Stranger Things Episode 6 Review – “Chapter Six: The Monster”

Stranger Things Season 1, Episode 6 “Chapter Six: The Monster”
Written by Jessie Nickson-Lopez
Directed by The Duffer Brothers
Premiered July 15, 2016 on Netflix

After a terrific hour of impeccably paced reveals and moments of discovery, “Chapter Six: The Monster” finds many of the characters of Stranger Things confronting uncomfortable personal truths, moving the external conflicts inward as it begins to set the stage for season one’s big finale. And although “The Monster” is less propulsive and much more confrontational than its preceding episodes, its focus inward does nothing to hinder the show’s ability to maintain momentum heading into its freshman endgame – another example of why Stranger Things remains not only one of the best shows Netflix’s ever produced, but one of the stronger, more consistent first seasons of its era, of any genre.

Although Stranger Things‘s first season has been dictated by its construction, with each episode ending and opening on the same scene, what really stands out upon rewatching the first season is how each episode closes on parallel scenes; in “The Monster”, it is the images of Nancy escaping the Demogorgon and the Upside Down bookended with Eleven touching the same monster inside the void, which is revealed to be the catalyzing event for the events swirling around Hawkins. In between those moments, “The Monster” marks an explicit turn towards the darkness, both as the players in Hawkins turn their attention to the Upside Down and everything around it, raising the stakes as emotional conflicts and dark secrets begin bubbling to the surface.

With the children of Stranger Things, the proverbial ‘monster’ in the room manifests in the way shame and embarrassment form the actions of the boys on this series – which leads, in both sets of stories, into physical conflicts, first between Steve and Jonathan, and later between Dustin and Mike when their bullies come to exact revenge after Eleven made one of them piss themselves during last episode’s memorial rally. As always, the overwrought emotions of young males leads straight into anger and resentment; like Steve calling Nancy a slut, spray painting her name on the town’s marquee after he saw her and Jonathan in her bedroom, following the harrowing incident they had in the woods (that he’s completely unaware of, obviously – after all, context is never the friend of the indignant).

This leads into one of the more definitive moments of the show’s early episodes, when Steve starts a fight with Jonathan (chiding him at first; “I thought you were just a queer,” he tries to bait him with), and Jonathan proceeds to beat the shit out of him before getting arrested. Once again, Stranger Things uses a the expectations of the genre against us; one would think Jonathan wouldn’t exact his revenge until a more climactic point in the season’s narrative, but the show skips all preamble to point out that Jonathan is one tough cookie, and Steve’s attitude and behavior can have painful consequences beyond losing the girl you spent most of the past few months seducing. This, of course, is a real turning point for Steve as a character; knowing that almost makes the genesis of that growth more satisfying, but their altercation already does a great job continuing to upending expectations for this story, one of many moments of rage explored as the proverbial ‘monster’ so many characters face in points of crisis.

As alluded to, they aren’t the only boys fighting; Mike and Lucas continue to struggle to find peace with each other in “The Monster”, leading to another fight between the two of them – which ultimately just splits Lucas out of the main narrative, left to watch the Hawkins Lab vans load up and roll out at the episode’s end, while Mike and Dustin bear witness to Eleven’s powers, as she saves Mike from jumping into the ravine – a decision he makes while Troy has a knife to Dustin’s neck, arguably the one time in Stranger Things‘ first season that a threat of violence or escalation rings false.

It’s an obvious scene to have – Eleven saving the boys, slowing beginning to reunite the party that her presence helped splinter – but did the bullies really need to be ready to stab a kid and send another careening dozens of feet to his death? It leads to a nice visual spectacle, but it’s perhaps the only time this season where Stranger Things has tipped over into overwrought, corny territory with its villains – which speaks to a character like Brenner, who continues to have minimal dialogue lines, even as he devilishly smirks while letting others reach into dimensions to contact monsters and explore dangerous lands on his behalf.

The other quiet, impactful character of the episode comes from Eleven’s mother, whose depressingly awful backstory is revealed when Hopper and Joyce realize they’re not only looking to find Will, but to find “Jane”, the girl mentioned being at Benny’s restaurant before he was killed at the end of “Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers”. As far as lore dumps go, this is perhaps the most explicit of the season: Stranger Things connects Eleven’s flashbacks quite literally to the unheard rantings of Eleven’s comatose mother Terry, exposition delivered by Terry’s cigarette smoking sister, played by the amazing Amy Seimetz (obligatory The Girlfriend Experience shoutout) who is not given much to do but talk at the audience while Hopper and Joyce look on in concerned, slightly uncomfortable fashion. Though it gets its point across, it is probably the weakest scene of the show’s first six episodes; it is not nearly as unsettling or evocative as it tries to be, and its simplicity (both in its writing and direction, all isolated, centered shots of characters staring just off-camera) dumping exposition in ways that are all that dramatically satisfying.

Ultimately, it just feels unnecessary; knowing Eleven’s backstory doesn’t do anything to add to the character itself, and the scene’s detachment from the rest of the ongoing narrative mutes its ability to impact (I think of later reveals of a similar sort, like those around the Creel family in season four, as more effective examples of this style of exposition). And while Eleven is running around supermarkets, stealing Eggos and watching Brenner’s people hone in on her presence at the end of the episode, makes the danger much more immediate and necessary than filler backstory (I mean, we already learned her mother was a part of MKUltra… the rest kind of writes itself already, right?).

Regardless, it’s a brief bump in an otherwise solid hour, one that may be a bit goofy in its application of the timeless idea that “the monster is within thee”, but still manages to time its crescendo impeccably; as “The Monster” ends, Jonathan and Nancy are setting a trap for the Demogorgon, while Lucas sprints to find the party before Brenner’s men in white vans do, and Hopper and Joyce rush back to Hawkins. As the rifts between worlds spread open, one can feel the various threads of Stranger Things starting to come together in accelerated fashion; after a strong pair of opening acts, all that’s left to see is how the final two episodes try and stick the landing.

Grade: B

Other thoughts/observations:

• Bach and Brahms in the same episode? For a series known for such a specific score, it’s odd to hear some of the classical score choices made in “The Monster”.
  
• Steve’s inability to figure out that Nancy might be upset because her best friend, and her brother’s best friend, are missing, is hilariously myopic in the way teenage boys always are.
  
• Dustin: “All three of you were being assholes, I was being the only reasonable one.”
  
• We also learn that Dustin moved to Hawkins in the fourth grade; as someone who himself moved halfway through elementary school, there is a difference in friend groups between those that have known each other since kindergarten, and those who didn’t. It’s a strange dynamic, and one I’m glad Stranger Things touches on, albeit briefly.
  
• Boy, they really just give Carol one note to play over and over and over and over again. What an annoying character.
  
• Dustin, trying to convince Mike not to jump: “I don’t even need my baby teeth!”
  
• Jonathan accidentally punches one of the cops while beating on Steve; this kid is really having the Worst Day Ever, every single day of this season.
  
• “Follow the rule of law or be banished from the party!”