Stranger Things, Season 2, Episode 3: The Pollywog
One of the biggest weaknesses about this season, perhaps, is how the cast is divided and their storylines don't really come to a certain cohesion. Yes, the cast in Stranger Things' first season was also likewise divided, but every single plotline revolves around the lynchpin of Will's disappearance and abduction by the Demogorgon. Here, everyone's storyline feels more removed to each other. We've got Hopper and Eleven playing house. We've got Will's thing with meeting the giant Cthulhu creature (can we call it the Thessalhydra, after the second D&D monster at the end of season one?). We've got Dustin meeting the Pollywog. We've got Lucas and Max, plus Max herself and her dickwad of a big brother. We've got the love triangle between Jonathan, Nancy and Steve. We've got the whole deal with the Hawkins Lab, as well as Joyce's new boyfriend Bob the Brain, who himself is trying to become a good potential stepfather to the Myers kids. Everyone has their own problems, and for the most part they are all... detached from the main threat or plotline. While I'm a big fan of giving Dustin, Lucas and Will a greater focus considering them being just lumped together in the previous season, spreading them out a bit too thin ends up working against the show in my opinion/
The titular 'pollywog' is apparently a weird little slaad frog creature that Dustin finds in his trash can, and he's convinced that he's discovered a new species, despite the possibility (brought up by Lucas, Will and Mike on several occasions) that the little creepy toad might have arrived from Upside-Down. Nonetheless, Dustin is very much more concerned about the very childlike glory of discovering a new species, and straight-up is in denial about the true nature of his new buddy d'Artagnan. Also to note that this is Max's first dealing with the supernatural, even if to her eyes her buddies are just kind of freaking out over a particularly goopy little freaky frog.
I'm also not a big fan of how Max is sidelined for a good chunk of the season. I realize that it's an attempt to show how kids don't immediately integrate a new playmate into their ranks, but at the same time this does lead to a couple of clunky moments, like Lucas being the one to ask for explanation of what 'True Sight' is instead of, y'know, Max the newcomer. Which, by the way, is an ability they're sure that Will has after his visions.
Max herself ends up being more of a caricature than perhaps is intended, with the show pushing the "I'm not like the other girls, I'm a cool one!" deal a bit too hard. There were also moments where she tries, again, a bit too hard, to try to integrate into 11's role in the group, something that was more of the writer's fault than the character herself. I didn't really think we actually need the monologue of "hey, I can be your zoomer and replace El!" to actually establish that, yes, Max is trying to integrate herself into the group.
11 herself sneaks out of the jungle shack after a definitely well-done argument with Hopper. Hopper is way too pre-occupied with keeping El safe from the bad men that his treatment of 11 is not unfairly compared to Papa Brenner. Sure, Hopper is teaching 11 how to read and stuff, but at the same time, he is denying her contact with the outer world, especially in times when he has to deal with a crisis, shit like dying pumpkins or eldritch abominations. The man means well, of course, but it's definitely not unfair for Eleven to be frustrated with Hopper, and her rant as she counts the days since Hopper last promised that she'll see Mike 'soon', coupled with 11's own spirit-visions to see Mike, close enough to touch but unable to interact, is really well acted.
I'm not particularly sure we needed the scenes of 11 and Hopper building the traps in the flashback, though, that seemed unnecessary.
Will is, by virtue of his condition as the only one interacting with the supernatural unknown, is perhaps the most interesting character in the show to some degree. Sure, I don't dislike the mysteries around the Pollywog or the 11/Hopper stuff, but Will's truesight and his constant lapses into the realm of the Upside-Down is absolutely chilling as he's met with the eldritch unknown. Of course, everyone, even Will himself, hopes that it's just PTSD. After all, Will's not the only one with PTSD among the cast -- Nancy, Joyce and Eleven are all showing signs of it in one way or another.
Bob, bless him, tries to be supportive in the way he can. He doesn't try to bullshit and pretend to understand Will's problems, but he does share his own anecdote of how he manages to get past his own traumatic experience with clowns -- by facing the imaginary clown in his dreams, and telling him to fuck off. Of course, if Will was dealing with mere PTSD and nightmares, this would work. When Will lapses back into the Upside Down when seeing Dart at school, he tries to do what Bob tells him to do -- after all, it makes sense. Something that reminds him of the slug he spat out after his trip in the Upside Down would trigger a PTSD episode. And besides, all the adults -- not just Bob, but also Hopper, Joyce and the nameless scientists, who went through the first season with him -- tells him that it's just that fancy 'post-traumatic' thing, so I really don't blame Will for accepting that it's his problem.
Except the gigantic eldritch abomination of shadows and tentacles, the thessalhydra (until the show gives it a name, that's what I'm sticking with) attacks Will with a gigantic tentacle. The CGI might be somewhat primitive, but it does capture the sinister... wrongness of the creature very well as it moves around in the realm, reaching down to Will with a tentacle and... sending its entire shadowy self into Will's mouth. That scene's pretty disturbing. And pretty exciting too, considering all the great soup of Lovecrafitan references that the show has -- dying crops, giant tentacled beings, nightmarish dreams... great stuff, without being too disturbing
What else? I don't really think that there's honestly much else that's particularly interesting to talk about. Joyce and Bob's relationships are well done. Nancy and Jonathan are apparently going off to try and expose the cover-up in one way or another, in the least interesting subplot in the episode. This seems to be one of the weaker parts of the season, for sure, and I do feel that they could've done better with pacing and tightening. Still, pretty neat stuff nonetheleess.
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