In 2016, when Stranger Things debuted, it immediately became a favorite show of mine. Arguably #1. Mix a bit of Stephen King, a bit of Steven Spielberg, and make it a pure nostalgia trip for someone my age, that's a recipe for for success. Over two years late to watching 'Stranger Things 4,' I just got caught up in the past two weeks (immediately before Halloween was an ideal time) and I'm excited to write about it.
Here we go.
In Hawkins, Indiana in the early 1980s a secret lab is running experiments on children seeking psychic and telekinetic abilities. The kids inside don't have names, they have numbers, tattooed on their wrists. Our central character is 'Eleven,' or 'El,' played by breakout star Millie Bobby Brown. We don't initially see exactly what happened but we know she's extremely powerful and was pushed beyond the brink, and as a result she stumbles upon something. There's another realm, a kind of mirror-image of Hawkins, filled with monsters. Referred to as the 'Upside Down' it's, intentionally or not, encroaching on the real world. It's into this dark dimension that another young kid, 12 year old Will Byers, disappears.
We start out following a group of nerdy kids searching for their missing friend, and who happen upon a strange girl in the woods. They befriend and attempt to help her but don't quite know who or what she is. They enlist a few older kids, siblings and the like, in their quest, never really fully revealing to (most of) the adults what's going on. I mean it when I say this group is dorky. While funny and comfortable within their small group they're awkward and don't blend well with the rest of their school. Their hangout is one of the kid's basements, and that's usually where you'll find them. They use a CB radio and walkie talkies and speak in code, make bad pop culture jokes and play Dungeons and Dragons. In fact D&D is one of the primary framing mechanisms of the show, as they come face to face with real-life counterparts to the creatures they fight on their campaigns.
In Stranger Things the villains are twofold. There's the always imminent threat, the monsters from the Upside Down, certainly. Then there's wacko doctors, government or military agents and bullies of various shapes and sizes. (Let's not forget the 'Mouthbreathers.') These kids need to navigate both the natural and supernatural.
What I like most of all is the transportation to the 80s. The style, the music, the pop culture usage, the mall, it's all real and it's all spectacular. In many ways this show, early on especially, takes me back to my own childhood. I was born in the mid 80s, and am a 90s kid so I'm slightly behind this group. But their life is the life I knew. I was mostly friends with kids in my neighborhood that I went to school with. We'd ride bikes around, take shortcuts through parks and woods and backyards, hang out in basements. Us older millennials and late Gen-Xers are the target audience. Plus, you know, I've always been a dork myself, though I never played D&D.
The first season, and its vibes, was perfection. Nerds finding desperate courage out of camaraderie. A gradual discovery of El's power. Those memorable bits of wonder, most of all the alphabet lights and communicating with Will from the other side. The scope wasn't onerous or overwhelming. The tone held a touch of childhood innocence. But that can't last forever.
Since then each season has ramped up in both ambition and horror influence. Stranger Things 3 (2019), with the 'Mind Flayer' and mass possession of people's minds, was already starting to freak out my wife. That's part of the reason I waited so long to watch ST4 (2022), as I was undecided on whether to start it without her. But eventually I did and it was for the best. 'Vecna,' the new villain, stalks the children of Hawkins in basically a super-sized version of A Nightmare on Elm Street, except here he strikes while they're awake. Targeting and tormenting those with past trauma, Vecna puts them into a trance, throws them into a living nightmare, and eventually kills them in a gruesome display. There's even a cameo by Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger), in case you missed it. Other horror references increased this last season too, and, for one example, I appreciated that they emulated Silence of the Lambs and the introduction to Hannibal Lector in his prison cell.
Overall I've been impressed with how they've done this. The kids are getting older and the show is maturing with them. The setting, the time and place, continues to be a selling point. Some of the tougher aspects of growing up are tackled too, changing interests, navigating relationships in middle and high school (or after), members of friend groups moving away. Then, of course, these kids have some pretty extraordinary problems that keep getting more challenging and intense. If I have one, I think, legitimate issue it's that more complex storylines have led to ballooned episode length. The show used to always be an hour or less. ST4 averages about 75 minutes until the final episode, if it can be called that, which stretches well over two hours. I loved it! But it's longer than a lot of movies.
A couple episodes into 4 I wanted to complain about more, and thinking the show had perhaps lost its way. There are so many characters and even with the extended run time many (Steve? Jonathan? Will?!?) don't get a lot to do and appear superfluous. The adult subplot feels like it could be removed entirely. El deals with losing her powers, again, she's the only one that can actually combat the monsters and you wonder how many times they'll do the same thing. The bullying is a tad over the top. But my fears were premature. The terrifying new villain fills in gaps going back to the beginning and it's clear they've been building to this. Just about everyone is used better than ever, with a distinct role and times to shine. Max is amazing. Steve doesn't hesitate and reassumes badassery. Will finds his niche and shows Mike where he belongs. I thought the writers handled the grouping of characters tremendously, succeeding in keeping the younger kids and older kids together where the dynamics are best. You probably wrong if you think you know what's going to happen and multiple scenes are emotionally devastating. There were some growing pains (maybe they intentionally played us?), but man, Stranger Things is still the best.
Even better: 5 is on the horizon and releasing in 2025. Giddy up.
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