Stranger Things season 2 episode 3: “The Pollywog”, recap and analysis
Season 2 · Episode 3 · November 1984
A clown, a classroom, a shadow. The fact sheet, the order of the scenes, Bob's advice, Mr. Clarke's class, Eleven's outing, then the last scene. The title is “The Pollywog”.
Stranger Things season 2 episode 3 runs from the evening of October 31 to November 1, 1984. Bob tells a story about a clown. Will follows his advice. The shadow enters him by day, at school.
The essentials
- Full title: “Chapter Three: The Pollywog”
- Original title: “Chapter Three: The Pollywog”
- Runtime: 51 minutes
- Directed by: Shawn Levy
- Written by: Justin Doble
- Released: Friday, October 27, 2017, with the whole season
- Story: from October 31 to November 1, 1984
- French voices: Will: Fanny Bloc. Bob: Christophe Lemoine. Dustin: Kaycie Chase. Eleven: Clara Soares. Hopper: Stéphane Pouplard. Joyce: Claire Guyot. Max: Clara Quilichini. Mike: Marie Facundo. Nancy: Alexia Papineschi. Karen: Delphine Braillon. Claudia: Anne Plumet. Vicki: Audrey Sourdive
Contents
The fact sheet for the third chapter
The full title is “Chapter Three: The Pollywog”. Shawn Levy directs. Justin Doble writes. It goes online on Friday, October 27, 2017, with the whole season. This article goes with 51 minutes. The story runs from the evening of October 31 to November 1. All of this takes place in 1984.
In the United States, in three days and on television only, the rating is 11.6 million viewers, of whom 8.1 million are between 18 and 49. They are viewers, not households. The figure is cited on November 2, 2017.
Dustin explains the word in the title: “It's another word for tadpole.” Pollywog is another word for tadpole. “The Pollywog” was already among the nine titles announced on August 31, 2016. The Duffer brothers had warned that the list was provisional and not in order. In February 2017 Gaten Matarazzo announced that Dustin would grow attached to a creature, “not from this planet or this dimension”.
Chibi pin: Dustin with a pink and white cap, a purple jacket, beside a green creature with a head of red petals. It is a later form, not the larva from this chapter.
In the shopDustin and Dart pin13,90 €See the product
From the evening of October 31 to the next day
The chapter opens on the evening of Halloween, when Dustin comes home with what he found in the trash can. A flashback shows the end of 1983, at Hopper's box. The present picks up on the morning of November 1, in the cabin, then on the way to school.
The day of November 1 strings together the class, the club at lunch, the tape, the escape, Nancy's call, then the gym. The last scene is at school, by day: Will turns toward the shadow. It is not the evening before. The markers follow the edit, with no invented time. “At lunch” comes from Dustin: “At lunch, AV Club.”
-
October 31, late The trash can
Dustin empties Yertle's aquarium and gives the creature a name.
-
Late 1983 The box
Hopper finds Eleven looking for food in his things.
-
November 1, morning Breakfast
A reconciliation meal. The evening before she heard Mike from the Void.
-
On the road The Bobmobile
Bob tells of Mr. Baldo and the fair in Roane County.
-
In class Phineas Gage
An iron bar, 1848. Dustin arrives late.
-
At lunch The club
The creature is shown. It hates heat. Something moves inside it.
-
The afternoon The school
The creature grows two legs and escapes. At home Nancy sets a meeting for the next day. Eleven sees Mike and Max in the gym.
-
Last scene Will and the shadow
At school, by day. He shouts “Go away!” The shadow enters him.
Bob's advice: Mr. Baldo
Bob drives Will to school. Sean Astin plays Bob. Will denies having had a nightmare. “Um… no.” Bob tells of Mr. Baldo. He is a child, in line for the Ferris wheel at the Roane County fair, when a white glove taps him on the shoulder. Nightmares every night, for months. His mother stays until he falls asleep. One night, in the dream, he stops running. “Go away. Go away!” The clown vanishes. “Easy-peasy.” Bob does not understand what Will's episodes really are.
At lunch Bob has seen the tape. Older boys scared Will. Joyce asks “Were they the Zimmerman brothers again?” The camcorder is a loan: “my JVC was a little dinged up”. Bob says he was a bullied kid. “I struggled a lot like Will when I was a kid.” He admires that she hits back. Later Joyce calls him at the RadioShack, so he can play the tape. “it's a VHSC, not a VHS”.
Phineas Gage and the AV room
Mr. Clarke tells of Phineas Gage, a railroad worker, 1848. An iron bar goes through his head. He survives. His personality changes. The people close to him say “No longer Gage”. People spoke of “the American Crowbar Case”, although it was not a crowbar. Dustin arrives late and tells everyone to meet at the club at lunch. The class is told as it is. Nothing says that it foreshadows what follows.
At the club Dustin introduces the creature. “His name is d'Artagnan… Dart for short.” The short name is spoken in this room. The page on Dart covers the name, the molts and what comes next. The chapter stops at this point: it is looking for food, “like a living booger”, it hates heat, and Dustin names two land tadpoles, Indirana semipalmata and Adenomera andreae. “I've discovered a new species.” “Dustonious pollywogus.” Will recognizes the sound. At the end of the day the boys shut themselves in without Max. Two legs grow. Max picks the lock. The escape is set to the theme from Gremlins.
