"Bitchin'" Stranger Things Season 2, "Chapter 9: The Gate" Season Finale

Everything has been leading up to this moment!!

In the season two finale, we first get a very nice and emotional reunion between Eleven and Mike and finally the cat was out of the bag when everyone learned that she has been living with him for a year. That didn't go well with Mike and when Hopper took him to talk privately, Mike let his anger out at him as Hopper hugs him.

After a quick hugs and greets with everyone, including Max, Joyce takes Eleven to see Will. Seeing also the message about close gate, to Eleven that means the gate in the upside down is about to be open and she can close it. Along with that plan, Joyce figures out instead of letting Will die with the gate closing, they heat up his body so the creature that's inside him can get out before the gate closes.

So Joyce, Johnathan and Nancy take Will to Hopper's cabin where he and Eleven have been staying. They cranked up the heat with fire, space heaters, etc to make sure it's hotter than the sun. Will wakes up and screams that he's burning. As they watch him, it doesn't seem to work so Joyce cracks up the space heaters more and soon, the creature was about to come out but they needed more and that's where Nancy grabs the hot poker and burns Will's side.

Hopper and Eleven headed back to the DOE building and close the gate before the creature monster gets out. But before they got there, the two finally made peace after talking of where she went and why he's been the way he was with her. As they go in the DOE, Eleven gets flashbacks of her stay there, then Hopper and Eleven go in and after getting word from Johnathan to close the gate after the creature had escape Will's body.

While all of this was going on, Mike doesn't want to be the player sitting on the bench, even though he hates sports analogy. Trying to convince Steve to take them to the pumpkin patch, he gives a big no. Well then comes big bad step brother of Max, who really has a good lie detector on him to see that Steve lied to him and soon the two fight. Steve was going so good til the dude starts swinging back like a mad man. Kicking the crap out of Steve, Max grabs the syringe and injects her step brother with the same dose that Will got and after a few minutes the dude finally went down but not before Max threaten him with Steve's bat.

Mike and the gang head out to the pumpkin patch as Max drives her brother's car probably one of the humorist highlight of the episode. They get there and headed in, Steve leads the way and as they get to the spot, they start spraying and dumping gasoline all over and soon starts the fire. This happens the same time as Will was burning up. Mike and the gang head out but not before Dustin sees his Dart in the way and gives him a couple of Musketeers and head out.

As Eleven trying to close the gate, she has a hard time doing it but remembers what Eight had said and taught her to remember the events that make you upset and use that anger, which she did. And just as the creature was coming out in the same form as it was in Will, she used all of her powers to push it away and closed the gate. As the gates closed, it all killed the creature dogs, including Dart.

As soon as it was over, we jump a month later to see that the DOE has been shut down and things were looking so good for the town of Hawkins. Hopper has lunch with Owens, who'd survived, and he gives Hopper a present that he is the proud father of Jane Hopper (Eleven). He asked Owen how long before she can go out, Owens gives it a year. But how about one night?

We jump to the Snow Ball dance, Dustin fixes his hair the way Steve does and after losing to Lucas to dance with Max, he jumps to two other girls before Nancy dances with him. Will gets to dance with someone too. Hopper and Joyce share a smoke like they did in the good old days. But the one moment we've all been waiting for with the song "Everything Breathe You Take," comes Eleven/Jane in her dress and Mike walks up to her and soon dances (as they try to learn) and soon kisses (short one).

With everything that seems to be going to well and trying up with a nice big bow, as we see the school's gym, we see the upside down version of the school and sees the shadow monster that Will has been seeing. Could it be that it's finally going to be staying in the upside down for good or will we see this thing back in Season 3?

"The Gate" was one hell of a good season finale and I thought that it really wrapped up some of the story-lines probably since the beginning of the series. Like Nancy and Dustin, who Dustin had a crush on her and a season later she's dancing with him. Mike and Eleven finally are at the Snow Ball dance. Even Joyce and Hopper spending some time with one another, who I think would make a really good couple. I really can't pick who outperformed who because everyone in this episode really did an outstanding and equal part. The one thing I still don't get is Max's step brother has to what part was he there, just to give us some intense scenes with Max and Steve? The writing of the episode was so so good as well. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

Season 2:
I thought Season 2 was a step up from Season 1 with the writing and character growth. The performances from Winona Ryder, Finn Wolfhard, David Harbour, Noah Schnapp was just outstanding, mostly coming Ryder, who should be considered for awards for her role as Joyce. Not to mention Millie Bobby Brown, with only a shorter screen time than last season, had another amazing season too.  Sean Astin's performance grew on me from time. I didn't care much for Bob at first and the way he was telling Will about facing your fears head on didn't really settle with me, but later helping with Joyce and Mike and being the superhero he said he is, I really liked the character.  And I couldn't left out Paul Reiser, who played Owen well to his ability as a dark and mysterious in the beginning but was kind of caring at the end of the season.

