brown does such a good job. But some of this stuff, I was sitting here going, wow, they really went there with the. Yeah, child abuse. Abuse. Yeah. I was, like, trying to come up with a more severe word, but child abuse is exactly what it is.
[00:04:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Not to, like, get really uber political, but, you know, it's me. And this is the age that we live in. But like, with the Epstein files and everything right now, too, I think there's also, like. That's just kind of caused my hyper
[00:04:31] Speaker B: awareness kind of stuff.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: Yeah, it's just kind of like, wow, this actually happens in real life. I think before there was like, oh, this is a TV show. And, yeah, you know, that this is all stuff that happened in the past in, you know, horrible times, in bygones past. But now it's like there's things happening that we're realizing, you know, not to be a super downer, but I think that does also taint my view of watching these things.
[00:04:54] Speaker B: But that is fair.
[00:04:56] Speaker A: But, yeah, great episode. So much to talk about. Like, I. It's always hard starting a new show because there's not as much that we can talk about without getting into the spoiler territory. So I feel like from here on out, I'm like, oh, yes. Things to discuss, you know? But okay, so this chapter, this is from the Duffers. They said this chapter is really focused on our weirdo 11 or Ellis. Mike dubs her. We don't know much about her at this point.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Jonathan.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: Yeah, it's actually 11, so I think they don't explicitly say that the Wheelers live on Maple street, but I think it's inferred that they live on Maple Street.
So the weirdo is supposed to be 11, but, you know, it could also be Jonathan, and it also could be Barb. It also could be Nancy. Like, there's a lot of characters this could fit as well now.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: True. That's very true.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: But the buffers. The buffers.
I'm like Buffy and the Duffers over here.
The Duffer says, we get the sense that Eleven has spent the majority of her life in a lab, like a mouse in a cage. So when she escapes that lab at the beginning of our story, she becomes the quintessential stranger in a strange land, unfamiliar with our customs and lifestyle. Everything mystifies her, especially boys. The Hawkins suburbs might as well be another planet. And that was an interview with Entertainment in 2016. And I remember last episode, I was like, man, I'm so used to starting out and having a whole bunch to say at the beginning of the episode. Guys, we're back. We're so back. I have so much to say at the beginning.
[00:06:20] Speaker B: Oh, my God.
[00:06:22] Speaker A: I was like, yes. I found it. I found my groove.
[00:06:27] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:06:27] Speaker A: I love.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: I'm excited.
[00:06:29] Speaker A: In a September 2016 analysis, Netflix found that Stranger Things hooked viewers by the second episode of the first season, indicating that the second episode was the first installment that led at least 70% of viewers who watched that episode to complete the entire first season of a show. Isn't that insane?
So they found that it's like, the second episode of each season is pretty important.
And I. I would say that this episode definitely. If you were not hooked by the first episode, this one, you're going to be like, I need to know what happens with Barb. What's going to be the fallout with Nancy and Ste?
What's the stuff going on with 11? Like, you're you. You knew, or at least you suspected that 11 had powers in the first episode, but it's pretty much solidified in this episode, and that adds a whole other layer of intrigue to this season.
The title is a nod to Rod Sterling's the Twilight Zone classic, the Monsters Are due on Maple street back in 1960. It was season one, episode 22, in case anyone wants to check that out.
Um, the premise was that alien visitors succeed in driving a neighborhood to paranoia and violence by turning the power on and off.
IMDb suspects that this might reflect the friends tension over what to do with Eleven, their alien visitor with strange powers. It's possibly also the title a nod to Nightmare on Elm street, with it challenging the perceived safety of American suburbia, ineffectual adults, teenage rebellion, bad fathers. And it's also possibly a reference to Stephen King's short story the House on Maple, which centered around four Bradbury children that returned to their home. And then they discover that something is growing upwards through their house's walls from below, replacing wooden plaster with metal and machinery, counting down to some cataclysmic event.
[00:08:22] Speaker B: Wow, he really was on crack.
[00:08:24] Speaker A: If you. Well, but if you've seen the rest of the show, that sounds like something we know.
[00:08:28] Speaker B: Yeah, it does.
[00:08:30] Speaker A: The children are fearful, the phenomena. And then eventually like. Or they have an opportunity to rid themselves and their mother, their tyrannical stepfather. And so the countdown approaches that final minute and it's like all this stuff. But a lot of the book deals with themes of childhood empowerment, familial oppression, and escaping a tyrannical stepfather. And this episode, I noticed, deals a lot with fatherhood, especially oppressive and abusive fatherhood. We have Dr. Brenner or Papa. We have Lonnie, Will and Jonathan's father, and we also not necessarily a tyrannical father, at least now, like as far as we know, but we have Hopper, who's dealing with the repercussions of his daughter's death and. And all that stuff and fatherhood and I'll have more to talk about that in a second. But according to the Stranger Things wiki, the Wheeler's cul de sac is on Maple street, making this an obvious reference to Eleven. This episode also has a massive reference to E.T. by having Eleven staying in the basement just like E.T. did. And like having Mike's mom having no clue that she's down there.
The Duffers have said that just as ET Is about the connection between ET And Elliot, the weirdo on Maple street is about the connection between 11 and Mike. In the film, Elliot feigns illness to stay home from school and be with E. T. He shows ET his toys, including Star wars figures. Mike does exactly the same, showing her his Yoda figurine.
During filming of this episode, Millie Bobby Brown, who plays 11, showed up to set covered head to toe in glitter, halting production for 30 minutes. So.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: Oh my God.
[00:10:05] Speaker A: In an interview in 2016 on NPR, the Duffer Brothers praised the then 11 year old. Millie Bobby Brown is a precociously gifted actor and said that she is able to adjust her performance to different lens or camera positions in a way that most child actors don't know how to do. But they also said that there were times on set where they were reminded that she was Just a little girl. The example that Ross Duffer gave was one day she showed up on set and she was just covered head to toe in glitter. And she's like, I don't know where this glitter came from. And it's like, I'm not having this problem with any of my adult actors. David Harbour is not coming in covered in glitter.
They said that removing the glitter delayed the shooting schedule for 45 minutes. So I thought that was pretty, pretty fun.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: Why? Why couldn't they just let 11 be covered in glitter? Write it into the story.
[00:10:52] Speaker A: Yeah, because there's definitely so much glitter in the lab that she escaped from. And then like out in the rain, the sewers and in the cafeteria also, I was cracking up. I was like, with David Harbor's past, maybe he is coming covered in glitter.
Just not quite the same as 11. Yeah.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: No.
[00:11:16] Speaker A: Okay. So the biggest I will say theme that I'm uncovering for specifically for season one, we'll see if it carries over into future seasons, is kind of this idea of the oppressive world of adult conformity and also teenagers kind of trying to break out of that mold. And I was reading an essay called the Eaten for Breakfast Club In Uncovering Stranger Things, it was written by a gal named Rose Butler. And she talks about how the show does not figure its killer as a punisher of teenage evil like other slasher or teenage. That's sort of movies would do. But as a complex metaphor for the oppressive world of adult conformity, she discusses its specifically in the framing of the Reagan era. So again, not to be political, but this is like a lot of our 80s films and a lot of the 80s we had Ronald Reagan in the presidency and that really influenced a lot. Well, I mean, it goes both ways, right? Culture influences who's president, but also the president influences on down and stuff like that. He was president from, I believe, 81 to 89.
She says that the series recalls texts like Halloween, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Sixteen Candles and the Breakfast Club in order to attack the stifling social conservatism and reinforcement of archaic domestic values that rested at the heart of Reagan's policies. This idea really of the preservation of the nuclear family that is upheld by linking femininity to domesticity and masculinity with aggression. According to Butler, this emphasis on upholding the conservative values would provide the narrative for a number of satirical genre films that found home in the family unit, including the Stepfather, Parents and Society. In these films, teenage protagonists discover the adults around them are monsters. A similar narrative plays out in Stranger Things, which combines tropes of the teen movie with the slasher film to critique Reagan's endorsement of families and communities built upon traditional conservative values. The teen film is linked to Stranger Things through its articulation of adolescent anxieties during Reagan's presidency. As highlighted previously, this was an era of increased anxieties over the preservation of the nuclear family. And at the very heart of these concerns was the teenager. A generation on the cusp of adulthood. And then this is. It's really funny. The person I'm going to read about his. This. This whole thing was written by a guy named Robin Wood. Not Robin Wood from Buffy.
Completely different Robin Wood. Sexy Robin Wood. That's all I can picture when I read this. So funny.
[00:13:53] Speaker B: Sexy.
[00:13:54] Speaker A: As Robin Wood asserts in his evaluation. I think he's a film critic, but I think. I'm not quite sure. In his evaluation of 1980s teen movies, he says teenagers will grow up to be replicas of their parents.
Wood's observation draws attention to the stifling pressure placed on adolescents to follow in the footsteps of their parents, something that the teens of Stranger Things address directly. We're going to see this throughout the season. I don't want to give spoilers, but just keep an ear out for it or an eye out. Wood describes five terms of the 80s high school cycle or key generic elements of the decades. Teen films. Though not exhaustive, they provide a basic framework through which to interrogate the genre. Wood lists the following terms. So sex, the suppression of parents, multi character movies, hunter slash, hunted characters, and the repression of homosexuality as elements which define teen narratives. And I'll go into that more once we get to that scene, particularly with Steve, Nancy, Barb, and then their friends and Jonathan and stuff.
But I kind of wanted to close out talking just a little bit about like the. The slasher films and stuff.
How Stranger Things kind of subverts a lot of this, they said. By adopting and twisting the conventions of the slasher film across the 1980s, Stranger Things exploits the sub genre's tropes to underpin its indictment of Reagan's regressive social politics. Nowhere is this more evident than its depictions of its monsters. While slasher and teen films are reliant upon the absence of. Of parents, Wood argues that the suppression of parents in the teen film serves only to supply occasional suspense. Writing on the slasher film, Adam Lowenstein observes that the absent or impotent parents in the slasher film are nearly as ubiquitous as masks, knives and screams. During a period in which the Reagan administration was Emphasizing a return to traditional family values, both cycles of films feature narratives in which the heads of the nuclear family are at best absent and at worst complicit in acts of horror that directly endanger their kids while parents are missing. In films such as the Breakfast Club in Elm street, it is the direct actions of suburban parents that bring about murder and mayhem. He talks about Freddy Krueger and all that stuff and how, like Krueger kind of represents the older generation's repressed feelings of guilt and their bloody sins coming back to haunt their children.
So, through adopting and subverting the conventions of teen films and slasher narratives, Stranger Things creates a scathing indictment of oppressive conservatism by rendering adults as contributors to their children's suffering. It is most cynical comment is reserved for the pillars of the nuclear family. Similarly, by undermining the traditional gender roles endemic to the teen film, the series allows for its teenage characters to break free of archetypes and become multi dimensional, sympathetic individuals. Thus, Stranger Things expertly negotiates the narrative tropes of two popular film cycles of the 1980s to interrogate a crucial era in American history. Set during a time when the New Right attempted to reinvigorate the nuclear family, Stranger Things implies that the most important battle a teenager can fight is against the oppressive conservatism embodied. Embodied by their moms and dads.
So I thought that was really, really well said, and I think that's especially, like, relevant in what's happening today, because having grown up in a very conservative family, Reagan is looked at as kind of like, oh, my gosh, like the perfect president. And a lot of his policies are things that have led to Trump being elected today and have led to this rise of what's happening in our politics right now, and this rise of purity, culture, and all of those that are the undercurrent and the fuel to get to motivate voters to vote for policies that they maybe would not have agreed with otherwise. So all that is kind of the backdrop of Stranger Things. And I like how we're watching in this episode, even just this episode alone, there's going to be subversions of those tropes, and they're going to kind of combat that. And it's kind of fun how, again, when this aired, we're watching Trump go into presidency for the first time. So again, the cycle's repeating in a lot of ways, but I know I threw a lot at you, but I thought that was really, really fascinating.
[00:17:57] Speaker B: Yeah, that was interesting.
[00:17:59] Speaker A: So, all right, we'll talk More about that as the episode goes on. Believe it or not, I have more.
All right, so I believe it.
You're like, I know you do.
[00:18:10] Speaker B: Sarah's just like. She's like, I. I miss doing this.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: Let's go. I do. I'm like, so excited. But also like, I just love, I look, love looking at the cultural backdrop of why we're making things. But then I especially love looking smart tv, where they're going, we're going to use the stuff that was happening back then and we're going to subvert it. Even as we're talking about the tropes, I just find that really, really fascinating. And then they're also making kind of like a cultural critique on top of it. I don't know. It's just really fun to discuss and talk about.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: So.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: All right, so we are in the Wheeler's house. The kids have just come back from finding eleven. They're back in the basement.
