S02.E07: Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister

[Athena]

Quote

Psychic visions draw Eleven to a band of violent outcasts and an angry girl with a shadowy past.

 

[SeanC]

From some of the early reviews of the season, I realize this is the episode that was the most divisive, and it's obvious why, since it's effectively a one-shot within the season that focuses on only one character.  This is the sort of thing that wouldn't be particularly noticeable outside of the hyper-serialized format that streaming services have been pioneering, but it stands out here, particularly where it's positioned in the dramatic arc.

That said, I liked it fine, mainly as it does serve as good character material for Eleven, who's been given a lot of space this season to self-actualize away from what other people have been trying to develop her into ("No, but I can save them." is surely going to be used in a lot of Tumblr gif sets).

I'm not clear how the government was ever planning to control 008/Kali (sp?), given her powers.  Though on closer inspection she doesn't appear to be a mindreader, just capable of generating illusions, so that's a bit less of a challenge than previously thought.

[Quilt Fairy]

Several things seemed off to me in this episode.  While I could sort of see that Eleven could have figured out how to hitchhike (she's certainly been watching enough television over the last year) but taking a Greyhound bus into Chicago?  Where did she suddenly get the money?  How did she know where and when to catch it?

And then, there's the Chicago skyline.  First, I'm not sure that some of those buildings (the one with the diamond shape in particular) were around in 1984.  Second, the only way you get the view of the skyline that slum/junkyard/abandoned building had, you'd have to be a mile out in Lake Michigan.

There appears to be a significant backstory to Kali and how she gathered her group of outcasts that we never learn anything about, although I'm not fond of this sidetrip, so I was happy to see the last of them.  I expect they may turn up again in a future season if they find Dr. Brenner.  

Edited October 28, 2017 by Quilt Fairy

[Bec]

I fell asleep several times during this episode so this might not be a completely fair assessment, but Kali's super-edgy friends were soooo tiresome. I'm just more into nerdy outcasts and not so much the "we're too cool for society" variety. I hope we never see them again.

[EarlGreyTea]

Get Eleven back into the main storyline already! This is ridiculous! The whole reason many of us (well, me) looked so fondly upon season 1 was the insanely sweet chemistry between the kids. I understand the need for an origin storyline, but couldn't that have waited until season 3? It's starting to look like we're only going to get two measly episodes of Eleven with the other kids. I might have been okay with it had this season been longer (say, 13 episodes), but with only 9, it's a waste of precious screen time, IMO.

Having whined about all that, I did really like Callie (Kali?). It might have been easy to make her cartoonish or a villain, but they hit some great notes making her caring yet out for revenge. But I also liked that she helped Eleven realize her gravitational pull has always been towards Mike, Hopper, and the other kids. Hilarious that one of Eleven's anger triggers was Max merely talking to Mike. Kid's already turning into a normal tween.

And thank the Lord they styled Eleven's hair. Kid looked like Little Orphan Annie before.

And finally, this episode confirmed Millie is the real deal. I had wondered since last season whether it was a fluke, whether having more dialogue and more to do would change how Millie portrayed Eleven. Sometimes child actors grow up and lose some of their talent, or try too hard, but it has not happened with her.

Edited October 28, 2017 by EarlGreyTea

[Athena]

8 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

Several things seemed off to me in this episode.  While I could sort of see that Eleven could have figured out how to hitchhike (she's certainly been watching enough television over the last year) but taking a Greyhound bus into Chicago?  Where did she suddenly get the money?  How did she know where and when to catch it?

When she saw her Aunt call someone, Eleven went through her purse and left. It's not outlandish for her to know about intercity buses. She probably hitchhiked or walked to a bus depot. She probably only had to use like a few words the whole time.

[Quilt Fairy]

2 hours ago, Athena said:

Eleven went through her purse

I must have missed that during a quick bathroom break .  Commercials are useful for something!

