STRANGER THINGS : THE FLEA AND THE ACROBAT (2016)

STRANGER THINGS : THE FLEA AND THE ACROBAT (2016)

STRANGER THINGS takes place in Hawkins, Indiana in 1983. One night on the way home from his friend’s house Will Byers suddenly disappears, and now the town’s “maybe I should have stayed with Joyce Myers”, Sheriff Jim Hopper, is going to try to figure out what’s behind it. If you are reading all of these you know I am changing up just enough of this little intro, for the series to make you feel like I am not mailing it in on this first paragraph.

In this one Joyce’s ex-husband comes back to try and figure out how to get some money in a wrongful death suit related to Will’s death. Sheriff Hopper breaks into the Hawkins Lab to try and find Will, but ends up just discovering that Eleven isn’t a very good artist. Even for a regular kid, much less a kid with powers.  In the last episode Jonathan discovered his mom’s not crazy. Now he is finally going to have to let her know that…isn’t he? Nope, not in this episode he's not. While this is going on, they are having a funeral for Will, because the only ones that have figured out what’s going on are considered not old enough or have been deemed crazy.

In this episode a flashback is utilized (like in a lot of the other episodes) to show how close Will and his mom were. It’s also the first time we hear the term “Will The Wise”. This actually gets used as an episode title in Season 2. Jonathon and Nancy are pretty determined to hunt down this creature they found outside Steve’s house when Barb disappeared. Of course, they are not bringing in the cops of their parents, because that is now how things went in the 80’s, unless you were Chunk from THE GOONIES who was all about calling the cops. In the 80’s we also had a lot of compasses just randomly sitting around apparently. We also discover that Nancy is pretty damn awesome and fearless.

This is also the best episode for Mr. Clarke (played by Randy Havens who also appeared in the greatest movie made to this point in time, GODZILLA KING OF THEMONSTERS) who tells the story of the Flea and the Acrobat. Science is neat, but it’s not very forgiving….or accurate for that matter. In case I didn’t mention this before the strongest performance in this series is probably done by Millie Bobby Brown,  but holy cow Winona Ryder is either better or just as freakin good in this.

Best line from this episode – “You are asking me if the weirdo, is acting weird?” – Dustin.