Eleven seems to be on the verge of a panic attack. As she's sitting on the couch soaking wet, the boys are just like asking rapid fire questions at her. They're like, can we call your parents? Where's your hair? Do you have cancer? Did you, did you run away? Is that blood? Are you in trouble? Mike's her advocate. He's like, stop, you're freaking her out. Dustin's like, I bet she's deaf. And then he, like, slaps his hands together at her and she like flinches because it looks like he's gonna go hit her. And he's like, okay, she's not deaf. And Mike's like, okay, she's just scared and she's just cold. You're not helping. So then he runs to a laundry basket in the corner and grabs some of his clothes and hands them to Elle.
Really important or not necessarily important, but interesting factoid is the clothes that Eleven borrows from Mike in this episode are the same ones that Mike was wearing during the Dungeons and Dragons game in the previous episode.
And again, I don't know. I'm assuming that's got to be intentional. I don't know if it is or not. But this episode also has a lot of mirroring between Mike and Elle as a pairing and Steve and Nancy. So we start off this episode with 11 Wet and Mike offering her his clothes. And then he's trying to impress her by showing off all his stuff. And then we end the episode with Nancy being all wet and Steve offering her his clothes. And he's trying to impress her by showing off all his stuff.
And also 11 starting to take off her shirt. The boys freaking out, turning their heads. Nancy started to take off her shirt and then asking Steve to turn his head. Like there's some, some. There's some mirroring here. And again, I don't know if it's intentional, but it's interesting romance.
Yeah. Yeah. Those wheelers, man, have a type of wheelers.
[00:20:24] Speaker B: They're just little flirts.
[00:20:26] Speaker A: Yeah,
[00:20:28] Speaker B: that's so funny.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: So Elle starts to take off her shirt. All the boys freak out, look away. Except Mike's like, stops her and is like, hey, go use the bathroom in the corner. Dustin's like, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.
[00:20:45] Speaker B: I'm just, I'm just still laughing at the fact that they like brought her back to their house. Like she was like a puppy, a pet.
[00:20:51] Speaker A: They're like, mom, we found this poor lost child just out and you know, we fed her, clothed her.
[00:20:56] Speaker B: Can we keep her distribution system?
[00:20:59] Speaker A: Karen's like, what the heck?
So then Mike goes to close the bathroom door. Elle kind of stops him. He's like, you don't want it closed? And she says, no. And he's like, oh, so you can speak. He's like, okay, well how about we just keep the door just a little bit? Like this is cracking it. She's like, yes. And this again kind of foreshadows what's going to happen later on with the closet and stuff. And then while they're doing that, Dustin's like, this is mental. Mike's like, well, at least she can talk. Lucas is like, she said no and yes. Your three year old sister says more. Dustin's like, she tried to get naked. Lucas or Dustin's fixation on that. This entire episode had me cracking up. Lucas is like, there's something seriously wrong with her. And Dustin like, like mimes her taking the shirt off like again like three times.
[00:21:49] Speaker B: He can't believe his eyes.
[00:21:50] Speaker A: He cannot. He's like, I just didn't even know that there were girls. I didn't even know girls could do that.
[00:21:55] Speaker B: Like, yeah, yeah.
[00:21:58] Speaker A: Lucas is like, I bet she escaped from Pennhurst. Which, you know, we'll hear from Pennhurst later on. There's. That's a really.
[00:22:06] Speaker B: You're looking at me like, I know what that is. You don't remember. Okay, I don't remember. All right, well, I don't remember.
[00:22:12] Speaker A: We'll learn about it later on.
I'll bookmark it and then we'll. I'll talk about it then. Yeah, exactly. I'm winking wrong I turned my face and winked on the other side.
He's like, seriously, though, think about it. That would explain her shaved head and why she's so crazy. Dustin's like, she's not. Why she was crazy. And then he, like, mimes her taking the shirt off for, like, the third time. Can't get over that.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: That.
[00:22:41] Speaker A: Which I'm going to just point it out now. There's a lot. A lot of references to Elle being a monster and, like, a lot of parallels and stuff. So, yeah, just bookmark that for later. And then her being crazy. Penhurst, all that stuff.
So then Mike's like, should we have left her out in this storm? And they're like, yes. And they're like, we think you should tell your mom. And then Mike's like, okay, we can't do that because we were not actually supposed to be out right now. If I tell my mom, she's going to tell your mom.
Then our house becomes Alcatraz, and we'll never find Will. Dustin again minds the shirt coming off to emphasize to Lucas it's not crazy. The situation.
[00:23:18] Speaker B: The record is stuck. He just can't.
[00:23:21] Speaker A: Dustin's experience or learning some things about himself this the season.
So Mike's like, the plan is she's gonna stay here tonight. In the morning, I'm gonna have her go around, knock on the front door. My mom will answer, and she'll know exactly what to do. She'll send her back wherever she came from. We'll be in the clear. And then tomorrow night, we can go back out and we can find Will. So Dustin and Lucas start up the stairs to head home. They watch Mike get Elle all situated in a blanket fort with a sleeping bag. Then we have this really sweet moment between Mike and Elle. He's like, hey, I never asked your name. She just pulls up the sleeve to reveal the tattoo. Mike immediately is like, oh, my gosh. You have a real tattoo.
[00:23:59] Speaker B: I love the innocence of so many of these, like, interactions. It's just. It's so endearing.
[00:24:05] Speaker A: It's very different from Benny's response, where he's thinking Oswitch. He's thinking, like, German concentration camp, shaved head versus Mike's over there, like, oh, my gosh. My mom doesn't let me have a tattoo. You're the coolest person ever.
[00:24:19] Speaker B: I have a girl in my basement,
[00:24:21] Speaker A: and she has a tattoo.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: She has a tattoo. She took her shirt off.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: Yes. Karen's like, what the heck is happening during Dungeons and Dragons? He's like, it's part of the Campaign mom. So then Elle points at herself and he's like, okay, your name is Eleven. My name's Mike, short for Michael. So maybe we can call you l, short for 11, which is so cute.
[00:24:43] Speaker B: I love that.
[00:24:45] Speaker A: And then the theme that plays right now is so beautiful. It's apparently called 11.
[00:24:50] Speaker B: It's.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: I think it's supposed to be 11's theme. It's almost lullaby. Like, emphasizing their youth and also the innocence of the interaction. But it's also kind of got a bittersweetness to it as well, when you realize how much Elle has been through and the fact that she doesn't seem to have parents or a normal life, but it's really, really beautiful.
And the Duffer said that 11 was the most difficult role to cast. I think I talked about this before, about how, like, child actors often have difficulty listening. They can deliver their lines well, but they don't often fully stay in character in a scene where they're not talking. Like, that's a completely different skill set. They say they are kids, after all. Focus is not their strong suit. To find a girl who didn't just have the skill, but excelled at it made us concerned.
Then we met Billy Bobby Brown, and we weren't so concerned anymore. Stephen King, actually, back in the fall of 2014, had tweeted about Millie Bobby Brown before she was even on Stranger Things, because she was.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: What was she in before?
[00:25:49] Speaker A: A British show called Intruders.
I hadn't seen. I haven't seen it. I don't know what it's about, but they kind of. I think that kind of influenced them in their choosing of her. So King had tweeted, millie Brown, the girl in Intruders is terrific. Is it my imagination or a child actors a lot better than they used to be. The Duffers say. We agree with the King. Millie's something special, all right, With a downright spooky preternatural talent. She inhabits every moment so intensely with some alchemy of intelligence, preparation, and instinct. By the end of production, we found ourselves listening to Millie as if she were one of our most seasoned adult actors, which I really love that.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: And you see that her. You do non verbal acting, and she does a lot of it. This season is just.
[00:26:35] Speaker B: I was gonna say for like, a lot of season. From what I remember, she's pretty, like, non verbal.
[00:26:42] Speaker A: Non verbal.
[00:26:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:45] Speaker B: Which is crazy because, like, you feel so. She makes you feel so much for her just from her physical acting, her face, her, you know, expressions.
[00:26:55] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: It's really good.
[00:26:57] Speaker A: And then we open up on the next day at the buyer's house, which. Which looks like there's a lineman working on the electrical outside their house, which I thought was a neat little detail. Joyce probably called him after the electricity came through the phone the night before.
So then Jonathan's like, serving Joyce breakfast this episode. Okay, I know we called him the. The weirdo in the bush, but this episode really gives Jonathan a lot to do and focuses a lot on him and his relationship with everyone around him. And I appreciate that. I think it gives a little bit of context to the weirdo aspect. Not defending him, but. Yeah, we'll get there.
[00:27:30] Speaker B: Yeah. No, I think it does. I think it does.
[00:27:32] Speaker A: So he's kind of taking care of Joyce. She's like, I can't eat right now. And she's like going a mile a minute. You know, he needs to go print off the rest of the posters. She doesn't want him to go alone. She wants to have Karen take him. And she's like, we need like 200, 300 copies. How much is a copy? And. And he's just like, it's okay, Mom. It's fine. He's very much kind of taking on the parental role again in an episode talking about. About fathers. It's so interesting that they chose to focus on Jonathan, who clearly has his own daddy issues. But we see him stepping in multiple times this episode and the episode prior in a father like role. Not just for Will, in that moment with listening to the music while their parents are fighting in the. In the outside, like, over, like the dad coming into town, but choosing to go confront Lonnie. Also taking care of Joyce, going out to Hopper and being like, hey, let me go talk. And if we're looking at it from the theme of children should not be conforming to society like their parents are, but should actually be like, breaking free of that. I think there's a lot of room for growth for Jonathan this season. I'm very excited about that period.
So Joyce jumps up to answer the front door. Hopper standing outside holding his hat. Joyce is like, we've been waiting for six hours. He's like, I came as soon as I could. She's like, six hours.
Winona Ryder is killing this role, and I could tell she's loving every second of it. It's.
[00:28:55] Speaker B: It's so fun, the desperation that she acts with in all of these, like, from. I feel like from now until for, like a few episodes, I feel like it's so good. Like she's losing her mind. Yeah.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: So Hopper's like, hey, we've been looking all night. We haven't found anything. He says. Flo says, you got a phone call. Joyce points to the phone, and Hopper takes a look at it, notices the blackened phone from where the electricity came through. He's like, storm barbecued this pretty good. Joyce is like, the storm. He's like, what else? She's like, like, you're not saying that that's weird, like. Or you're saying that's not weird? He's like, well, no, that is weird. And then he was like, are you sure it was Will? And he's like, because Flo said all you heard was, like, someone breathing. And she's like, no, it was him. It was Will. And of course, I love, as us, the viewer, we are not privy to whether Will is alive or dead or what's going on. We know there's something funky, mystical, possibly supernatural happening.
Maybe we don't know. And I like how they're not letting us into the secret. Because it kind of like, when I first watched this, I was like, joyce, I think you're losing it a little bit. And I do think you're a little weird. Yeah.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: Yeah. That's what I meant when I said, like, her desperation, like, she's it. She plays it like she's losing her mind, but it's like, does she have a point? Does she not have a point? Like, we don't know. We know something's weird.
[00:30:16] Speaker A: Right? So then Hopper's like, it was probably just a prank call. It was just someone trying to scare you. He's like, you know, it's been on tv. And Joyce is like, no, Hopper, it was him.
And then she says, come on, how about a little trust here? Mirroring back to him what he said to her when he first came in. And she says, what, you think I'm making this up? He says, I'm not saying that you're making it up. All I'm saying is it's an emotional time for you. And she goes, and you think I don't know my son's breathing? Wouldn't you know your own daughters?
Oh, my gosh. And, like, as a mom, though, I get it. Like, I would know my kids breathing, too, but, like, it's. First of all, it's hurtful. We know that it hurts Hopper because his daughter's dead. But also, Jonathan's right there, and she's already admitted that she's not been as aware of the things that Jonathan is doing in his life. And I'm like, would you know, Jonathan's breathing.
Like, do you know Jonathan as well as you know Will?
[00:31:11] Speaker B: Yeah. It's really interesting to see Joyce, like, being, like, Jonathan taking on, like, the parental role, and Joyce being so consumed with finding Will and kind of, like neglecting Jonathan, and he has to do, like, everything and hold it together, and she's losing her mind, and it's just an interesting contrast, and it's sad. Like, I think I like that it. Like, I like that Joyce is not. Like you said, she's not like a.