2 hours ago, Athena said:

It's not outlandish for her to know about intercity buses

To know about them, sure.  To be able to easily navigate the system and take one, given her age and how cloistered she'd been?  That I have more of a problem with.   It's actually a little funny that she was so sought after that she wasn't even supposed to open the curtains at Hopper's when he wasn't there, and then he goes monster-fighting for a few days and she's off on El's Excellent Adventure without any problems.  

[Arynm]

12 hours ago, Quilt Fairy said:

First, I'm not sure that some of those buildings (the one with the diamond shape in particular) were around in 1984

Isn't that the same building from Adventures in Babysitting? If it is it was built in 1984. I noticed it too because of that movie, I always recognize the Chicago skyline because of that building. I loved that movie!

[Dev F]

1 hour ago, Arynm said:

Isn't that the same building from Adventures in Babysitting? If it is it was built in 1984. I noticed it too because of that movie, I always recognize the Chicago skyline because of that building. I loved that movie!

Yeah, that's the Crain Communications Building, originally the Associates Center. (And at one point it had probably my favorite skyscraper name, the Stone Container Building.) I wondered if it was an anachronism, too, but looking it up, apparently it was just completed in 1984.

Some of the other buildings are probably anachronistic, though. I think I recognized Blue Cross Blue Shield Tower, which wasn't built until 1997 and didn't reach its current height till 2010. And as Quilt Fairy mentioned, the perspective from the gang's hideout was super wonky. It seemed like maybe they were in an industrial area in the South Loop looking north, but that view of the skyline would only be possible from the east. Though it's probably an easier perspective to CGI, since you just have to slap in buildings and stuff on top of the lake instead of painting over existing structures.

I enjoyed this episode more than I was expecting to. The buzz I was hearing made it seem like a waste of an episode, as if El was going to have to decide between going back to save her friends or using her power to rob banks or something inane like that. But the episode did a good job of establishing a meaningful mission for the gang that I could imagine El being tempted to join them for.

[Last Time Lord]

19 hours ago, SeanC said:

From some of the early reviews of the season, I realize this is the episode that was the most divisive, and it's obvious why, since it's effectively a one-shot within the season that focuses on only one character.  This is the sort of thing that wouldn't be particularly noticeable outside of the hyper-serialized format that streaming services have been pioneering, but it stands out here, particularly where it's positioned in the dramatic arc

 

1

This is literally the only issue I had with this episode. Had this and The Spy been flipped, I feel it would have worked better, and provided a bigger incentive for viewers to want to see that one for the full context of El's visions.

[ghoulina]

I think this season, they wanted to have a big reunion between El and the kids, particularly Mike. But they needed something to do with her in the meantime, hence this journey to discover her mom and meet her "sister". I don't hate the idea of it. I get how it's important to El's arc. But I really just hated leaving Hawkins in the midst of everything that was going on. And I really didn't care for Kal or her friends. 

 

It was cool for El to meet someone with a similar background, but I always felt like Kal was using her. I feared for El if she stayed there. That crew was forcing her to grow up too soon. And, despite everything she's been through, I just want her to have a chance at a happy childhood with Mike and the boys, with Hopper. I want her to play D&D and trick or treat and learn to skateboard, maybe. Not run around in that shitty can, killing people and stealing, because we've just been so wronged by the world. Ugh. 

 

Even though I didn't like a lot of the episode, I did understand its purpose. The whole experience in the big city made El realize that she didn't need to go looking for home, she had it all along. This was her Dorothy moment. 

[Vella]

I really loved this episode. You get the reminder of the invitation of El being offered a home. She had it with Mike, with Hopper, with her Aunt and then with Cali.  All offered safety and acceptance, but El is changing, going through her arc of discovery and identity.  Being with Hopper was safe, it was stability and having an adult who genuinely cared about her, but it was stifling and lonely. She finds her aunt and mother and learns more about herself and what happened early on but again, can't stay, her mother actively says 'no' when El says she's home.  She moves on to Cali, who knows so much of what El is experiencing and again, gets that information she's craving but ultimately, Cali's path is not El's path.  Cali's home is not El's home.  El has come full circle and is going to where she truly feels is home.  As an aside, I really liked Cali and I really love the decision of making her Indian. It's not often we get to see Indian characters. Like ever. So kudos to the show runners on this point.