The anticipation for this season was not disappointing at all. Yeah there were some stories that felt lite like the Nancy and Johnathan relationship to even the Max and her step brother, for which I'm still scratching my head about. But most of the other stories from Will and Eleven made me forget some of those stories. The writing was really amazing. Overall, I give this season a 9/10.

You can catch seasons one and two of Stranger Things on Netflix now. Also you can catch the Blu-ray/DVD of Season One available in stores now.

Runaways and Judgement Days: Things Season 2, "Chapter 7: The Lost Sister"/"Chapter 8: The Mind Flayer"

Chapter 7: The Lost Sister

As Eleven goes into the mind of her mama's to search for what had happened to her and turned up to find that there might be a sibling.

When Eleven goes out on her own and searching for what she calls sister, who happens to have been with her when she was with Papa. Eleven fines Eight (the person that was in the beginning of the first episode) in Chicago after searching in mama's mind and papers that her aunt has kept.  

There in Chicago, she finds Eight along with her gang, who happen to show a little bit of The Outsiders in a way. Soon after Eleven tells Eight who she is and what brought her to see her, the two connected well. But Eight has ideas for what her and her gang can do with Eleven's powers, one of them is being taking down the person that hurt their mama.

Soon Eleven travels with Eight and the gang to search for the man that ruined their mama. As they get there, they start touching the man and just when Eleven was about to kill him, she saw a photo of him with his daughters and stopped. Eight later pulls a gun and Eleven stops her from shooting him. But the kids, who happen to be in their bedrooms, had called 911 and soon the cops were on their way. Eleven gets a few words from Eight about never to stop her.

Back at the hideout, Eight get into Eleven's head when she sees papa walking in the room and has Eleven apologizing. But soon as things were seemed to be okay, the Chicago PD was on there way to bust in. But with Eight and her mind tricks, they did get away but only Eleven decided not to stay with Eight and her gang and left them to go back to her friends.

 "The Lost Sister" was a strong episode. I enjoyed the one stand along episode of Eleven's adventure to see her lost sister and come to find that Eight is not like her at all and quite different from what she has learned with Mike and friends. Browns gives a good performance once again and the writing was really good. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

Chapter 8: The Mind Flayer

HOLY SHIPS!!! From beginning to the end I was either stand up or sitting on the edge of my chair during this episode.

The episode picks off right where we left in episode six and the creatures has come up and taken apart the lab. Mike tells Joyce to put Will to sleep because he is the one communicating with the creatures and after Joyce asked Will a simple question that only needed to be answered in a split second, she put him to sleep. 

Owens and Hopper get to Joyce, Mike, Bob and Will and headed to the control room after there seems to be no way out. As they get into the control room, the power goes out and it looked like it was up to Bob to save the day. Bob goes to turn the power back on and has he does he also helps navigating the creatures away from the area.

With Hopper, Joyce, Mike and Will out, only Bob was the last to get out and with the help from Owen, it looked it her was in good shape but sorry to say, he got the Barb treatment in this one. As Bob was in the closet, he steps out and as soon as he walks out, he knocks the broom stick out and falls to the floor. One of the creatures hears it and chases Bob but as he escapes death, turns out that the creature jumped through the doors and attacked him.

Hopper grabs a very upset Joyce and with Johnathan and Nancy driving in, they all left along with Lucas, Dustin, Max and Steve. They all head back to Joyce's house and trying to figure out what the hell these creatures are and only Mike and the gang come up with an idea of what these creatures are and figures that the creature is communicating from Will's mind and soon figures that Will is still there and communicates with Morse code. So they do an interrogation but only telling him stories from birthdays to drawing to even to music and first time Mike and Will met. Those scenes were very powerful, mostly from Joyce and Mike telling Will. They do get a message out that says "Close Gate." Which is probably about the gate that Eleven came through from the upside down.

But all good plans must fail at some point and that comes from the phone in the house going off twice and soon Joyce puts Will out again and takes him back to the house. Everyone is on full alert as the creature was to come. There seemed to be one around the house until it screams and what looked like it jumped through the window but apparently it was dead. Soon the locks on the door started to unlock and as the door opens, everyone's faces were in shock to see that Eleven is back!!

