STRANGER THINGS : THE LOST SISTER (2017)

STRANGER THINGS : THE LOST SISTER (2017)

If you have not done so, watch Season 1 before reading this to avoid spoilers. This season takes place in Hawkins, Indiana in 1984. Will has been rescued after his vanishing a year earlier but is starting to see visions of the Upside Down. Meanwhile the rest of the town is facing a curious rot happening to farms in the area. Just what exactly in the name of “let’s go make some bad guys pay” is going on now? Playtime is over for Hawkins Lab.

Reading reactions from when this episode came out made you feel like it was highly controversial in the respect that it introduced a character the series seemingly has no plans of ever getting back to. Turns out there wasn’t just one kid at Hawkins that had powers.  In this episode Eleven also gets a serious make-over looks wise. The only issue is that when Eleven goes to find her sister, it’s not exactly the homecoming she’d expected. Revenge is a dark place to live.

I actually really loved this episode and the crew that Eleven’s sister hangs out with is actually likable to an extent because you can kinda get your head around their motives. I can also empathize with the complaints that this episode was too much of a departure from the rest of the series. However what doesn’t change is Eleven’s overall character arch, and also serves as a really good view into her extending the use of her powers. My only issue with this episode is that it interrupts the momentum built up in Chapter 6. This episode should have been Chapter 6 not Chapter 7. If that were the case I think it would have lent to a better audience response.  Even that, doesn’t take away from how great this episode is done and how well executed it is. Even down to the eventual split between Eleven and her sister. The flash backs serve as a brilliant connection between events at Hawkins and what Eleven is facing.

In the end this pivotal side trip was essential to Season 2 and as an episode was better than excellent.