At the station Powell and Callahan have found more tracks, close to the Gilbert farm. They stopped searching at nightfall. Hopper answers them: “They're called flashlights.” He goes out and kicks the door. “Why's he gotta kick the door?” Later he shows Owens a map: the rot in a radius of more than three miles, leading back to the Hawkins lab. The last burn was two days earlier. “Convince me.” Owens has soil and pumpkins taken and asks for the area to stay closed.
Will in building bricks, brown hair in a bowl cut, green jacket over a yellow and red striped T-shirt, brown pants.
In the shopBuildable big-head figure Will Byers19,90 €See the product
Eleven breaks the three rules
In the morning Hopper prepares a “triple-decker Eggo extravaganza”. “only 8,000 calories”. Eleven forgives him for being late. The evening before she heard Mike from the Void. “You visited him again last night?” “He says he needs me.” She counts: “soon” on day 21, on day 205, on day 326. With her mind she breaks a plate on him, shouts “Friends don't lie!” and goes to her room. It is not a birthday.
The flashback fits into a few words. The cabin is Hopper's grandfather's. “This is your new home.” “You Don't Mess Around with Jim”, by Jim Croce, is playing. A tripwire makes a gunshot sound. Three rules: curtains closed, open only to the code, do not go out alone, especially by day. “Don't Be Stupid Rules.” The detail of the months there is on the page about Hopper and Eleven. In the present she breaks the three rules and goes out.
Outside a mother asks her if her mom is there. Eleven asks the way to school. “Where is school?” The woman points the way, about a mile. When they ask where her parents are, Eleven turns their attention away with her mind. Powell calls Hopper about “that Russian girl Murray was going on about”. In the gym Max asks why Mike hates her. He answers that the group does not need another member: him the paladin, Will the cleric, Dustin the bard, Lucas the ranger, El the mage. “Will's our cleric.” “El is our mage.” Max offers to be the “zoomer” and circles him. Eleven, from the door, trips her with her mind. “like a magnet or something pulling on my board”. Mike helps her up. Eleven leaves, without being seen. She does not slam a door.
Nancy takes Steve aside that same day, during basketball. “King Steve”, to “Go!”, by Tones on Tail. He tells her what she said and asks her to say she loves him. “I think that you're bullshit.” He goes back to the game. Jonathan tells her Steve asked him to take her home. Nancy asks what if she meant what she said. Jonathan answers that Will is back, but not the same. When she sees a Walkman, she thinks of the RadioShack and suggests skipping 4th period. At the Wheelers Nancy tells Karen that her Walkman is broken, then calls Mrs. Holland. “Marsha speaking.” A meeting the next day at 9 a.m., in a park. The lab is listening. What happens at that meeting is not in this chapter.
Will facing the shadow
Joyce pauses the Halloween tape during Will's episode. In the snow on the picture a shape looks like his drawing. She calls the school. Mr. Clarke is out. She drives there. Will, for his part, finds the creature in the bathroom beside Mr. Salerno's classroom. His episode begins. A wave of shadow chases him. He runs outside. Dustin finds the creature again and hides it under his cap.
Will turns around. He hears Bob's voice. He shouts “Go away!” A thread of the shadow touches him and enters through his eyes, nose and mouth. Bob's voice says “Easy-peasy”. This happens at Hawkins Middle School, by day, on November 1. Bob has told his clown story. Nothing in this chapter shows that he will know what Will made of it.
Noah Schnapp shot this confrontation in front of a green screen, at night, shouting into nothing. The source is a Vulture article of June 12, 2018, cited by the wiki. On the show Beyond Stranger Things the Duffer brothers said an earlier version had already made Will, at this point, a malevolent character, according to the wiki. In the opening scene Dustin is still wearing his costume as Ray Stantz, from Ghostbusters. An E.T. figure stands on his shelf. One of the boys names the Death Star. “Whistle on the River”, by the Mercy Brothers, accompanies Bob and Will's drive. “The Ghost in You”, by the Psychedelic Furs, plays during Nancy and Jonathan's talk.
Duvet cover and pillowcases with the illustrated poster: a girl in the center, a red shadow at the top, a man in a hat, a girl with a skateboard, two boys on bikes.
In the shopBedding Set Season 2 Illustrated Poster69,90 €See the product
Frequently asked questions
What is the title of episode 3 of season 2?
“Chapter Three: The Pollywog”, the original title. Dustin says pollywog is another word for tadpole.
What does Bob tell Will?
About Mr. Baldo, a clown at the fair in Roane County. As a child, in the dream, Bob stopped running and said “Go away”. The clown vanished. He closes with “Easy-peasy”. He does not understand the nature of Will's episodes.
Who is Phineas Gage in the class?
A railroad worker. In 1848 an iron bar goes through his head. He survives, and his personality changes. Mr. Clarke tells it in class. Dustin arrives late.
Why does Eleven go out?
Hopper tells her that seeing Mike is too dangerous. She recalls days 21, 205 and 326, and “Friends don't lie”. She breaks the three rules. The waffle breakfast is not a birthday.
Where and when is Will possessed?
On November 1, 1984, at school, by day, at the end of the chapter. Not on Halloween evening. He shouts “Go away!” The shadow enters through his eyes, nose and mouth.
Who directs, and how long does the episode run?
Shawn Levy directs. Justin Doble writes. This article goes with 51 minutes. The wiki gives 51 minutes and 54 seconds. It goes online on October 27, 2017.
Does Nancy call Barb's mother?
Yes. Mrs. Holland answers “Marsha speaking”. Nancy arranges to meet her the next day at 9 a.m., in a park. The lab is listening. What happens at the meeting is in the next chapter.
