Stranger Things “The Gate”

All good things must come to an end.  Will Psycho Billy’s inclusion in the plot amount to anything?

Maybe?

So, here we are at the end of season two, and that means after everyone came together and there’s some recriminations and forgiveness aimed at Hopper from multiple juveniles, it’s time for everyone to split up and save the day.  That means Hopper takes Eleven back to the Lab to close the gate, Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy take Will off to Hopper’s cabin to force the Mind Flayer out of the poor kid, and Steve keeps an eye on the other kids until everything is over.

OK, two of those plans work.  Psycho Billy manage to sweet talk Mrs. Wheeler into telling him where the kids are, intending to get Madmax back by being Psycho Billy.  I’d do anything for someone to put that guy in his place…

Oh goodie, Steve almost does before he takes a plate to the head and then Max jabs him with the anesthetic used to put Will into slumberland.  Will that keep Psycho Billy from ever being a problem again?  Well, not for this season.  And since Steve was pummeled enough, that meant the other kids can steal Billy’s car to light up the vines in the tunnels and give Hopper time he doesn’t know he needs to get Eleven to the gate and close it.

And that’s pretty much what happens.  Hopper finds a wounded Owens in the Lab, Eleven closes the gate, Steve protects the kids and Dart lets them go when they start a big fire, and Joyce and the others turn the heat up high enough to drive the Mind Flayer out of Will.  And heck, Owens even gives Hopper a fake birth certificate so Eleven can (eventually) go out on her own.

And then there’s a Snow Ball dance where Dustin takes from grooming lessons from Steve that does him absolutely no help, Lucas gets to dance with Max, Mike with Eleven, and Will with some random girl I don’t think I’ve seen before.  Heck, Nancy dances with a somewhat heartbroken Dustin, and everything is cool and awesome.

Except, you know, the Mind Flayer is settled over the school in the Upside Down.

Say, if there are no humans in the Upside Down, why does it have buildings?

I probably shouldn’t think about it.

At any rate, that does it for the second season of Stranger Things, and it wasn’t quite what the first season was.  Oh, it wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t as good.  Let’s say eight and a half out of ten pointless trips to Chicago that break up the narrative momentum.

But hey, we need something else now.  Let’s keep it in the realm of the juvenile and the fantastic and go with the Hulu series based on the Marvel comic Runaways.

This could be fun.  I know the source material is fun, so let’s see how it goes.