Brenner ( Matthew Modine), the guy we keep seeing being all secretive and suspicious. She is screaming for her “Papa” to help her. This triggers a flashblack sequence where we see ‘Eleven’ getting dragged and locked into a small enclosed space. This is around the time Mike’s mom returns home and he hides ‘Eleven’ in his closet. ‘Eleven’ gets distracted by the trophies and then noticeably becomes shocked when she recognizes Will in the picture with Mike and his friends.
‘Eleven’ refuses, saying that bad people are after her and makes a gun gesture to indicate they have no problem killing people. Eventually, they move up to Mike’s room when Mike plays hooky from school. Mike tries to convince ‘Eleven’ to go up and introduce herself to his mother, saying that she’ll find a way to help.
We then shoot back to Mike and ‘Eleven’ hiding in Mike’s basement. Jonathan encourages Will to do what he wants because he wants to and not because of what other people want from him. We are offered a flashback to when Jonathan introduces Will to some music, bringing up the topic of how their step-father Lonnie always tries to get Will to do normal things. He apparently keeps to himself and is shocked when Mike’s sister Nancy ( Natalia Dyer) approaches him and dares to offer him some kindness. We also get a chance to explore the high school a bit, where we are given some idea as to how the students perceive Jonathan. He defends her but, as he walks away, they start guessing about whether or not he’s slept with her. Hopper then leaves, but not before giving Jonathan ( Charlie Heaton) a bit of tough guy love. When Sheriff Hopper returns to rejoin the search for Will, one of the officers makes a comment about her being psycho. As we found out in the last episode, Hopper’s daughter is dead. He questions the validity of her statements and there is a tense verbal exchange that ends with an awkward silence when Joyce asks whether or not he would know the sound of his own daughter’s breathing. We are shown a highly distressed and sleep-deprived Joyce waiting for Sheriff Hopper to return to give her any information and to get an explanation for why her phone has become burnt.
We slowly begin to learn that the general populace views the Byers family as a bit strange. This episode explores the Byers family a bit deeper through a combination of dialogue and exposition. Do any of you guys get this same vibe from the opening credits? It definitely screams the ’80s, which I am enjoying immensely. That and the theme song is a strange mix of John Carpenter with Tron influence. Sidenote: I’m seriously getting a Stephen King vibe from the opening sequences. Possible connection to the government facility? We’ll see.
We are then left to see ‘El’ inside her makeshift tent, cringing as she hears the thunder crack outside. After Lucas and Dustin leave, Mike decides to give ‘Eleven’ the nickname ‘El’. This allows them, they surmise, to not expose that they went out against their parents’ wishes, but to also continue to look for Will Byers without any issues. They come to a consensus to let her stay at Mike’s house overnight and to have ‘Eleven’ expose herself to his mother in the morning. While the boys let her change, they frantically discuss what to do with her. An awkward moment when Mike offers ‘Eleven’ clothes and she starts to strip in front of the boys hints at the type of procedural experience she’s had. The boys have brought ‘Eleven’ to Mike’s basement for the time being while they try to figure out who she is and why they have found her in the rain. The trio of boys – Mike, Lucas, and Dustin – had run into the mysterious ‘Eleven’ in the pouring rain. This episode begins about an hour or two where we left off. Potential SPOILERS! I repeat with flashing neon lights – SPOILERSSSS!!! There was a lot of information in this episode, so I’m trying to cut stuff as much as I can. I (Sarah) will be binge-watching Stranger Things all week, hopefully posting at least 2 recaps and reviews a day while maneuvering around my life outside of Legion of Leia. I’m a bit late with this, but day jobs and SDCC took over.