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S03.E02: Chapter Two: The Mall Rats


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I see Cary Elwes is here as the "80s star" get, following Matthew Modine and Paul Reiser. Already getting a kick out of his atypical scummy mayor character, who I'm sure is being set up for some kind of downfall.

Oh, Mike, you big dummy!  Hopper apparently scared you so badly that you lied to Eleven, and when you got busted, you.... kept lying.  Granted, Lucas ended up not giving him good advice, but he pretty much screwed that up ten times over, and deserved the dumping from Eleven.

Speaking of which, Max and Eleven were awesome together.  I hope we get more of this friendship going forward.

Dustin and Steve have reunited and all is right in the world!  I know some of it is getting into fan service territory, but I really love these two together, and Gaten Matarazzo and Joe Keery seem to always be having a blast.  And Robin/Maya Hawke seems to be fitting in well with them, so I'm looking forward to more of this trio.

Nancy and Jonathan teaming up seems to have potential too, although they of course left right before the rat exploded and got all gooey.

Bitter Drunk is not a good look on you, Hopper.

I'm glad they've found a way to work in Mr. Clarke despite it still being summertime.

Someone please play some D&D with Will!

So, Billy isn't dead, but is somehow connected to the Upside Down world now, and is being forced to kidnap others for reasons.  At least he was able to prevent himself from taking Karen, but that poor other lifeguard though.  That ending was actually probably one of the show's darkest ones yet.

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16 hours ago, MisterGlass said:

Starcourt could be the first big mall in the county.  If so, it could be a regional draw, especially during the summer.

I'm confused about the opening of a mall being a big plot point associated with the mid-1980s, because malls were a big thing when I was a teenager and young adult in the 1960s and 1970s in New Jersey (e.g., Cherry Hill Mall in the Philadelphia suburbs; Ocean County Mall in Toms River). Maybe this was more of an East Coast thing and didn't reach small-town Midwest until the 1980s?

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On 7/7/2019 at 11:03 AM, Ravenya003 said:

That said, what exactly is the Eleven situation? Because she was a little freaked out at going to the mall ("so many people"), and when they ran into Mike he said that she shouldn't be there. So... is she still being kept hidden at the cabin? Clearly she's not going to school, so where's her education coming from? Hasn't she been legally adopted by Hopper? Are they planning to integrate her into society at some point? I just don't know what the Plan is here - and honestly, if Hopper is that concerned about Mike/El spending every waking moment together, he should enroll her at the local school. 

I've been trying to remember, but I have a vague memory that when that guy from the dodgy company organised the adoption papers for Hopper at the end of last season, he recommended keeping El in hiding for a while longer to let the heat completely die down and ensure that she wouldn't be connected in any way to those events. And I've an idea that he recommended a year, because we all thought that tied in with a new season being set a year later just as El came out of hiding. As it is, the new season is less than a year later, being set in the summer instead of autumn, so she is still in hiding. And the show isn't addressing at all what Hopper expects her to do all day while he is in work or how he is dealing with her need for education - I suspect she isn't getting any education at all beyond daytime TV, poor kid.

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So we're supposed to believe that for the teenage girl, going to malls, shopping and acting goofy as H is *instinctive*. El had never seen a mall or gone shopping in her life and now she's instantly infatuated with it all. I guess her friendship and influence by the red headed girl could explain it a little, but the whole thing is preposterous.

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Paul Reiser's scientist character tied to Hawkins Lab gave Hopper an Indiana birth certificate listing him as Jane Hopper's father at the end of last season.  Presumably since the lab stole Jane aka Eleven at birth and denied she ever existed, there was no paper trail on her at all up to that point and official documentation had to be created.  He did tell Hopper to keep Eleven under wraps for a year so no one would connect her to the goings on at the lab, and it's been about six months since then.  The show hasn't addressed what Eleven is doing about school at all beyond showing what looked like a remedial English textbook in her room in the first episode.

Given how nonexistent Eleven's life experience was before she escaped the lab and that she's spent most of her life since then in hiding first isolated in a cabin and then only allowed out for relatively short periods with a small closed group of people, I have no trouble buying that a big adventure to a place like the mall with lots of people and new stimulation and just getting to have normal experiences like all the other girls she's seeing probably does feel like the greatest thing ever.

