“What’s your emergency?”
When Billy, dirty and panicked from his encounter at the abandoned steel plant, reaches a phone booth, he’s greeted by the 911 dispatcher calmly asking “What’s your emergency?” Billy is speechless. What is his emergency?
It’s not just a question for Billy. What is the emergency this season? We know, as the characters don’t, that the army of rats drawn to the old Brimborn site (an ominous name, that) are a consequence of the experiment seen in the premiere, where Russian scientists probed (as Hawkins Lab did) into the unknown. But we don’t know yet what shape it will take.
Even if Billy were able to speak, even if he weren’t shaken by flashbacks to a nameless horror, even if he weren’t in the grip of a great power, what could he tell the dispatcher, or anyone? What could he say? He doesn’t know that there are people who would believe him, including his own sister.
Joyce Byers would believe him. Perpetually alert to the possibility of otherworldly danger, Joyce (like her son) feels doom looming above the town again. When something peculiar happens—like all the fridge magnets suddenly losing their properties—Joyce looks for answers, and she knows right where to find them.
Mr. Clarke, the beloved science teacher and sponsor of the school’s A.V. club, gets a hero’s entrance, framed by the majestic roll of his automatic garage door, to the unlikely pomp of Weird Al Yankovic’s “My Bologna.” And he deserves it for his endless willingness to learn, to listen, to distinguish between the unlikely and the impossible. He doesn’t scoff when Joyce proposes something outlandish. He shows her what’s possible, tells her what’s likely, then explains what is staggeringly improbable but theoretically feasible.
Mr. Clarke thinks coincidence is the most likely explanation. It’s Joyce who asks him, “but what if it’s not?” She deserves credit for asking those unlikely questions; she’s been doing it since the series premiere, when Hopper assured her that her missing son was safe with his father. Ninety-nine out of a hundred missing kids, he promises, that’s where they’re found. “What about the other one?” Joyce presses him, kick-starting the whole investigation.
Mr. Clarke believes in the impossible, in his way. “Once you open up that curiosity door,” he tells Joyce, eyes gleaming with optimism, “anything is possible!” The examples he’s cited—curing polio, reaching the moon—promise great scientific and humanitarian leaps to come. But Joyce Byers knows how much more is possible, even probable, when we open the curiosity door. Joyce has seen beyond the door, and and it inspires no optimism.
We’ve seen beyond it too, farther than Joyce this time. Between DoppelBilly and the glistening heap of former rat that slithers through its cage bars, rapidly growing and taking shape, it feels (and I do mean feels, like the prickle on the back of Will’s neck) like this season’s strongest film influences will include The Thing (1982) and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978). (That makes Hopper’s words to Joyce—“I’m a puppet, you’re the master”—more ominous than cheerful.) And like The Thing, “The Mall Rats” lets the suspense develop, showing the (uh) thing taking form, not showing us what form it takes. We’ve seen Billy’s double, and we’ve seen the crowd of human-like forms it walks with through that shadowy underworld.
As Will Byers sits, left behind in Mike’s basement rec room, with only a poster from Carpenter’s The Thing looking over his shoulder, he realizes that there are other doors opening, more mundane ones, and that his friends are leaving him behind. All these kids went through a nightmare. But the nightmare lasted longest for El, raised in captivity, and for Will, taken over by a nightmare creature. It makes sense that these two are out of step with their peers, emotionally, developmentally, or otherwise. El still studies remedial English texts and speaks simple sentences; Will is still stuck in that same dim basement where it all began, moving game pieces around on his own, with a monster still looming over his shoulder, while his friends run off to “win back” their girlfriends.
Lucas’ battle metaphor for romance isn’t healthy, but it is in keeping with his established character, as much as Jim Hopper’s inability to parrot back Joyce’s words about boundaries and honesty, or Joyce’s willingness to ask “what if?” It’s admirable, with so much change in the air—boyfriends and girlfriends, the promise of high school looming, and all the surging physical and emotional changes of youth—that the characters remain as grounded in their histories as they do. It’s also a wry comment on the simple challenges of human life: You can slay a Demogorgon or descend into a fiery pit to save the people you love, but speaking simple heartfelt words to them is scarier than any monster.