[Athena]

On 10/28/2017 at 5:50 PM, ghoulina said:

It was cool for El to meet someone with a similar background, but I always felt like Kal was using her. I feared for El if she stayed there. That crew was forcing her to grow up too soon. And, despite everything she's been through, I just want her to have a chance at a happy childhood with Mike and the boys, with Hopper. I want her to play D&D and trick or treat and learn to skateboard, maybe. Not run around in that shitty can, killing people and stealing, because we've just been so wronged by the world. Ugh. 

 

I thought the same about Kali. I think she did genuinely care and see herself in El. She definitely has issues and couldn't find a home either so she had to build her own crew. However, she uses them as well on her crusade to kill the "Bad Men". The sad thing is that Kali and El were both objectified and not treated with love or care growing up so it's not surprising that Kal would equate using and caring.

I think we all want Eleven to have a normal childhood with the other kids.

[Lady Calypso]

I definitely agree that this episode might have been better off to be episode 6 and The Spy as episode 7, only because I felt like the action of the last episode had to suddenly be halted in its tracks to have this episode. With these two episodes switched, we would have had a better lead-up to the events of the last episode. 

It wasn't even a bad episode. I would have enjoyed it more than I already did if I wasn't curious about what was going on back in Hawkins.

I liked Kali well enough, but I definitely felt like she was using El. I know she was also curious about her, glad to find someone like her, and wanting to help her, but her needs stemmed from El's powers. And, in that sense, it's far from what El needs. Knowing about what Kali probably went through in her own childhood, I understand it, and I can see how both her and Eleven are different. 

I guess, with Kali, we see what could have happened if Eleven had taken a different path, one that wasn't in Hawkins. 

[MerBearStare]

Count me as one of the people who didn't care for this episode. I didn't *hate* it, but for me it was the weakest of this season and probably this whole series. I think we might get more of this crew, or some kind of spinoff or origin story, based on the one guy's comment that Kali saved them all and brought them together. She's the queen they chose, I guess.

I think Kali did care for Eleven, as long as Eleven wanted to go about revenge the same way Kali did. Like the way narcissists "love" their kids.  I was so relieved Eleven didn't kill that guy. That would have been way too dark for this show. Yes, she's killed before, but that's because she had to. This would have been a choice.

Having the biggest guy in the crew wear the Cheer Bear Care Bear mask did make me laugh, though.

Edited October 29, 2017 by MerBearStare

[EarlGreyTea]

6 hours ago, Last Time Lord said:

This is literally the only issue I had with this episode. Had this and The Spy been flipped, I feel it would have worked better, and provided a bigger incentive for viewers to want to see that one for the full context of El's visions.

Good point. I almost skipped this episode entirely because of how the previous episode ended on such a cliffhanger, and it became apparent that we'd hit pause on the events in Hawkins. It was really jarring. I wanted to know what the hell was going on in Hawkins! Had the episode been flipped, it would have flowed better.

I did, however, enjoy the theme of home in this episode. Eleven did have a number of choices for home, but I'm glad she was able to come to the decision on her own that Hawkins was her home. There's something really beautiful about this ragtag band of kids who created such a sense of safety and kindness for Eleven that she considered them her home over Kali and even her own mother and aunt. Season 1's little moments of Mike making Eleven feel at home - showing her around his house, bringing her food, inviting her into their group - paid off majorly in this episode, like a slow burn.

[Blue Plastic]

Not caring for the Kali side trip.  She helped El focus her powers better (using anger) and the scene with Kali using her illusion ability to hide herself and her crew from the police was cool.  Other than that, it was an annoying episode for me and just a way to keep El isolated from the Hawkins characters some more.

I don't get what the motivation is for the rest of Kali's crew.  Are they going after people who "hurt" all of them, or only people who were part of the experiments on 1-11?  Anyway, I'm glad El didn't stay on that revenge track and decided to go back to Hawkins.

