Stranger Things 4X5: Chapter Five: The Nina Project

I don't know if it was just me, but it feels like they tried to shove way too much story into way too short of an episode. This was one of the shorter episodes of the season so far, at about an hour and 15 minutes. But it felt like they tried to put a whole season into this one episode! There were, like, five storylines happening at once. And, whenever we transitioned, I forgot all about the other plots. But, that could just be me. I'm forgetful. 🤷‍♀️

Owens takes Eleven down into some missile silo to re-teach her who to use her powers. But, once they get down there, Brenner shows up (yes, I had to look up his name) and El freaks out and tries to run away. But, she runs into guards who drug and subdue her. She ends up in the sensory tank (Nina) and is forced to replay her old memories until she remembers enough of them to unlock her anger. This triggers her power, but it's not enough to call it up at will. So, she willingly goes with Brenner to continue the training. I hate this. I get why she made this decision, but I still hate it. Fuck this guy. Even if what he is trying to do is for her own good, I don't care right now.

We also got Hopper back in prison in Russia. He ends up celled with the guy who tried to help him. We get some super sad backstory on Hopper here. Turns out, he was responsible for working with Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. They told them it was totally fine, but it was not (as you can imagine). Lots of the people he came back with had health problems and problems with getting/staying pregnant. But he and his wife managed to have a healthy baby. But she died. And then his wife left him. He's not convinced his life is cursed. He's convinced he is the curse.

Joyce and Murray end up on this crappy ass plane with Yuri so he can give them to the KGB. Eventually, they realize it's too loud for him to hear them, so they break some jars and use them to cut their ropes. As they are almost done, Yuri shows up and and fight ensues. Murray ends up knocking him out with some karate. But then, he and Joyce are left to figure out how to fly the plane. Which ends up terribly, and they crash.

The military guy who is basically dying in the pizza truck, ends up giving them a message just before he dies. Mike figures out the pen he gave them had a phone number in it to contact El. But, when they call it, it's a dial up modem. One of them figures out it's like War Games (great fucking movie) and they need a hacker. They decide to drive up to Dustin's girlfriend, Susie, in Utah.

The rest of the group is trying to keep Max safe (while also sort of trying to keep Eddie safe). They figure out that Vecna is in the upside opposite of Victor Creel's house. However, it doesn't safe his next victim. Chrissy's boyfriend and one of the cool guys, Patrick, are trying to catch Eddie. But Patrick is the next victim. Both Eddie and Jason end up having to watch Patrick get killed by Vecna. On the plus side, Jason will probably realize Eddie is not the killer now, right?