Stranger Things - The Flea and the Acrobat

  Science is neat. But I’m afraid it is not very forgiving.

So we finally get a name for wherever it is that Will currently resides and even see inside it: The Upside Down. This comes courtesy of Dungeons and Dragons and a theoretical discussion between Mike and his gang and the science teacher. I’m just glad I have something to call it now. As has been the case of the last few episodes, alternating subs all tied to the Upside Down and Dr. Brenner’s lab experiments further develop in The Flea and the Acrobat. Like Jonathan and Nancy getting a gun and bat with plans to kill the monster that “took” Will and Barbara. Sheriff Hopper infiltrating Brenner’s lab and seeing the “portal” to the Upside Down, only to be injected with a sedative, finding himself back in his junkheap trailer while Joyce contends with a returning husband with ulterior motives (not being back for “moral support” as it might appear) as a funeral is underway for Will. Mike and the boys talking with the science teacher about the Upside Down, using their influenced compasses in the hopes of locating the portal where Will is trapped. Eleven doesn’t want Mike, Lucas, and Dustin to locate the portal for she knows all too well what awaits, causing their compasses to send them around in circles.

Lucas has become fed up with Eleven and his resistance of her has caused a rift with Mike as Dustin tries to serve as the go-between. When Lucas and Mike scuffle over Eleven’s interference, she uses her power to hurl Lucas across the grounds of a junkyard. Lucas just can’t take it anymore and walks away after recovering. I couldn’t help but think of Stand by Me when they walk into the junkyard and have a bit of friction. Their journey to find Will is similar in ways to finding the body (as evidenced in the previous episode’s title). Eleven was in the Upside Down as we see in a flashback as Dr. Brenner requested in his manipulative fashion her to do so. And Nancy Wheeler finds a portal in a tree (a way for the monster to leave from Upside Down into the wilderness to hunt) after a dying deer is whisked away in front of her, crawling into it, and seeing the monster eating of the carcass. Jonathan is looking for her frantically as the credits roll.

Hopper awakens feverishly in his trailer and tears it apart looking for a hidden bug. It is right out of Coppola’s The Conversation, too, but Hopper finds it. His deputies come to tell him Barbara’s car was found. That the State boys found the car Hopper acknowledges the coincidence. He goes to Joyce, and the two share in the total belief that Will is in fact alive. Joyce realized her husband was just wanting to capitalize on possible insurance money with Will’s death, kicking him out for good. To know that Hopper believes her, Winona Ryder is excellent at conveying the relief out of extreme stress. I think this is the best part she’s had in ages. Joyce is a meaty part, and Ryder gets to look frazzled, battle-scarred, and emotionally wrung. Hopper also endured much, with David Harbour having a great moment where his sheriff calls up the ex to hear a baby in the background…she has moved on while he still mourns for the daughter lost.