Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard

The season has got into its stride now with a strong multi-threaded episode, with each of the strands intriguing and suspenseful in its own right. A lot going on with some good strong performances across the board following two lacklustre episodes.

Definite page-turn pressure to watch what happens next.

Max and El decide to spy Billy using El's power and she sees Heather and Billy. However El is attacked by a monster and they decide to check Billy at home. Meanwhile Joyce and Hopper go to the Hawkins Laboratory that is closed. Robin translates the Russian encoded message snooping around in the mall with Steve and Dustin.

In "Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard", the action and humor of the first two season have returned. So far the transformation of Billy was the greatest mystery; but now there are other interesting storylines simultaneously happening. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard"

The first two episodes were dull and boring, let's forget them. On the contrary this episode is great, with a good balance between comedy, funny moments and scary scenes. The show is finally taking the good way.

The first two episodes of this season were quite slow and a bit too heavily focused on romance and relationships for my liking. Episode 3 feels like a lot more like classic Stranger Things; it gave us suspense, shocking moments and questions we can't quite work out yet. The dynamics between characters are working really well so far, although it's a shame all our main characters are off doing different things but there's no doubt they'll be reunited at some point soon. My biggest disappointment was how coincidental all the stuff with Dustin and Steve in the mall feels, but I'm willing to forgive that because the writing has been solid so far.

This is the first real "Stranger Things" episode. Now I'm interested, but I'm still not entirely convinced. I'm hoping the writing can improve, but the performances have been strong, especially from Dacre Montgomery. Overall, a good episode, but just below par with what the previous seasons have offered.