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On ‎7‎/‎7‎/‎2019 at 11:03 AM, Ravenya003 said:

The wedge that Hopper has put between Mike/Eleven is annoying - yes, I get that he's concerned, and yes, they were definitely being obnoxious, and yes, it's very good that El is interacting with other people (ie Max). But there's nothing you can do about teens in the throes of first love but batten down the hatches and wait it out. Scaring Mike into lying to El? Is just gonna backfire.  

I can't quite agree with that. Yes, Hopper's tactics are bound to end in disaster, but Mike was being blatantly disrespectful, which is something that Hopper shouldn't tolerate. Boundaries did need to be set, if not between Mike and El then definitely for Mike when interacting with El's de facto father.

The fact that Mike felt free to mockingly say "uh oh, we're in trouble" and then openly whisper 'conspiratorially' about Hopper is a huge red flag for any parent. No kid should be that disrespectful to their girlfriend or boyfriend's parents. I don't know if we're meant to think there's something unusual about Mike and El's relationship, or we're meant to think Mike is emboldened by his 'status' as El's boyfriend, or doesn't see Hopper as a real parent/adult, or that the writers just went overboard with his character in that scene.

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(edited)
5 hours ago, Paloma said:

I'm confused about the opening of a mall being a big plot point associated with the mid-1980s, because malls were a big thing when I was a teenager and young adult in the 1960s and 1970s in New Jersey (e.g., Cherry Hill Mall in the Philadelphia suburbs; Ocean County Mall in Toms River). Maybe this was more of an East Coast thing and didn't reach small-town Midwest until the 1980s?

I spent plenty of time in large California malls in the 70s and early 80s.

4 hours ago, Pat Hoolihan said:

So we're supposed to believe that for the teenage girl, going to malls, shopping and acting goofy as H is *instinctive*. El had never seen a mall or gone shopping in her life and now she's instantly infatuated with it all. I guess her friendship and influence by the red headed girl could explain it a little, but the whole thing is preposterous.

I would find it strange if a girl who's been a prisoner most of her life (though sometimes for protective reasons) wouldn't embrace and love every minute of it. Bright, shiny environment, a friend, and freedom.  Seems like a winning combination to me.

Edited by Clanstarling
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1 hour ago, Clanstarling said:

I spent plenty of time in large California malls in the 70s and early 80s.

I would find it strange if a girl who's been a prisoner most of her life (though sometimes for protective reasons) wouldn't embrace and love every minute of it. Bright, shiny environment, a friend, and freedom.  Seems like a winning combination to me.

Even as a preteen kid in the 80s whose parents took him to the mall, it was just a fun place and I didn't even get to spend or buy anything by myself! That does beg the question where did Max and El get the money to spend on new clothes, a photo session and ice cream? Does Hopper leave cash for El for emergencies? Does Max have a credit card?

When it looked like Billy really slammed Mrs. Wheeler's head against the shelf my reaction was:

PalatableParchedGermanwirehairedpointer-

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On 7/6/2019 at 1:21 AM, Cthulhudrew said:

I'm feeling a bit of a disconnect. On the one hand, I'm enjoying the season more thus far than S2 (which I still think dropped the ball big time by keeping some of the main characters away from one another until the finale), on the other hand, it feels a bit superficial to me.

We're getting kind of one-dimensional, caricaturesque bits rather than real moments, for the most part. The girl montage; the boys trying to buy a gift; the conniving mayor; the nervous father; etc.

I was trying to figure out why these first two episodes haven't interested me or touched me the way the first 2 seasons did, and I think your adjectives (superficial, one-dimensional, caricaturesque) explain it. What was great about the previous seasons, and especially S1, was how real the characters felt despite being in a sci-fi/horror plot; I really came to care about them. The 80s nostalgia was woven in naturally rather than hitting you over the head with it as in these new episodes. 

The first two episodes of this season have felt like a Disney show targeted at tweens instead of the broader audience the first two seasons aimed at. I will probably watch another couple of episodes in the hope that it improves, but it definitely doesn't feel bingeable this season.

