Review of Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister

I understand why a lot of people think this episode is the weakest in season 2 and one of the weakest in the entire show. Yes, it is very misplaced and yes it essentially functions as a standalone episode that takes a massive detour from the main story at a pivotal moment... but it does that for a good reason. If Eleven's past wasn't explored at all like this somewhere within season 2, people would be complaining about it. The entire opening of the season is dedicated to a mysterious no.8 character, if her story and her connection with Eleven wasn't mentioned again after that it would be a massive loose end. It's also not as if the actual events of this episode didn't add anything to the finale. You could argue that if Kali didn't teach Eleven how strong she really is and how to better use her powers, she wouldn't have been able to successfully close the gate in the final episode. It's not the best episode, but it's also not as terrible as some people on here say. It's a decent enough episode that hints towards possible spin off potential if they ever really wanted to take the show in that direction. The episode is misplaced but not terrible by any means...