The only person both willing and able to express herself in words is Karen Wheeler, explaining to Billy why she couldn’t meet him at the Motel 6 on Cornwallis. “I have a family,” she says, “and I can’t do anything that will hurt them. You can understand that, right?” Karen’s honesty is touching, but not to the ammonia-swilling figure in front of her. She’s appealing to Billy’s humanity. But whatever Billy is right now, it’s not fully human.
We don’t know exactly what Billy’s emergency is, but we know what his—what its—goal is. Its goal is to build.
Stray Observations
- “I dump your ass!”
- Cary Elwes is always fun to watch (okay, maybe not always), but as Mayor Larry Kline, the twinkle he’s always possessed takes on a newly devilish aspect. Instructing Chief Hopper to clear out the protesters at City Hall, he reels off, “I can’t think, much less plaaaan, with all that racket going on!” with a smirk worthy of Joel Grey or, well, Joel Grey.
- It’s easy to think the episode owes its title to Kevin Smith’s 1995 Mallrats, but I can confirm that in 1985, I called other kids “mall rats” (and no doubt other kids called me a mall rat). Merriam-Webster dates the phrase to 1982.
- “Hello, I can hear you! Actually, I can hear everything. You are both extremely loud.” I like Robin (Maya Hawke), with her dry taunts and her sideways glances. Her ears are little geniuses.
- Emily’s anachronism corner! There are many ways to indicate alternative girl c. 1985 (see the crimped, dip-dyed hair of Violet [Tiffany Helm] from 1985's Friday The 13th offering—though I can’t otherwise recommend the movie), but Robin’s hair is pure 21st century.
- Shout-out to my niece P, who is keeping up with Stranger Things and my reviews: With your parents’ permission, we can make our next movie night a double feature of The Thing and Invasion Of The Body Snatchers. The rest of you will have to arrange your own double features.
147 Comments
I don’t see how surprising you at home then walking miles to wait on a hill while you call your fake girlfriend qualifies as being ditched by your friends Dustin!
Season 3 makes a very strong case for a spin off entirely about Steve, Robin and Dustin teaming up to solve international mysteries. The chemistry between them is incredible.
I would watch it, quick pitch it to Netflix! With the loss of all that Disney content they will need something to fill the void.
I love that Robin, after mocking Steve constantly, pretty much jumped right into the Scooby hi-jinks.
Particularly the “How many children are you friends with?” jab.
That was gold, especially because she snuck a bit of genuine underlying curiosity in there. Like, what is going on here with Steve and these kids?
I also love she jumps head first into hunting down Russian spies purely because she’s bored.
The mocking and the jumping right in are both expressions of her having the total hots for him, of course. Even the “how many children are you friends with?” query. She’s spotted him as a fellow weirdo. He can’t make any headway at all with the conventionally cute mall rat girls and his only friends (because he lost the “cool kids”) are a pack of precocious incoming freshmen. She knows he’s a misfit and a weirdo, it’s just that HE doesn’t know it yet. The writers figured out in this season who Steve always was: he was a closet nerd geek weirdo who was trying to act like a big man on campus, but the events of Season One where he had to stand up and be a good guy broke his facade. He was exposed to real friendship and connection and people who weren’t afraid to be vulnerable. Now he’s in the process of finding himself and becoming SuperSteve.
They should be the ones trying to find Carmen Sandiego.
4 episodesin. Robyn is pretty awesome.
I was so happy for how happy Steve and Dustin were to see each other, and for how quickly Robin fell into their adventure, out of a plausible combination of being bored out of her mind, being smart & curious, and how fun Steve & Dustin are together. Plus despite Steve and Robin both underplaying it, they obviously already had low-key chemistry and she was enjoying giving him a hard time about but simultaneously encouraging him with their dumb game about him hitting on all the female customers at the ice cream shop.
Robin is an absolutely perfect addition to the cast. She feels like she’s been on the show for years. You can definitely see a lot of her mother Uma Thurman in her performance. I really hope Maya Hawke has a long and successful career. I don’t know if Dustin and Steve became friends because the writers thought it was funny or if someone saw the actors having good chemistry, but immediately putting them together in season 3 and keeping them together for the vast majority of the season was genius.
It’s so weird to watch season 1 again now that Steve has evolved into such a layered, wonderfully written character.
Steve and Dustin were, by far, the best part of season 2, and it’s really nice to see that has continued and evolved in season 3.
