Stranger Things Season 2 Episode 3 Review - Chapter Three: The Pollywog

Things are rapidly ramping up on the third episode for Stranger Things Season 2. The focal point is Dart, a creature of unknown physiology that brings, even more, mystery into the fold.

The third episode opens where we left off from the last one with Dustin finding a rather cute creature inside their dumpster. He calls him D’Artagnan or Dart for short. If you're wondering why it's because of the Three Musketeers candy which is Dustin's favorite and seems to be Dart's favorite too. The creature literally grows at a rapid rate and as Dustin shows Dart to his friends, the others think it's not to be trusted especially that Will thinks it is from the Upside Down. We also find Will bonding with his mother’s boyfriend Bob. Bob gives sound advice to Will about his visions but is it really that helpful? Additionally, the episode further explains Hopper’s and Eleven’s relationship and the growing anxiety and mistrust by Eleven. Soon she decides to go out and meet Mike. But things don’t go as planned as she sees Mike with Max and thinks he has the hots for her. More is also revealed on Hopper’s end and could spell a huge revelation on his true intent in keeping Eleven away from society. The episode ends with Will having another vision with a seemingly deadly conclusion for him.

Wow. “The Pollywog” kept us glued from start to finish. Every scene was either revelatory or added to the growing list of questions we have this season. While some audiences may find the growing tension between Dustin and Mike to be worrisome, we think its a breath of fresh air. Sadly, while we love the addition of Max as one of the major characters, her integration into the team feels a little rushed. This makes us think that she was put there just to add conflict between Will and Eleven rather than something more significant. Hopefully, we're wrong about this as her character definitely is rather cool. This was also an episode that was straight-forward and had a clear-cut goal to keep the story moving. While this means that the cultural references were kept to a minimum, this also means that the 49-minute run time was fully utilized just for the story.

Rating: 5 reels