Stranger Things: Episode 22

22. The Flayed

Steve, Dustin, Robin, and Erica find out that the room is actually an elevator. They descend all the way down and manage to get out by hiding on the shaft while waiting for the personnel to leave. They find themselves in a long hallway leading to a lab where they see a machine opening the portal that El closed. Hopper and Joyce pursue their leads and are led to an abandoned house where they discover a staircase under a bed leading to a lab. They meet Dr. Alexei and abduct him, with the Russian goon hot on their heels. They go to Murray (Brett Gelman), an eccentric ex-journalist friend of Hopper who speaks Russian. Nancy and Jonathan rendezvous with El, Max, Mike, Lucas, and Will at the Wheelers and put two and two together. They go back to the hospital to free Mrs. Driscoll and follow her back to the Mind Flayer’s lair, but Jonathan and Nancy are ambushed by their ex-boss and colleagues who are now part of the Flayed. They kill both and witness how the parasite leaves the bodies to form one gigantic creature.

More than halfway done! Team Jonathancy has now merged with Team, err, that’s a long team name so let’s just say Team 11. I’m guessing we’ll just have three groups from now on unless Team Hopper and Team Starcourt Mall also merge. Maybe those tunnels meet one another somewhere? That Russian goon gives me some vintage Ahnuld Schwarzenegger feels. Very Terminator. At least now everyone is getting some action, which means there are not so many boring moments. While there are still some teenybopper moments here and there, the plot has already taken off, so I guess that translates to three more action-packed episodes. I also love the language barrier issue. Nice to hear some Russian that somehow sounds authentic. My question is still the same, though. Once you become part of the Flayed army, does that mean you are already dead with no chances of going back or is it like what happened to Will and you can still be exorcised? I just feel like the show suddenly entered zombie territory. Saturated genre, bruh.

"They're commies. They don't pay people. They cut corners." –Erica

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