Episode Review: Stranger Things 5x3 - "Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap"
- randazzojj123
- 54 minutes ago
- 10 min read
Welcome back to the blog readers. The fifth and final season of Stranger Things (2016-25) may be taking a minute to find its own groove, but last week's episode was awesome, especially the cold open. As we gear up for the midseason finale, there are still so many questions left to be answered as to what we can expect. What would this episode, titled "Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap," written by Caitlin Schneiderhan, and directed by Frank Darabont (!!!!), entail on that journey? Stick around to find out.
NOTE: I will be using spoilers for my thoughts, so DO NOT read ahead if you have not seen the episode.
Before we even get into this review, I just want to talk about the fact that Frank fucking Darabont came out of retirement to direct two episodes of this series. The man who gave us The Shawshank Redemption (1994), The Green Mile (1999), and The Mist (2007) is back for a show that he is reportedly a fan of. I honestly want to be a fly on the wall when the Duffer brothers called Darabont asking him to do this, because that must have been a bit of catharsis for everyone. In the meantime, let's just marvel at the fact that this even happened and be thankful for that fact.
Now, we are going to get to the review. I have been enjoying this final installment of the series thus far, with some new character dynamics being tested (like Will and Robin), and the intrigue surrounding the disappearance of Holly Wheeler. Going into this Frank Darabont-led episode, I was hoping for a situation in which a point of attack could be formed, and we definitely got that in this light-hearted episode that also gave us a hell of a development. No performances this time around really stood out to me, but the story is going places where we can only speculate, so I am going to compensate for no performance reviews with a version of Theory Time.
We pick up this episode where we semi-left off last week with Jim Hopper and Eleven attempting to break the fleshy wall that appears to be circling the Upside Down version of Hawkins. Hopper is trying to cleave it and El is trying to use her powers to break through, but their efforts are being left in vain. El points out that she was able to close the gate, but Hopper wonders if Holly is even on the other side of that wall. She tells him she needs food to recharge her "battery," and Hopper offers her some of his beef jerky that she reluctantly accepts. Seconds later, they hear the military arrive to their location, so Hopper tries to get El to leave, but she is frozen in place with a bloody nose. Back in actual Hawkins, Will and Robin are bicycling their way back to the radio station where they stumble into Joyce, who left looking for them. She is not happy with Robin taking Will out of the radio station, and she apologizes before Will goes off on his mother. He tells her that her plan sucked because she is trying to play it safe and he has a plan that could work. Thanks to his plan, he can know Vecna's next target: Holly's bully Derek Turnbow. Derek is in class when he discovers and greets Vecna while he is "Mr. Whatsit."
Holly is seen eating pancakes that Henry has made for her. It appears that they are in some sort of perfect mindscape recreation of his childhood home. They "bond" over pancakes and he reveals he is good with hunches and that he plans to bring Derek to the house next. Holly tells him she does not much like Derek, and he tells her if Derek misbehaves, he will send him back to Hawkins to deal with the "monsters." He leaves her alone in the house to conduct business and warns her to never go into the woods. He also asks her to bring in his mail, which includes a tape player and a Tiffany tape. Back in the Upside Down, Hopper and Eleven had been able to escape their location before being discovered by the military. They are behind a downed billboard with El writhing in pain. One of the soldiers urinates on the wall and it seems to react to the urine. This soldier sees Hopper's knife and deduces someone unauthorized is there with them. The device they call the "hedgehog" is pointed in the billboard's direction, causing El to have more discomfort and allowing the military to know that she is there. Hopper fires on the men before chucking some grenades over the billboard, taking a few of them out. He shoots the "hedgehog," allowing El to recover and take out the remaining soldier.
Steve, Dustin, Jonathan, Lucas, Mike, and Nancy all return to the radio station. Will informs the group of his vision and what he can do, while Mike and Nancy reveal what they learned from their mother about Holly and Vecna. Will unveils a plan to kidnap and blindfold Derek so Vecna cannot find him, but Dustin and Lucas point out the holes in the plan. Mike then comes up with a plan that will allow for the party to save Derek and find Holly by placing a tracker tag on the Demogorgon when it comes. Back in the "mindscape," Holly is having the time of her life in the house; baking a cake, playing the tape (which contains the song "I Think We're Alone Now"), and messing around with Henry's Boy Scouts memorabilia. She stops suddenly when the doorbell rings, but finds nobody at the door. She does, however, notice the flag on the mailbox is up again (after she put it down getting the tape) and a note with a map and compass. The author of the note claims to be Henry who needs her help out past the woods. Also, Hopper and El have hidden the knocked out soldier and one of the military's Humvees. El is fixated on the fact that the soldier urinated on the wall and is convinced he knows how to get through the wall. Hopper is convinced he can use his interrogation skills to get the soldier to talk about information regarding the next supply convoy, which is their ticket out of the Upside Down. El is able to convince him through his principle of compromise that they are both getting what they want. He relents and agrees by giving her twenty minutes.
We then see our first sighting of Lucas's sister Erica, as he and Mike interrupt her while she is in Mr. Clarke's science class. She scolds them for interrupting her favorite class and gives them one minute to explain why. They explain their crawl did not go well at all, and her friend Tina's brother Derek is in trouble. She does not care about Derek, but is interested when the two boys tell her this is to save Holly and their plan to save the Turnbows will involve her never having to talk to Tina (who she is feuding with now) again. She enthusiastically agrees upon hearing this. At the hospital, Robin and Will continue to bond while searching for benzodiazepine for their plan. Will reveals he did see Robin kissing Vickie as she navigates the two of them as for Vickie to not see them. She is afraid of the eventual fight she will have when she inevitably approaches her to reschedule again. Will asks Robin how she knew she wanted to date and she says it was obvious and that there were signals. They make it into the room and steal the benzos. Meanwhile, at the radio station, the rest of the gang accepts a pickup from Murray, but Dustin is upset that Murray did not get everything he asked for. Murray tells him to be grateful for whatever he was able to get and he is.
