Stranger Things season 3, episode 4 recap: The Sauna Test

Stranger Things 3 delivers real action in “The Sauna Test.” Erica reigns supreme on a mission and El throws someone through a wall. We’ve got the recap!

“The Sauna Test” is a pretty awesome hour of television. And, we get some confirmation on what the Mind Flayer is doing with its captured citizens of Hawkins. The episode was directed by Stranger Things executive producer Shawn Levy (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) and written by Kate Trefry (Fear Street). We also get a good idea of just how strong Eleven (Millie Bobbie Brown) has become. Plus, the Terminator shows up. Kind of.

Pooling Resources

All of the independent investigations from “The Case of the Missing Lifeguard” slowly start to come together in “The Sauna Test.” Once Will (Noah Schnapp) tells Mike (Finn Wolfhard) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) that he can feel the Mind Slayer, the guys immediately call a code red. Max (Sadie Sink) gets a call at home from Lucas and Mike to bring Eleven and meet at Mike’s.

light. Read. Stranger Things season 3, episode 2 recap: The Mall Rats

Once there, they compare notes and realize that the Mind Flayer might have been locked inside of our world when El closed the gate last season. It’s looking for a new host. But, since Billy (Dacre Montgomery) and Heather (Francesca Reale) are acting suspicious and are missing, the Mind Flayer may be looking to flay multiple hosts.

The mostly reformed Party comes up with a plan to trap Billy in the sauna at the Hawkins Municipal Pool. The Mind Flayer likes it cool. If they turn the temp up to 220 degrees on him, they’ll know if Billy is flayed.

Stranger Things — Credit: Netflix

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At the same time, Nancy (Natalia Dyer) is at the hospital visiting Mrs. Driscoll (Peggy Miley). She and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) were fired from the paper earlier in the day for pursuing the Mind Flayer story and, supposedly, causing Mrs. Driscoll to end up hospitalized. Nancy can’t believe how degrading her job was. Jonathan doesn’t give the best advice. He basically asks what she expected. But Karen (Cara Buono) gives her the real pep talk she needs and convinces her to chase the story and publish on her own if she has too.

That leads us to later in the day. As The Party is performing the sauna test on Billy, Nancy is with Mrs. Driscoll in the hospital. Like Will in season two, Mrs. Driscoll is part of a hive mind. She writhes in pain as Billy is slow cooked in the sauna.

Billy starts to confess that he’s done bad things, but it’s not his fault. Max is worried for her brother and is close to the window when Will gets a tingle that the Mind Flayer is near. Billy breaks the window in the sauna door and temporarily breaks out. El subdues him by throwing him against a wall. But Billy is back up and chokes El like Apocalypse did to Mystique in X-Men: Apocalypse.

As El is about to get her windpipe crushed, Mike goes all Richie from IT and hits Billy from behind with a pipe. Billy turns on Mike and is ready to kill him. But, El picks him up using her powers and throws him through a brick wall. Yup. A brick wall. Billy gets up and runs away. Back at the steelworks, Billy tells Heather that he was almost killed. Heather tells him that he may get killed, but they can’t harm “us.” The camera pans over dozens of flayed citizens of Hawkins.

Operation Child Endangerment

Team Scoops Ahoy needs more information on the shipments the Russians are receiving at the mall. Robin (Maya Hawke) takes some tip money and gets the plans for Star Court Mall from the city. They now have clandestine access to the shipment room. They need someone small enough to navigate the air vents.

Stranger Things — Credit: Netflix

Lucas isn’t the only Sinclair fighting for Hawkins. His sister and taste test queen Erica (Priah Ferguson) leads one of the greatest negotiations of all time. She leverages compliments, a table full of banana splits, and free ice cream for life in exchange for getting through those vents. She tells Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Steve (Joe Kerry) that she has no phobias and reminds them that you can’t spell America without Erica.

Erica gets through the vents and into the room where she opens the door to let the rest of the team in with no sweat. Erica is legit. Once in the room, Team Scoops finds what looks like Upside Down particles suspended in green goo. They’ve got what they need and try to leave but realize that the room they’re in is also an elevator compartment. The last time we see them, Team Scoops is hurtling down. Fast.

Don’t Look Under the Bed

Hopper (David Harbour) does not like the mayor. When he finds out that the guy who beat him up at the old lab is a known associate of Mayor Kline (Carry Elwes), he confronts the mayor and beats the hell out of him in his office. What? Yeah. That came out of nowhere. Hopper and Joyce (Winona Ryder) take the mayor back to his home and interrogate him for information about land purchases. All the purchases seem to be near the power plant, which would explain Joyce’s magnet dilemma.

Hopper and Joyce strike out a few times before getting to the Hess farm. In it, under a hideaway bed, there’s an entrance to a lab. It is full of Russians. Thanks to a tip from the mayor, the Russian Terminator Bro shows up and starts to beat on Hopper again. They are barely able to get away with a Russian scientist in toe.

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All in all, this was one jam-packed, fun episode of Stranger Things. One of the best of the quiet moments came from Mike and El. Mike apologizes for lying to El about his Nana in “The Mall Rats.” He also places a lot of the blame on Hopper. Mike is right, but that’s not a good apology. El sidesteps it and asks Mike, “What if Hop is right? What if I need to spend more time with my own species?” Look at El growing up before our eyes. Also, there’s a falling elevator in Star Court Mall!

Did you like “The Sauna Test? Does Erica Sinclair rule the entire world? Let’s discuss in the comments!

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