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1 hour ago, Paloma said:

I was trying to figure out why these first two episodes haven't interested me or touched me the way the first 2 seasons did, and I think your adjectives (superficial, one-dimensional, caricaturesque) explain it. What was great about the previous seasons, and especially S1, was how real the characters felt despite being in a sci-fi/horror plot; I really came to care about them. The 80s nostalgia was woven in naturally rather than hitting you over the head with it as in these new episodes. 

The first two episodes of this season have felt like a Disney show targeted at tweens instead of the broader audience the first two seasons aimed at. I will probably watch another couple of episodes in the hope that it improves, but it definitely doesn't feel bingeable this season.

I'm sad to say I agree with this!  Hubby and I have only had time to watch the first two episodes so far, so I'm hoping it improves, but sadly it hasn't grabbed me in that 'I don't care if it's midnight I need to watch another episode NOW!' way the first two seasons did.

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8 hours ago, Danny Franks said:

I can't quite agree with that. Yes, Hopper's tactics are bound to end in disaster, but Mike was being blatantly disrespectful, which is something that Hopper shouldn't tolerate. Boundaries did need to be set, if not between Mike and El then definitely for Mike when interacting with El's de facto father.

The fact that Mike felt free to mockingly say "uh oh, we're in trouble" and then openly whisper 'conspiratorially' about Hopper is a huge red flag for any parent. No kid should be that disrespectful to their girlfriend or boyfriend's parents. I don't know if we're meant to think there's something unusual about Mike and El's relationship, or we're meant to think Mike is emboldened by his 'status' as El's boyfriend, or doesn't see Hopper as a real parent/adult, or that the writers just went overboard with his character in that scene.

Maybe the smartass way he treated Hopper was to show while he is telling Will they aren’t kids anymore Mike is very much still one - a not very bright one.

Honestly I understood Hopper’s barely contained rage.

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11 hours ago, Paloma said:

I'm confused about the opening of a mall being a big plot point associated with the mid-1980s, because malls were a big thing when I was a teenager and young adult in the 1960s and 1970s in New Jersey (e.g., Cherry Hill Mall in the Philadelphia suburbs; Ocean County Mall in Toms River). Maybe this was more of an East Coast thing and didn't reach small-town Midwest until the 1980s?

I imagine for bigger cities malls came earlier.  For smaller towns, they might not have gotten a mall until they reached a certain size.  My local mall was so 1980s that it had pink and teal tile.

My aunt lived in a rural town of about 9,000 people, and it was a really big deal when they got a Walmart.  There was a grand opening party with speeches.

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10 hours ago, Clanstarling said:

I spent plenty of time in large California malls in the 70s and early 80s.

I would find it strange if a girl who's been a prisoner most of her life (though sometimes for protective reasons) wouldn't embrace and love every minute of it. Bright, shiny environment, a friend, and freedom.  Seems like a winning combination to me.

Right? And this is the mid-'80s, where mall culture had reached TV--which El watches every day. She's probably been dying for this moment.

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On 7/6/2019 at 2:08 PM, Mezzaluna said:

Didn't buy the translation of the radio broadcast from Russian AT ALL. In the days before the Internet - and Google - the teenager who knows some romance languages and has an English-Russian dictionary translates audio into written language AND break the code? A big NOPE from me.

I used to do that sort of thing back in the day -- it's not that hard.  Write down the characters ("chair" [heh], "backwards N", "Oval with an I through it", etc) then look it up in the book.  It worked almost as well as Google Translate does sometimes.. LOL

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7 hours ago, jhlipton said:

I used to do that sort of thing back in the day -- it's not that hard.  Write down the characters ("chair" [heh], "backwards N", "Oval with an I through it", etc) then look it up in the book.  It worked almost as well as Google Translate does sometimes.. LOL

It helps that Russia is spelled pretty much exactly how it sounds--no hidden consonants such as in French. Plus there are a TON of cognates in Russian, which makes it easier to pick up vocabulary.