Like a perfect person.
Like, she's very much, you know, you. You, like, doubt her, but at the same time, you're rooting for her.
[00:31:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
Yeah.
So there's a B. Hopper's, like, turning to collect himself because you can tell that, like, that affected him. His voice kind of shakes when he asks if she heard from Lonnie. And then she's like, no. And he's like, all right, it's been long enough. I'm having him checked out. And you can tell, like, he quickly is exiting the house because he's not wanting this argument with Joyce, and he wants to get out of there because he's rattled.
And she's like, you're wasting your time. Outside, we see him just grabbing some more pills as he's moving to the truck. Jonathan chases after him outside, asks to let him go see Lonnie. Side note. So I don't know if you've noticed how Jonathan runs. It's very weird. It's kind of almost like a side. Side run.
[00:32:27] Speaker B: I haven't, but I'll have to look it up.
[00:32:29] Speaker A: You'll have to look it up. It's very funny. So the actor who plays Jonathan, he intentionally had Jonathan run like that. It's a very specific run slash walk because he wanted to convey how socially awkward Jonathan is. So now every time I watch Jonathan move and run, it's like this weird sidewalk sideways walk.
[00:32:48] Speaker B: Even when he's running, he has to be awkward.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: Yeah.
So funny. I love that.
[00:32:55] Speaker B: I didn't know that that was a thing.
[00:32:56] Speaker A: Yeah, you'll have to look it up. It's very, very funny. It'll. It'll pop up later on for sure.
[00:33:01] Speaker B: That's so funny.
[00:33:02] Speaker A: So Jonathan's like, hey, let me go see Lonnie. You know, if Will's there, if he ran away, if he sees the cops, he'll think he's in trouble. He's good at hiding. Hopper's still, like, barely holding it together. He's now pulled out a cigarette while Jonathan keeps talking Hopper's like, well, cops are good at finding. Stay here with your mom. She needs you. And then he takes off. So now we're at the Wheelers. Mike is getting Eggos out of the toaster. He's, like, dressed to, like, leave the house immediately. He grabs several of the Eggos and, like, puts them into his pocket, and then, like, goes and inhales his food at the. At the dining room table. And Nancy's like, mike, slow down. That's disgusting. And he gives her this annoyed look. And then with his mouth full, he goes, you do a lot of studying last night? Really loudly.
Because, mind you, he saw Steve climbing green pipe.
[00:33:50] Speaker B: To be honest, like, I've. I know men that eat like this, and it's disgusting. I'm like, nobody's trying to take your food away from you. Like, calm down.
It's like resource guarding or whatever.
Slow down.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: They eat like it's their last meal.
[00:34:05] Speaker B: And, like, yeah, like, somebody standing over their shoulder, like, ready to take it out of their hands. That's not happening. You're fine. You can eat.
[00:34:14] Speaker A: What is that called? Resource Guard. Enjoy food. You don't need a resource guard. There's plenty. There's not resource scarcity here in this house. There's plenty of food. It'll be okay.
[00:34:22] Speaker B: There's a full plate in front of you. Like, you can take your time savoring it.
On the other hand, though, I also do not like when people eat really, really slow because, like, hurry up.
[00:34:35] Speaker A: Dang.
Remind me to, like, mind my eating next time I'm around you. I'm like, is this an acceptable speed there, Leia?
I'll match
[00:34:46] Speaker B: me and my. Me and my. Like, it's me and two other friends. We've been friends since, like, grade three, and we're still friends now. And, like, me and my one friend eat, like, our meals pretty quickly.
And then our other friend will be, like, sitting there at a restaurant or, like, over at somebody's house. Somebody made dinner, and we'll have finished our food within, like, 10 minutes. Because I feel like that's, like, a good amount of time to eat. And she will have been sitting there, like, talking the whole time, has not even taken a bite. Like, she will pick up her fork, fork, put food on it, and just hold her fork as she's talking. And I'm like, can you take a bite?
[00:35:23] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh. I don't know how you could do that, because I'd be like, I love my food too much. Like, I'm gonna sit there and inhale it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Have you seen that trend on Tick Tock where girls and guys try to match their significant other's eating speed?
[00:35:36] Speaker B: Oh, my God, yes, I have.
[00:35:37] Speaker A: And it's the funniest thing because it's always the guys taking these massive bites, and the girls are, like, having to, like.
[00:35:43] Speaker B: They're, like, fighting for their lives.
[00:35:44] Speaker A: Yes. They're like. Can't breathe. And the boys on the other end, they're so hungry because the girl's, like,
[00:35:51] Speaker B: barely eating, they don't even notice what's happening. They're just, like, shoving tacos down their. Down their faces.
[00:35:57] Speaker A: It's so fun. But I love this moment because Mike's clearly like, I have dirt on you if you make fun of me. And then she's very sibling, like, I did, actually. He's like, what's your test on again? Human Anatomy. And she, like, kicks.
He kicks her back. Karen, freaking oblivious is like, hey, what's going on? They're both like, mutually assured destruction. They're like, nothing. Nothing. Back in the basement, 11 is awake in her tent, and she's fidgeting with Mike's walkie talkie. And he comes in, he's like, oh, you found my super comm. He pulls an Eggo from his jacket, hands it to her, and he's like, okay, this is gonna sound weird, but I need you to go outside and knock on the front door. My mom will answer it. She'll help you, but you can't mention last night or that you know me. She says, no, she doesn't want his mom to get help. And she looks really scared.
And then he says, who are you in trouble with? And she says, bad people. And he says, they want to hurt you. And then she aims her fingers like a gun to herself and then to Mike, and she's like, understand? And the way they decided to do this, they could have just had her say, like, gun or bang or whatever by having her just use the finger guns. And then the suspense ratcheting up with the music and everything, it just created this sense of ominous menaceness that I think, yeah, it's spooky. It was just really good. Yeah, I love it a lot. I gotta say, too, normally in movies and television shows where they use this kind of like, oh, we can't tell the parents because something bad will happen. I'm normally like, okay, really, guys? But in this case, we literally just saw what happened with Benny. And we know they're monitoring the phone calls, and we know that as soon as 11 shows up, Karen will end up calling CPS guess. And the same thing is going to happen all over again.
So then Karen's like, michael, where are you? You're going to be late. And he's like, oh, no. He's like, all right, I'll be right back. Just stay here. So he puts the sheet back down, leaves 11 under the table, goes upstairs, and then back in Hawkins lab, we see Dr. Brenner talking with, like, the lead agent. And they're like, last night, this happened less than two miles away. The boy is still missing. And then he goes into the radio monitoring room, and you can tell that they've been listening to Joyce and everything. And we hear a recording of Joyce saying that you. She knew it was her son. And then she heard something else. And we hear her say, I don't know, some kind of animal. I don't know. Please just tell Hop to hurry. And Brenner gets really concerned.
So now we're in a field. A bunch of people, including Hopper and his officers, are still searching for Will. Copper gives an update on with Joyce and everything. He says nothing but a dead phone. He says that Joyce is about one step from falling right off the edge. And then Officer Powell's like, well, she's been a few steps for a while now, hasn't she? And I'm like, ooh, that divorced single mom stigma right there. There.
[00:38:42] Speaker B: She's a pariah.
[00:38:44] Speaker A: Hopper, you know, is like, show some class. Her kid's missing. He's like, all right, guys, let's. Let's keep it moving. So now we're in high school, and Nancy and Barb are moving through, reading flashcards. And then Steve just jumps in and grabs them away. And he's like. He's followed by his two friends, Tommy H. And Carol. The script says that Tommy H. Is described as sloppy, and Carol is smacking gum. So they're supposed to be very irritating characters, actors. And Steve's like, more important matters. My dad's left for a conference in Cleveland. My mom went with him because she doesn't trust him. Hey, Cleveland, where the other Hellmouth is. And I think this part gets breezed right past from one Hellmouth to the next. Sorry, I gotta just, like, insert all my Buffy jokes everywhere.
[00:39:27] Speaker B: Do you think? Oh, no, this is before Buffy's time. So they wouldn't have been in the Hell mouth in the Cleveland helmet mouth?
[00:39:34] Speaker A: No, not yet. Unfortunately, no.
[00:39:36] Speaker B: Buffy wasn't even called at this point. Yeah, she was a slayer.
[00:39:39] Speaker A: Yeah, this is the 80s. Was that Slayer that Robin's mom was in the 70s, right?
[00:39:46] Speaker B: Yeah. There was a slayer after.
[00:39:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Yeah. Different slayer, but okay. I do want to point out this part gets breezed past a lot. I've never really heard people talk a lot about it, and it stood out to me in this last rewatch, especially with what we're going to learn about Steve as the season goes on. It's kind of a throwaway line, but it tells us quite a bit about Steve's home life and maybe why he sleeps around so much and why, like, he is. The way that he is talking about how his mom doesn't trust his dad.
Very important. Very important. Bookmark that.
So he's like, hey, there's gonna be, like, this party. And Nancy's just like, why would I go? It's a Tuesday. Why would I go to this party and everything? And I'm like, steve's friends suck. And if they're any reflection of Steve, as the friend group in movies and TV shows typically are, then he sucks, too. I'm like, I was gonna say Steve
[00:40:38] Speaker B: has just given me bad, bad vibes.
[00:40:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:41] Speaker B: Not cute and everything, but he's given me some bad vibes.
[00:40:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Yep. I agree.
Yep. And I'll talk about it more once we get to the end of the episode. But at this point, again, the. We're watching Stranger Things, making us think that we're watching classic character tropes similar to the Breakfast Club. Like, this scene right here is setting us all up for, okay, here's. Here's our jock character.
Here's the nice girl. Here's the best friend.
Here are the two other friends that are maybe the rich kids, and they're the ones that sleep around or whatever. The bad boys, the bad girls.
Reading that essay again, they talk about how the eaten for Breakfast Club, the Duffer Brothers go to significant efforts to make us believe that Stranger Things will reinforce these teen stereotypes. Nancy is the first of the teenage characters we are introduced to. We initially see her at home, where Dustin, who obviously harbors a secret crush on her, offers her a slice of leftover pizza. Nancy cruelly dismisses him and resumes her TV conversation with Barb. Through this early scene, Nancy is recalling the Breakfast Club's Claire. Rich, popular, and carefree. She immediately embodies qualities typical of the female protagonists in teen films. Later, Nancy meets Barb at school. They discuss Nancy's burgeoning relationship with Steve Harrington, a popular dance jock. And then, in that scene, both Nancy and Barbara dressed very modestly. And there's a suggestion through their clothing and vocal concerns about the upcoming test. They are bookish and wholesome. So it's very much a conservative depiction of girlhood and it's kind of an extension of girls perform white neoconservative teen sex roles and are no threat to the patriarchal status quo of family or school. Indeed, when Nancy divulges that she and Steve just made out a couple of times, Barb's response reveals her concern about where this will place them with within the school's teen hierarchy. She says, you're going to be so cool now. So again, they're setting us up. Nancy's very much falling into the stereotype of what you would think of for this Reagan esque conservative movement, especially with her rich, wealthy parents and a dad who's, you know, as we're going to find out, very into Reagan politics and policies and stuff.
But by the time we get to the end of the episode, that's going to change a little bit, which is really fun. Fun. So then as Steve's basically like selling this to Nancy, Carol goes, oh God, look. And then across the hallway we see Jonathan's hanging up a missing person's poster of Will on a bulletin board. None of the passing students, the script says, are even talking to him. A few throw uncomfortable glances in his direction. Nancy feels awful.
Steve says, that's really depressing. Nancy says, should we say something? Carol's like, I don't think he speaks.
So then Nancy goes over and heads over to Jonathan and I again. I love this moment. There's almost like a, a invisible line right here between Jonathan and the rest of the students where it's like, he's poor, he's got a crazy single mom. Oh, his brother's missing, so he's kind of weird. He's very much the outcast. And you have Nancy and Barb who could kind of, they maybe straddle that line. They could go either way. But because they're choosing to be with Steve and his friends, there's very much a, we're on this side, we're not on that. And so Nancy crosses that line to go talk to Jonathan. And I think that's ultimately why Jonathan takes those pictures later on and is moved to all of that because he's going, here's someone who I feel like I have something in common with but is also has that ability to go to the other side of that line. Yeah, yeah.
[00:44:14] Speaker B: She's like out of touch or whatever.