[Bec]

14 hours ago, Arynm said:

Isn't that the same building from Adventures in Babysitting? If it is it was built in 1984. I noticed it too because of that movie, I always recognize the Chicago skyline because of that building. I loved that movie!

Speaking of Adventures in Babysitting, the abandoned warehouse that Kali and her gang were staying in reminded me of the warehouse full of bad guys in Adventures in Babysitting where Chris and the kids were held prisoner and had to sneak out a window by walking across a scary high beam.

[kokapetl]

2 hours ago, Blue Plastic said:

Not caring for the Kali side trip.  She helped El focus her powers better (using anger) and the scene with Kali using her illusion ability to hide herself and her crew from the police was cool.  Other than that, it was an annoying episode for me and just a way to keep El isolated from the Hawkins characters some more.

I don't get what the motivation is for the rest of Kali's crew.  Are they going after people who "hurt" all of them, or only people who were part of the experiments on 1-11?  Anyway, I'm glad El didn't stay on that revenge track and decided to go back to Hawkins.

Yeah, Kali’s friends raise some issues. How many people do they each want to kill in revenge?  Are they collectively going to murder thirty people? What does rainbow hair girl bring to the party?

[blueray]

Well neverminded my post on the episode before, because I loved this episode. It was nice to get more of a back story of Eleven's past. It is interesting that she did have contact with "eight" and played with her as a kid. I loved the city stuff, even if it was mostly background. I think that Kali is an interesting character, and is using her powers to hunt down people. I do wonder why she would have followers, but I guess their lives sucked so much that it was worth it to help her. I am glad that Eleven is heading back to Hawkin's though, as she has been part from the other characters way to long. I do think this episode should have been much earlier in the season or at least flipped with the one before it.

Edited October 29, 2017 by blueray

[methodwriter85]

3 hours ago, blueray said:

Well neverminded my post on the episode before, because I loved this episode. It was nice to get more of a back story of Eleven's past. It is interesting that she did have contact with "eight" and played with her as a kid. I loved the city stuff, even if it was mostly background. I think that Kali is an interesting character, and is using her powers to hunt down people. I do wonder why she would have followers, but I guess their lives sucked so much that it was worth it to help her. I am glad that Eleven is heading back to Hawkin's though, as she has been part from the other characters way to long. I do think this episode should have been much earlier in the season or at least flipped with the one before it.

They were outcasts who didn't have anything. Kali gave them a purpose and a "home", so to speak. And a pretty convenient way to steal stuff.

I like that Kali wasn't just a completely bad person. She was kind of like the Faith to 11's Buffy.

[nodorothyparker]

I agree the placement of this episode, effectively hitting pause on everything going on in Hawkins, wasn't the greatest.  That said and for as anxious as I'm getting in wanting to see Eleven reunite with Mike and Hopper and the whole gang, I didn't hate it. 

There was a theme of what home is running throughout and choices, something Eleven has had precious little of in her life so far.  While I do think it was important for her to connect with one of only a handful of people in the world who could possibly really fully understand what her life has been like, she needed to have that moment of making the conscious choice of going back to Hawkins to fight for her place there.  I did wish we had gotten at least a line or two explaining how Kali escaped the lab and how long it's been for her because I found myself wondering if she wasn't supposed to be something of a cautionary tale for Eleven in where she would end up if she didn't find some kind of life for herself.  Sure, the rest of Kali's crew were outcasts and misfits too, but you could see how they would fallen into using her powers to steal in the same way they were all quick to want to use Eleven's powers.  I also wondered just many people they realistically thought they wanted to kill and why.  It seems unlikely everybody on their board of "bad men" is connected to the lab.

Were we supposed to think Eleven's aunt was talking to the "bad men" on the phone when Eleven left the house?  Eleven seemed to think so, and she did mention Hopper and Joyce coming to see her last season asking questions.  but she knows what happened to her sister and now she knows that she wasn't crazy that her sister's child really was taken from her, so that doesn't make sense.  

I'm glad too the Little Orphan Annie look is over.  Bring on the slicked back hair and smeary eyeliner and early Bon Jovi.

