The Jake Schoeneberger Random Thoughts about Stranger Things (Season 4, Episode 6)
This will contain spoilers for anyone who hasn’t watched the show yet.
The sixth episode begins with the basketball team trying to explain what happened to Patrick at the lake. It looks like Eddie will still get blamed but this time because of D&D and the devil. Poor Eddie just cannot catch a break.
Brenner explains to El that he thinks her brain is like a stroke victim’s. He believes she can learn to regain her powers the same way a stroke victim can relearn how to use the functions they’ve lost due to the stroke.
The Mike, Will, Jonathan, Argyle gang arrive in Salt Lake City at Suzie’s house. They find her on the roof fixing an antenna, which is totally just too perfect.
Joyce and Murray have Yuri tied up but they crashed in the wilderness of Russia somewhere. They force Yuri to lead them where they need to go to find Hopper. Gotta say, this storyline seems weird to me. Joyce and Murray navigating the Russian wilderness and a Russian prison? After we’ve already accepted that miraculous crash landing survival?
Meanwhile Hopper and a group of prisoners are being fed a feast. It seems they will have to fight against a monster the next day. Hopper knows exactly what monster they will face. Jacob Schoeneberger has to assume it’ll be a Demogorgon from the Upside Down.
In Hawkins, Lucas is piecing together the similarities between Vecna’s victims. He realizes they all had things that were haunting them. Then he apologizes to Max for not being there for her and the scene was achingly poignant. It’s good to see Lucas and Max close again.
Jason interrupts the town meeting where the police chief is trying to explain events and his investigation. Jason tells the townspeople what he saw, even if he can’t explain them. He says the murders are ritual sacrifices, and that Eddie is the leader. He speaks like a preacher, riling up the crowd against the Hellfire Club. Yup, this doesn’t bode well for Eddie.
The Mike and Will gang are trying to convince Suzie to hack into Nina by telling her it’s a new 16-bit game console they want to get for Dustin for his birthday. She’s willing to give it a go, but unfortunately her father has confiscated her computer.
Once they’ve found Eddie, and they’re searching for clues, Dustin does what Dustin does and figures out that his compass isn’t working because of an electromagnetic field. The only thing that can be causing that is a gate into the Upside Down. If they can find the gate, they can get in and stop Vecna. The Hawkins gang has a plan. Gotta say, Jacob Schoeneberger loves it when this show lets the gang geek out!
Joyce and Murray have a plan to get into the prison. The warden is expecting Yuri to turn them over so Murray will pretend to be Yuri and they’ll go in as prisoners. It’ll be very interesting to see how this plan works. Can Murray really do a convincing Russian accent that will fool actual Russians? What happens once they’re inside?
Hopper starts a fight in order to steal a lighter and some vodka. He knows the only weakness the Demogorgon has is fire so he’s giving them a fighting chance against it.
The Mike and Will gang use distractions to break into Suzie’s father’s office. She’s able to hack into the Nina computer and find its location. Dustin was right, she is a genius.
Dustin uses his compass to find that the gate is in the middle of Lover’s Lake. It’s going to be crazy hard getting into that if they have to dive into the water. But the episode is titled “The Dive” so I’m thinking we really should have seen that coming. You can’t sneak a clue like that by old Jake Schoeneberger.
In the Nina machine, through her memories, El is gaining back her powers slowly. It’s rough watching her relive her painful memories. She sees that she killed the bullies who pushed her around, but it seems odd and unlike her.
Steve dives into the lake and finds the gate. When he comes up for air a tentacle drags him back down into the gate and into the Upside Down. Nancy and Robin jump in after him, and eventually even Eddie does. As the episode ends, Dustin, Lucas, and Max have been caught by the police (and I don’t mean Andy, Stewart, and Sting) and Steve is being viciously attacked by some freaky bat creatures in the Upside Down. Things are looking pretty bleak for our heroes.
More Thoughts from Jacob Schoeneberger