OMG! "The Mind Flayer" was probably one of the best intense episodes comparing to the others in this season. It had a blended of humor, intense drama, emotional drama and not to mention a great ending to the episode with Eleven walking in. I don't know about you guys but does anyone thing that Hopper might be Will's dad? I'm asking this because that's what my brother thinks. Also, I thought that Mike's eulogy of Bob was very nice and heartwarming as well. Anyway, the performances from Ryder, Wolfhand and Schanpp were amazing and so memorable. I did have to grab tissues. Overall, I give this episode a 9.5/10.

You can catch Season 2 of Stranger Things available on Netflix now along with Season One.  

Holy Ships!! Stranger Things Season 2, "Chapter 5: Dig Dug"/"Chapter 6: The Spy"

Chapter 5: Dig Dug

There was so much going on in this episode that I almost did what Will did at the end of the episode was happen to be a jaw dropping moment.

Where to begin? Let's start with Dustin as he tries to figure out how to get Dart out of the house. He does it by leaving a trail of food for it that leads to the basement. It was working until it saw and sense Dustin and so he went for Plan B attack it and knock it in the basement. Oh by the way, he was wearing a pretty cool outfit that remembered be of The Mighty Ducks.

Lucas tries to fix his relationship with Max and after his father for advice, he tells her the truth about last year. She didn't believe him at first but with a very convincing look she seems to believe him. Trouble is that her so called brother saw her with him again and isn't too pleased. This guy really freaks me out.

Eleven finally goes to see her mother and tries to reconnect with her after seeing the lights in the house go off and on like what Will did in the Upside Down. Doing her bit once again, she saw what her mother went through to find her after she was born from a diffcult labor, Papa stealing her and making her mother think that she was dead, to seeing her getting a gun and finding her. And to even seeing how she got to be in the condition she is in now. And understands that the words she says all the time is what she remembers the most from certain time.

As Joyce and Mike help with Will, Will sees that Hooper is in trouble after he is in under ground with the vines and such. Even he got sprayed and coughed up stuff that I think that he might go through what Will has been going through. With time running out, Joyce gets Bob to help and after trying to get the brainy dude thinking they drove and found Hopper's car.

There Joyce and Bob go under and searching for Hopper. They finally come to him as he is tied down with vines around his neck and body. They cut it all off and with some creepy but cool scene shots, he's free. That is until the DOE dudes come in and get them out. As soon as they start burning off the vines, Will starts to have a seizure like moment and screams his head off like he's been burned.

This episode was so good. The performance from everyone was so good and the writing was as well. I didn't really think too much on the Nancy/Johnathan story as it just was a bit light out of the others in this episode. I'm think that maybe that Hopper is infected like Will is? He coughed up stuff after that mutant planet sprayed him with crap. Overall, I give this episode a 8.5/10.

Chapter 6: The Spy

HOLY SHIPS!!!!! Revenge is best served deadly I guess. 

With the doctors and nurses searching of what is wrong with Will, saying that he is bruned without any burnmarks on him. That all first scene of the episode was so intense and even scary for me watching Schnapp's performance. As Owen's team of doctors perform test of Will, it turns out that he has a vrius and Will is the host, that helps connect to a human and not only see what the creatures are doing but also be known as what Mike calls Will "The Spy." 

Thinking that Will is helping Owen and the team. A team goes down and searches to burned down the rest of the place until Dart and gang comes along, after trying to attack Dustin, Lucas, Max and Steve at the junkyard, and attacks the team that's underground where Hopper was trapped. Not only does these creatures killed but are moving towards the DOE by the end of the episode. 

Meanwhile, Dusitn and Steve try to get Dart to come to them after seeing that it had escaped Dustin's basement. Lucas and Max catches up and meets them at the junkyard to prepare for Dart to come, but as it turns out Dart wasn't alone and turned into one hell of a montage to Tremors. 

This episode was a real thrill. From the begnning to the end, I really was tied to my seat. With what was going on between Will and Dustin and the gang, I really did fine the Nancy and Johanhan story in this episode to be the calm before the thrills. You know sixe episodes in and I know I haven't said much about Paul Reiser's performance so far but I just have to say that he's amazing in this role. He can surely balance the comedy and drama as it does remind me of his performance in Aliens. Overall, I give this episode a 9/10.

You can catch Season Two of Stranger Things available on Netflix now and Season One too along on Blu-ray and DVD.