[00:44:17] Speaker A: Yeah, she means well, but you can tell she's just, she's in her own Little bubble. And this while she feels bad for Jonathan, it doesn't directly affect her, so she's able to resume her life and not think twice about it at all, you know?
[00:44:30] Speaker B: Yeah, true.
[00:44:32] Speaker A: So Nancy says, you know, I just want to say sorry. I'm sorry about everything. And then she says, everyone's thinking about you. And she motions to the group and. And Steve pointedly looks away. Tommy waves, but it's very condescending. And Barb kind of gives a sympathetic smile, but it's very much placating. Like, even Jonathan's like, they're. They're thinking about me, but they're clearly like, it's not in a sympathetic way. It's very much a. Oh, poor thing. Yeah. Well, this is what happens. What a little weirdo, you know?
[00:45:00] Speaker B: Yeah. To the pores.
[00:45:01] Speaker A: It's like, that's kind of. That's kind of what it's giving. And Nancy's being very sweet here, but by the end of the episode, she's forgotten about it in a lot of ways. Ways like she. She uses the assembly to go hang out with Steve. So does she actually really care all that much? You know, like. Yeah. The script says Nancy gives an awkward smell, then races back to the others. Jonathan watches her go for a beat, then stuffs the remaining flyers into his backpack and walks the opposite direction. And then as he goes out the doors, we hear the assembly being announced over the loudspeakers again, just that. That class and lifestyle separation of. They get to move on with their lives. They get to go to class. And his education is disrupted because of all of this.
Yep. So in Mr. Clark's classroom, Dustin and Lucas are sitting there and looking at Mike's seat, and they're like, this is weird. He's never late. And then Dustin's like, oh, if his mom found out a girl spent the night? He's like, what if she slept naked? I'm like, lucas, calm down.
[00:46:05] Speaker B: What if she slept?
[00:46:06] Speaker A: Luc.
[00:46:07] Speaker B: Dustin.
[00:46:08] Speaker A: Lucas is the one that's being rational here. He's like, oh, my God, she did it.
[00:46:13] Speaker B: Yeah. Dusty Buns over here is just not, like, locked in right now.
[00:46:18] Speaker A: Dusty Buns has other things going on.
Lucas is like, man, Mike would never rat us out. He's like, all that matters is by the time school's over, the freak will be back in the loony bin and we can focus on what really matters. Don't call her Finding Will.
Yeah.
So then in the Wheeler's house, Karen. Like, we see her taking off, and then we see that Mike has been watching from behind a tree. He never went to school. And then he goes back inside the house, leads 11 out of the basement and is like, hey, like, look at my house. This is my living room. Do you want some orange juice? And then he's like, do you want some orange juice?
She goes up to the TV and he's like, yeah, it's a 22 inch, that's like 10 times bigger than Dustin's. And 11 doesn't care. There she goes to the fireplace. She looks at the Wheeler's family portrait. The script says she seems particularly interested in Nancy. And she says, pretty and a hobby. Note that Nancy's wearing the pink dress.
[00:47:13] Speaker B: Oh yeah. I never realized that.
[00:47:16] Speaker A: And I, I really like that she
[00:47:18] Speaker B: is drawn to, she's drawn to the normalcy.
[00:47:22] Speaker A: Yes, absolutely. Yeah, it's. And like Mike's over there as someone who has had a well adjusted kid. He's like a tv, all these other things that a normal kid would be really fixated on. But she's over there looking at all the things that she's been denied having by being in a lab. So the family, the girl that looks feminine and not the tv, you know. So then he shows her the lazy boy. He's like, it's where my dad sleeps. That's so funny. And then they have like this cute moment where like their relationship is building and growing. But again, that word trust, which is very similar to what Hopper asked Joyce Fern. Joyce asked Hopper for, but they couldn't give it to each other.
[00:48:00] Speaker B: I also love how he explains like concepts to her. And I feel like Mike does this throughout the entire series where like 11, he'll say something or somebody will say something and she won't understand what it means. So the way, the way that he explains it is just like, it's so whimsical.
Like the way that he says, you know, a promise is like something that you don't break ever.
[00:48:22] Speaker A: It's so sweet and child.
[00:48:24] Speaker B: It's like, yeah. And it's like her introduction into like the real world or like real life or whatever is through his eyes really.
But yeah, I just think that's really, it's just really sweet. It's like a childlike wonder of him. And he like passes it along to 11 because she doesn't know any of these things. She doesn't know the concept of a promise or any of these things. And just the way he describes things, it's just, it's so adorable and I love it.
[00:48:52] Speaker A: I love that he's not belittling her for not knowing these things. He's just excited to show her the world, and she's, you know, okay with looking at it, and if she's not interested in it, she'll move on to something else. So I think in a lot of ways, he. He's also discovering things too, which is kind of cool. He's. He's seeing the world, I think, through her eyes in a way that he hasn't before.
So Jonathan is heading down the road, gonna go see his dad, Lonnie. And the Clash is blasting on the radio. Should I stay or should I go? We get a flashback to Jonathan's room, and he's introducing the song to Will. And he's like, hey, do you like it? You can keep my mix if you want. He says, all the best stuff's on Joy Division, Bowie, Television, the Smiths. It'll totally change your life. Will's like, yeah, totally. And you can really tell that Will looks up to his big brother and. And the script says, this moment is like the coolest thing ever. And then we hear shouting from the other room. We hear Joyce is angry and arguing with Lonnie. She says, where are you? No, I don't care about your. And then it's cut off as Jonathan shuts the door. And you can tell, like, Will's mood drops. And he says, he's not coming, is he? Jonathan says, do you even like baseball? And Will says, no, but I don't know, it's fun to go with him sometimes. And Jonathan's like, has he ever done anything with you that you actually like? Like the arcade or something? Something? Will says, I don't know. And Jonathan says, he hasn't. He's trying to force you to like normal things. And you shouldn't like things just because people tell you you're supposed to like them, okay? Especially not him. And then he's like, but you do like the Clash, right? For real? And Will's like, for real, definitely. So then Jonathan cranks up the volume and the flashback ends. So there's this essay called Transmissions from the Upside Down Post Punk Sound Waves in Stranger Things by Jennifer Kirby, where she's talking about the scene and she says that Stranger Things uses punk and post punk music of the early 1980s as diegetic music that becomes a pathway of communication between the so called ordinary and upside down worlds. Diegetic is music that the characters can hear in world and we can also hear. So, like, for instance, non diegetic sound would be characters. There's a montage of somebody Trying on different outfits that we had a lot in the 2000s that'd be non diegetic sound. Sound that sound that we can hear but they can't hear in the movie, it's put over the the film. So it is diegetic music that becomes a pathway of communication between the so called ordinary and upside down worlds. Drawing upon punk and post punk's associations with non mainstream subjectivities and self positioning outside official culture. In the show, countercultural music is a figurative tool of liberation and identity formation for teenager Jonathan, as it offers an alternative to the pervasive normalcy that he warns Will against adopting. So in this moment, Jonathan is telling Will, hey, it's okay to be different. It's okay to like things that everybody else doesn't like. Which continues our conversation that we've been talking about with people that do not fit into society's stereotypical binary gender roles, especially in this Reagan administration. Just as Stranger Things addresses the relationship between the ordinary everyday world and its uncanny flip side, the post punk period signifies a time of musical transition in which the spirit of punk merged with an increasingly adventurous interests and strange sonic aesthetic. In Stranger Things, music and sound become tools to establish alternative psychological spaces. For example, in the sequence in which Jonathan hears Should I stay or should I go on the radio and remembers playing Will his mixtape, the flashback establishes the tape player as a means to drown out the reality of their mother fighting on the telephone with their father, Lonnie. The opening shot of the flashback shows the family's tape player and the camera tracks out to show the two brothers sitting together nodding their heads to the music with the tape player out of focus in the background. This camera movement from the tape player to the bro establishes the musical experience as a focal point for their connection and suggests that the private space they share within the family home is constructed by the music. When they hear their mother, Joyce answer the phone, the volume of the music lowers. While Joyce admonishes Lonnie off screen for canceling a planned outing to a baseball game with Will, Jonathan closes the door and the volume increases again, signifying an attempt to shut out the upset caused by their parents argument. Jonathan asks Will if he has any particular interest in baseball, and Will admits that he does not. Not. Jonathan advises him, he's trying to force you to like normal things. You shouldn't like things because people tell you that you're supposed to. Jonathan then proceeds to ask Will if he likes the Clash for real, and Will repeats for real. In this sequence, the Clash and the other examples of alternative music on the tape become synonymous with authentic self expression and with non mainstream mental spaces. This association between the rejection of normalcy and the brothers enjoyment of the Clash reflects punk and post punk's invocation of oppositional attitude and discourse and the notion that the genre's fans rejected dominant social values and behavior. All right, so now we're at Melvald's General store and Pharmacy. Joyce, I think she. This is where she works. She comes in and her boss is like, I didn't expect you here. Like, we have you covered and everything. And she's like, I need a phone. Mine got fried and everything. And she's thinking, this is the only way that Will can reach out to me. And he's hesitant to give it to her because she doesn't have enough money. And she's like, listen, I'm a good worker. And this. This was kind of the standout scene to me for Joy Joyce, because she's like, I've never called in sick. She's like, really advocating for herself. And you can tell, like, Joyce is finding a new side of herself that she's probably never experienced before a day in her life. Like, there's this strength and confidence that's coming out where she's going, this is what I need, and I know I deserve it. I know I'm a good worker and I will pay you back. And then when he's like, all right, yes, I'll give you the phone in two weeks advance. And then she. She goes, that worked. And then she's like, and a pack of Camels too. Yeah, yeah.
[00:54:35] Speaker B: I was like, good for you, girl.
[00:54:36] Speaker A: You play that sympathy card.
[00:54:39] Speaker B: Well, I think it's like, it's. It just goes into the whole, like, she's kind of an outcast in the town. Like, she's a pariah. People judge her for everything she does, so she has to be on her best behavior all the time so that people leave her alone. So now she's like, I don't give a. Like, I don't have time for this things. And I'm gonna do everything I can to get him back. And.
[00:55:01] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that's a really. That's really good point.
[00:55:04] Speaker B: Who cares what they think?
[00:55:06] Speaker A: All right, so then we have a repairman knocking on the buyer's door, Supposed repairman. He tells everyone that it's all good. And then we see that Dr. Brenner and a bunch of scientists wearing hazmat suits are moving through the backyard. They're measuring the EMF and radiation levels. They eventually end up in the shed head. And then they see the wall, like, the needles going back and forth. The wall has something like oozing.
And Dr. Brenner's like, extraordinary. And then he says it was here.
So now we're in the Wheeler's house, and it's Mike's room, and he's showing his Yoda action figure, and he's trying to, like, impress 11 and she just does not care. And I was like, oh, this is the face Leia makes when I start to go off on some random tangent about something.
[00:55:49] Speaker B: This is the face that I would make if somebody started talking. Talking up to me about Star wars or something.
[00:55:53] Speaker A: His name's Yoda. He can use the force to move things with his mind. And she's just like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's what Yoda sounds like.
[00:56:04] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:56:04] Speaker A: Have you heard Yoda? You. You have?
Oh, my God.
[00:56:07] Speaker B: No, I haven't.
[00:56:09] Speaker A: We're back, guys. It's okay. I know you've never seen Star wars, but, like, surely you've heard him.
[00:56:13] Speaker B: I haven't. I know what he looks like. I've just never. I've never heard.
[00:56:18] Speaker A: He's like a very, very old Kermit.
[00:56:20] Speaker B: Is he an it?
I mean, is he a he?
[00:56:23] Speaker A: He's a he, yeah.
[00:56:24] Speaker B: What is he?
[00:56:24] Speaker A: Okay, yeah, he's. I'm not up with.
[00:56:27] Speaker B: Is he like a wrinkly old man?
[00:56:30] Speaker A: Wrinkly old green.
[00:56:32] Speaker B: Yeah, like, thing?
[00:56:33] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Some sort of Star wars being. I'm not sure. Alien creature? Yeah, he's like the all seeing, all knowing being that could, like, do anything and everything in Cordelia Ch.
[00:56:47] Speaker B: Chase.
[00:56:48] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
Cool. Oh, my gosh. Yes.
Yes. The comparison is impeccable. Well done. Well done. You get it. You've seen Star Wars.
[00:57:00] Speaker B: Yeah, I did my nightmare, complete with
[00:57:03] Speaker A: the dying and everything. Spoilers.
[00:57:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, wow. Amazing.
[00:57:06] Speaker A: And. And Yoda comes back as a forest ghost. So there you go.
