Stranger Things 4A
Produced by The Duffer Brothers
Now on Netflix
Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers
David Harbour as Jim Hopper[1]
Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven / Jane Hopper
Martie Blair as Young Eleven
Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler
Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson
Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair
Noah Schnapp as Will Byers
Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield
Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler
Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers
Joe Keery as Steve Harrington
Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley
Brett Gelman as Murray Bauman
Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair
Matthew Modine as Martin Brenner
Paul Reiser as Sam Owens
Nikola Đuričko as Yuri
Jamie Campbell Bower as Henry Creel / Peter Ballard
Also starring
Raphael Luce as Young Henry Creel
Cara Buono as Karen Wheeler
Joe Chrest as Ted Wheeler
Eduardo Franco as Argyle
Joseph Quinn as Eddie Munson
Matty Cardarople as Keith
Tom Wlaschiha as Dmitri “Enzo” Antonov
The media babble was that Netflix was a fallen giant, on the ropes, looking into its own Upside Down, and the only thing that could save it from the obscurity of VCRs and Blockbuster was the first seven episodes of season four of Stranger Things.
The series was released on May 28th, and by July 3rd, a strong sign emerged that not only was the show’s fantastic popularity still intact, but it was connecting with viewers on a fairly subtle level. Max, the red-headed California skater girl (Sadie Sink) introduced in season two, has a favorite song on her Walkman: Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill.” Five days after the show dropped, the almost forty-year-old song shot to #8 on the charts, and by now has probably surpassed its 1985 peak of #3. The song doesn’t have any clues to the plot line (that I’m aware of, anyway) but might provide some insights into Max’s intriguing character. Kate Bush herself is a huge fan of the show and was delighted to be included in a small manner, but I doubt she foresaw the song’s incidental inclusion having the stunning results it did on sales.
Yes, the show is back, and it is connecting. Netflix is saved! Unless of course it isn’t.
The show has a bigger budget ($30 million / episode) and more ambitious scope, although it isn’t the dreadful, overblown mega-production that one sees when people try to convert old, fondly-remembered TV shows into Hollywood extravaganzas. The focus remains resolutely on the characters, and while the prepubescents of season one are now in their late teens and even early twenties, the characters are consistent and for the most part as endearing as they were as cute little kids. The two major adults in the series, Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David Harbour) have also shown growth whilst retaining their basic personae. We learn early on that Hopper isn’t dead, but instead is in a Soviet work camp. Joyce has adopted Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), who lost her powers at the end of season three. They are in California now, and the only demons and monsters in evidence at the start of the season are the ones commonly found in California high schools.
The already huge cast has several significant new additions this year. Yuri (Nikola Đuričko) is a jovial Russian bootlegger who will remind viewers of Garth Ennis’ “Love Sausage” only without the (ahem) superpower of the Sausage. He is arranging for Hopper’s release in exchange for Joyce’s life savings. Robert Englund puts in an appearance as Victor Creel, convicted mass murderer, and Nancy (Natalia Dyer) gets to play Clarisse to his Hannibal Lector. It works well, right down to the egotistical corrupt and dumb warden. Jamie Campbell Bower plays Henry Creel / Peter Ballard and seems set to be a major element in the final 7 episodes, due out in July. He is wonderfully creepy. Matty Cardarople is Keith, a character who seems straight out of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, and Tom Wlaschiha is Dmitri “Enzo” Antonov, perhaps the only nice Soviet in the show. Most of the rest seem intent on killing Hopper. Poor old Hopper really is the Worf of the series; the big strong guy who gets his ass kicked by pretty much everyone, including Russian Ferengi.
Part 1 of season 4 works, and gives me strong hope that the series will remain strong and vibrant right until the end, later this summer.
The Duffer brothers noted that the show had to end by 1987, show chronology, because that was the year Beetlejuice came out, which included a sullen goth teenager with a very familiar face, and they didn’t want their viewer’s heads to explode. A wise precaution, no doubt.