Grading ‘The Deal’ in Stranger Things
About Hopper and Dr. Brenner; About Elle and the Monster
Heading into the Finale of STRANGER THINGS, Sheriff Hopper and the ruthless scientist Dr. Brenner strike ‘The Deal’. Hopper reveals the location of Elle, a girl with very powerful telekinetic powers, to Brenner, whom is desperate to further his twisted research experiments on Elle.
About “The Deal”
Hopper and Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) are allowed to enter the Upside-Down (a shadowy, parallel universe), to look for Joyce’s son Will Byers (missing since episode one). In exchange, Hopper divulges the hiding spot of Elle and her friends to Brenner. Let’s grade the results for each party of The Deal.
Grade for Dr. Brenner, aka “Papa”: D
From Dr. Brenner’s perspective, he thinks he gets the sole thing he wants: Elle. It’s a convenient bonus that his biggest distractions from his research, Hopper and Joyce, are volunteering to saunter into a dark, alternate dimension to face a fucking planar-travelling-mystery-monster on a thirst for blood. Brenner assumes they’re goners.
Any person or subject beyond Elle and his research are completely irrelevant to him. If Brenner is still alive, he will never stop hunting for Eleven.
Grade for Sheriff Hopper: B+
Chief Hopper strikes the same deal as Brenner. On the surface, we might question Hopper’s decision because he places the very kids he’s sworn to protect — an oath I think he takes quite seriously, even in the quiet, mundane town of Hawkins — in danger. Adding onto those negative consequences, he also puts an innocent girl at risk — a girl who reminds him of his own daughter lost to cancer, whom he would have done ANYTHING for. Hopper’s actions of selling Elle’s location don’t fit his character.
Unless he knows that Elle is also the Demogorgon.
Hopper knowingly sends Dr. Brenner and his crew to a creature as dangerous as the Monster: Elle. Hopper knows Elle can take care of herself, and she proves him right. She uses her mind to kill or maim any and all threats to the main characters, and her K:D ratio is off the charts. She’s actually considerably MORE powerful than the monster, literally disintegrating its fucking ass with her mind!
Maybe Hopper leaves ‘Waffles for Elle’ to atone for his brokering.
Grade for Elle: A+++
Elle wasn’t even at the table for The Deal, which sought to make a pawn of her in one sense or another. Does it matter? No. If inclined, she can can freeze you in place and squeeze your heart with her mind until you start bleeding out of your eyeballs. GAME. OVER.
Grade for The Monster: F
Sure, the monster is just an animal trying to survive like any other living creature. Wrong place, wrong time, buckeroo.
What’s Next?
What’s next for STRANGER THINGS now that the ‘The Deal’ is done? A very exciting notion about exploring the D&D universe as a medium for storytelling is that there are so many realms, creatures and characters to work with. It’s nice to see Elle, Mike, Joyce, Hopper, and the gang make it through, but who knows if we’ll see them again or if we’ll see an entirely new cast, set in an entirely new place, facing an entirely new set of challenges. Maybe more deals will need to be stricken in the next campaign.