It feels like Dustin fits in way better with Steve and Robin than the kids his own age. It’s a smart way to get Steve and Robin actively involved in the story in a fun way by using one of the core kids.
Agreed; and really, it was the best way to keep Steve involved with the story. I think I read a piece where the Duffers originally conceived Steve as the classic 80s douchebag archetype and were going to either kill off or write him out of the story in season 1, but Joe Keery was so good in the role that they pivoted the character’s arc. I would say that was for the best, as (as of episode 3 in season 3), he’s my favorite character in the show.
The fact that he immediately embraced the Jean Ralphio Parks and Rec memes definitely showed how likable he is an actor.It works really well that he evolves from an 80’s stereotype jock into someone genuinely great (while still keeping a few comical jock traits)
Did you see the bit with him and Ben Schwartz?
Both those actors are the best.
Plus it allowed them to work the whole “group of friends growing in different directions”. I almost didn’t notice Dustin being separated because I was enjoying his new group so much (which is a nice subtle viewpoint on those years where friendships wane and wax particularly with respect to realising there are plenty cool interesting people outside of your core group)
I smiled when Steve was genuinely excited to see Dustin again. I like that they’re friends!
Yeah, they’re great, and this show kind of suffers from having to try to make something out of Mike/Lucas/Will without Dustin there to be an actual character to round out the set of Mr. Protagonist, Mr. Idiot Ball, and Mr. Fridged.
Honestly, yes. Dustin and Robin and Steve’s plot has so far been my absolute favorite of the season. They’re so fun together!
I adore Robin and I’m glad that only grew with the season. After Max feeling a little shoehorned in last season (thankfully better this season) Robin feels much more organic.
The Princess Bride was 32 years ago.Cary Elwes looks great for his age.And that’s all I have to say about that.
As you wish.
Just realised I subconsciously quoted “Forrest Gump” while commenting on “The Princess Bride”, probably because they are both stored in my brain under “ Iconic movies starring Robin Wright”
Side note: years ago I read an essay that positted, when taking in movie tropes, Jenny was actually the villian of Forrest Gump. I’ve been searching for it for a while but haven’t been able to find it online. If was really funny how it dissected both the tropes and the movie and how it was all there subconsciously.
I always thought she was! And I never believed for a second that child was Forrest’s – she just knew she was dying and needed someone to take care of the boy.But then I’m a hardened cynic who’ll probably die alone, so what do I know …
oooo…that works so hard…. not like Forrest was going to get a blood test.
The way they the story was told, I always thought that that Forrest Gump had a markedly conservative bent and Jenny was meant to be the Goofus to Forrest’s Gallant. The way it portrayed people rebelling against restricting social norms and/or what happened to such people was terrible in my view. I thought someone from the National Review wrote that script.
Sorry to respond over a week later, but I just watched this last night. He had work done, right? He looks artificial.
So the premiere ended with Rob Blowe being dragged into the basement. But a few minutes later once episode 2 starts everyone sees he’s still in one piece. That cliffhanger would’ve made sense in a weekly show, but just seemed random in a whole-season-simultaneous-drop show like this.(Did anyone else think of Us and ‘tethering’ when he was talking to his doppelganger?)
Cliffhangers are a pretty standard narrative contrivance. Novels often end one chapter on a cliffhanger and resolve it on the next page. Like how a movie will create tension during one scene and resolve it during the next scene. It keeps audience engaged. One alternative wandering between plot points and assuming the audience won’t get up from the couch, which is certainly a Netflix trademark (looking your way, Jessica Jones).
Sure it’s a streaming show, but cliffhangers like that are designed to keep people watching instead of calling it a night right there. It’s all about engagement.
This second episode starts with a bunch of quick cuts showing “Rob Blowe” being dragged to the basement and managing to get away and exit the basement/building. It continues right from where the previous episode’s cliffhanger ended.
The use of “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” might be my favorite thing on the show so far. What an great moment.
He was so gleeful during that sequence, like “finally a win after six months of that snotty little jerk running the show with my daughter!” Also, took me a minute to remember Hopper’s name is Jim, so that probably made him even happier to sing the lyrics.
Problem is Jim gets his ass kicked by Slim later on.
