User Reviews

This was much better than the first two episodes in my opinion. "Strange things" are actually starting to happen and I actually loved all of the drama in this. I felt so bad for Will, always getting pushed to the side after being such a good friend and a pivotal part of seasons 1 and 2, and that's finally acknowledged here. His outburst was probably my favorite part of the episode. Noah is a great actor. All of the kid performers are great in this.

I'm glad to see this show finally picking back up and even getting darker than I had anticipated. The missing lifeguard plot was pretty dark and led to a pretty surprising ending. This is some good television.

The Good: Yet again, this episode builds the tension in a slow way but I can't complain since this character-focused approach seems like it will pay dividends later on in the season.

Let's start with Will and Mike's argument. So far this season, Will has been a bit in the background and ignored, and this came to a head this episode. What made this argument impressive is how it worked in the moment, but also brought out the theme of the kids growing up and changing interests which has been brought up this season.

The mall's storyline got much more interesting this episode, with Robin cleverly cracking the Russian's code and the mystery thickening now that we know that they're located in the mall.

Speaking of Russians, Hopper's fight with the "Terminator" of Russians this episode was a shock and thrilling to watch. The russian's motivations are still unclear, but I feel that we may be getting some answers soon.

The Bad: Despite giving us a thrilling fight scene, Hopper and Joyce going to the abandoned lab on their own without telling anyone was very stupid and asking for trouble.

Episode Highlight: Will and Mike's argument.

Conclusion: A focus on character has made the season so far gripping to watch. With some pieces slowly coming together this episode, I can't wait to see what the rest of the season has to bring.

Episode 3 of Stranger Things 3 has started to pick up steam, with Billies actions being discovered by Eleven and Max. Meanwhile, Joyce and Hopper are investigating Hawkins Lab to find where a magnetic field is coming from, in which they encounter an assassin and where they have some pretty great scenes together. Harbour and Ryder have really great chemistry with each other in general, with their romantic tension just keeping us entertained the whole time. The boys have also really entertaining parts, with Noah Schnapp giving a great performance with Will not wanting to grow up while everyone else wants too. Steve and Dustin are also trying to get the bottom of the Russian transmission along with Steve's co-worker Robin, which just makes it even better. Overall this episode and the ending really set up what's to come and in a damn good way

Final rating: 9.2/10

The village is doing the Invasion of the Body Snatchers bit where exploding rats are taking over people's beings. Our chasers of Russian spies begin to have some success in their silly sailor suits. The missing lifeguard seems to become more and more dangerous. And El and her friend are in over their heads. There's more but suffice it to say, there is a lot of action.

Finally we're getting somewhere. I really enjoyed how El's powers were used in this episode, it made for some great scenes, although I'm not a fan of all the jump scares they seem to be adding. It's really cheap and the show is much more 'scary' through its use of tension. We got actual plot progression for the first time this season, and it's already quite clear how all the separate characters and threads will intertwine. Honestly I feel like the stuff with Will is quite forced. Like the first two episodes were enough for us to know that yeah the others are growing up and not really interested in D&D anymore, more into girls etc etc. Will blowing up just felt unnatural and very over-the-top, but knowing that he still has some kind of connection to the Upside Down is intriguing. The Russian side of things is definitely becoming very interesting and I'd love for the show to take a Cold War route. There's a lot that's still yet to be answered but this was the first good episode of the season, hopefully there are more to come. Btw the music was fantastic, as were the visuals

High 7