Welcome back for the fifth installment of the Summer TV Binge of Stranger Things, looking back at season one, episode five (released July 15, 2016):
“Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat”
Written by Alison Tatlock
Directed by the Duffer Bros.
In this episode, Hopper sneaks (and punches) his way into the sealed area of the lab, but winds up transported back home. Will’s funeral is held, and during the wake, Mr. Clarke is asked by the boys about other dimensions, which he explains through the analogy of a flea and an acrobat both traversing the same tightrope. Nancy and Jonathan team up to hunt Barb’s abductor.
1. The Prisoner
Hopper getting knocked out, and then being placed back on his couch, is an interesting decision on the lab’s part: granted, they probably didn’t want to raise further alarm by making the town’s sheriff disappear, but it’s a display of strength without force, an implied warning that he will not be given a second chance.
Hopper realizes he can’t be the only thing the lab’s guards left though, and frantically turns his house inside out before finding a bug in the ceiling lamp. It’s striking to see Hopper, who started the series as the unflappable king of his little domain, being reduced to such desperate behavior, and a startling reminder of how even a cop’s life can be turned (ahem) upside down when the authorities cease to be friendly.
2. The Void
This episode introduces the Void, the black mental space shown whenever Eleven is reaching out psychically to anyone across the globe, via flashbacks of her entering a sensory deprivation tank to locate a Soviet spy. (It’s here that she first senses the Demogorgon’s presence, and is left thoroughly terrified by the encounter.) It’s a strikingly simple yet effective setting, filmed with black background curtains, and a black floor covered by a small layer of water. There’s also a very noticeable aspect ratio change when she transitions to the Void, a similarly inexpensive but evocative workaround with budgetary limitations, that brings the show closer to the economical feel of its ’80s inspirations.
3. Lonnie the Liar by Omission
Lonnie comes to Hawkins to attend his son’s funeral, and is pretty helpful, boarding up the hole Joyce smashed in the wall when she saw Will inside of it, and trying to encourage her to seek help over her “delusions.” However, Joyce discovers that Lonnie was planning to confront the company that owns the quarry where Will’s body was found, and concludes he only came to make money off their son’s disappearance. He protests that they can use the money to pay off her debts, or send Jonathan to college, but she proves he’s insincere when he’s unable to answer the question of where Jonathan wants to go. (“NYU, Lonnie! He’s wanted to go to NYU since he was six years old!”)
I feel Lonnie did a mostly good job of supporting his ex, especially for someone we know was a poor husband and a verbally abusive father, but clearly his past came back to haunt him. Sometimes, it’s not about your intentions, but how you go about them, and clearly, carrying legal papers around showed where his true priorities lied. On some level, he probably knew they would make him look guilty, or else he would’ve brought up the prospect of legal proceedings earlier.
4. Good Intentions
Speaking of secrets backfiring, after the boys hear Mr. Clarke’s comment that a tear to another dimension would disrupt Earth’s magnetic field, Dustin figures out how to pinpoint Will’s location with their compasses. (As he explains, “If there’s the presence of a more powerful magnetic field, the needle deflects to that power.”) However, a worried Eleven starts messing with their compasses, causing them to go around Hawkins in a circle.
At the junkyard, a suspicious Lucas proves Eleven manipulated them, after pointing out she’s been wiping the blood from her nose on her sleeve. He goes too far when he suggests she’s responsible for Will’s disappearance, causing a fight with Mike to ensue. El uses her powers to separate them, knocking out Lucas: it’s fortunate he wasn’t harmed any further, but the accident causes him and El to leave. It’s upsetting, and another strong example of how Brenner’s abuse has isolated Eleven from her peers: none of it might’ve happened if she’d been able to articulate why she was afraid.
Continued below5. Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers, Monster Hunters
Jonathan and Nancy decide to hunt down the silhouette in Barbara’s photo: Nancy arms herself with a baseball bat, and Jonathan steals a pistol from his father’s dashboard. There’s a lot of good banter between the two when they go searching in the woods, as they try to prove they’re not attracted to each other, but the fun and games stop when they stumble across an injured deer. Jonathan prepares to put it out of its mystery, but then it’s suddenly dragged into the Upside Down.
The pair follow the trail of blood, and Nancy finds and enters a portal in the base of a tree. She sees the Demogorgon feasting on the deer, and tries to back away quietly, but she’s so concerned about keeping an eye on the monster that she accidentally treads loudly on a tendril, alerting it to her presence. The Demogorgon turns and roars into the camera, revealing its many teeth for the first time, like the world’s deadliest carnivorous flower. Nancy runs, ending the episode on an effective cliffhanger that definitely forces you to immediately press the button for the next episode.
Other Things:
– We get a flashback of Will drawing his and his friends’ Dungeons & Dragons characters while Joyce is preparing a meal, where she asks why he’s coloring his wizard’s fireballs with a green crayon (she jokes it looks like he’s shooting cabbages.) It’s pretty intriguing that Joyce has an eye for what looks cool, and critiques and engages with the story her son is telling, instead of just saying it’s nice: it’s highly likely she had a knack for art like her sons, which was snuffed out by work and her marriage.
– The Vale of Shadows, which Dustin uses as an analogy for the Upside Down, was not actually a location from the Dungeons & Dragons board game, but one from the 2000 video game Icewind Dale (which admittedly was based on D&D’s Forgotten Realms setting.)
– The use of “Elegia” by New Order during the funeral scene always makes me nostalgic, because it was used in the trailer for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain the year before the show was released. (I’m sorry that’s not a very profound reason, but it is what it is.)
– It’s a little surprising that Jonathan’s wanted to go to NYU since he was six, but when you’re living in a town with such limited options, I imagine you would aim big (and so precisely) at such a young age.
– Dustin is so bad at pretending to be mourning Will’s death, it’s great, and perfectly in-character.
See you all for next week, for “Chapter Six: The Monster.”
