An attack from the Mind Flayer has lingering effects.
We come closer to connecting the dots in Stranger Things season 3 Chapter 7: ‘The Bite’. The Mind Flayer is fiercely following El while Grigori and his minions go after Hopper and crew. The scoopers makes their way back to the surface, but danger lurks at every turn. Jim and Joyce are confronted with their feelings for one another when Murray calls them out.
— Netflix (@netflix) July 11, 2019
Fair is in full swing
It’s the 4th of July and the fair is in full swing. Mayor Kline boasts about his role in bringing the event to fruition and introduces the grand fireworks display. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler sit in the ferris wheel with Holly watching the fireworks. Holly notices the trees moving, but Karen dismisses the comment and tells Holly to watch the lights.
Back at the cabin
Back at the cabin, the gang reviews what Billy told El when he “visited” her. He says the Mind Flayer plans to destroy El and all of her friends. Nancy makes note of Billy’s “visit” being at there at the cabin and surmises that the Mind Flayer is nearby and ready to attack. The group hears the fireworks but suspects something more. Will has that familiar feeling that the monster is present. They walk outside and see the fireworks blasting and trees moving. We get a shot of the monster in the distance.
The group goes back inside and fortifies the cabin with blockades. They gather weapons, “circle the wagons” and await its arrival. The lights flicker, the cabin shakes, and boom! The monster smashes into the cabin. Everyone makes their best effort to take down the monster but to no avail. Then the monster grabs El yanking her upward. Mike grabs her leg and holds on for dear life. The others join in trying to get El free.
Nancy shoots the monster, Lucas uses his ax, and El falls to the ground. Mike pulls the tentacle off of her leg and El uses her powers to split the monster’s head apart. They all jump in the card and flee the monster.
Coming up for air
Dustin drives the getaway cart back to the elevator storage room. Erica sits in the passenger seat while Robin and Steve act goofy in the back storage compartment feeling the effects of being drugged by their captors earlier. Dustin plows into some barrels and they all enter the storage room. He asks Steve where his car is parked but learns that the Russians took Steve’s keys.
Dustin presses the button to send the elevator back up to the mall. They exit the building but get little reprieve as guards are waiting for them. Dustin leads them back inside the mall and through the back hallways until they reach the back entrance to the movie theater.
Dustin parks Robin and Steve in the movie theater on one end of the row and he and Erica sit on the other end. They are trying to stay hidden and buy some time while they figure out how to get a ride.
On the road again
Hopper, Joyce, Murray and Alexei are back in the convertible and headed back to Hawkins to check on the kids. Alexei shares that two keys are required to turn off the machine keeping the gate open. Planck’s Constant is the code required to unlock the box holding the keys.
Joyce thinks they can handle it. Hopper is aggravated. They begin bickering (again!). He reminds her that it’s virtually impossible to get inside the lab to even attempt to get the keys. She reminds Hopper that they told the military to come. Hopper says she may have ruined that when she called them back with her mom speech.
Murray interrupts Joyce and Hopper to point out that all this bickering probably stems from their attraction to one another. Of course, they deny it completely. Alexei is surprised that Joyce and Hopper have not actually been together before. He and Murray break out in laughter over the ridiculousness of their denials.
can we all just agree that no one can top murray's matchmaking skills? pic.twitter.com/SgjUF1Lm0w
— Stranger Things (@Stranger_Things) July 12, 2019
Let’s take care of that wound
Nancy pulls the station wagon into the Bradley’s Big Buy store. The group gathers supplies to tend to El’s wound. Jonathan and Nancy think about how the Mind Flayer monster probably consumed Mrs. Driscoll, Tom, Bruce and the rest of the flayed in order to grow so large. They realize they will be taking all the flayed down with the Mind Flayer.
Lucas becomes distracted with fireworks while looking for a bowl. Lucas says the fireworks can be used to take down the monster. Max insists that El is the one who can do it. Lucas brings the fireworks for backup.
Mike and El have a heart to heart. Mike apologizes for being jealous about El spending time with Max. He tries his embarrassing best to avoid using the “love” word as he explains himself. The conversation is interrupted by a code red from Dustin. Unfortunately, they cannot hear Dustin well because his radio batteries are draining. They hear him ask for Nancy to give them a ride and something about Russians and the gate.