[wingster55]

1 hour ago, nodorothyparker said:

Were we supposed to think Eleven's aunt was talking to the "bad men" on the phone when Eleven left the house?  Eleven seemed to think so, and she did mention Hopper and Joyce coming to see her last season asking questions.  but she knows what happened to her sister and now she knows that she wasn't crazy that her sister's child really was taken from her, so that doesn't make sense.  

Yea, that part didn't click with me either. 

[david gideon]

The low point of the series. This ep felt like it was part of another show altogether. In fact it reminded me of a 'nested pilot' for a proposed spin-off producers occasionally inflict on a series. A spin-off I would never watch based on this.

[Dev F]

1 hour ago, nodorothyparker said:

Were we supposed to think Eleven's aunt was talking to the "bad men" on the phone when Eleven left the house?  Eleven seemed to think so, and she did mention Hopper and Joyce coming to see her last season asking questions.  but she knows what happened to her sister and now she knows that she wasn't crazy that her sister's child really was taken from her, so that doesn't make sense. 

She was trying to get in touch with Hopper. She mentions that he and Joyce came looking for her sister, and he gave her "this number" to call. At the end of their conversation, after El leaves, we learn that the number was the Hawkins police station, since she's talking to Hopper's secretary, Flo: "And you are? . . . Florence."

Edited to add: While double-checking that Florence was indeed Hopper's secretary, I discovered something I never knew -- she's played by an actress named Susan Shalhoub Larkin, who, yes, is Tony Shalhoub's sister. Small world!

Edited October 30, 2017 by Dev F

[methodwriter85]

21 minutes ago, david gideon said:

The low point of the series. This ep felt like it was part of another show altogether. In fact it reminded me of a 'nested pilot' for a proposed spin-off producers occasionally inflict on a series. A spin-off I would never watch based on this.

Oh, yeah, this TOTALLY had a backdoor pilot feel to it. I wouldn't be shocked if Netflix were trying to spin off 8 into her own show. It's not a bad idea, actually, but I'm glad 11 is headed back to Hawkins.

[starri]

Yeah, I did not care for this one.  Obviously, Millie Bobby Brown is a very capable actress, but I don't think Kali or the rest of her gang were nearly as capable or interesting to carry an entire episode.

Still, the "I can save them" was almost worth everything else.

[calliope1975]

I liked Kali. I kind of want her to come to Hawkins, reconnect with El, make Hopper her surrogate dad, too, and possibly hook up with Steve. That all came from her last scene where she looked genuinely devastated about losing her "sister." She can lose her crew, though. (Surely, there will be some horrifying big bad next season that will require additional subjects 1 - 11 to defeat it.)

Why yes, I do have an active imagination. 

[thuganomics85]

I knew going in that this was considered a polarizing episode, and I can see why.  They leave the last episode on a major cliffhanger (after major revelations), and basically do a character study with only one of the regulars.  That it is getting a bit close into the territory of shows like The Walking Dead, where they will do the same thing and it feels like it is messing with the flow.  That said, I don't mind too much here since at least with the benefit of binging, it won't take me long to go to the next episode.

Still, there were parts of this I still enjoyed.  I find Kali/Eight intriguing in that I do get a real sense that she truly does care about Eleven, but she is so hell-bent on hunting down those who wronged her and getting revenge for what they did.  Glad Eleven stopped herself short of killing the one guy (how did I not recognize that it was Pruitt Taylor Vince?  Man appears in almost every genre show), but that anger is clearly a part of her.  A little bit worried that she was using both her jealously of Max and anger towards Hopper to move that train.

Kali's buddies were a bit too over-the-top and cartoonish at times.  Mohawk guy was obnoxious and the lady from the psych ward felt like she was auditioning for Harley Quinn.  Someone should tell her that role has already been cast...

Brenner might still be alive?  I guess the show isn't quite down with Matthew Modine being creepy.

Millie Bobby Brown owned the episode was always.