While Steve and Dustin are trying to remove equipment from the van, they argue regarding the van needing more upgrades to be able to keep up with the Demogorgon. In the midst of their argument, Dustin takes it upon himself to drill a hole in Steve's car, despite his protests. While this is happening, Nancy loads one of Murray's telemetry trackers into a shotgun shell and chastises her for being reckless. She ventures out to prove him wrong by shooting it into a potato sack. On the way there, Murray talks to Jonathan about advancing his relationship with Nancy, and Nancy stops them and gets them to focus. She shoots the shell into the sack and the tracker stays intact despite the blast and the recoil. Jonathan observes his John Coltrane tape and opens it to reveal an engagement ring inside. Back in the Upside Down, Hopper begins to interrogate the soldier, but he laughs off the attempt and calls himself a grunt. Hopper knows the difference between a grunt and what the soldier is. Hopper reveals he knows who Dr. Kay is and that El is in the soldier's head. She learns his name is Robert Akers and that he attended a meeting with Dr. Kay at the base on Gable Ridge Road. Akers claims that all he knows is that Kay wants Akers. El keeps digging and finds a door that is sealed. She opens the door, but passes out. She tells Hopper that Kay is keeping someone powerful behind the door, and suspects it is Vecna.
That night, the party puts their plan into action. Derek is summoned to the dinner table by Tina, and a "tearful" Erica is allowed in the house with an "apology." She brings a pie that Tina loves and them and the Turnbow parents are all at the dinner table. Everyone but Tina has eaten the pie and they all begin to pass out, revealing the pie was infused with benzo. Erica is forced to inject Tina directly with benzo, and Robin, Joyce, and Will take the Turnbows to a farm. The rest of the group booby traps the Turnbow house in order to enact their plan. While this is happening, Will and Joyce have a heart-to-heart conversation. Will apologizes for that morning and Joyce tells her son she thinks about the night he was taken all the time. Will tells her that night was not her fault despite her protests that she was running late from work. She promises she will never look away until this is all over. Will tells her that she does not have to look away, but instead trust him.
Back at the Turnbow house, the plan goes off without a hitch. Lucas leads the Demogorgon throughout the house where Nancy can shoot the tracker in it and Jonathan sets it on fire, forcing it to flee into the Upside Down. Steve, Jonathan, Nancy, and Dustin are following the Demogorgon while it navigates the Upside Down through the town. Dustin loses the signal but finds it going southeast. Back at the farm, Derek wakes up in a panic and Robin puts the blindfold back over his head. Will realizes that they are southeast and realizes the Demogorgon knows Derek is awake. Back in the mindscape, Holly decides to follow the map and help Henry, and she makes it to where the map told her to go. She stumbles upon a cave that she runs from, but she is found by the person: Max Mayfield, who helps her up and introduces herself as the episode ends.
What a hell of a story we got this time out, huh? I cannot wait to see how this "volume" of the final season ends, because it may just get crazy. This is the end of the review, but I did promise you guys a "Theory Time" at the end to compensate for the lack of standout performances. So, here it is.
Welcome to the next installment of Theory Time, where I use context that we have already gotten to be able to predict how Stranger Things is going to end. There is going to be one for the next episode, as this is the natural bridge to the next batch of episodes. The first theory that I want to discuss is going to involve Will, but this one is going to be regarding his sexuality. Before Will actor Noah Schnapp came out as gay, people were speculating on Will's sexuality and potential relationship with Mike. Here's my take on the "Byler" situation: while I do think Robin is going to be the vessel for Will to come out as gay, and while I do think he will confess his feelings to Mike, Will and Mike will not get together. Why would the Duffers throw away four and a half seasons of relationship building between Mike and Eleven to throw it away to satisfy a certain sect of the fanbase? Come on, people. And I could be wrong and wind up eating my words (and I will gladly admit defeat), but I do not think I will.
The next theory I want to talk about has to do with what could be behind that door that Eleven saw. I know she said that she believed Vecna was behind the door, but I have another wild theory on who could be behind the door. Remember the "Lost Sister" episode from the second season that not many people liked? And remember that other powered "sister" named Eight? Yeah, I think it's her behind that door and not Vecna. And I will tell you why. No, Santa's not coming to town, but I think Eight will be. It's because only the Duffers would be crazy enough to do something like that. At least that is what I would like to believe in a situation like this.
And I want to end this version of Theory Time by talking about what I predict will be the big hat-drop moment at the end of the fourth episode. In the final trailer to this overall season, we see a shot of Vecna coming through the gate and appearing to take Will with him while telling him he will help Vecna one last time. It may seem a bit far-fetched to say what I am about to say, but I had a theory that Vecna was going to take Will to the Upside Down. I have changed my tune a little bit. I now think a bigger jaw-dropping moment would be Vecna doing some second season infection kind of shit and turning Will against the party by giving him some sort of power. There are some holes in that theory since there were never any teases to Will having powers at all in this season, only that he had a connection to Vecna and the Mind Flayer. It would be insane, but something I am not holding out hope for.
That is it this time for Theory Time, and I hope I get to do one after the "volume one finale."
Stranger Things gives us a deeper offering this time around, with more intrigue and character work than ever before, while also leaving a lot of questions for the final "volume one" episode. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.
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