"Stranger Things" Season 2 Chapter Five: Dig Dug

"Stranger Things" Season 2

Chapter Five: Dig Dug

Not only is Will possessed by the evil force, it's taken root (literally) under the town of Hawkins and slowly spreading out. This has a definite John Carpenter-ish feel.

Hopper is the first to discover it - digging under the pumpkin patch. He finds a system of tunnels and twisting vine like roots. When he drops down to investigate them, though, he's unable to avoid being overcome by them.
 
Eleven learns the truth about what was done to her mother, thus setting the stage for her to go full-bore Dark Phoenix again at some point - probably in the general direction of the lab.

Meanwhile Dustin has to track down the demon lizard Dart who's escaped, which is leads to situations both humorous and horrifying.

But again the episode has some big jumps - specifically in the Johnathan and Nancy story arc. After somehow being let go by the bad guys last episode, they have a tape recording of Dr. Owens admitting to the lab's culpability in Barb's death. Somehow they manage to find the conspiracy theorist Murray (think all the Lone Gunmen from "The X-Files" rolled into one), and enlist his help in using it to bring down the lab.

The show's most direct connection to The Goonies is the presence of Sean Astin as Bob the Brain. Happily, he gets a larger role this time, helping to figure out where Hopper is. Sadly, as with the Johnathan-Nancy-Steve love triangle, and true to "Stranger Things" formula, this just reunites Joyce and Hopper, and of course the nerd isn't the one that gets the girl.





There was some great comic relief, though, and not just from Dustin and Dart. Max's reactions to Lucas' retelling of all the events in Season One was like making fun of the show's critics, "it was a bit derivative", etc.

Best track: Bobby Bare's "The Green Green Grass" of home is poignantly ironic as Elle hitchhikes  to her mother's home, given what she's going to find there.