I do thing the biggest issue (besides holding off on last episode's cliffhanger) is that keeping Eleven away from the rest of the characters has been frustrating.  I enjoyed her stuff with Hopper, but I was hoping she would play a bigger role in the second half.  Instead, she might possibly reunite with them with only two episodes left?  I guess they're feeling confident that they'll have more time since they're already been renewed for two more seasons, but still a bit annoying.

[Paloma]

On 10/28/2017 at 7:22 PM, Vella said:

I really loved this episode. You get the reminder of the invitation of El being offered a home. She had it with Mike, with Hopper, with her Aunt and then with Cali.  All offered safety and acceptance, but El is changing, going through her arc of discovery and identity.  Being with Hopper was safe, it was stability and having an adult who genuinely cared about her, but it was stifling and lonely. She finds her aunt and mother and learns more about herself and what happened early on but again, can't stay, her mother actively says 'no' when El says she's home.  She moves on to Cali, who knows so much of what El is experiencing and again, gets that information she's craving but ultimately, Cali's path is not El's path.  Cali's home is not El's home.  El has come full circle and is going to where she truly feels is home. 

Although I didn't like this episode because it felt so out of place in the story arc and Cali's (Kali's?) gang seemed ridiculous, you've given a great analysis of the important things we learned from it and why there was value in El having this adventure.

[benteen]

I really enjoyed this episode.  I know it was divisive but I thought it was a lot of fun and I didn't mind the one-episode change of pace.  It was world-building in the fun show.  I liked getting to meet one of El's "sister's" and I imagine we'll see more siblings later on.  Love the very 80s settings in Chicago and the music.  Hell, El walking around Chicago was entertaining enough.

Edited October 30, 2017 by benteen

[absnow54]

I guess since I binged the episodes, I didn't really notice that this was a bottle episode until I saw complaints about it. I can't say I loved the storyline. I like the idea of meeting the other test subjects and learning about their various powers (I'm sure we'll get some sort of Super Friends team up in the last season) but Kali's sidekicks weren't very interesting. I never trusted them, and was counting down the minutes to El jumping ship. I'm surprised they all survived the episode.

I did think it was funny that El got some Sith training in their homage to the Yoda training scenes. I was waiting for Kali to do an Emperor laugh as the hate flowed through her.

Edited November 2, 2017 by absnow54

[MaggieG]

I didn't like this episode much either. I really just wanted El to get back to Hawkins (to Mike!) and back to the main group. I did find it interesting meeting Kali and I wouldn't mind if she came back or if we meet more of their "siblings" down the line. Kali's crew can stay away though, I did not care for them at all.

[Sakura12]

I didn't hate this episode either. I liked meeting Kali and liked seeing El meet someone else like her. They roomed together even though El doesn't remember it. I wouldn't mind seeing Kali show up in Hawkins and getting to meet El's family.  She looked genuinely sad when El left, she also probably liked being with someone like her. Maybe her and Steve will hit off now that Nancy's with Jonathan. Her power would definitely come in handy to sneak in and out of places, except for Mike's house, he has the most unaware parents on the planet or to use to distract people. 

I agree with her friends though. They were one note and don't need to be seen again. 

[tennisgurl]

I heard some REALLY mixed things about this episode, and I thought that, on its own, it was a good character episode for El, but on the other hand, it was pretty cliche, and it really killed the momentum thats been building with the rest of the cast. I also liked Kali, and think she will be more of a player later on, but I am confused as to why she was her featured in the cold open of the season, but this seems to be her only episode. She could come back later, but with only 2 episodes of the season left, I doubt it. 

The plot itself was basically the classic "troubled person or group finds another troubled person or group who have gone through similar experiences or have similar powers, have a great time at first, only to realize they're WAY too extreme, and they leave them behind or have to defeat them if they become too evil" story. But with the cast of a Pat Banatar music video as the special guest characters. Kali seemed interesting, but beyond the whole "we`re all rejects" thing, I didn't get much of a beat on the rest of them, or what they're doing following Kali? Does she seek out every tattooed weirdo in Chicago to join her gang or something?

