IN A WORLD where once-great TV shows turn sour on a dime, who better to rescue us than a gang of lovable nerds from Hawkins? I mean, it’s not like they have anything else time-sensitive on their plates.
Unfortunately, it seems to have become the norm to enter into a new season of a beloved series with our fingers crossed, hoping that the plots and characters don’t succumb to unoriginality, rushed-ness, or worst of all, incongruousness with the already established world. Having a character act contradictorily to their nature or breaking an in-world rule (especially in the case of sci-fi shows) is truly the insult added to the injury for viewers of a “bad” season, as it is almost always employed in a contrived, beat-the-clock, “we just need these characters to be in this situation at this pivotal moment, so just stop asking questions” way.
What an absolute pleasure it was to watch Stranger Things 4 rebut this tendency, driving forth an original plot in organic ways. This season wasn’t just a new adventure with the characters we know and love, but a surprisingly meaningful re-visitation of Eleven’s past that managed to both restore her memory and her powers and connect to the series’ plot at large, finally revealing the origins of the Upside Down. Totally worth the extra two months of subscription fees to Netflix. (They know what they did.)
Judgments of Netflix’s business practices aside, this season deserves the sea of praise it has received. The characters’ arcs were meaningful and well balanced in terms of screen time, the subplots all had story and thematic relevance (unlike a certain season 2 episode I could point out), and the levels of horror, suspense, and action were, if bone-crunchingly gross at times, riveting.
In addition to Eleven’s journey of self- and superpower-(re)discovery, we got to see Joyce and Murray follow Hopper’s clues to a Russian prison, while half the Hawkins crew uncovered the true culprit of the newest murder spree, and the rest went on a road trip (in more than one way, in Argyle’s case) to find Eleven. These subplots were so well managed that the show rarely lost any of its heart-pounding excitement when picking up where the last subplot left off, often making the viewer feel as if she were constantly dangled off a cliff, but still in capable hands. This season just worked, even with our main characters dispersed around the country and internationally. Eleven’s flashbacks of One, of course, connect to Nancy’s research into the Creel house and the Volume 1 finale’s reveal of Vecna’s identity; the Russian prison escape, subsequent un-escape, and then escape for real connects to the Hawkins lab’s Upside Down problem. As torch-and-pitchfork-wielding basketball players, corrupt Soviet guards, and misguided FBI agents fall by the wayside, the web of connectedness of our heroes prevails, ripe with themes of loyalty, compassion, and sacrifice.
What’s more impressive is how close this season came to being too repetitive: Joyce and Hopper face the demogorgons again. Eleven saves the day with her nose-bleed-causing power again. They’re using lights to communicate with the Upside Down again. The new character who was revealed to be a really decent guy is brutally murdered after sacrificing himself for the good of the group. Again. (RIP Eddie... though you really should have just climbed the rope.) But Stranger Things has nailed crafting the high stakes that make us pay attention, and the relationships that make us care. The finale really boils down to “the Stranger Things gang supports one another"—a simple message that doesn’t get old.
Part of what kept this season feeling fresh was the new pairings—uptight Nancy and word-vomit Robin share a series of research-based shenanigans, Eddie and Dustin inspire each other to be more bold, newcomer Argyle lends some brevity to an otherwise tense group. There are also many old-made-new connections, like Steve rekindling his feelings for Nancy, Jonathan and Will sharing a real brother-to-brother chat, or the “using old knowledge to inspire new growth” storylines of Max and Lucas or Eleven and Dr. Brenner. Even so, the writers don’t sacrifice the classic pairings we know and love—notably babysitter Steve and Dustin. Or Steve and Robin. Or Robin and anyone. Or, who are we kidding, a flamethrower and anyone. Intertwined with dark and weighty subjects, Stranger Things still managed to make much of this season feel like good, clean fun. With the occasional bone-snapping of innocent, terrified teenagers.
Yet it is the separation, and not the pairing up, of characters that made this season so successful. Hundreds of miles apart and without any clear directives, it seems each member is ready to put their life on the line with the mere hope that it will help others. Joyce and Hopper, the only in-the-know adults, battle demodogs just on the off-chance doing so weakens the Upside Down's hive mind; Eleven battles demons from her past while waiting on a ride from her on-the-lamb boyfriend, whose words of encouragement fuel her mental link-up with Max; and Erica/Max/Lucas, Dustin/Eddie, and Steve/Nancy/Robin split up to carry out three phases of their “distract and destroy” master plan. On a more personal level, this wall of compassion saves individual members from their own forms of self-isolation, like Hopper’s grief, Max’s guilt, or Yuri’s greed. Their trust in and love for one another determines their survival, as highlighted by the cross-cutting between each group’s role in the final battle. Just when someone's luck is up or fighting spirit is worn, someone else is there (physically or not) to pick up the slack, to dive into a nightmare realm and fight demon dogs, bats, vines... you name it. They don't have to stand side by side to stand together.
This trust, this unity, is exactly what fuels Hawkins' heroes in the darkest times. It’s also what separates them from their foes. Vecna cannot be reached through a plea for compassion. But give Eleven a little jolt of love and understanding, and bam—she has the strength to do what she could not do alone, and at least for the time being, defeats Vecna. This theme of characters facing their fears or offering hope to their friends is everywhere in the finale: Eddie and Dustin, Erica and Lucas, Mike and Eleven, Joyce and Hopper, Eleven and Max. Their connectedness is inspiring, making for a masterful 13-hour movie of a season, complete with three different faux-endings.
With all of that going on, it's tempting to forget that they lost. Vecna met his four-death minimum, even if only on a technicality, and he won. The gate between the worlds broke open, and Hawkins was literally torn apart at its seams, the gaping breach of the Upside Down proving once and for all that the town existed on a hell mouth. But if a show can end on that depressing note and still leave viewers excited and hopeful for the next season, it has more than done its job.
Will the gang, now reunited, be able to put the pieces of Hawkins back together and defeat the mind flayer once and for all? Probably. Will season five be able to continue the masterful pacing and plotting of its predecessor? That I’m less sure of. But if one show is used to defying impossible odds, it's this one.
Stray Observations:
Is Will supposed to have a crush on Eleven now, or was I seriously misreading his longing glances? Maybe it was one of those "staring at the object of affection of my real object of affection" situations?
For those who care, apparently this season puts to rest viewers’ concern about Eleven’s verbal regression between her English-speaking lab flashbacks and when viewers meet her in season 1, attributing it to Dr. Brenner's intensified training of her after the massacre.
I hope I’m not the only one who, in the midst of that exhilarating finale, sounded like she was calling a pack of dogs home one by one: Come on, Hopper! Come on, Eddie! Come on, Eleven!
I’m not saying it would have worked, but couldn’t Lucas have at least tried singing the Kate Bush song for Max after her walkman was destroyed? Is there not a neverending precedent for that sort of thing?
Is it just the vines on the floor of Vecna's house and all about the forest you can't touch? Because they fully grabbed some of the vines in the Upside Down trailer without any repercussions.
“I piggybacked from a pizza dough freezer” is going up on my list of quotes.
I have no love lost for Vecna, but I must say, there comes a point when a dude can't be any more on fire.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought basketball captain Jason's fate was a bit more harsh than he deserved, when you factor in his lack of knowledge of the Upside Down. Though this video is in all ways superior.
Please tell me Eleven didn't just bring back Vecna in Max's body.
I guess we finally found out how bad it had to get for people to leave Hawkins.
Looks like someone's giving River a run for her money:
