Stranger Things 3 – Chapter Four: The Sauna Test: 5 biggest moments

The five biggest moments in “Chapter Four: The Sauna Test” of Stranger Things 3, including the Sauna Test, Operation Child Endangerment and more.

“Chapter Four: The Sauna Test” is the best episode of Stranger Things 3 so far. It raises the stakes and sets the table for the second half of the season.

In honor of the great episode, we picked our favorite moments from the episode. Let’s get the list started with the best moment so far, the sauna test.

The Sauna Test

This the most important arc in the season so far, well, until the very end of “Chapter Four.”

After Will feels the Mind Flayer’s presence, Mike, Will, and Lucas connect with Max and Eleven to share the information with them. Their shared intel leads them to Billy, and they come up with a half-baked plan to see if the Mind Flayer has somehow possessed Billy.

Their plan confirms their worst fears, and it nearly gets them killed. Billy is much stronger than they realized, and he nearly kills Eleven and Mike. Luckily, Eleven is able to save the day and throw Billy through the brick wall of the pool locker room.

In the middle of the chaos, we get a glimpse of Billy before he is activated by the Mind Flayer. Billy is still in there, and he’s sorry for what he’s done and what’s to come, but the Mind Flayer has deep roots in Billy by now. Who knows if he can be saved.

Nancy and Karen

For her role in the Mrs. Driscoll story, Nancy is fired from the Hawkins Post along with Jonathan. After getting fired, though, Jonathan bails on Nancy when she needs him most. Her instincts tell her something is really wrong, but she is afraid to take that leap and go for it and fail.

That’s where Karen comes in!

We’ve been waiting for Cara Buono to get her chance to shine as Karen Wheeler, and this is her moment! She helps encourage Nancy to go for it and not worry about those awful people at the Hawkins Post say.

It’s Karen’s best moment in the series so far, and it’s awesome to see her relationship with Nancy flourishing at this point of the season. There’s also an awesome Ted joke in this scene, as well.

Karen’s push leads Nancy back to the hospital where she sees Mrs. Driscoll going crazy with the black lines all over her face. Clearly, she is also possessed by the Mind Flayer, if there was any doubt. And, it proves that there’s a connection between Billy and all the rest of the people who are getting possessed by the Mind Flayer, although Nancy doesn’t know it yet and neither do the rest of the Hawkins Heroes.

Operation Child Endangerment

Meanwhile, at the Starcourt Mall, Dustin, Steve and Robin have a half-baked plan of their own. Robin finds the blueprints and finds a way into the secret room guarded by the Russians with big guns. They plan to use the air ducts to sneak into the room.

There’s one problem, though. Dustin doesn’t fit in the air ducts. They enlist the help of Erica, who truly shines in this episode. First of all, she hits Dustin and Steve with a “You can’t spell ‘America’ without ‘Erica.'” Then, she gives them all a lesson in economics, and she negotiates free ice cream for life for taking on the job.

And, she does the job well, too. The only problem is this room isn’t just a room. It’s some sort of elevator that stores weird vials of green stuff, not Chinese food or sneakers.

Where are they going? We don’t know, but it doesn’t look good, considering what we know about all these crazy people who financed the Starcourt Mall.

The Starcourt People

Throughout the episode, we follow Hopper and Joyce on a goose chase of sorts to Mayor Kline’s office. Hopper wants to know who the name of the big Russian Kline was meeting with. Hopper, who doesn’t know the dude is Russian yet, eventually learns that the people behind the Starcourt have been acquiring property around Hawkins.

Hopper wants the plans from Kline, and Kline is basically like, “as you wish,” trying to play both sides of this thing.

Joyce, who seems to be the brains of this operation to Hopper’s brawn, figures out that they are all close together and near the power plant. They set out on a mission to find what these farms are being used for. With the power outage recently, they already know what is going on in Hawkins, but they have to confirm their suspicions.

“We’ll Meet Again”

This is the craziest part of this episode. And, it appears to be teasing a re-match with Eleven and Billy.

After Eleven throws Bill through the wall at the pool, “We’ll Meet Again” by Vera Lynn starts playing. It’s ominous for our young heroes as they watch Billy pick himself up and run off. I’m glad they don’t see what happens next.

We catch back up with Billy at the basement of Brimborn. Heather is cleaning up his wounds. He tells her that she knows about him, and that “she could have killed me.” Heather replies, “But not us.”

And, the camera tracks back and we see the “us” who Heather is referring to. There are a bunch of Hawkins citizens who are “flayed” or possessed by the Mind Flayer. The monster is there, too, with its army.

What are they planning? It seems likely that the zombie horde is already in Hawkins.

This song might be a little on the nose, but whatever. It’s teasing a major showdown between Eleven and the Hawkins Heroes and Billy and the Mind Flayer’s army. I’m ready for it!

Onto “Chapter Five!”