I did like how it ended, with El remembering her happy memories with Mike and the kids and Hop, and her deciding she has to go back to help them. She left behind her biological family and her science sister, to go back to the family she choose in Hawkins. Honestly, I think this would have been better if it was earlier in the season, as others have said. Going right from a big cliffhanger with pretty much the whole rest of the cast in danger straight into this random side quest (especially during a binge) with characters who probably wont be relevant until next year (if they ever are) seems like jolting the plot to an abrupt halt. I think people would have liked this more if it was in a different place. 

[VCRTracking]

I think because Eleven AND Millie became such a breakout star  they thought they could do an episode like this.

I saw a post on Twitter today that said Millie Bobby Brown looks like a young Elizabeth Perkins. I can't believe I didn't notice it before!

[KaleyFirefly]

On 10/28/2017 at 5:50 PM, ghoulina said:

Even though I didn't like a lot of the episode, I did understand its purpose. The whole experience in the big city made El realize that she didn't need to go looking for home, she had it all along. This was her Dorothy moment. 

The Duffer brothers who created the show, one of them said it was Eleven's version of Luke's journey in "Empire Strikes Back," when Luke goes off to Dagobah to find Yoda, learns more about himself and his powers, then realizes his friends are in trouble and he has to go back.

[james williams]

i actually really enjoyed this episode i have a thought that the "crew" will return in season 3

Spoiler

i hatted how happy season 2 ended i did like punk 11 though ( relateable) i kinda hopped she would stay with tem or at very least they would come back to hawkins anyway great   episode but i think allof them wil return for season 3 and change the concept also WHY DID THEY KILL BOB

Edited October 31, 2017 by Athena
Added spoiler tags

[Kel Varnsen]

On 27/10/2017 at 8:33 PM, SeanC said:

I'm not clear how the government was ever planning to control 008/Kali (sp?), given her powers.  Though on closer inspection she doesn't appear to be a mindreader, just capable of generating illusions, so that's a bit less of a challenge than previously thought.

I am pretty sure the people at Hawkinks lab were just doing shit and pretty much had no plan for how to control anything that their experiments resulted in.

On 28/10/2017 at 5:23 AM, lora said:

So I guess there is a 0-7, a 9 and a 10. I wonder when they will show up and what their powers are. Poor El, she's really looking for a family.

There might be those numbers although with the kind of shit they were doing at the lab who knows how many of them resulted in powers or survived or aren't totally catanoic.

On 28/10/2017 at 9:56 PM, Lady Calypso said:

I definitely agree that this episode might have been better off to be episode 6 and The Spy as episode 7, only because I felt like the action of the last episode had to suddenly be halted in its tracks to have this episode. With these two episodes switched, we would have had a better lead-up to the events of the last 

 

I liked the order. After last weeks cliffhanger, you kind of figured that they would need El to save everyone. Not knowing if she was coming back or not added to the suspense of that one. If we knew that Eleven was on her way to save them it wouldn't have worked as well. Then having this epsiode be something different really built up that cliffhanger. And i actually liked the episode overall. It kind of blows my mind that a 13 year old kid can carry a 42 minute episode so well.

[VCRTracking]

It's funny but on the Supergirl board recently there were complaints about the Arroverse shows like Supergirl and Arrow adding annoying "cute kids". In another reality this episode could be part of a completely different series about a group of colorful misfits(like the actual show Misfits) and now it's in it's third or fourth season suddenly a little girl shows up to join! Fans of this show are on that universe's Twitter complaining about how their "hard edged adult show" added a kid!

Edited October 31, 2017 by VCRTracking

[LilWharveyGal]

On 10/28/2017 at 11:09 AM, Arynm said:

Isn't that the same building from Adventures in Babysitting? If it is it was built in 1984. I noticed it too because of that movie, I always recognize the Chicago skyline because of that building. I loved that movie!

 

On 10/29/2017 at 2:17 AM, Bec said:

Speaking of Adventures in Babysitting, the abandoned warehouse that Kali and her gang were staying in reminded me of the warehouse full of bad guys in Adventures in Babysitting where Chris and the kids were held prisoner and had to sneak out a window by walking across a scary high beam.

