Stranger Things: Episode 20

20. The Case of the Missing Lifeguard

Hopper nurses a hangover but is dragged by Joyce to the Lab because she suspects they are back and up to no good causing the magnet issue. There, he is ambushed and beat up by one of the Russians. Robin cracks the code and, along with Steve and Dustin, discovers a group of Russians moving boxes into the mall late at night. El and Max continue to hang out and decide it would be fun to spy on the boys using her powers. Soon, they draw lots on who else they can spy on and they pick Billy. El discovers how he abducted the other lifeguard. She also witnesses him sensing her presence, which has never happened with anyone before. They go to the lifeguard’s residence to investigate only to find her and Billy there. Billy recognizes El as the one responsible for closing the portal. As the two girls leave, they knock the other lifeguard’s parents out cold. Will has a falling out with Lucas and Mike because they don’t want to do kid stuff anymore. While the three try to patch things up, Will senses that the Mind Flayer is back in Hawkins.

Okay, I like this episode. While the formula remains the same season after season, I really like how the writer tends to separate everyone and group them, so they can discover pieces of the puzzle on their own before they eventually come together for the finale. I guess the difference now which makes the storyline more exciting is that one of them is the enemy, or for lack of better term, “possessed” by the enemy. The Mind Flayer has not really been personified before, and we know how every supernatural entity becomes more sinister when it assumes a human form. My question, though, is whether Billy and the lifeguard are dead or just possessed? Can the creatures of the Upside Down assume human form now? I also like Robin. Even as a new character she has already done so much to move the plot forward, perhaps even more than some of the new cast members introduced last season. I guess the showdown for the season finale will now be between Billy and El, except that we never really liked Billy so we know who to root for.

"Now that you're out of high school, which technically means you're an adult, don't you think it's time to move on from primitive constructs such as popularity?" –Dustin

<<Episode 19                Episode 21>>