[00:57:10] Speaker B: Well, there you go.
[00:57:12] Speaker A: Cordelia and Yoda.
[00:57:13] Speaker B: Would you. Would you look at that old wrinkly green something? Yes, that's totally an all knowing.
[00:57:22] Speaker A: Totally the same.
[00:57:23] Speaker B: Yeah, Yeah.
I don't have to watch it now.
[00:57:27] Speaker A: That's hilarious. Yeah, I know you're dying to watch. Watch it. Now that we've made that comparison.
All right, so 11 is like, this is ridiculous. So she looks at the row of shiny trophies and then finds a picture of Will and points to it. And the shooting style, music, and cutting pattern of this scene, apparently what was closely modeled after a scene from the 1985 movie Witness where Samuel Lapp points out the evil Lieutenant James McPhee to Detective Captain John Book, I think, but has Harrison Ford, Danny Glover, and Lucas Hass. I've never seen it, but it sounds really interesting. But apparently this was an iconic shot. So Mike's like, hang on, you know Will? He's like, did you see him last night on the road? And then before she can respond, we hear Karen coming back. Back. Mike's like, crap, I'm not supposed to be here. And so he drags 11 down the stairs to get her back to the basement. But Karen's already opening the door with Holly, so they race back up the stairs. Karen hears him and keep starts calling out for him. And Mike's like, it's just me, Mom. And she's like, what are you doing home? And so he races back into his room and shoves 11 into the closet and says, in here. I'll be right back. And you could tell 11 does not want to be in here. She's got a lot of anxiety. And he's like, please, you have to. My mom will find you. He. He's like, I won't tell her about you. I promise. And she says, promise? And he says, it means something. You can't break, ever. And we can tell that she's claustrophobic and she's having a really hard time with being in an enclosed space. And then we get another flashback back to the lab. And now 11 is being dragged down a corridor by two men in lab coast coats. And she's screaming and calling back for Dr. Brenner, who she calls Papa. And he makes no move to help. And then she. She gets thrown into this really dark, windowless cell. Like, it's absolutely traumatizing and horrible. And then it's very dark. And then we flash back to Eleven, the present day, and she just sinks down into the closet. And you can tell, like, panic has overtaken her. Mike's trying to explain why he's home. He's like, I just. I don't feel good. My head's scratched or my throat scratchy. My head hurts. And then Karen's like, Michael. She's like, I'm not mad. And she's like, I know everything going on with Will. Like, I can't imagine what it's been like for you. And she says, I want you to feel like you can talk to me about anything. I don't ever want you to ever feel like you have to hide anything from me. I'm here for you, okay?
And I was like a Karen, this is so sweet.
So then this is like later on, he comes back into the room after talking to Karen, and then he opens the closet to talk to Elle, and. And she's just completely curled up and doesn't look great, but she's filled with relief when she sees him. And he says, is everything okay? And she says, promise. And you could tell it means so much to her that Mike kept his promise back.
So sweet.
The script says off 11. Her trust in Mike is growing. And I read this really interesting review from the A.V. club where they talk about how. Wow.
Mike's saccharine explanations of promises and friends, or even his providing food and shelter aren't what anchors Elle's faith in him. It's a shut door opened again that does that. L resists being shut in his closet while he distracts his mother. But Mike insists the gratitude in Millie Bobby Brown's eyes when he opens the door again is heartbreaking. Almost enough to repair the clunky oversights that came before. A lot of the action, actual and proposed, revolves around doors. Doors. L beating on a cell door, begging for Papa to set her free. Jonathan busting through doors in his father's new home. Joyce listening outside the closed door to Will's room to get L help without getting himself in trouble. Mike's plan is to send her out the basement door and around the house to the front door. There she'll ring the bell for his mother, who will know what to do. His instructions prompt Elle to one of her few utterances. No. Before the boys can do anything, Elle backs up her refusal with a demonstration of telekinesis, slamming the door shut and locking it. Elle has good reason to be adamant. If she goes, there will be trouble, but if she stays, there will be double.
So in the buyer's house, Joyce has her new phone. She, like, plugs the phone in, gets a dialed tone, and then tries to go sit down at the sofa. But then the cord is not long enough. So then she drags the entire chair over there and then just sits down and just waits. And the script says, says she seems small in this house and very, very alone. Then we have Hopper still looking for Will. They're at the quarry now. There's this kind of. It feels like a throwaway scene, but I bet you this is going to come back in a big way later on. They talk about how if you fell off the quarry, you would die. And then Hopper getting a message from Flo. And then he heads over to Benny's Burgers, where they've now discovered that Benny's dead. And Hopper thinks that it Benny suicide because of the way that it's all staged and everything. And I thought this was really sad. Officer Callahan tells him, missing kids suicide. Must feel like you're a big city cop again. Ha, Chief. And then Hopper says, dealt with strangers. Then Benny was my friend. I was like, oh, that's really sad.
[01:02:28] Speaker B: He was Elle's first friend too.
[01:02:30] Speaker A: I know he was a really nice guy.
So then Jonathan ends up getting into a neighborhood that the script describes as a blue collar street. He finds Lonnie's house. House Cynthia, Lonnie's girlfriend, has never met him before, doesn't know who he is. He ends up bursting past her, looking for Will throughout the house. And Lonnie, thinking some random man is in his house, ends up slamming him up against the wall. And then realizes that it's Jonathan and then says, damn, you've gotten stronger. And I thought that sentence was really interesting. And it implies a lot, like, have they had physical altercations in the past?
[01:03:07] Speaker B: I was going to say, say, why have we tried to fight him before? Lonnie?
[01:03:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I can't see you guys wrestling for fun. Like, that's just.
[01:03:13] Speaker B: No.
[01:03:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
And so then Lonnie introduces Cynthia to Jonathan and says, this is my oldest. And then we're back at the Wheeler's house and Lucas and Dustin bike up, I'm presuming after school.
And Mike's like, she knows about Will. And Dustin says, what do you know about Will? And then Mike points to the photo and he says, she knew him. She knew he was missing.
He's like, you can't think it's a coincidence we found her in Mirkwood ex where Will disappeared. Dustin's like, that is weird. And Mike says, she said bad people are after her. I think maybe these bad people are the same ones who took Will. I think she knows what happened to him. And Lucas is like, well, why doesn't she just tell us? He marches over, starts kind of shouting at Elle and says, do you know where he is? Do you know where Will is?
And he's getting really upset by the fact that she's just not responding. Mike tries to advocate for Elle, who's like, fighting back tears. Lucas is losing patience patients. And he's like, all right, I want to go talk to your mom and tell her what's going on. And Mike says, no. 11 says, telling any adults will put us in danger. And Lucas is like, her name is Eleven. And Mike says, L for short. And I think what's like, really Cool is that he's given her a name, or she obviously has a name, but he's trying to humanize her, whereas Lucas, I think, is thinking very much of, like, she's just a means to an end, and. And she's currently preventing me from being able to find my friend Will right now. And she's also odd, so why would I do anything that is, you know, positive towards her? And Finn Wolfhard says this about the interaction with Mike and Elle in this episode. I think what's cool is there's a story arc for Mike. At first, he finds this girl, and he treats it like, oh, I've discovered something really cool. Then he kind of realizes halfway through the second episode that this is an actual girl. It's not E.T. it's a person. He's never even really talked to a girl, and now he's teaching a girl to talk talk. I think he's just drawn to her because, one, she's the first girl that's ever had interest in him, and two, he has crazy interest in her and what's going on in her brain. He just feels bad for her, too, that she's gone through all this. It's very cathartic for both of them. They talk to each other and they vent because Mike and Eleven are sort of outsiders. And Millie Bobby Brown says Mike doesn't really need anything from her. He just loves her for who she is. And I was like, that's so stinking cute. Yeah.
[01:05:29] Speaker B: I just think it's so interesting that the. These, like, decisions and choices that they're making now and, like, how they're acting, it just, like, tells you so much about the characters that, like, carry on for the rest of the series.
[01:05:42] Speaker A: Yes. Lucas is the rational one. He's the skeptic. And Dustin is kind of. At this point, Dustin, I don't think has fully become who we. We are gonna see him.
[01:05:52] Speaker B: Has it. But he's the doer. I feel like Dustin is like. He's like. He gets them out of, like, pickles, and Mike is the heart. Like, he is the thing that keeps all of them together.
[01:06:04] Speaker A: Yep. So Lucas is like, no, no, we're going back to plan A. We're telling your mom. He heads for the door, but the. The door is violently sucked closed. He tries to open it again, and then boom, it slams shut again. And then the lock gets snapped. And then 11 says, no, and they turn around, they look at her, and she's looking at them fiercely with fresh blood coming down her nose. And they're like, oh, wait a minute.
[01:06:27] Speaker B: Minute.
[01:06:28] Speaker A: So in Lonnie's house, he's ripping off a tarp, showing his new, like, refurbished classic car that he's clearly spent a lot of time on. He's like, wow, look at this beautiful thing. And blah, blah, blah. And Jonathan's not even listening. He immediately goes over to the trunk, wants to check and make sure that Will's not in there. And Lonnie's like, really? Like I told you, the same thing that I told the cops. He isn't here. Jonathan's like, well, then why didn't you call mom back? And Lonnie says, I assumed she just forgot where he was or he got lost or something. That boy could never take care of care of himself.
[01:06:59] Speaker B: Okay? He's a kid. Yeah, Lonnie.
[01:07:02] Speaker A: And then he's like, I told your mother she's got to get you out of that hell hole. Come out here to the city. It's more real here, you know? And I could see you more. And you're like, you have a new car. I love the fact that he's refurbishing a car. It's like, you could drive that car to go see your children, but clearly, like, that's not the problem. Right? Yeah. And then Jonathan scoffs, yeah, literally. And Lonnie says, you think I don't want to see you? And Jonathan says, I know you don't. And Lonnie. Lonnie says, see, that's your mom talking right there. And this was cut out of the script. He says, word of advice, kiddo. Don't listen to everything your mother tells you. And then back in the episode, he says, does she even know you're here? Jonathan doesn't answer. And then Lonnie scoffs and says, so one kid goes missing, she lets the other one run wild. That's some real fine parenting right there. All I'm saying is maybe I'm not the. All right. The script says. Jonathan takes this in for a beat. There's something in his dad's words that ring true, but he refuses to admit. Admit it.
[01:07:55] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't think. I don't think if there's anything true about it. Lonnie, you're an.
[01:07:58] Speaker A: Oh, no, I agree. I think Jonathan, in his mind, though, he's sitting here having to take on so much of the. The responsibility.
[01:08:07] Speaker B: He's feeling resentment toward his mom because.
[01:08:10] Speaker A: Right.
[01:08:11] Speaker B: He's having to do so much, but he feels guilty about it.
[01:08:15] Speaker A: Right? But Lonnie is placing all the blame onto Joyce and not taking any responsibility. For himself. And so Jonathan, as a young kid, who's probably stuck between his parents and doesn't have the ability to realize that one that's not his responsibility and that should be his dad's, doesn't have the. Well, the fully, fully developed brain and also the mental clarity to stop and go. Hang on, you're the problem here, not me. But, you know, that's the insidiousness of having parents who are not great.
Yep. So, yeah, Jonathan says, next time, answer the damn phone. He takes off. And then when he's gone, Cynthia wraps her arms around Lonnie and says, he's kind of cute. Maybe I trade you in for the younger model.
[01:09:00] Speaker B: That's weird. Oh, yeah, that's weird.
[01:09:04] Speaker A: Just. Yeah, just not great. Not great.
[01:09:06] Speaker B: Cynthia, girl, respect yourself.
[01:09:10] Speaker A: Literally.
And also, he's a minor.
Yeah, like, so at the police station, they're investigating Earl Sumner, who was one of the regulars from Benny's. And, you know, they're still thinking this is a suicide at this point. Hopper's like, is there anything weird? Any enemies?
Any exes? All of that stuff. And he. Earl says he saw them yesterday at lunch. Everything was normal except for the kid. And then Hopper's like, kid, what are you talking about? And then he immediately, like, mug motions for the deputy to go over there and get a picture of Will. And then Earl tells them all about what happened with Elle coming in, but of course, they think it's a boy at that point. And then Hopper says, is it this boy? And holds up a picture of Will. And Earl's like, you know, it could be.