I loved these little shout-outs, but I couldn't believe they visited the Chicago bus station and passed up the chance to do more of an homage.

[NaughtyKitty]

If 08 and 11 were both born and raised in the same lab, why did 8 have an accent, while 11 does not?  It really bothered me...

[Vella]

Eleven was taken at birth, but Eight was taken when she was a girl, the picture from the article that Aunt Becky showed El was one of a little girl who went missing from London and she looked to be around 4 or 5.  I'm guessing most of the earlier kids were taken a few years after being born whereas El was taken almost immediately.

[Enigma X]

1 hour ago, NaughtyKitty said:

If 08 and 11 were both born and raised in the same lab, why did 8 have an accent, while 11 does not?  It really bothered me...

This, of all things, has bugged me more than other things. Even if she was taken  at 5, her accent would not remain that thick.

[VCRTracking]

In the end I don't mind this side adventure because it was important to Eleven's arc.  The only thing that bugged me was the characters were too like the 'Punk episode' of Quincy or whenever Hippies appeared in Dragnet '67. If they're goal was not to make Kali's gang so likeable you actually WANTED Eleven to stay with them, then mission accomplished! They were obnoxious as hell.

Edited November 1, 2017 by VCRTracking

[secnarf]

6 hours ago, Enigma X said:

This, of all things, has bugged me more than other things. Even if she was taken  at 5, her accent would not remain that thick.

It looked like she was older than 5 when taken, and we don't know how long she was there for.

I didn't think her accent was that thick, anyways - it seemed pretty subtle.

[Clanstarling]

On 10/29/2017 at 7:06 PM, thuganomics85 said:

Brenner might still be alive?  I guess the show isn't quite down with Matthew Modine being creepy.

While Brenner might indeed be alive, I took that scene as Kali using her hallucination talent to manipulate El into staying. 

On 10/30/2017 at 8:50 AM, absnow54 said:

I guess since I binged the episodes, I didn't really notice that this was a bottle episode until I saw complaints about it. I can't say I loved the storyline. I like the idea of meeting the other test subjects and learning about their various powers (I'm sure we'll get some sort of Super Friends team up in the last season) but Kali's sidekicks weren't very interesting. I never trusted them, and was counting down the minutes to El jumping ship. I'm survived they all survived the episode.

I binged the last half of the season last night - and I didn't really notice the bottle episode either. But I did  dislike Kali's sidekicks because they weren't drawn with any of the insight the Duffers generally have for people both good and bad. Kali had some layers, but the others just seemed like stock characters.

[Lithogirl]

This episode was a stinker for me. I didn’t like any of the new characters. I just wasn’t interested in this little side trip at all. Get her back to the rest of the originals, please.

[Cheezwiz]

I didn't mind the detour at all. I thought Kali was an intriguing character, and I'm wondering if she'll come into play later on in the series. I didn't care for her fellow gang-members (except maybe the big care bear guy), but I thought the moral/ethical  things that eleven suddenly found herself wrestling with were interesting. The side-trip made eleven realize some of her powers and that she needed to return to people who genuinely cared for her.

Loved the close-out on "whisper to a scream" blast from the past! Have not heard that song in ages!

[Danny Franks]

Oh man, I think I actually laughed out loud when I heard the opening bars of Runaway by Bon Jovi. Yet another perfect musical choice.

Other than that, I want wild about this episode. I like stories about New York in the 70s and 80s, but it's not what I watch this show for. Didn't care about the punk gang, or Eleven's sister. They reminded me too much of the most annoying parts of City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg. And they were too much of a departure from Hawkins and the rest of the characters.

But badass Eleven is badass, and Millie Bobby Brown did a fine job of holding an episode together, even with a brand new cast. I guess this was a look at what Eleven could be, if she didn't have people who care about her, like Hopper and Mike. The dangers of uncontrolled power, just what Brenner was so scared of. Fortunately, she's a better person than her sister.

What I did find interesting is the idea that the Duffers are setting up a potential franchise here, with the variety of powers and the prospect of experiments continuing. It's not something I'd really look forward to, because I'm far more attached to the characters than the concept.