It has been almost three years since we visited with the fine folks of Hawkins in Stranger Things. The Netflix smash hit is finally coming back on May 27 after the longest delay of its run since it debuted on July 15, 2016. It was Independence Day 2019 when we last heard from the Stranger Things landscape and it’s not like there was a cliffhanger about anyone fans care about like David Harbour’s Jim Hopper!
As season four commences, our gang is separated with Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) joining her school chum Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and his mother Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) in California, hoping for a fresh start after the events of the mall and the ensuing fire that left the town of Hawkins reeling. Back in Hawkins and still going strong is Finn Wolfhard’s Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), the always affable Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), and of course his sidekick who made her triumphant Stranger Things debut last season—Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke).
This time out, Robin and Steve are working at a video store while Wheeler and Henderson are part of a high school Dungeons and Dragons club, The Hellfire Club. It is there where they meet the group’s leader, Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), who plays an integral role in the early part of season four, chapter one. Sinclair is a member of the varsity basketball team and although his self-proclaimed geeky pals support him, it does mean some change is coming to the dynamics of this group—which is incredibly important, given that it was their strength in numbers and what every soul brought to the team.
One could argue that is exactly why they were able to survive this long battling The Upside Down, not to mention a few Russians and a couple of monsters along the way.
It doesn’t take long for the Duffer Brothers (Matt and Ross Duffer, writers-directors-show creators) to simultaneously send the hairs on the back of your head to stand up while having heart rates accelerate as the tension ensues. Matt and Ross so know this world. The break—thanks to normal scheduling time off and that whole pandemic thing—could have been five years and the feel of the show upon its return would still be crisp, engaging and grabs you by the lapels and never lets you go, long after the credits on the final episode of this half of season four.
These storytellers are gifted beyond reproach. They have enjoyed the benefit of the streaming revolution, or they may have had a Lost on their hands, instead of an Ozark—in terms of its intensity and being able to maintain it without suffering from long, drawn-out seasons as what happened with the former. Lost had seasons to fill, many above 20 episodes, and ABC dragged that puppy out for six seasons. It tends to dilute the end product, whereas with Ozark and Stranger Things, these are only seven-to-ten-episode seasons and they’re calling it quits after four, five seasons’ tops. It cannot be stated enough how much that has helped these shows maintain their fierceness years into their run.
Sure, all the episodes premiere at once for Chapter One of Season Four. Still, there will not be any plot reveals or spoilers from this writer. When it comes to the plot, let’s just say that there is a supernatural force working in Hawkins that is gaining in strength and it’s going to take a return of Eleven to level the playing field. How will that happen? Tune in and see…
Brown once again proves she is the show’s true MVP. It is an ensemble piece, without question, but there is something about the starlet when she is onscreen, you cannot take your eyes off her. In many ways, as this show progresses, it really seems as if Stranger Things is truly Eleven’s story. The gifted high schooler is the key to whether their hometown will survive this latest supernatural onslaught.
Rising throughout the show’s run is Sink. In season four she finds her voice completely and isn’t afraid to use it. The young actress has made her Max into a force of nature whose presence is ever constant. She is in many ways, for a while at least, the heart of this part of season four. The actress carries it with a strength and power that is intense. She also shows elements of vulnerability that should be a big payoff when (not if) she finds her voice and starts fighting back.
The electric chemistry—both comedic and dramatic—between Hawke and Keery continues to be a big appeal with Stranger Things. It’s so nice to see a completely platonic relationship between a man and a woman on television that brings so much to the overall feel of the show, not to mention the narrative, without it falling into romantic realms. Hawke is given much more to do this season, and the show is better for it. She becomes part of “the group” and as such is an irreplaceable part of this circle of supernatural fighters.
Production Designer Chris Trujillo, working closely with the Duffer bros, has effortlessly recaptured the mid-80s and continues the show’s hot streak of emitting that Decade of Decadence feels without resorting solely to costumes and music. Too often films and television shows simply play a song from an era and that and the clothes are supposed to transport us to that time. It doesn’t work like that. What Trujillo and the production design team achieved is a sense that establishing the timeline of the thrills and drama is innate to the Stranger Things experience.
You can forgive us if we marvel at the Duffer brothers and their storytelling prowess. It’s been a few years, but after sinking into the first half of this fourth season it truly is astonishing their ability to not only transport the viewer to another time and place but do so in a manner that is subtle and doesn’t hit you over the head with its dramatics. Still, Stranger Things packs an emotional wallop. Even after years of being removed from these characters, the Duffer boys manage to ensnare you in their dramatic net. Yes, many of the episodes are long (one is even 90 minutes), but I believe that this is all going somewhere, and it is a place where Stranger Things fans can be overwhelmed with joy.
Stranger Things is and will continue to be a pop-cultural phenomenon. It has managed to weave a web of extraordinary supernatural senses alongside dramatic situations that play to our emotive heartstrings. Season Four Chapter One continues that tradition and dare we say, expands on it? It is simultaneously a nightmare that never shakes you and a sentimental favorite filled with characters we could not be more vested in if we tried.
Chapter Two of Season Four gets going on July 1.
Grade: A+