Chapter Eight: Papa

A journey...

A little drawn out, yet I'm so invested in the characters, and the show, everything is still very compelling. I'm happy for the filler, but there still is at least 30 minutes of it in this episode.

Very, very little happened through the first hour. The gang is all kind of spinning their wheels, moving into place to set up the finish. The Gun Store was completely pointless, as was much of the B Squad in the Mystery Machine driving around the desert, the Russian storyline is hit and miss. All that said, Eleven/Papa was great, really setting up some answers with some great back and forth between characters. I enjoyed the redemption arch that was given to Martin/Papa, even if it lacked subtlety.

The show continues to use music as well as any series I've ever watched, seems like such a small thing, yet ST turns music into a POWERFUL character. Also, I loved the multiple Kate Bush references made during the episode, shows rarely do that, breaking the wall a bit, letting the viewers know there is some self awareness.

Satisfying with a dash of fan service. 👌

Spoiler Free Zone!!!

I just have to say WOW. The quality of the series has drastically improved. I was left speechless with my jaw on the floor at the end. The Duffer Brothers have created another masterpiece episode, with all of the characters nailing their performances.

They better give some awards especially to Sadie and Millie because they frickin carried the episode with their amazing acting skills.

This is indeed the beginning of the end.

By the end of the episode, you begin to realize: dang, I think I might be living through a historic moment in television with season 4. All the right feelings, at all the right moments, entertaining, great characters.

I'm having to force myself to stop and take a break before I watch the finale because already I'm in that feeling I get when I am so enthralled by a piece of television I can't think about much else.

Volume 2 starts with a bang and doesn't let up! This is one hell of an intense episode, and doesn't ever take the foot off the gas. Every scene escalated into the next with emotional moment after emotional moment and tons of glorious payback in the end. I am beyond excited for the monstrous 2.5 hour finale next. This show is beyond great.

But not calm at all.

Things move forward the most for the Eleven and her boyfriend's plot, but the other plot lines are pretty much where they already were and they're gonna advance those further in the finale.

But I have no problem with that because it's a necessary set-up for the story and it's good that they're taking their time and are not limited by time constraints. Even if we don't consider this a "part 2" opener and look at it as the season's penultimate episode, it is still a necessary episode between the last episode and the finale.

I pretty much liked all the things in this episode, it's a setup for the finale so it's not like it's the best episode of the show or anything, but it's still one of the better ones.

My point still stands that if Vecna doesn't actually kill one of the main characters, he doesn't become the menacing and fearful villain the writers want him to be and this season would be really disappointing to me even though it's already the best season of the show, and all the tension and suspense would be for nothing and Vecna would become another generic villain who couldn't do anything and lost to a song!

So here's hoping for a great finale with actual stakes and not cheap fake-outs and writers being afraid to take risks with their story. So far, this season has been amazing with everything, music, cinematography, direction and editing, and acting for the most part because I feel like Mike and Will's acting this season is really fake and bad, but the only thing holding this show back from greatness is the writing and all the clichés and writers not willing to take risks and give us something new.