They’ve definitely used that song in the series before, I think in early season 2 when Hopper is dancing in the kitchen.
Very nerdy anachronism corner: Joyce is reading Skitek and Marshall’s “Electromagnetic Concepts and Applications” published in 1987. And that was the 1st edition, which I’m not even sure Joyce is reading!
Great catch. On another book related front, the English-Russian dictionary is accurate enough for that period, though, that it induced an involuntary shudder for the nightmares associated with its usage.Only slight nitpick there is the chances of them mucking through the translation without understanding Russian conjugation are about zero.
Really, that was preposterous, but it’s a fantasy TV show so I’ll allow it.
I have that exact Romanov’s dictionary somewhere at home from taking Russian in high school in the early ‘80s. That one even looked just as beat-up as mine did.They did show the Russian alphabet on the whiteboard with the phonetic sounds beneath each letter. It would have been time consuming, but they definitely could have worked out the Cyrillic letters from the sounds, then looked up those words to find the English translations. It wouldn’t have been immediately apparent where each word ended, but as they found matches in the dictionary they could assume the next letters started the next word.Luckily – unlike with English – most Russian words are spelled exactly the way they sound.They could have gotten a rough broken English translation. Similar to some of the online translators.
I was wondering why they didn’t just find someone (from their school, maybe?) who spoke Russian.
Back in a town like Hawkins, you could never have found someone who spoke anything more than Spanish, French, or German. Hell, I was a HS student at a decent school in ‘80s Atlanta, and those (plus Latin) were the only offerings on tap. Even as an undergrad, I had no choice but to teach myself Russian.
Just to chime in as a mid-80’s high school grad from the West Coast. When I graduated, they were discussing adding Russian and/or Japanese and/or Chinese to the Spanish, French, German and Latin programs we already had. Of those, I think Chinese was the only language that was added (after I graduated), and even that didn’t last too long from what I’ve been told.
Also, would a small town in Indiana have 911 in 1985? The service didn’t go national until the early 90s, and I thought it was more of a big-city thing until then (in small towns you just called the police department directly).
Mr….Mr. Clarke?
I’m confused about the timeline and how secret El/Jane’s existence is. Has she been though a year of public school or not? Also had those other girls at the mall done something to her or max? That was a dick move otherwise!
The mall girls were mocking Eleven and Max for having fun trying on clothes, I think exploding the mean girl’s drink was a reasonable comeuppance. I mean, it isn’t like Eleven made her head explode (which she could have done).
Thanks I must have looked away when that happened.
It was a brief moment and El and Max went back to giggling afterward, but I have to say it did rub me the wrong way since I am still protective of Eleven, she is still learning how to be part of society so it could have really hurt/ humiliated her, though w/ Max there it didn’t turn out to be that big of a deal.
I like El and Max way more as duo way more than El and Mike, because Max is actually letting El discover herself, while providing emotional backup – not just providing the identity of her existence
And the head explosion would have been era appropriate!
I admire the show’s restraint in not having El go full Scanners on her tormentors
Rewatching the series now, and I believe the girl whose drink exploded is the same girl that refused to dance with Dustin at the Snow Ball in S2.
Yep, Robin’s hair was what got me going in the previews since between it being nothing like 1985 and the boys not updating even a little bit it felt off. (Note El’s hair style after she visits the mall.) In contrast, we have Nancy (good) and even better, the Orange Julius splat girls (dead on).
America the Beautiful playing in the background for Cary Elwes’ speech has to be a tribute to this scene in one of his most memorable roles:
Huh. I don’t remember him giving a speech this episode. I guess I need to rewatch before I move on to episode 3!
Well, probably more accurate to call it a monologue, but it perfectly fits the ‘At the end of the day, that’s going to be all the voters remember!’ bit. He’s become the procurement officers.
I was really hoping he’d explain a little bit about his superior tornado detection technology.
I don’t think anything in this show will ever get me like Barb’s hair. That was pure uncanny valley for my class of ‘84 self.
Ugh, whether or not that was supposed to be a reference that was really dumb.
The hair on this show is on point, for the most part. I raise an eyebrow at Robin’s, which kind of stands out, but that might be by design.
They’re male children in the 80s. I had literally same haircut from toddler to eighth grade, when I refused to get it cut any more and grew it out instead.
