Stranger Things 3 Episode 2 Review – “Chapter Two: The Mall Rats”

Stranger Things 3 Episode 2 “Chapter Two: The Mall Rats”
Written by The Duffer Brothers
Directed by The Duffer Brothers
Premiered July 4, 2019 on NBC

Between the exploding rats, ominous Russian scientists, and failing magnetic fields, shit is already going down in Hawkins in “The Mall Rats,” Stranger Things 3‘s montage-laden second episode. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg: there’s a pack of rioting locals outside the mayor’s office, a semi-possessed lifeguard kidnapping his co-worker, and a lot of hormones flying around the Space Court Mall – just in terms of sheer plot, “The Mall Rats” is one of the busiest hour of the series to date. But with a careful cinematic touch and a lot of fantastic montages, “The Mall Rats” mostly juggles all of these plots well, in one of the show’s most effortlessly fun hours – though it is a humorous turn that at least raises a few questions about the show’s noticeable shift in tone in season three.

Set the day after Billy’s failed attempt to hook up with Nancy Wheeler (who we learned never left the house after we saw her getting ready in “Suzie, Do You Copy?”), “The Mall Rats” largely ignores anything related to Russians – and outside of Billy’s uncomfortably sweaty scenes, is surprisingly light on its feet, nimble in a way it often doesn’t afford itself. The parallel montages of Eleven and Mike (reacting to his own lies) on the phone is a particular highlight of this shift towards lighter, more humorous stories – and also effectively capturing that weird of aura of young dating, where honest communication takes a back seat to make out sessions and rampant emotional misinterpretations.

Plus, we get a bunch of great footage from the resulting montage of both groups of kids shopping at Starcourt, much of it set to Madonna’s “Material Girl”: the boys trying to figure out how capitalism solves relationship problems, and Max convincing Eleven to begin finding her own sense of identity, something beyond being a supernatural being, Hopper’s daughter, or Mike’s boyfriend.

Those sequences are Stranger Things 3‘s strongest assets in these busy early hours; with so many competing story elements, it can be easy for the friendships of the increasingly-large central crew to lose the nuance that makes them such a fun group of characters to watch. Some of this is intentional, as each season pushes the boys a bit further away from each other, to the point where Will’s being left alone at the Dungeons & Dragons table while everyone abruptly runs off to chase girls at the mall.

But as Stranger Things gets larger and larger, some of the complexities of these relationships could also easily dissipate; “The Mall Rats” is a perfect example of why it’s still worth investing time in these characters, giving some new texture to the inner workings of the group dynamic, itself a strong thematic parallel to the unwieldly, toothy monster forming at the bottom of the Hawkins warehouse where Billy’s fate was forever altered.

The blossoming friendship between Max and Eleven sending a shockwave through the group also helps in ensuring there’s some new textures to explore in the main group dynamic: her incendiary language propels Eleven’s drastic change in attitude, while furthering Mike’s own paranoia about Hopper (and, by proxy, giving Lucas space to vent his dramatic relationship with Max). This seismic shift leads to Eleven nonchalantly dumping Mike in front of everyone, a moment I’m sure Hopper will relish after Joyce fails to show up for their not-a-date at Hawkin’s fanciest Italian restaurant (the one that doesn’t have a waiter named Enzo).

Most of Stranger Things‘ changing interpersonal dynamics are interesting; except the possibility of Hopper and Joyce together, which is not a particularly exciting one, especially knowing how much Joyce is still struggling with the loss of her hero, Bob Newby (the shuttered doors of his Radio Shack are featured once again this episode). Thankfully, Stranger Things 3 is having some fun while it teases a somewhat-unnecessary romantic pairing; a disappointed Hopper gets drunk and tries to re-assert his sense of self-worth after eating shit for cigar-chomping Mayor Kaline all day, while Joyce learns about magnetism from a thoroughly excited Mr. Clarke, a wonderful scene all to itself (“My Bologna” is a rather weird, but fitting song for the reintroduction of the kids’ favorite Hawkins teacher).

Long-term, the prospects for a relationship between the two just isn’t quite as exciting: maybe it is just romantic fatigue from all the burgeoning teen drama, but a desperately lonely Hopper and a reluctant Joyce does not portend a compelling love story forming between the two. If anything, it feels that time has passed for Stranger Things, their co-parenting coming through beautifully in the platonic relationship forged during the series, particularly in Stranger Things 2‘s back half. Then again, these two have presumably been sharing suggestive cigarettes with each other at random times for the past three decades, so maybe it is inevitable – but I think it’s that inevitability that makes the story is kind of what makes it one of the more underwhelming new stories of Stranger Things 3 (especially in a season with so many other intriguing things going on).

