Stranger Things - Will the Wise

Will continues to deal with the Upside Down "monster" intrusively whittling away at his psyche and even his body. His temperature reading cold, Joyce trying to keep her son together. Joyce promises to be there for Will but needs him to hold nothing from her, no secrets. Will convulsing, standing with eyes white, pupils straight up, outside school, his friends guiding Joyce to him, as her pleads for his recovery eventually penetrating the "dimensional blockade". Hopper isn't answering and Joyce's calls to the police station reach the secretary but not the sheriff. Hopper has his hands full with Eleven who returns home after leaving against his orders. Their argument has merits on both sides...Eleven wants her freedom while Hopper wants to keep her safe. Her mental powers lending Hopper a disadvantage against any form of punishment, the loss of television alone sends her into a tantrum, resulting in windows breaking, a couch sliding at him, and items in the house scattering. Tensions are bound to escalate with these two often volatile personalities. Hopper can get quite tightly wound and intense while Eleven is tired of being denied a normal life.

“Will the Wise” isn’t thankfully just a go-through-the-motions episode, thankfully. It definitely moves the stories forward, with further emphasis on the progression of the Upside Down from its dimension into our world. No matter how much Dr. Owens might wish (according to his admittance in open conversation to Jonathan and Nancy) to keep the entrance of the Upside Down a secret and “close it” through whatever means are destructively necessary, it does seem that our world isn’t able to keep it away any longer. Like Hopper, after visiting Joyce and “reading” the “vines” sketched by the frantic and cold Will (he seems to be in a type of symbiosis with the Upside Down’s “shadow monster”) on paper, spread out across the floor, returning to a “diseased” pumpkin field and finding underneath it a type of passage way (seen in the mind of Will when he tried unsuccessfully to describe what he sees and feels), and “Dart”, kept by Dustin in secret despite his friends’ desire to find it, developing into a Demogorgon that even eats his cat! Eleven, when cleaning up her mess due to the telepathic outburst, finds information in the basement about her backstory, including her mother. When hoping to locate her mom through her mental “communication” (the blindfold and intense “visitation” to her mom opens a brief window where she sees her but the experience of hearing her but unable to touch her, watching as she “vaporizes” is traumatic), it doesn’t last long at all, leaving Eleven devastated. To just talk to her mom might help with her loneliness and familial longing. And speaking of intense interactions, Billy Hargrove tells his step sister, Max, not to associate with Lucas while mocking Steve during basketball practice and later in the showers…so far, Billy has been introduced as nothing more than a bullying asshole. We know the type. With Nancy off skipping with Jonathan (it isn’t romantic as much as looking to get evidence about what killed her best friend and fucked up Will), this is yet another sore spot Billy and his basketball buddy use to poke fun at Steve. Billy, clearly enjoying ribbing Steve and “taking his spot” (more talented, potentially more cool to many of the high school teens), even jokingly calls him pretty boy.

The heavy retro feel that brings a certain audience to the show while others seem to sometimes call it a crutch (not me since one of its appealing characteristics is its setting) isn't as emphasized as usual but the music is very much a mainstay that I particularly enjoy. The camera work loves to cover a lot of ground, even encircling the cast (the opening with Will at school as his friends and Joyce rush to help). The aesthetic will always be a homage, so if that bothers you, choose a different show.

3.5/5