Stranger Things Season 2 Episode 2 Review - Chapter Two: Trick or Treat, Freak

Hey! It’s Halloween time and the guys are going on trick or treating. What's even cooler is that the guys are going as the Ghostbusters. Beyond the awesome costumes, “Trick or Treak, Freak” is also one hell of an episode.

The episode opens with Eleven right after the events of the finale. She finds herself in the Upside Down and finds a smallish hole going into our world. She makes the portal bigger using her powers nonetheless and finds herself surviving on her own in the woods. On present day, Eleven devises a "ghoulish" plan to be able to get out of Sheriff Hopper’s secret hideout but Hopper obviously refuses. It’s pretty obvious why Eleven wants to go out at this point but safety is a priority - or so it seems. There's something also off about Hopper even as early as now. This could turn out to be a heel turn later in the season. Later that night, the gang goes on trick or treating but Mike isn’t happy as Dustin and Lucas invite a new friend, Max, without his prior knowledge. Unfortunately, Will has another vision which seems to be getting more and more dangerous. Nancy goes on a drinking binge and while drunk reveals her true feelings about Steve. This relationship is going on the rocks sooner than we expected it to be. Back to Sheriff Hopper, at work, he finds out that the poisoned pumpkin concern is way bigger than expected. The episode ends as Dustin opens the trash can at his home and sees something.

If the previous episode left us feeling a bit disappointed, “Trick or Treak, Freak” was the complete opposite. Finally, we get more information on what happened to Eleven after her “self-sacrifice” in last season’s finale. While there’s still more to explain how she ended up with Sheriff Hopper, we at least know how she was able to get back to our world. Most importantly, a lot of significant things happen in this episode that kept things fast-paced and made this a really meaty fifty-minute romp. Noteworthy is how the episode was had a lot of hilarious moments.

Rating: 4.5 reels