Stranger Things 2 Episode 8 Review – “Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer”

Stranger Things 2 Episode 8 “Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer”
Written by The Duffer Brothers
Directed by The Duffer Brothers
Premiered October 27, 2017 on Netflix

With all of its action squirreled down to Hawkins Lab and the Byers home, “Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer” is the most streamlined episode of Stranger Things 2 – and though it is mostly remembered for the death of the beloved Bob, it is also the episode that really marks the show’s shift away from the more patient storytelling of its early 80s horror influences, toward a more action-centric science fiction story (the Aliens references in this episode are particularly explicit). And to its credit, “The Mind Flayer” is a perfectly capable penultimate hour effectively arranging all of its pieces for the season finale – but it still feels like Stranger Things 2‘s growth has been a bit horizontal, widening its lens at the cost of its own characters, or in critical moments, some of its own ingenuity.

The big centerpiece of this episode, of course, is Bob’s selfless mission to help everyone escape the locked-down Hawkins Labs as the Demo-dogs tunnel back to the lab and surround everyone. As far as doomed missions by side characters go, Bob’s is pretty straightforward, in that it is pretty obvious from the get go that the Character With Nary A Single Negative or Compromising Quality is going to survive his attempt to become a more traditional type of hero. To its credit, “The Mind Flayer” draws every single drop of tension out of his final act, as he makes his way to the control room, uses his BASIC skills (shoutout to anyone who wrote a BASIC program back in the day on their VTech Computer PowerPad, as I used to), and then makes a Herculean effort to outrun a demodog – only to die catching his breath mere feet away from Joyce.

Bob’s sacrifice, of course, is a necessary one, elevating the stakes of Stranger Things 2 in a way that should give Joyce and Will a stronger emotional arc… except it kind of doesn’t, in that the inevitability of his death is fairly telegraphed – and when you step back to consider that Bob really only has four or five meaningful scenes across the entire season, mutes the impact of his death. It also doesn’t help “The Mind Flayer” really tries to milk it, needlessly returning to observe as multiple Demo-dogs, all of whom passed dozens of other bodes in the building to get there, feed on Bob’s lifeless corpse – but the damage is already done at that point, Bob’s muted impact on the main narrative immediately obvious when 95% of the characters immediately move on from his death to the next objective.

Regardless, Sean Astin’s presence in Stranger Things 2 allowed us to access a more normal, soft version of Joyce – something season one alluded to, but never had a chance to explore as she went through a manic cycle of paranoia, fear, sadness, and anger. Bob helped reground Joyce as a human being outside of being the protector of her children – but at the same time, Stranger Things doesn’t really spend too much time digging into Bob as a character until he’s gone, when the party learns he was the person who started Hawkins AV and taught Mr. Clarke all he knows. We never really feel Bob as a part of the Hawkins community throughout the season (except the one time Joyce and Hopper reference going to school with him), his interactions solely limited to Joyce and the Byers children; when push came to shove, Bob isn’t revealed to be much more than a Basic Nice Guy, a character who lacks redemptive or aspirational qualities because the series never gives him time to have any flaws.

When “The Mind Flayer”, and Stranger Things 2 as a whole, slows down just a bit, it gives so much more room for depth that Bob isn’t really ever offered. One thing I’ve really enjoyed this season is how the party’s dynamic has slowly grown more complex; in season one, it was basically two dudes arguing with Lucas all the time, whereas Stranger Things 2 has allowed for a wider emotional palette for every member of the main party (except Will, whose development is obviously curtailed by being controlled by the Mind Flayer). Some of this comes from the Max Effect, of course; the easiest way it accomplishes this is through Max, whose very presence complicates every other relationship on the show, in a way that is beautifully adolescent (in a season that loses a bit of that charm in its shift to a larger science fiction narrative, though season three does return to form a bit in that regard).

Even Mike, whose little temper tantrum to Max (who is thoroughly unfazed by his bullshit, perhaps my single favorite note of the whole episode), gets a moment of clarity in “The Mind Flayer”; though his reaction to seeing Eleven doesn’t make up for his behavior all season, the sense of longing we see in Mike’s eyes when Eleven bursts into the Byers home is a potent one, and helps give shape to his earlier, more blunted appearances this season. As with most teens dealing with emotional issues they’re unfamiliar with, Mike has spent all season projecting his frustrations on the rest of the group – to the point he is lashing out at his best friends and being incredibly rude to Max, even as she tries to empathize with him and the awkward position she finds herself in the group.

Of course, before we get there, Stranger Things 2 has to spend a good twenty minutes rearranging all of its pieces into one location – which, thankfully, it uses the kinda-exorcism of Will Byers as a framework for that, otherwise it would be easy to feel the scaffolding behind each plot as it works to get everyone into the same living room. By using Will’s compromised state as the foundation for the third act, Stranger Things 2 is able to lean into some conventional creepiness with Will as he’s tied up – and then back towards more emotionally resonant notes with the stories everyone decides to tell him, to keep him from being completely lost to the Mind Flayer (and to make sure the Mind Flayer doesn’t realize where they are, when they realize that “The Spy” is really Will, and not the other way around). These stories, of Will building Castle Byers with Jonathan, of Joyce hanging up his art and Mike meeting him in kindergarten, are a bit naked in how they clearly exist to fill in pieces of Will that the series has never had the space to explore (given the kid’s been under the influence of the Mind Flayer since the pilot’s opening scene), but nonetheless allow Stranger Things 2 to recenter itself a bit on its heart, after a season which has openly traded in some deeper character work for a bigger, flashier roster and story.

Although “The Mind Flayer” isn’t the most ingeniously constructed episode of television, it’s still a proper accelerant for Stranger Things 2 – it’s not quite a textbook example of “getting back to the good stuff”, but after “Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister”, anything even remotely resembling a story with real emotional stakes for its characters feels like a welcome return to form. Though the climactic crescendo of this hour doesn’t quite justify the season’s extended running time and slightly underwhelming narrative, it absolutely helps in properly ratcheting up the tension for the season finale, with a few strong reminders of the emotional stakes that have kept the audience invested through its first sixteen hours.

Grade: B

Other thoughts/observations:

• Though it wouldn’t make “Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister” any better, I think it would’ve played slightly better had it aired after “The Mind Flayer” – even though I understand why it is the way it is (it helps allow Will to remain the focal point of season two, as he’s been for the whole season), I still can’t help but think the final moments of “The Mind Flayer” would hit even harder if reordered.
  
• Gotta love that everyone in the party knows Morse code, which Will is tapping out with his hand to communicate to the group to CLOSE GATE. Well, good thing Eleven’s back!
  
• “Remember Bob Newby, superhero.” RIP Bob.
  
• In the episode’s only isolated scene, we finally get to see what has turned Billy into the very kind of teenage ’80s cliche he is. As he gets ready for a date, his father bursts into his room and scares the piss out of him as he scolds him for letting Max get out of the house. It’s a great scene, one that gives Billy unexpected depth, and allows Dacre Montgomery show exactly why he was cast in that role.