Stranger Things Season 3, Episode 2: The 5 best moments from The Mall Rats

When characters act different than expected, that’s cause for concern on Stranger Things.

Something strange is building, and there is more to the story. Will someone realize before it’s too late?

4. Bizarro Billy?

Cougars waiting for Billy at the pool. Karen’s obviously a little uneasy since she thinks she stood Billy up, but doesn’t realize if she had gone through with it Billy would have been on his date with the Upside Down monster.

The thing is, this Billy sure isn’t acting like normal Billy. Almost a Bizarro Billy, or an automaton Billy. When Karen tries to apologize, Billy violently backhands her. It’s a crushing blow, but Billy’s turn is only in his imagination right now. Something is seriously off with him.

Later he hallucinates the entire way to his lifeguard chair, where his photosensitivity is an obvious issue for a lifeguard. Especially since he’s having trance-like discussions with The Russian Mind Flayer, and it’s telling him it wants to “build.”

To make matters worse, Billy now sunburns faster than any ginger on the planet, and his exposure almost immediately turns into a 2nd-degree burn. Billy is now the official conduit for evil as if viewers needed another reason to dislike him.

5. Nancy Drew is on the case

Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers go to get a scoop on a story, despite the fact she’s relegated to coffee fill-ups and 1980s GrubHub. She teased mercilessly by newsman Bruce (Jake Busey is hilarious in the role).

It turns out that an old lady named Doris has multiple bags of fertilizer chewed through by rats. Big problem: rats don’t eat fertilizer. Because she’s a busybody, the Doris thought it important to tell the news, and then throw in the possibility of rabies. She even caught one of the rats! When Jonathan tries to photograph it, the rat is flailing around in the cage like Maddie Ziegler and Shia LeBeouf in the “Elastic Heart” video.

When the amateur sleuths eventually leave, the rat convulses to death and explodes into a chunky red jello that moves like a cross between an octopus and the metal in Terminator 2. Terrifying stuff.

“The Mall Rats” is the full introduction to evil on this season of Stranger Things. How long will Eleven be distracted by love before she recognizes it?

Stranger Things Season 3 is now available to stream on Netflix.