This is actually the first movie I saw Cary Elwes in, lol. Kind of a forgotten one.
Well, Steve does comment repeatedly about how weird she is, so it stands to reason she’d have a different hairstyle than everyone else.
Robin in general felt like she’d wandered in from a 90s Gen X slacker comedy like ‘Reality Bites’ or ‘Daria’, but I’m honestly okay with that because if anyone gets to be anachronistically Gen X, it should be the daughter of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman. She’s a delight, easily my favorite character right now, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for the actress in future projects.
Required watching for requirements creep.
With regard to homages, Billy’s queasy, sweaty pallor and shrinking away from sunlight reminded me very much of Jason Patric starting to transform in The Lost Boys. And even though it’s a film from 1992 and thus doesn’t fit with the period, the scene of Billy carrying the girl lifeguard through the empty warehouse gave me strong vibes of the Candyman carrying Virginia Madsen through his lair
And Hopper’s Jaws quote, which incidentally used to be a common AIM away message for me.
I am not available because I am playing a computer game that takes up the whole screen.
I think Billy is very much a mashup of Kiefer and Jason Patric from The Lost Boys.
So Hopper thinks his shirt is “cutting edge” but I think El’s outfit fit the bill as much or more than his. Shout out to the Madonna – Material Girl scene at the mall. The Scoops Ahoy crew is pretty awesome and Maya Hawke—yes that’s Uma Thurman’s and Ethan Hawke’s daughter—is a welcome addition this season. She’s a great ally/foil for Steve and Dustin.So it can’t be a coincidence that Billy aka William and Will aka William, have been the choice of the Mind Flayer for “disciples” of his masterplan. Right? I’m not sure what to make of it but I sure feel sorry for that life guard Billy kidnapped.Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Thing (1982)—my favorite horror movie of all time— are definitely the vibes of the season so far.
Hopper’s date night outfit was based off of Magnum PI, which he was watching earlier, so yeah for him that’s Cutting Edge.
Exactly. My dad went through a phase like that as well and believe me, there were a ton of schlubby middle aged Magnum PI wannabes.
Were?
ahhh……I was wondering why they showed what he was watching.
So it can’t be a coincidence that Billy aka William and Will aka William, have been the choice of the Mind Flayer for “disciples” of his master plan. Right?Where there’s a Will, there’s a way in.
El actually moved backward in time, the clothes she walked into the mall in would be serviceable as early ‘90s grunge.
Maya Hawkes is Ethan Hawke´s daughter. One of the movies that made him famous was “Reality Bites” which features a very famous scene in which they are playing “My Sharona”. His lady friend in the movie is Winona Ryder. Talk about Easter eggs! Just saying…
I’ve seen lots of people comment about the influence of The Thing on this season, and while I don’t entirely disagree, I think the more apt comparison is The Blob, as The Thing takes places in Antarctica and The Blob takes place in a small town much like Hawkins.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers + The Blob + Red Dawn is how I would sum up S3.
I would also add Clive Barker/Hellraiser just for the images of the creature re-assembling its flesh. And a broader Carpenter reference: The Fog for the silhouetted figures in Billy’s visions.
going to call you out about robin’s hair… one of my best friends growing up had the exact same style hair during the mid to late 80’s her mother worked for Paul Mitchel so it may have been ahead of the curve for Indiana and jokes about it now call it the Jodie foster off-duty look….but, factoring in the character is an outsider who probably falls into the arty labels I see no reason she wouldn’t copy a style she saw in an issue of interview…
it’s like a flat ALLY SHEEDY…
I think maybe the problem is the lack of bangs? Cut a fringe, and that hairstyle would definitely be mid-’80s.
she does have bangs…. her hair is not styled due to her wearing a hat/being dirty
Now that was an improvement. Episode one I’d give a B- This one gets a B+/A-Whatever rat-gut blob monster that is, it’s fantastic.
The mall fun montage with Max and Eleven was I think an homage to the great sequence from 1984’s Night of the Comet with sisters Catherine Mary Stewart and Kelli Maroney going on a shopping spree at the abandoned, post-apocalyptic mall, before being interrupted by armed, marauding goons (who they fight off).
That could have been too cheesy, but the girls absolutely sold the hell out of it.
It was too generic and boring to be a homage. Season 3 so far does not look promising.