But first he says, that's Lonnie's missing kid again. I love. I love that detail in there of Lonnie's missing kid. Not Joyce's. It's the boy. Boy's son. The boy's kid. Even though the mom is raising him and doing all the work, the dad's the one that gets the credit for it all. It's not him. This kid had short hair, buzzed right down to the scalp. Hopper's like, well, forget the hair. Could this have been Lonnie's kid if his hair was buzzed? Earl's like, yeah, I guess so. He's about the same size. So then Hopper's like, all right, maybe we've got somewhere to go on. Back at the Wheeler's house, Nancy's on her bed on the phone with Barb, trying to convince her to go to this party with her. She says, just tell your parents you're staying over at my house afterwards. Words say, we have to study.
Karen calls her up for dinner, and Nancy hangs up, saying, I gotta go. See you in an hour. And we can hear Barb on the other line saying, this is so stupid. Like, clearly not wanting to do this in the Wheeler's house. It's so funny, because Lucas and Dustin have joined the Wheelers for dinner. Apparently they just hang out and they're all trying to completely normal, but they're clearly freaked out by the fact that they've just found out that Eleven has superpowers and the fact that she's, you know, hanging out in either Mike's bedroom or the basement. Basement. So Karen's like, is something wrong with the pot roast? And Dustin's like, I ate two baloney sandwiches for lunch. I don't know why.
Lucas is like, me too.
[01:11:21] Speaker B: So real.
[01:11:23] Speaker A: And then Nancy's like, it's delicious, Mommy.
Karen's like, thank you, sweetie.
And then Nancy's like, so, mom, there's this assembly thing for tonight for Will and Barb's driving. And then Karen's like, I told you I don't want you guys to go out. Not until after Willis found. And Nancy's like, I know, I know, but it'd be super weird if I wasn't there. I mean, everyone's going. And Karen's like, all right, fine. Just be back by 10. And why don't you take the boys, too? And the boys are all, no, like, yell super loud. And then Karen's like, well, don't you think you should be there for Will? And Mike's like, nope. And then as he takes a sip of milk, he nearly spits it all out because he sees Elle trying to sneak back down into the basement. Then Dustin and Lucas see her too. And then Karen realizes they're looking at something and then turns to. To look back, and Dustin just, like, pounds on the table.
And then he goes, sorry, spasm.
[01:12:21] Speaker B: If this was Sunnydale, she would have turned around, looked right at 11, and been like, what? Do you see anything?
[01:12:30] Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly.
At Benny's Burgers. Like, there's a bunch of cars parked there. Bunch of volunteers searching the field behind Benny's with flashlights. Hopper, Callahan and Pal are searching the nearby woods. Woods.
And then Callahan's like, you think Earl saw Will? I mean, what's Will doing with a shaved head? Stealing food from Benny? And then someone whistles, and they find Mr. Clark and a few others kneeling by a dirty stream. And there's a small open pipe, and they found a scrap of white cloth, which we know Belongs to Elle. And they're like, you know, maybe a kid crawled through there. And Hopper's like, a scared enough one. Might. Will's brother said he was good at hiding. And then he follows the puppy pipe all the way to a large barbed wire fence. And there's a sign that we've seen that says, restricted area. No trespassing. U.S. government property. And on the other side is Hawkins National Laboratory. And we're like, ooh, you're getting warmer, Hopper. You're getting warmer.
Wrong kid.
[01:13:29] Speaker B: But you're getting warmer signs there.
[01:13:31] Speaker A: Yeah.
You don't. You don't think so? You don't think it's going to be just wonderful little spa day?
[01:13:36] Speaker B: No.
[01:13:37] Speaker A: Fantastic. I don't think it's, like.
[01:13:39] Speaker B: It's not gonna be great.
[01:13:40] Speaker A: Yeah. Murder funhouse.
Yeah. Literally. Yeah. So. And the Wheeler's house in the basement. Eleven is by herself again with the radio. And then Mike, Dustin, and Lucas come and bring her leftovers. And they're, like, acting very different now. They're like, it's just us. And don't worry, we won't tell anyone about you. And Dustin's like, we never would have upset you if we knew you had superpower powers.
And Mike, like, punches him. He's like, what Dustin is trying to say is, they were just scared. And Lucas is like, we just want to find our friend.
And eleven doesn't understand what friend is. Or Mike says, a friend is someone you'd do anything for. Dustin says, you lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards. Mike says, and they never break a promise. Lucas says, especially if there's spit. And then they're like, spit. And then, like, Lucas spits into his hand and slaps it into Dustin's. And this is so funny because Dustin just stares at it for, like, the next 10 seconds and then, like, looks at him and then slowly wipes it onto his shirt. It was so funny. And then Mike's like, that's super important, because friends, they tell each other things, things parents don't know. And then with that definition, we get a wonderful segue into the Barb and Nancy friendship and dynamic, which is really going to set the tone for Nancy's entire arc, this whole series. And really, this. This whole friends don't break promises. And all that other stuff is a reoccurring theme we're going to see for the rest of the series. It's probably one of, like, the cornerstones of the series. Yeah.
So we see Barb's car zip down the street, and Nancy's like, pull over. And it's like, you know, several blocks away from Steve's house. And Barb's like, it's three blocks away. And Nancy's like putting on last minute makeup, checking herself in the mirror and getting all ready. And she's like, we're not supposed to park in the Dr. Driveway. And Barb's like, are you serious? This is stupid. I'll just drop you off. And Nancy's like, no, Barb, you promised you'd come. Barb's like, you know, he just wants to get into your pants. And Nancy's like, no, he doesn't.
[01:15:42] Speaker B: I mean, Barbara has a point.
[01:15:45] Speaker A: Barbara has a point.
[01:15:47] Speaker B: Listen to Barb and Barbara.
[01:15:49] Speaker A: Clear headed Barb. You know, the redheads in these situations typically are. She's like, nance, seriously, he invited you? Not my own self. Insert here. He invited you to his house. House. His parents are gone. You're not this stupid. And Nancy is like blushing. And the script says she's actually a bit flattered by the idea. And she says, well, Tommy H. And Carol will be there. And Barbara's like, tommy and Carol were having sex in seventh grade. It'll probably just be a big orgy.
[01:16:14] Speaker B: And Nancy's like, gross.
[01:16:16] Speaker A: And Barb's like, I'm serious. And Nancy's like, well, you'll just be my guardian. You'll make sure I don't get drunk or do anything stupid. And then she, she like pulls out a new, like, sexy top from in her purse and she's wearing a bra underneath. And Barb's like, is that a new bra?
And Nancy's like, no.
[01:16:36] Speaker B: Barb is so done with this. Honestly, I would be like, Barb too. I'd be like, really doing this right now?
[01:16:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:16:44] Speaker B: Can't we just come home?
[01:16:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Hoes before bros, right?
Yeah, always. So then we're now at Steve's house and they're coming up and it's obviously this like really nice, wealthy family. They've got a pool.
And this is. This was cut out from the script, but Nancy says, you should probably unbutton your sweater a bit. And then Barb rolls her eyes, undoes a single button. The door swings open. It's Steve. He grins. Not the double door opening. I know. They chose the location just so he could have that entrance right there. He's like, ladies, welcome. With this fabulous hair. Hair. Then in Hopper's trailer, we see Hopper in bed. There's a woman that we've never seen before sleeping next to him.
[01:17:22] Speaker B: Yeah, I was like, who the hell is that?
[01:17:24] Speaker A: Is Sandra, apparently, is what the script says.
[01:17:26] Speaker B: Who the hell is Sandra?
[01:17:28] Speaker A: No one knows. No one knows. So some hoe. I don't know. I. Just kidding.
[01:17:34] Speaker B: Oh, so Hopper has hoes now?
[01:17:37] Speaker A: Apparently.
So he gets up in the middle of the night, Apparently. Hopper. Yeah. When did he have time to, like, pick up this girl? He's. Yeah, Maybe it was one of the.
The searchers. They're out there like, hey, have you ever searched for a missing child before? Yeah. I have to come home with me.
Yeah. You want to come search in my house? I think I lost one in my bed. Oh, that sounds creepy. No, never mind.
That sounds horrible. Never mind.
I was just trying to think of a sexy thing to say. Totally forgot about the context for a minute.
No, okay. He 100 did not use that.
[01:18:21] Speaker B: Don't do my man Hopper dirty like this.
[01:18:23] Speaker A: No, no, it was more just like, hey, I'm just real tortured and sad. And she's like, oh, that.
And she's like, yeah, let me come for you.
You know, missing children gets me hot bothered. Oh, my God, Sarah, stop.
[01:18:46] Speaker B: Have some decor.
[01:18:47] Speaker A: So true. My bad. All right, my apologies, my inner barb over here, Barbara McQueen.
All right, so Hopper is, you know, moody and everything, and steps outside his trailer again.
[01:19:02] Speaker B: Love it.
[01:19:03] Speaker A: Smoking. Sandra comes out. She's like, what you doing? And then she's like, it's freezing. He's like, you ever feel cursed? And Script says she looks at him like he's nuts. He says, you know, the last person went missing here, summer of 23. The last suicide, fall of 61. And then she says, come back to bed. He says, yeah, one minute, huh? Warm me up. She nods and heads back inside. As Hopper takes another drag of a cigarette, we focus on his left hand. Apparently, he's twirling a blue bracelet around his wrist. I don't know if that's actually in the episode or not, but it's important.
All right, so back at the Wheeler house, 11 sits down the card table by the DND board. And then Lucas is like, what's the weirdo doing? Also, I will say the irony of Lucas calling Ella weirdo when we saw them being bullied for being different just the episode prior. Like, obviously Lucas is lashing out because of fear, but, you know, come on,
[01:19:53] Speaker B: Lucas, this is weirdo. On weirdo. Cannibalism.
[01:19:57] Speaker A: Violence.
Yes, absolutely.
[01:19:59] Speaker B: Weirdo. On weirdo, Violence. Violence.
[01:20:02] Speaker A: Well, what do they say? Like, you know, perpetuating the cycle. Right? People who've been bullied typically go and bully other people Right.
[01:20:10] Speaker B: But I also think it's funny, like, knowing what happens with Lucas later on. Like, it's interesting that he's the one that's kind of like, yeah, us versus her type of thing.
[01:20:24] Speaker A: Okay, so she picks up Will's piece, Peace the wizard. And she says, will. And they're like, whoa, how did she know? And then she flips over the board and places Will on top of it. And then we hear the first theme for the Upside down ever. And Mike's like, I don't get it. And she says, hiding. And they said, will's hiding. And she says, yes. Mike says, from the Bad Men. Eleven shakes her head no. Mike says, then from who? And then she picks up the Demogorgon monster and places it on the board next to Will. And the boys are like, holy crap, what is going on?
Now we have Jonathan speeding down the Mirkwood road where Will disappeared. He gets off looking at all the crime scene tape, pulls out his 35 millimeter camera and is taking pictures of everything.
We get various close up shots, see photographs, details of the crime scene. And then he hears a scream and takes off through the forest. Forest coming at the edge of Steve's property.
And we see a drunken Tommy H. Holding Carol in his arm, swinging her over the pool. And they're drinking and just carousing, having a great time. And then we realize that's the scream that Jonathan heard. And then we see Nancy, Steven Barb, the awkward fifth wheel. And she looks absolutely miserable. Steve slices open a beer can with a switchblade, shotguns it perfectly, grins at Nancy, a little drunk. Nancy's like looking at him like, hot, hot, hot. She's like, that supposed to impress me? And he's like, you're not. She's like, you're a cliche. You do realize that? And he's like, you're a cliche.
[01:21:57] Speaker B: So true.
[01:21:58] Speaker A: And then dares her to do it herself. And she's like, I know what to do. So then she pulls out a switchblade, makes a little mark, also shotguns it. And we can tell that Steve and the others are impressed.
[01:22:09] Speaker B: And Barb is just like.
[01:22:10] Speaker A: And Barb is rolling her eyes like, poser. Okay, question for you. Yeah? Yeah.
Is Barb right, right to be upset about Nancy acting this way? Is Nancy pretending to be someone different from who she is? Or is Barb simply feeling insecure that Nancy is going to drop her once she's with cooler people?
[01:22:29] Speaker B: I don't think it's the third option.
I think Barb is supposed to be like, in the story, she's supposed to be the person that's, like, signaling to us, the audience, that Nancy is, like, something bad is going to happen if Nancy goes to this place.