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On 7/8/2019 at 3:06 PM, VCRTracking said:

Even as a preteen kid in the 80s whose parents took him to the mall, it was just a fun place and I didn't even get to spend or buy anything by myself! That does beg the question where did Max and El get the money to spend on new clothes, a photo session and ice cream? Does Hopper leave cash for El for emergencies? Does Max have a credit card?

I too was wondering where they got the money from.  I assumed Max was paying for everything but wow that's a lot of cash for 13 year olds.  Enh still it was fun watching El just be a teenage girl for a while.  Her and Max have a good friendship that I just didn't realize until this episode.

I am struggling to figure out how Robin was able to figure out what was being said in Russian so quickly.  And then Steve figuring out the music so quickly.  Enh ok I guess....I'll brush it off because I like the Dustin and Steve friendship so much!  I rewound and watch them greeting each other in front of the ice cream shop at least 3 times!  Both seemed genuinely happy to see each other!  =D

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On 7/9/2019 at 9:56 AM, jhlipton said:

I used to do that sort of thing back in the day -- it's not that hard.  Write down the characters ("chair" [heh], "backwards N", "Oval with an I through it", etc) then look it up in the book.  It worked almost as well as Google Translate does sometimes.. LOL

They may find words that way, but they wouldn't find the inflections.  Granted, for what they're doing, that may not matter, since if it is some sort of code phrase as they're assuming (I've only watched up to this episode so far), things like case/number/tense may not matter if they can get "close enough" to the intended phrase.

I did laugh, though--I had that exact same edition of that dictionary, also bought in 1985!  A bonus bit of nostalgia for me.  

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Hopper is an ass.

Eleven and Max at the mall was EVERYTHING. And Robin, Dustin, and Steve are so awesome together that I might actually forgive Dustin for Mews.

The Starcourt Mall is so cool. God bless the 80s.

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(edited)
On 7/5/2019 at 4:45 PM, Aliferously said:

Look at Hopper and his Magnum PI impersonation. Too bad he got stood up though.

Thanks for pointing that out.  I hadn't made the connection, but you're right, he was watching Magnum PI earlier in the episode.  I had been thinking he was going for a Miami Vice look.

On 7/6/2019 at 8:53 PM, CeeBeeGee said:

As much as I loved it, I was horrified at the reveal of what was in the trunk. That was too real. This is a horror/sci-fi series--yes, we know Billy isn't going to go full Buffalo Bill on her, that the Mind Flayer or some other horror or about to appear but she doesn't know that. Seeing a bound and gagged woman open her eyes and realize what was happening was horrible, way too real.

Yes, very cringe worthy and my least favorite scene of the episode.  The show is scary and creepy, yes, but that kind of scene belongs in one of the many many true crime shows that run 24/7.

I would love to see a Joyce/Mr. Clarke romance!  She doesn't love Hopper, I can't see them ending up together.

Edited by JasminePhyllisia
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On ‎7‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 11:58 PM, Anela said:

That's who that was! I knew I recognized him from somewhere. 

You know the mayor will NEVER say "As you wish."

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Even on my second watch the restaurant scene makes me laugh.

I loved how excited Steve was to see Dustin. Yeah, his friends surprised him at his house when he got back from camp but Steve seemed really happy to see him.

Is the thing that's in and controlling Billy the same thing that was in Will? I remember last season Will said "he" likes the cold so how did Billy sit out in the sun by the pool?

I agree with Cheezwiz above that said something about Robin reminds you of Emma Roberts? I see that too.

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On 7/10/2019 at 10:02 AM, Dirtybubble said:

I am struggling to figure out how Robin was able to figure out what was being said in Russian so quickly.

She established that she's got an ear for languages.  Some people can just pick up languages, or at least the sounds, easily.

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On 7/5/2019 at 4:47 AM, backhometome said:

I agree that ST does the different groupings and then they will come together at the end of the season. The only thing is that Nancy/Jonathan are always on their own and its gets boring. Their strand is always my least favorite one. 

They want us to see Nancy and Jonathan as a Great Romance™. I don't. I always found him annoying and never saw what she supposedly did. I still feel that way. Dude's not interesting enough to hang out with, and it's not like he's hot enough to make up for it. 

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