'Stranger Things 2' Recap - 'Chapter Nine: The Gate'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

It’s rare that a television series sucks me in to the point where I find myself chewing on my nails out of anticipation and nervousness, but that’s precisely what Stranger Things managed to pull off when it comes to its second season finale. After all, we said goodbye to dear old Bob a mere episode ago, and I was jittery over the possibility that we might bid farewell to another character in heartbreaking fashion.
 
Thankfully however, ‘Chapter Nine: The Gate’ did not feature any terrible deaths, instead it delivered a tour de force finale. One that resolved every single plot thread introduced this season in beautiful fashion…starting with the ugly and long-awaited showdown between the Shadow Monster and Will’s friends and well, what made this part of the story so incredible, is the sheer fact that it took a three-pronged attack to defeat this powerful being.
 
First and foremost, Joyce had to free her son from the evil residing within him. Because once Eleven seals the Gate, any of the Shadow Monster’s minions left on Earth will suffer a slow and painful death after being cut off from the hive mind and after remembering what Will said about the creature liking it cold, she had an inspired idea on how to free her son, and using extreme amounts of heat at Hopper’s cabin finally freed her baby boy from the evil lurking in his mind.
 
While Joyce worked to free Will, Dustin and the gang decided they needed to help out as well. Because if Eleven was going to close the Gate, she needed a clear shot at doing so, so everyone piled up in the car after a nasty run in with Max’s step brother and headed into the tunnels beneath the city to set a fire to grab the attention of the Demo-dogs and draw them away from the Lab and thankfully, their plan worked like a charm.

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​Because as the pack of Demo-dogs responded to the flames, Eleven and Hopper were able to get back into the Lab and deal with the tear between our world and the Upside Down and despite a few hiccups and after coming face to face with the Shadow Monster, Eleven was able to seal the rift at last, putting an end to this two year nightmare in beautiful and seamless fashion and yet…the show wasn’t done wrapping up this season’s storylines.
 
Because shortly after this grand showdown, Hopper and Eleven were finally able to understand a sense of family since Dr. Owens made a little magic happen by granting Eleven a birth certificate that tied her to the Sheriff, making him a proud poppa once more. Plus, the whole group finally seemed to move on from the nightmare that started a year ago and enjoy their childhood once again as was evidenced at the Snow Ball, and heck, Mike and Eleven finally shared their first kiss and Joyce has her family back together as well and it seemed that for the first time in the short history of this series…that everything ended happy.
 
But alas, we learned in the closing moments of the episode, that the Shadow Monster doesn’t go down easy and he’s quietly watching and waiting in the Upside Down and clearly…we’ll be seeing him again down the road. But in the here and the now, the kids are happy and so is the audience because wow…what a season. This one really had it all, depth, character growth, plot lines that weren’t left hanging and a satisfying and epic ending. There’s really no flaws to be found in season two of Stranger Things and the only question remaining at this point is how the Shadow Monster plans to return to our world now that his only way in is closed and sadly, we’ll have to wait another year to find that out. Until next time. 

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