Right. Because I think with all the signals. Yeah. Like, I just feel like, like, on one hand, Nancy's going through this, like, very, like, normal experience of, like, liking a boy and wanting to hang out with him and do all this stuff. But at the same time, I think the story is also telling us that if this isn't, like, Nancy, like, it's. She's going outside of her comfort zone, and maybe that's a good thing. But I also think that, like, Barb is skeptical because of the group of people, which I think is valid because, like, I've been saying, like, I'm getting bad vibes from Steve. Obviously, we're not sure of his intentions yet. Is he really into Nancy or is he just trying to get into her pants? Like, we don't know. So I think what bar is supposed to, like, like, do is basically, like, signal to us, the audience, that, like, we should be weary of this situation.
And I agree, because I think there's a lot of, like, red flags here.
[01:23:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:23:49] Speaker B: Just in, like, a classic, like, in any, like, high school movie, where it's like, oh, the. You know, the shy girl. The. The popular guy takes an interest in the shy girl, and it's all fine and dandy until he humiliate. Humiliates her in front of everybody when she, like, lets her guard down and believes him or whatever. And I feel like that's kind of what they're playing at.
[01:24:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:24:14] Speaker B: So, yeah, I don't know.
[01:24:15] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. I think. I think that's really well said. I think that we don't really know enough about Nancy to make an observation on whether this is, like, not who she is or if, like, she's trying to figure out who she is and she wants to experiment with this.
[01:24:33] Speaker B: You know, I think just, like, on a high level, I think what I get is that this is Nancy doing something that's out of her comfort zone.
[01:24:41] Speaker A: Yes. But it's like, it.
Like, Barb is framing it as, Nancy, this isn't who you are. And almost like you're pretending to be someone that you're not. And Nancy's over here going, no, this is what I want by having Nancy be kind of the person that, like, she didn't have to have sex with Steve. And I do appreciate that it was Nancy's choice and Nancy's decision. Like, I didn't didn't feel like Steve. Steve was making it very obvious what he wanted and he created the environment that made it easy for Nancy to choose to do this. But Nancy didn't have to go upstairs. No. Nancy could have left it.
[01:25:12] Speaker B: Feel like she was manipulated.
[01:25:14] Speaker A: No. Right. So it's just, it felt like all this is what Nancy wants. Obviously we'll see the fallout of all of this. And does Nancy still feel the same way afterwards? But it, I think that Barb is right for having, having some of these red flags. But also Barb needs to understand that maybe Nancy wants something different out of life than what Barb and her have had previously because that's part of experimenting and stuff. So I just, I really appreciate how they portrayed this moment because I don't feel like anybody's ne. No one's necessarily in the wrong. No one's necessarily in the right. Are there like maybe unwise and wise decisions that could have been made here? Absolutely.
But I think the fact that Barb sticks around and waits for Nancy is a huge point in her favor. Especially because she was insecure that Nancy's going to drop her when she's with cooler people. Barb probably would have just left.
Yeah.
[01:26:07] Speaker B: Which is why I think it means that like Barb actually like cares about Nancy's well being.
She's concerned from a place of love, not from a place of jealous insecurity or jealousy.
[01:26:19] Speaker A: Absolutely, Totally. I agree. I think the show is trying to frame it a little bit. Not that like Barb. Barb's decisions or actions are what gets her killed, but like they're trying to frame it a little bit as like breaking out of the cycles of your parents past and out of that suburban utopia, which is kind of what Steve would be for Nancy. If Nancy got with Steve and got married and had lots of babies, she's going to have essentially the, the same style lifestyle that she had had or the same quality of life. Because he's also wealthy, she comes from wealth. He's. He's the popular guy, she's the popular girl. Like there's, it's basically the expectation for them to get together.
So I like that there's a little bit of like Nancy's also kind of rebelling a little bit by being with Steve. But in a lot of ways she's just falling into the same tropes that, you know, years and years and years of her family have people in front of her have done, you know, so that'll be something really interesting to talk about as time goes On.
Yeah. So anyway, Nancy's like, barb, you should try it. Because she's feeling a little guilty. And then they basically peer pressure Barb into doing it, but she ends up cutting her thumb, like, gnarly amounts, like she needs stitches. They should have driven her to the hospital.
And she's feeling insecure, and everyone's kind of like low key making fun of her. And so she runs into the bathroom room. And then Tommy shoves Carol into the pool. And then Steve pushes Nancy. And then we have I'll melt with your. I melt with you. By Modern English playing Jonathan's watching everyone playing from afar, Is taking a bunch of pictures. The script says his lens drifts over to Nancy. She seems very trans. He seems very transfixed by her. She's striking, different.
And then outside the buyer's house, it's very quiet. Joyce has fallen asleep on the couch. Couch. The phone screams to life. And there's no one on the other end. And then she hears the sound of a child breathing. And then she's like, I know it's you. Just talk to me, Will. And then we hear a very low electric static and we hear Will's voice saying, mom.
And then she says, where are you? Talk to me. The same thing happens that it did the night before. The phone goes dead. She flings the phone across the room, is getting so frustrated, and breaks down, down and is crying. And then, unbeknownst to her, at least initially, a light kind of flickers in the living room and then starts to go down the hallway. Different lights flicker on.
Almost like we're following the light. The light beams. And so then she sees it. And then she's like, jonathan. And then it goes to Will's room.
And then all of a sudden, the song Should I Stay or Should I Go by the Clash turns on. The lights are all on. You can hear it under, underneath the door and see the lights flickering. And she hesitates, goes inside. The cassette tape is spinning. The room is empty.
And then she goes over to one of the lamps and says, will again. The light seems to be communicating as it gets brighter and brighter and brighter. And then it abruptly cuts off, same time as the music. It's dead silent, completely dark. And then the wall behind the lamp kind of bends forward as if something is trying to stretch through the wall. And. And it's terrifying. It's honestly one of the creepiest moments of the show so far. Joyce is screaming. She takes off. And this is a huge reference to Nightmare on Elm street, when Freddy Krueger does the same thing through the wall.
[01:29:41] Speaker B: Yes. Oh, my God.
[01:29:42] Speaker A: So she takes off, goes outside. The lights are back on in that room. The. The music's playing. She's, like, shaking as she tries to get into the car, turns it on, and then she's just sitting there, and she looks and she sees that light that she thought was Will that was responding inside the bedroom window.
The script says a light is flickering in the bedroom window. Will her eyes harden? She turns off the car. And we talked about this earlier, but that song choice is so interesting because I wouldn't think of it as being something eerie or creepy, but it totally works in this situation.
So then she goes and heads back inside. And then now we're back at Steve's house. Nancy, Steve, and Tommy and Carol are drying off with towels. And Carol and Tommy take off to go to Steve's room, presumably to have sex in front of the fireplace. And then Steve's like, here, I'll get you something dry, to Nancy. And then Nancy's following him upstairs to his room when Barb comes out of the bathroom, and she's got, like, this, like, paper towel wrapped around her finger, and she looks so miserable.
[01:30:43] Speaker B: Her finger is, like, basically severed at this point. Like, take this girl to the hospital.
[01:30:47] Speaker A: Yes.
And Barb's like, where are you going? And Nancy says, no, where are you? Just changing. I fell in the pool. And Barb's like, okay, this is classic playbook. Like, you're following a script here. And then Nancy says, why don't you just go ahead home? I'll just walk back or get a ride or something. And Barb gives her a look and is like, nance. And then Nancy's like, barb. And Barbara said, this isn't you. Nancy says, just go home. I'll be fine. I'm fine. And then she turns and heads up the stairs, and Barb just watches her to go. So then outside in the woods, Jonathan is still out in the woods. Man. It's time to go home. It's time to go.
[01:31:23] Speaker B: What is he doing out there still? Yeah, everyone's going outside.
[01:31:27] Speaker A: What is he waiting for?
Anyway, he watches Barb go outside. She's upset. He finds Steve leading Nancy into the bedroom through the windows.
And then Nancy walks over to the window, gazing outside. Jonathan snaps a picture of her looking out. Out. Steve gives her some fresh clothes, and then she, like, basically asks him to turn around, some privacy. He starts to leave, but then she makes her decision and starts to take off her shirt. And then he's like, damn, she Says, shut up. They begin to make out. And in the woods, Jonathan, the script says, instinctively lowers his camera so doesn't take a picture of them making out. And this moment is really controversial because Jonathan is being creepy. Even if we know the context of the moment. And a lot of people. There's actually a huge controversy online. A lot of people think that this
[01:32:17] Speaker B: is one of those can't handle any more fandom content.
[01:32:20] Speaker A: This is one of those moments. No, a lot of people. It's not that bad.
It's one of. What's the. What's the word called when you.
You feel like something happened and then you go back and you're like. They're like, no, it never actually did happen. If there's a term like revisionism.
No, no, no. Like, it's like, you're like, I swear that Pringle, they used to sell Pringles cans. They used to be blue. But then you go back and they're like, what's that called?
[01:32:45] Speaker B: Oh, my God. I know. I know what you're talking.
[01:32:47] Speaker A: You know what I'm talking about.
[01:32:48] Speaker B: I had a term, there's a term for it.
[01:32:51] Speaker A: Mandela effect.
[01:32:52] Speaker B: The Mandela effect.
[01:32:53] Speaker A: Yes, yes, yes, yes. So this is one of those instances of the Mandela effect. So a lot of people felt like when we first watched. Watched the series, we remember Jonathan taking a snap of Nancy when she's looking direct. Like, they have a moment where they're looking at each other and like, it's almost like she can see him through the woods. And then also of Jonathan taking a picture of Nancy when she has her back to the window and she's taking her shirt off, but that it was cut out later because it really doesn't make Jonathan look good. The Duffers say they haven't messed with any of the past episodes. We know they've made small changes with a few things, but nothing to that extent.
[01:33:31] Speaker B: But, like, what do you mean, mess?
[01:33:33] Speaker A: Like, they.
[01:33:34] Speaker B: Like, after the fact, they go and change it and then post the episode again.
[01:33:38] Speaker A: Yes, they tweak some things. Like, for instance, there is a time later on where Joy says when Will's birthday is, and then something happens on the day that's supposed to be Will's birthday.
[01:33:48] Speaker B: That's crazy that they can do that.
[01:33:51] Speaker A: Yeah. So, like, I think it was the season four finale.
It was out for about a week, and they went back and changed some of the visual effects. I know in season five, there is an actress and she's wearing a costume and Under Armour bit is showing on her sleeve, and it Says Under Armour on it. But that wasn't around the 80s, and when it first aired, you could see that. But they went back and they. They took that out. So they are going back and changing some things. But the duffers say that they haven't gone back and messed with the scene. So a lot of people are like, oh, we think that this was a lot worse.
[01:34:28] Speaker B: Maybe just like fandom. Like fandom rumors. Because they don't like Jonathan.
[01:34:35] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I think. I think people, because there's. There's a picture that is shown later on that we don't see Jonathan shoot in this moment, but we know he shoots because there's a picture later. So people, I think, have, like, kind of retconned things in their minds. But also people who have owned the actual DVDs and stuff say that this scene has not changed at all. So I think that there is a Mandela effect where people. But in this case, like, people are making up something that never actually happened. Like, yeah, yeah. When you go back and look at that stuff. But it. This. This scene is really interesting because a lot of people think. Thought it was a lot worse than what is actually shown here, simply because we have photo evidence and a few episodes. Episodes. I think the next episode actually, that Jonathan took more pictures.
But, yeah, is. I thought that was a really interesting thing. I did a lot of research because I was like, is there an actual cut scene? But there's not. I mean.
[01:35:31] Speaker B: I mean, I feel like people thought there was going to be like a ninth episode of season five, and I. Oh, my gosh.
[01:35:37] Speaker A: Yes.
Season five is going to be gnarly when we get there, guys, because, boy, oh, boy.
[01:35:47] Speaker B: I feel like maybe, like, people overreact
[01:35:51] Speaker A: a little bit, maybe. I will say, though, I did. I was one of those people that was like, man, I thought this was different.
But then I went and, like, did research. Okay. I thought.
[01:36:00] Speaker B: I thought you were on the.
The conformity gate.
[01:36:04] Speaker A: Oh, my God. No, no, no, I was. I was scrolling past every video that came up going, you guys are insane.
[01:36:12] Speaker B: Oh, I was watching them.
[01:36:14] Speaker A: You know how I like to be around guys. You know how I like to, like, do all of that stuff. And even I was like, guys, this makes absolutely no sense, like, from a market.
[01:36:24] Speaker B: You know what? The Internet was a mistake. Like, honestly, it was a mistake. Can't disagree, like, the amount of misinformation that I see on a daily basis where I, like, open a comment section and it's just people being like, oh, my God, this is amazing news. Oh, my God. Or I believe.