Or Valley Girl (1983?), or one of many other movie shopping montages from that era.
If that’s the case, love the acknowledgement of NotC… even though that movie posited that two ‘80s valley girls had working knowledge of military firearms… but the more I think about it, at the time that might’ve been a sly wink to the then-current sociopolitical climate. One could go crazy trying to pick out the references in ST. At the end of the first episode of season 3, when a main character is pulled along by some vaguely unseen creature, I remarked that I wondered if it was a reference to 1981’s “The Boogens”… and while thinking that may be ridiculous, I still keep in mind that in the aforementioned first episode of this season, it featured “Day of the Dead,” which was a choice striking in how UN-obvious it was.
To be fair, the women in Night of the Comet learned about military firearms from their dad. Which is still a satirical point (I think they even reference her dad being involved in a South American coup).
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CostumeTestMontage
I was wondering whether Nancy’s “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” was an anachronism, so I looked it up. It is actually from 1986, and attributed to Grace Hopper (!) quoted in the magazine Chips Ahoy (!!)
Hopper said it in 1982, and was quoted in a paper not far from Hawkins, which would mean Nancy could well have seen it:In 1982 the Chicago Tribune reported on a speech delivered by Grace Hopper at Lake Forest College which included the following: “Always remember that it’s much easier to apologize than to get permission,” she said. “In this world of computers, the best thing to do is to do it.”but the saying is a lot older than that.
Thanks for improving on my half-arsed research!
Am I supposed to root for a 45-something wife to have an affair with 18 year old, or something? Because I do not get what’s the appeal in the pool scenes this season?
Is this supposed to be a Stiffler’s mom situation or what?
Heh. Rats in the Malls instead of Rats in the Walls.
Mr. Clarke! Ahhh he might be my favorite underused character on this show. Lucas’s family is up there too.
HE IS THE MOST ELIGIBLE MAN ON THE SHOW.
– Believes/is open to Joyce’s suspicions
– Is kind, encouraging, and respectful to children
– Contains no visible toxic masculinity
– Listens to Weird Al (WHICH I didn’t catch, thnx AVClub!)
Also, has a rocking mustache and is a very smart dude. It is extra funny for me because where I live there is a Scott Clarke Toyota/Honda dealership and he is in all of his commercials and he also favors a big mustache and a red sweater. So I imagine after escaping Hawkins, Mr. Clarke moves to NC and becomes a car dealer.
Isn’t he in a good, chill relationship with a lady who he watches movies with sometimes? Mr. Clarke’s the best man in Hawkins, a low-key hero to all.
Yep! If there was confusion I didn’t mean LITERALLY eligible, just the most appealing.
-has an extremely good looking woman come to his house to ask science questions and answers them all without hitting on her even a little!
Because unlike some others, he realizes she’s still probably mourning!
– Is totally willing to open up that curiosity door with you- Isn’t scared to show off those gams
Not sure if I’d go so far as to say I’m Team Mr. Clarke, but I’m definitely anti-Team Hopper.
I know it’s a 90s reference. Weird Al had a million songs in the 80s, but to pick the one that spoofs a song had a huge rebirth because of it’s a placement in a movie that hat had both Wynona Rider and Robin’s real life father was definitely a Reality Bites shout out.
Hadn’t thought about that connection. Now I can’t wait for Joyce to meet Robin.
I’m enjoying the two episodes so far but for a show that people love to say gets the 80s details right, they don’t seem to do a good job getting the feel of Indiana right.
I’m sure it is because I’m born and raised in Indiana but a lot of time when they shoot outside it is clear that they aren’t in Indiana (of course it isn’t as bad as an episode of Agents of SHIELD this season where they were supposed to be in Muncie, Indiana and there were palm trees in the background.). I just wish they had just set it in Georgia since they film there.