That being said, “The Mall Rats” does give us a drunken Hopper in a Hawaiian shirt, so it’s not like their little back-and-forth isn’t devoid of some humorous moments. And those bits of humor are essential: be it Nancy’s disregard for the Hawkins Post’s dark room, or the way Steve and Dustin excitedly greet each other, Stranger Things is full of these unexpectedly lighthearted moments, a welcome change from the dark, dreary opening hours of Stranger Things 2 – though the show’s increasing wiliness to engage in it so frequently marks a massive tonal shift from season three, one it will have to continue to balance as its story gets darker and more violent through the proceeding six episodes.

With so many different things happening at once, “The Mall Rats” is only able to advance its larger narrative forward a few inches – and is itself a mixed, familiar bag of bread crumb storytelling. Each scene, which is fairly long, but essentially boil down to a couple important bullet points: Nancy and Jonathan discover the rats are losing their shit, Billy’s clearly fucked up (and kidnapping lifeguards as sacrifice), and Robin makes herself known by translating Dustin’s secret Russian recording from “Suzie, Do You Copy?” alongside him and a (somewhat unhelpful) Steve. Save for the last scene, which neatly folds Robin into the ever-growing group of characters, “The Mall Rats” dispenses bits of story without actually moving these stories into proximity with each other, which slightly undercuts the tension they’re trying to build and maintain as the episode builds to the terrifying final montage of a clearly-compromised Billy kidnapping Heather and delivering her to the Mind Flayer (the Aliens-like appendage on that monster is pretty dope, though).

On some level, I respect it: the less Stranger Things feels the need to explain some of its phenomena, the better I think the show is for it (unlike something like The Expanse, Stranger Things is not an investigative show that needs to explain its complex/theoretical sciences, especially around its monsters). But add up every little strange element of The Upside Down and its creatures over the years, and it can be quick for the whole science fiction segment of this series to feel like a merry-go-round of bullshit with the amount of obfuscation going on (for example – I still feel like we never explained how Will was turning on the lights through the Upside Down?). “The Mall Rats” doesn’t aggressively tip the scales towards the latter assessment, of course, but there are some signs Stranger Things 3 is overstuffing its narrative early on, leaving little room for each story to blossom within the limited space of each scene – and potentially, within the eight-episode structure of the season (especially considering that this season is the shortest one in terms of pure length).

Despite the sheer amount of stuff packed into this hour, “The Mall Rats” shows a lot of promise: the arrival of puberty in the group is particularly potent, introducing some interesting emotional topography for the series to explore. With this added emphasis on comedy, there’s a surprising lightness to Stranger Things 3 in these early hours, an effortlessness that often isn’t felt in the painstaking recreation of the cultural atmosphere of this season’s mall setting (boy, does this show like looking at retro mall store logos – one can almost see the checks JC Penney wrote hanging from the scaffolding). Whether it can continue to balance all of these elements, while still delivering on the unsettling supernatural elements and strong characters that made it so iconic, remains to be seen: “The Mall Rats” is a solid episode, but not entirely convincing it can maintain that balance for another six episodes.

Grade: B+

Other thoughts/observations:

• I didn’t even talk about the debut of Cary Elwes as Mayor Larry Kline, an absolute caricature of a corrupt politician, right down to him chewing on a cigar. Not a particularly exciting character, but another headache for Hopper to deal with, which always make for fun material. Given we see the choke-y Russian officer in his office, this should all end well.
  
• Speaking of Hopper, there’s something loose and comedic to David Harbour’s performance I don’t remember from earlier seasons. Maybe he’s finally moving beyond mourning his family, or maybe Stranger Things realized David Harbour’s one of their most popular characters, and wanted to unwind him a bit. Either way, it’s great – especially when he’s playing the villain in Eleven and Mike’s relationship (as gross and manipulative as it is).
  
• Robin speaks four languages fluently, which must really make poor Steve feel like the dumb guy in the room whenever her and Dustin are talking (leaving him to man the front of the ice cream shop, no less). His reaction to seeing El at the mall? Absolutely priceless.
  
• Joyce and Mr. Clarke’s discovery is lost a bit in the rest of this episode. But again – what a great image of him opening that garage door.
  
• Nancy, talking like journalists used to: “We ask for forgiveness, not permission.”
  
• “She says kissing is better without teeth.” Oh, Dustin, nobody wants to hear that.
  
• Lucas reveals he’s been dumped five times by Max already.
  
• Why are do they introduce Erica and make her as annoying as possible? Robin should’ve thrown her out after asking for repeat samples.
  
• “I want you to build.” That can’t be good!
  
• We get it, Will – you want to play D&D.