[01:36:41] Speaker A: Oh my God. Jim Carrey is cloned and it's not actually him at the award rewards. Guys.
[01:36:46] Speaker B: How.
[01:36:46] Speaker A: Guys, why would you guys jump to that conclusion? First, we know that there is weird stuff that's happening. The Epstein files and other things like that are proving correct. But we also have to follow the money too and realize how much work and money it would be to have to do all of this stuff. Also, who clones a full blown adult typically isn't.
[01:37:06] Speaker B: Why would you clone Jim Carrey? What is it?
[01:37:08] Speaker A: Why would you clone Jim Carrey? Exactly.
[01:37:10] Speaker B: He's just a Canadian guy. That's funny.
[01:37:12] Speaker A: He's just a dude.
[01:37:13] Speaker B: Yeah, he's just a guy.
[01:37:15] Speaker A: For those of you who haven't watched all the way to season five, this is not spoilers, but when the finale aired a lot of people thought that there was going to be an extra bonus episode. I think it's a combination of people weren't satisfied with the finale, but also people don't want the show to end. I think people struggle with letting go. And so for. I'm not even kidding, guys, it was turning into like the rapture. There was people going like full on theories about how there was going to be this secret bonus episode. And then when like AI pictures circulating, they were like, no, no, we actually mean two weeks from now. And I was like, guys, this is giving tribulation Rapture theory. Like coming from that, I like coming from that whole side of the world. I'm like really good at picking out those kinds of things and being like,
[01:38:03] Speaker B: guys, what was the date? January 17th 19th. That was the big date of the ninth episode.
[01:38:08] Speaker A: There were several big dates. It was just ridiculous. So anyway, it was. That'll be fun to explore and talk about when we get there. Just a little something to look forward to. Anyway, I did feel like I was like, oh, I thought I had seen this. And there was an extra scene and stuff. But then I went back and realized that it wasn't actually ever there. And it was probably due to the fact that there's the photograph later on in my brain somehow conflated the two scenes. Scenes. So regardless of all of that, Jonathan should not be taking photos of people in a private home.
[01:38:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:38:42] Speaker A: And especially should not be taking pics of a girl in a state of undress without her permission. Yeah. Like there's just, there's just.
[01:38:51] Speaker B: He's a weird kid. He's a weird. He's a little weird kid. Like the thing about Jonathan is like he's very sympathetic in a Certain way. But I feel like it like his weirdness stems from a place of trauma. Like, it's almost like if I want to try to be charitable to why he is doing this, maybe he's socially.
[01:39:12] Speaker A: Well, yeah.
[01:39:13] Speaker B: And he's like seeing this world that he like can't belong in and taking pictures like him behind a camera lens.
[01:39:20] Speaker A: Yes.
[01:39:21] Speaker B: It's like it's not him, but it is him. And he's taking pictures of this thing that's like out of his reach.
[01:39:27] Speaker A: Right. He's seeing it that way. Yeah.
[01:39:31] Speaker B: Well, not even an artistic lens. Like more like. Yeah, maybe an artistic lens. But it's almost like a. It's like, oh, like this thing that I can't have. Like I can't be a normal kid and do these things and I have this camera. So I'm just going to take a picture of it because it's the closest
[01:39:47] Speaker A: I can get to it. For sure. Yeah.
[01:39:50] Speaker B: But there's like, it's like when you're. When somebody's seeking a.
A picture of something you're not actually. Like, it's, it's interesting because it's like the camera's taking a picture of it, not you. Like you're.
[01:40:01] Speaker A: You know what I mean?
[01:40:01] Speaker B: Like, it's like you're removed from it
[01:40:03] Speaker A: in a way possible maybe like at the. At its best he's just unaware and he feels removed from the situation and not like an actual participant. At worst, he's a voyeur. I don't think he's a voyeur. You know, but like, either way it, this, this scene in particular has kind. It kind of sets a lot of people's opinions about Jonathan and Stone that they never really recover from. I don't agree with what he's doing. I don't think Jonathan's a bad person though.
[01:40:32] Speaker B: I think I agree with that. Yeah, I think it really does a disservice to like any piece of media to see a character and just like see them do one thing and then base your entire opinion on them, them based off of that thing for like the remainder of a five season long show. Like, I just feel like you're just missing out on so many things that you could be appreciating or paying attention to. Like, I don't know.
[01:40:58] Speaker A: Yep, this moment does serve a narrative purpose as well too. Like, it does help to progress the plot. But I do think it is poignant that he sees Barb sitting on the diving board alone. And I think there's this moment where he feels a Connection to Barbara. Barb.
And then he snaps a picture of her.
And then his film roll is out. So he starts to reload the camera, and we go back to Barb. A droplet of blood from her finger splashes into the water. The pool ripples gently. And then all of a sudden, there's like a noise. And then she screams. And we don't see what happens, but we cut back to Jonathan and he hears the scream. He looks up, but then Barb's gone on.
[01:41:40] Speaker B: Well, we see something.
[01:41:41] Speaker A: It's like a quick flash of something. We don't know what.
[01:41:44] Speaker B: Yeah, we see a flash of something.
[01:41:47] Speaker A: Something.
We might have learned the name of it. This. See this episode. But you know something we actually didn't.
[01:41:54] Speaker B: I was surprised when you said the name of it because we didn't actually. They know. Nobody ever says the name of it.
[01:41:59] Speaker A: The boys said it in the first episode, the little figurine. So then when she puts the figurine next to Will, we already know what he is. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[01:42:07] Speaker B: Okay.
[01:42:08] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:42:08] Speaker B: So interesting.
[01:42:09] Speaker A: And then we are back to Nancy and Steve making out, moving to the bed. And then we go back outside, and the lights flicker back on in the pool and in the house, and Barb is gone.
[01:42:21] Speaker B: Spooky.
[01:42:22] Speaker A: Where did Barb go?
[01:42:24] Speaker B: I feel like people.
I just. I remember when this happened and people were just like. And have been up in arms over Barb for. For years.
[01:42:35] Speaker A: You know, Barb. We don't know the fate of Barb yet.
[01:42:38] Speaker B: So I'm like. And that's. I think that's why I thought. I know. I don't know.
[01:42:42] Speaker A: I know.
[01:42:42] Speaker B: We don't know. I think that's why I thought this happened later because I feel like, like, Barb became such a big thing in like. Like talk about the show online that I thought this happened later.
[01:42:56] Speaker A: No, I know. There is actually a whole book. I was looking for more books for. To add my research collection, and there's a whole book someone wrote about Barb and everything.
I know. I'm very. I'm very curious to get it now because I need to know what it is. They said if I forget it, I'll tell you. I'll tell you guys.
[01:43:14] Speaker B: It's just so funny.
[01:43:16] Speaker A: I know. I'm so excited to talk about that to, like, next. I was gonna say tomorrow, next week. It's gonna be really fun to talk about, like, the Barb of it all and everything, but, yes, it was. It was huge.
[01:43:26] Speaker B: It still is. They're still talking about Barb.
[01:43:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Try not to spoil. We'll talk about it next week. But yeah, yeah, so I thought it was really initially I was like, oh man. Like, you know, Nancy's no longer a virgin guest Barb has to get taken as punishment. And then I was like, hang on. The irony is that Barb the virgin is the one taken.
And then I was like, oh. I think it's interesting that this is reminiscent of the slasher films where the victims are killed or punished because of having sex or partying or drinking. But that's not what's happening here is the Barb is clearly the only one of the party not having sex or drinking. So I was looking up that essay I was reading earlier, and the author Rose Butler, talks about how Nancy's relationship with Steve is one of the ways in which Stranger Things both subverts our expectations of her character and undercuts the conservative ideology of the time.
Rather than conforming to rigid stereotypes, initially her classmates refer to her as Miss Perfect. Nancy drinks, swears, skips school, and initiates sex with Steve at a party, which is just very unlike all of that. Like all the other stuff.
Of all the slasher conventions, Rockoff notes, one of the most enduring images of the slasher film is that of the beautiful heroine screaming in abject terror. The heroine, usually the lone survivor of the killer's violent rampage, is often defined by her toughness, resourcefulness, determination, and perseverance.
Indeed, as Clover notes, she is the one character who does live to tell the tale, defined by her sexuality and positioned in contrast to the killer's victims, who are often sexually promiscuous. The final girl is typically, as Ann Herman suggests, both boyish and sexually inactive. This perpetrates a particularly conservative idea that the characters who act on their desires will meet a terrible end. In short, good girls don't die, but loose ones do.
Moreover, John Kenneth Murr identifies three character types that also populate the slasher film. He dubs these characters the Bitch, the Practical Joker, and the Jock. Murr's categories can largely be applied to Stranger Things. Jonathan is the Practical Joker, usually a dorky kid, while Steve is the Jock, a handsome, athletic young man. However, the Bitch proves problematic, noting that she's usually the final girl's best friend and a more sexually experienced and sarcastic character. Murr mirrors numerous works on the slasher film by suggesting the Bitch exists to reinforce the final, final girl's staunch morality. In Stranger Things, though those roles are reversed as the series continues to manipulate our expectations. Barb is not the bitchy, promiscuous, best friend. In fact, her wholesomeness aligns her with the final girl character. She is repeatedly figured as awkward, shy, and sexually inexperienced, qualities which make her death particularly shocking. Well, sorry. Spoilers. As it occurs simultaneously.
Guys. Sorry,
[01:46:15] Speaker B: guys.
[01:46:15] Speaker A: Simultaneously with Nancy losing her virginity. Oh, Nancy had sex. An act that spells doom in an archetypal slasher narrative. Barb's death is one of the crucial ways in which Stranger Things undermines slasher film conventions and is an early indicator of just how far the series is willing to go to subvert our expectations.
It's just very clever. They're setting up a lot of things to be subversions of stereotypes, and I think that is really refreshing, especially for a show that is so mired and nostalgic, but also, at the same time, is a hodgepodge of so many different genres and is really in kind of like Buffy, its own things. Yes, exactly. So it's just. I love that. I love subversive characters. I love not knowing exactly where everything's gonna go, and it just. It gives a lot of fodder for story writers to go places, you know, And. Yeah, I just find it very unconventional and super fun, but love it. Yeah.
So, yeah, guys, that is the end of episode two, and I'm so excited for the. The next episode. The next couple of episodes. I have a lot to talk about. Like, when do I not.
[01:47:26] Speaker B: Hell, yeah. I don't remember anything. Yeah, that's great.
[01:47:29] Speaker A: It's gonna be.
[01:47:30] Speaker B: I like it, though.
[01:47:31] Speaker A: Fun.
[01:47:32] Speaker B: I like watching these and being like, oh, that's what happened. Yeah, this episode.
[01:47:37] Speaker A: And I like, this season is really messy. There's a lot of messy characters and a lot of messy things that happen, which makes for really fun conversations, because sometimes I don't always like it when it's, like, too black and white and you're like, oh, it's easy to fall in line with one character, one character's actions. I like that we have characters who do not great things, and we can kind of be like, oh, yeah, they're still a great character, but that decision wasn't the best, you know?
[01:48:00] Speaker B: So, yeah, I really feel like that's missing in, like, discourse, especially online, where you either, like, condemn a character or. Or you support them unquestionably. And, like, I don't know. I just.
I just feel like there has to be a middle ground somewhere.
[01:48:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:48:21] Speaker B: Like, I just feel like if. If we're watching a show, like, especially a show like this, like, I. I truly don't think that you're meant to hate any of the main characters.
[01:48:30] Speaker A: No. Yeah, I don't think you are either. Even some of the really, really, like, messed up, messy characters that we're going to meet in later seasons, that there's not a way to fully hate them all.
[01:48:40] Speaker B: Yeah. So. Which I think is so much more
[01:48:43] Speaker A: interesting, but lots to talk about. Hopefully you guys enjoyed this episode, especially if you're watching for the first time.
Let us know your thoughts. Especially that very last sequence happening there with Joyce and the monster in her bedroom. The realization that Elle knows where Will is. Like the Upside Down. What do you guys think the Upside down is? Is Barb getting taken? Jonathan's voyeurism? You know, even Steve and his friend group. There's a lot that happens this episode and I am so excited to hear from our new listeners. But then also those of you who've watched the show before too, like, tell us your thoughts and yeah, it'll be great. Be fun. But until then, guys, we will see you next time.
Thanks so much for listening to Investigating. If you enjoyed this podcast, feel free to follow, subscribe and review us on all platforms. You can also find us on Instagram at Investigating Podcast and you can continue to email
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