In the first episode, the time was wacky as all hell.The kids start hiking up the mountain in the bright sunshine of early afternoon. El and Mike bail (when “we’re nearly at the top!”) at 3:30/4:00 (“A four o’clock curfew?!?”). By the time the remaining quartet reach the top and set, they’re lit by a . When Max, Lucas, Will start back down the mountain (that took, like, five hours to summit), it is entirely dark.* Meanwhile, Billy is is waylaid by tentacle in the total darkness of night on his way to an 8:00 pm Motel 6 rendezvous.As we keep being reminded, it is June 28, just one week after the longest daylight of the year, in a state at the western edge of its time zone. The sun doesn’t even set until nearly 9:30 (8:30 if Hawkins is supposed to be in the small NW and SW bits of the state that go by Central Time, but still). This season may be set in summer, but it’s always fall in Hawkins.*Also, Dustin, your friends had a welcome-home surprise planned out for you and hung out with you for a minimum of seven hours, most of which was spent hauling your heavy-ass crap up a mountain. Other than Mike and El, that doesn’t exactly qualify as ditching you, my dude.
I see this in shows all the time. They’ll be doing something in broad daylight, have a commercial break or go to another scene, and when they come back, it’s pitch dark, but everything else indicates not much time has passed, certainly not enough to explain the sudden darkness. It annoys me.
See also, the Blues Brothers.
Well, until ~2005 Indiana didn’t observe DST (not sure about the little CST bits, they may have) so the sun set around 830 PM in most of Indiana in the summer and it got full dark at around 9 PM.
Oooh, that’s a good catch. So if Hawkins is in one of the Central patches AND didn’t observe DST in 1985, then the sun would have set around 7:30 (In summer! Dear god that’s sad!). Still a bit of a stretch that Billy wouldn’t have had any light in the sky while on his way to an 8:00 assignation, but much more withing the range of believability.
I know I’m commenting in a thread over a month old, but this reminds me of the episode of Eerie, Indiana where the kid sets his clock back. Didn’t know it was based in fact.
Indiana does not adopt Daylight Savings Time until 2005, so in the summer of 1985, most of Indiana basically operates as the Easternmost state on Central Time, with the sun setting around 8:30 or so during the longest days of summer. Even then your comments about Billy’s 8 pm rendezvous being in midnight darkness is valid. I was also wondering about where all the time went as the kids scaled the hill. And the presence of a hill in Indiana tall enough that it takes 4+ hours to climb is almost as incredible as exploding rats and extradimensional dopplegangers.
Not to mention the continuing presence of the massive MALL OF ANACHRONISM. Southern Indiana by way of King of Prussia and Torrance.
If it was accurate to Indiana, nothing would ever happen there. (Oh, but I kid the state of Indiana!)
I just wish they had just set it in Georgia since they film there.But then most of the actors would be doing thick Southern accents à la The Walking Dead.
I’m happy that El and Max are allowed to be friends now, but I do miss the Max from season two: still adventurous and sardonic, but also vulnerable and reserved. I suppose that her more brazen personality is the natural progression from a girl who now has a close-knit group of friends and finally stood up to her bully of a brother, but she feels less complex to me now. I’m guessing we’re supposed to infer that Joyce does have feelings for Hopper, but in this episode it seemed more like he just couldn’t take a hint. Leave the woman be, Hop.
I mean- of COURSE Mr. Clarke digs Weird Al.I could almost just watch a season following the residents of Hawkins where nothing otherworldly happens at all. I love all these characters.
Mr. Clarke is also 100% Future-Dustin
Billy is still no closer to claiming his predicted “Fan Favorite” title.
Hey, I’m enjoying him a lot more as Igor to the unspeakable horror than I ever did before.
Lucas’ “I wish you had consulted me first!” line was great. He was my favorite character in Season 1 (and I do miss his rapport with Dustin) because he was basically me. Even in his relationship with Max, he’s a bumbling fool in a way I’m all too familiar with, lol. I enjoyed the guys’ and the girls’ parallel stories at the mall. When confronted at the end, the boys just dug their own grave. This is delightful.
I’m digging the bodysnatchers vibe. The humour feels a bit off to me though, like they’re trying a bit too hard. Some scenes feel like a bad sitcom.
I think there’s a chance Eleven has based some of her English skills off Dungeons and Dragons moves. ‘What do you do?’ could perfectly precede ‘I dump your ass!’
In my mind the reason they used My Bologna was a tongue in cheek reference to the Reality Bites soundtrack, which had My Sharona, which those of my generation immediately turned into My Winona.
But you were all wrong there. Because she’s MY Winona!
