Season: 4
Genre: Thriller/
Drama/ Fantasy/ Horror
Number of
episodes: 8
Year:
2019
Starring: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Noah
Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe
Keery, Sadie Sink, Dacre Montgomery, Priah Ferguson, Joseph Quinn, Eduardo
Franco
Description:
It’s
eight months after the events in the Starcourt Mall. Max is having a tough time
dealing, distancing herself from Lucas who has found a place in the basketball
team. Dustin befriended Eddie, the leader of the Hellfire Club: a D&D
group. Mike visits Eleven, Will and Jonathan and Joyce still believes Hopper is
alive. When people start dying in Hawkins and Eddie is the main suspect, the
young gang decides to help him and find who is behind these deaths, while
Eleven goes back to doctor Brenner to regain her powers and Joycesets to find
Hopper.
Review: After nearly three years, “Stranger Things” fans (ME!) can finally see
how things continue for their heroes from Hawkins, Indiana. Will that long wait
be rewarded?
WARNING! THIS
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!
Netflix decided not to drop
the entire season at once. The first seven episode dropped and later the final
two we available as well. And the season had a very long runtime, especially the
last two episodes. And I didn’t mind that at all.
The previous season came to
a climax battle, where Eleven and her friends defeated the monster from the Upside
Down at the Starcourt mall, while Joyce and Hopper went deep underground to
thwart the Russians’ plan. The victory came at a high price: Billy was killed,
El lost her powers and Hopper disappeared. The rushing army quickly laid the
entire Starcour to ashes, and in cover-up, all traces of Russians, monsters,
and gateways to other dimensions were carefully hidden away. Joyce moved to California
with her sons Will and Jonathan and their friend El.
The big question at the beginning
of season 4 is whether the whole gang will ever get back together. El writes
letters to Mike from California in which she pretends that she is doing very
well, but in reality she is deeply unhappy without her friends and she is being
bullied. Home in Hawkins is no paradise either. Since the horrific death of
her brother Billy, Max has been seeing the school psychologist regularly, but other
students are also suffering from trauma. In the Upside Down, a new monstrous
creature sees in this a way to manifest itself again in Hawkins.
Of course, with each new season
of “Stranger Things”, fans are especially looking forward to seeing their
familiar heroes again, but the creators are always introducing new characters
as well. This season is no different. A big addition is Eddie Munson, a high
school student with a love for heavy metal, drugs and Dungeons & Dragons.
And Eddie wins all of our hearts from the first scene we meet him. Which makes the
final episode extra difficult to watch.
Season 3 had a small bonus
scene, where there was a hint Hopper had survived the explosion. And of course
it turns out that he has. Joyce’s attempt to reunite with Hopper take up a good
portion of the episodes, and with that the new season deviates considerably
from all the previous ones. For the story no longer plays out only in Hawkins,
but also in California, Alaska and Siberia.
The tone of the series is
also markedly different this season. Previously, “Stranger Things” breathed the
atmosphere of the Spielberg films and Stephen King movies of the 1980s, but now
the emphasis is firmly on horror. Characters are killed off in some pretty
shocking ways, which may make this season’s 16-and-over predicate justifiable.
Again many references to popculture, like “A Nightmare on Elm Street” ( with a
cameo from Robert Englund), “Halloween” and “Carrie”.
Max has a bigger role in
this season, which I really loved, since she is one of my favorites. And she is,
together with newbie Eddie, one of the highlights of season 4. Can they please
give Sadie Sink an award for her performance, because it was incredible. And
with that the characters of Max and Eddie both had an epic scene, which
eventually became the most memorable moments of season 4 (Max escaping Vecna
for the first time and Eddie’s guitar solo in the Upside Down).
All the familiar and new
characters, references to previous season and well-known genre films, music
from the eighties and he now familiar formula of the Duffer Brothers ensure
that you step into a warm bath with season 4. Is more always better? In the
case of “Stranger Things”: absolutely! Now we wait for season 5, which will be
the final season. Time to rewatch season 1 to 4 now.