Back to the Future, well, back to that movie
Dustin returns to his sit next to Erica at the movie. He asks her for batteries, of which she has none. He then notices that Steve and Robin are no longer in their seats.
Robin and Steve are at the water fountain trying to make sense of the movie’s complex timeline. Steve invites Robin to look up at the beautiful skylights. The vision makes them nauseous due to the drugs in their system. They run to the restroom and vomit in separate stalls.
The two scoopers end up having some intimate conversation as the effects of the drugs begin to wear off. Steve admits that he likes Robin, but we learn that while she is surprisingly fond of Steve, she does not like him in a romantic way. It turns out that Robin was only obsessed with Steve in high school because he was the object of her real crush Tammy Thompson’s infatuation. Steve is surprised by the reveal, but the two carry on joking as good friends do.
Dustin finds Steve and Robin in the bathroom and admonishes them for leaving the theater. Now it is time to leave, though, because the movie is out. They try to blend in with the exiting crowd to catch a ride on the bus. The scoopers don’t make it very far. A guard spies them. They make a dash for the escalator and slide down the middle to the ground floor.
Back at the Big Buy
El puts on her blindfold and “looks” for Dustin. She sees him at the mall movie theater and the group wonders why he would be talking about the gate at the mall. Did they hear him wrong? They all leave with a large load of fireworks. As they exit, some of the blood from El’s leg wound begins to coagulate and make noise.
After they leave, Billy enters the store presumably looking for them. He finds the sticky substance making a creature-like noise. He is on their trail.
A “fair” chance of discovery
The convertible pulls up to the fair. Joyce and Hopper exit the vehicle to look for their kids. They have some awkward conversation about Murray’s accusation. Kline spies them as they walk past. He runs to his car to report Hopper’s arrival using his ginormous Saved by the Bell style phone.
Meanwhile, Alexei and Murray talk about destroying the Russian’s machine instead of just turning it off. Alexei warns that you cannot be near the machine when it breaks or you will be annihilated. Alexei proposes they destroy the machine and he will become a fun American. Murray says he can have fun now and they enter the fair.
It’s not all fun and games
Alexei wants to play a carnival game. Murray wants food. Meanwhile, Joyce spies Karen Wheeler at the Gravitron ride. She asks her where the kids are, but Karen is not sure who’s house they were at last. Joyce and Hopper get stuck on the ride with the Wheelers. The pair holds hands as the ride begins.
Alexei wins the balloon pop game and walks away with a large stuffed Woody Woodpecker doll. Just as Murray returns with the corn dogs, he sees that Alexei has been shot. Grigori got to him before Murray’s return. Murray sits Alexei down between two of the carnival booths and looks for help.
Murray spies Joyce and Hopper. Hopper spies the Russians looking for him. He tells Joyce to find Murray and bring the car. Hopper enters the Big Top maze, takes down one of the Russians and takes his radio. Grigori arrives and Hopper shoots him.
Murray and Joyce return to Alexei, but he is dead. They leave for the car and Joyce spies Kline. She punches him in the face and gives him a swift kick to the groin with her knee.
Hopper shoots Grigori in the hall of mirrors. Other Russians arrive and we see that Grigori was wearing a bulletproof vest. Meanwhile, Hopper exits down the slide and jumps in the convertible with Murray and Joyce. He is sad as he learns of Alexei’s death.
Russian conversation is heard on the radio. Hopper tells Murray to translate. Russian guards are talking about “the children” at the mall. They have put the mall on lock-down and are looking for them.
A rescue and collapse
We see the Scoops Troop hiding behind a food counter as the Russians close in on them. Suddenly, we hear a car alarm that diverts the guards’ attention. We see that El is manipulating the car on display in the mall. She flings it towards the guards knocking them to the ground.
The scoopers looks up to see that their friends have come to their rescue!
The kids are busy catching up, sharing details about their missions and making introductions for Robin. Suddenly, El falls to the ground. Something is moving inside the bite on her leg!
Victorious moments and close calls coincide with the loss of Alexia and the collapse of El in Chapter Seven of Stranger Things season 3. With only one chapter remaining, our heroine is down for the count. Will she recover and can the Mind Flayer be defeated? Come back for observations on the final chapter of Stranger Things season 3!
Find reconnaissance for Chapter Six here.
Also, check out podcast episodes covering Stranger Things season 3 chapters 3 & 4.
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