Before critiquing Robin’s ’do too intensely, recall that every period has had adults & children alike whose hairstyles are distinctly unfashionable, and not very representative of their times. As a former ’80s high-schooler, I recall that most of the kids whose style was (in retrospect) intensely of the era were near the top of the popularity chain. We social third-raters were likelier to dress and groom ourselves in ways that would’ve fit in halfway okay in plenty of times & places.
And some people are just ahead of the curve. Famously, Carole Ann Ford in the first series of Doctor Who had her hair styled by Vidal Sassoon so it would look ever so slightly like she came from the future.
I won’t go as far to say anachronism, but one thing struck me having lived in a similarly-sized midwestern town in 1985. I was reminiscing with some school friends about the old technology we grew up with and one told me about a story that happened to me that I’d never heard her side of. I was in her neighborhood with my Boy Scout troop doing some sort of fundraising. I’d crossed the street in front of her house when a teenager on her learner’s permit ran the ted light and hit me with her wood-paneled station wagon. She was only going twenty-five or thirty so I wasn’t badly hurt, just knocked out from where my head hit the asphalt, but my friend saw it and she was the one who called the ambulance. She said she was scared and it took her several tries, because 1) our town didn’t have 9-1-1, 2) she had a rotary phone, and 3) our town’s phone numbers all started 9-8-8, which were the two hardest to dial, especially if your hands were shaking and/or sweaty. It blew my brain apart to remember she was right. We grew up in a time before 9-1-1. Wikipedia says it grew from 27% of the country having access in 1979 to 50% in 1987, so I guess Hawkins was slightly ahead of my town.
Wikipedia also says 911 was first implemented in Indiana in the late 60s and it spread from there, so for Hawkins to have it isn’t unreasonable.
Sorry to nitpick, but the girl at the ice cream shop said she only had experience with Romance languages, and the show apparently thought that was sufficient justification to have her translating Russian…ugh
In an entire series that rings false like a bell every two minutes or so, not much has been a more completely manufactured character moment than Mike laughing in Hopper’s face then whispering in Eleven’s ear right in front of him. I thought the scene was going to turn out to have been a delusion of Hopper’s but just standard shitty writing.
“Boundaries” set off my anachronism alarm. That didn’t feel like 80s language to me at all (I was 14 in 1985.)
That said, all was forgiven when I saw El’s pink cassette radio. I had that silly thing and took it with me everywhere!
Now, in my continuing look at the massive ridiculous implausibilities regarding the Hawkins Mall / reasons why this mall must be constructed as part of an elaborate cover or staging ground for Russian and/or monster invasion:
This episode I noticed a few shots of the mall food court during El and Max’s montage and what should I see there but a marquee advertising Teppanyaki. Teppanyaki.There’s a Taco Bell “Opening Soon!” sign there as well. In a mid-sized Southern Indiana town in 1985, that’s what would qualify as “exotic eats”. Japanese grilling would be the kind of thing you tried when you went on vacation to Epcot or something. There is no way it would be an actual restaurant in an actual Indiana mall at that time.
https://www.delish.com/food/a42400/hibachi-restaurants/
It was actually a pretty big trend in the 80s.
I fully believe it would have been found in a New Jersey mall in the mid-80s. Or a southern Californian mall. What I don’t believe is that it would be in a southern Indiana mall in 1985. The show makers clearly just mushed all of their own more coastal 80s mall memories into the show’s mall (e.g.: Hot Dog on a Stick).
Probably so. But Benihana was in Chicago by the early 70s. And Starcourt is supposed to be a brand new mall — given the mayor and his involvement, I imagine he’d want all the stuff the malls have in New York and California.
Yeah, I can buy that. I think for me it’s just the fact that the show rarely makes any use of or references to the fact that it’s ostensibly set in Indiana, so I get my hackles up a bit when it does anything that feels out of place.
More than fair. I’m not going to die on this flaming onion volcano.
Probably so. But Benihana was in Chicago by the early 70s. And Starcourt is supposed to be a brand new mall — given the mayor and his involvement, I imagine he’d want all the stuff the malls have in New York and California.
The problem I have with the magnets thing is that, if this device was powerful enough to de-magnetize refrigerator magnets over a wide area, wouldn’t it have affected other things, not just refrigerator magnets? Wouldn’t it degauss stereo speaker magnets, TV speaker magnets, the magnets in the speakers in phone handsets, etc.? It would cause pandemonium.