Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer

This episode was intense from the start, picking up from episode 6, making episode 7 completely irrelevant! The episode was also the most brutal thus far and i just couldn't hold my tears back! This will haunt me! Abanded hallways with dead bodies gave me "The Stand" 90's miniseries vibes!

That cliffhanger ending would also have been even better if episode 7 didn't exist!

The demo-dogs have invaded Hawkins' Lab and killed every scientist and security guard in sight. The people we actually do care about are still alive, but Will is inadvertently leading the monsters towards them as the Spy... It's a "Dungeons and Dragons" thing. They narrowly escape, thanks to a heroic act by Bob, and everyone gathers at Joyce Byers' house. Jonathan, Mike, and Joyce desperately try to reach the real Will, but the parasite monster is too strong. The group does discover it functions as a Mind Flayer; - a sort of central control room for all the monsters. Yes, it's another "Dungeons and Dragons" thing. Just when the monsters surround them and all hope seems lost, another heroine makes her big re-entry.

Good and gruesome action in the first half, and pure entertainment in the second half of this episode. It must be the first time that all the pivotal characters are gathered in one location, and it leads to funny interactions between the three different age generations as well as to inventive teamwork. The big finale underlines why it was so important to make the sidestep in episode 7.

God, I can't stop watching this. This is too good. The story, dialogue, acting and CGI is just sooo good. This episode can't get any better.

I'm not a critic and I'm not here to tell people the mistakes of this episode , i just want to help them understand how much this episode worthes , and i think this episode worthes 9.7

Really liked to absolutely loved the first six episodes to a mostly extremely good Season 2, episodes 5 and 6 particularly, to one of Netflix's better shows in its prime. However the previous episode was a big disappointment and the worst and only less than good episode up to this stage of 'Stranger Things'. It did well at progressing one character but that was pretty much it when it came to any character and plot advancement. While not expecting a return to form, there was the real hope that this would be an improvement.

To my relief, "Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer" was. While not one of the best episodes of 'Stranger Things' overall it is still very good and a huge improvement over the previous episode (which wouldn't have taken a whole lot of doing to be honest). There is one big flaw, but all the usual good things are here and they are done brilliantly. Unlike the previous episode, things felt like they were advancing and it didn't feel like filler where one questions the point.

"Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer's" only big problem was the nonsensical and pretty tasteless ending that was a bit of a slap in the face.

A shame because the rest of "Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer" is so good and it is saddening that an episode that was mostly absolutely excellent for most of its duration went down to a still strong very good episode down to that. Plenty to admire here. The acting is excellent, especially Sean Astin providing some of his best acting in years. The character chemistry is riveting and developed beautifully, nothing slowing the momentum or coming over as time wasting.

Expectedly, "Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer" looks terrific. Very stylish and atmospheric, with some truly beautiful images that one can't believe such high quality comes from a Netflix show. Not to mention the highly impressive special effects that put a good deal of big budget films in recent years to shame. The music has a wonderful 80s nostalgic vibe while also being quite haunting, enhancing the atmosphere beautifully.

Writing is thought-probing and has a lot of brains and heart. As always with 'Stranger Things', it has more than one tone (humour, mystery, horror, drama etc.) and it never feels unbalanced or muddled in this regard. The episode clearly knew what it wanted to be and wanted to do and did so incredibly well. Like most of the season (the previous season too), "Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer" is darkly suspenseful, poignant (Joyce is very affectingly written without being melodramatic), nostalgic and at points amusing.

Very good episode all in all. 8/10.