‘Stranger Things 3’ Recap: ‘Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

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I have to admit, the more episodes that I watch of season three of Stranger Things, the more I find myself genuinely impressed with the series. Because the scripts this year are simply phenomenal, since they continue to offer up a wealth of juicy plot points for the audience to chew upon, alongside some phenomenal character development and the third episode of this brand-new season is no exception to this unspoken rule. But what truly impressed me when it comes to ‘Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard’ is how this episode took the time to add some incredible depth to the character moments in question.
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But we will get to that in just a moment, because we need to take a moment and discuss how the plot was moved forward in magnificent fashion once again. Because in this tale, we saw Robin figure out exactly what the secret Russian message means, leading to quite the stunning surprise in the middle of the night where she and Dustin and Steve were able to discover that strange Soviet things were happening on the dock of the Starcourt Mall, and I have no doubt that they are super close to discovering what’s going on in that delivery room. Plus, El and Max were able to discover something strange is up with Billy as they searched for the missing lifeguard that shares the episode’s namesake, and while they didn’t get all of the details of what’s going on behind the scenes, what the audience learned was quite incredible to say the least.

Because now we know that the Mind Flayer is slowly building an army since Heather the lifeguard and Billy kidnapped her family to add them to the monster’s growing family, a unit that includes Mrs. Driscoll since we also saw her feasting upon fertilizer when Nancy and Jonathan returned to her house to prove that their story was worth chasing. However, while all of those plot points were juicy in their own right, I mentioned some awesome character related moments in this tale, and the first one that really caught my eye was Will’s journey, since he struggled with the fact that everything was changing in regard to the dynamic with his closest friends. For Mike and Lucas had zero interest in playing D&D with him, they were only focused on the wonder of girls, and it was just fascinating to see that important and relatable teenage moment play out on screen because few shows ever dive into the unfortunate details that come with growing up.

However, the centerpiece of the episode was Joyce and Hopper’s story, since her discoveries led them back to the Hawkins’ lab where so many important moments have occurred in their lives, and while this story ends with plenty of mystery since that big Russian dude was poking around there for something, and was able to beat the tar out of Hopper, the moment these two spent by the old gateway is what matters more. Because down there, in the depths of this place, is where we came to learn how much the past haunts Joyce in this town, and how that pain is making her wonder if by a chance a fresh start wouldn’t be a bad thing and this was just, incredible to see on screen. For few horror stories/sequels ever take the time to address the lasting echoes of trauma and PTSD and to see it play out here was downright brilliant.

If anything, this is an episode that really did leave me in awe when all is said and done. Because normally when you pack this much stuff into a single hour of storytelling, things feel rushed, as if the writer’s room is trying to get to the next script as quickly as possible. But that simply wasn’t the case here. For everything felt natural and the story dedicated the right amount of time to everything that happened here and more importantly, the series didn’t lose its charm in the slightest. Because there were still plenty of chuckle worthy moments in this particular tale, adding to the wonder of this episode and well, I’m definitely ready for more. Because I need to know what’s hiding in that delivery room, and I must know more about the Mind Flayer’s plan, so, on that note, it’s time that I return to the Starcourt Mall, to uncover its secrets. Until next time.

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