Stranger Things 4 cranks everything up way past eleven

The seasons that came before it in how it draws inspiration from the pop cultural canon of the 80s made its individual chapters feel like studied homages to the genre cinema of the era. In this fourth iteration of the show, the sense of itself is more than a stylized tribute to the creature features and coming-of-age classics that graced theaters decades ago. It feels like a natural evolution of the epic the Duffer Brothers have been telling from the beginning of the series, as it is bigger, bloodier, and much more intense than the seasons that came before it.

Time has always been tricky in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, where slimy portals to parallel dimensions are known to occasionally open up, but it takes on a new significance as the teen heroes of the fourth movie catch up. After the events of the season 3 finale, the newest chapters of the show begin on Mike, Will, Lucas, Max, andadie Sink.

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For Eleven, Will, Will's older brother Jonathan, and the boys' mother Joyce Byers, it means a new life in California. It is a challenge and thrill for her to learn how to exist as a teenager without her powers and her adoptive father Jim Hopper. The Byers' journey out West feels right for them all because of Eleven and the Upside Down.

The rest of the gang is mostly thriving as the town's kids prepare for their spring break. With Lucas dedicating more time to the basketball team and Max still dealing with the death of her brother, Mike andDustin find new friends in the Hellfire Club.

One of the defining themes of the fourth season of the show is change, and it was established by splitting the kids up into smaller units and introducing other new characters. The core group of childhood friends aren't breaking up or falling out exactly, but they are growing up and apart as they get older.

It's part of the way that Stranger Things 4 tries to skirt around the fact that all of its young actors have already aged out of their characters. As the central mystery pulls its protagonists closer together in the face of the supernatural, the distraction works. When the kids are dealing with more grounded everyday challenges in normal settings, like getting a grasp on the social dynamics of their high schools, it can be hard to buy them as unpopular high school freshmen.

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The psychological baggage of each of its protagonists is what makes it so interesting to dig into. The idea of Hawkins being a cursed place that has a way of changing people who know about its secrets is what this season is about. While most people are busy with puberty and staying on top of schoolwork, they are also dealing with the weight of knowing what horrors the Hawkins National Laboratory has unleashed upon the world.

The monster from another world is an important part of how the series begins to flesh out and answer some of the series. For characters like Nancy, Steve, and Robin, the fourth season of Stranger Things is a story about embracing responsibility at a time when the adults in their lives aren't equipped. What is impressive is how effectively Stranger Things organically pulls their threads together to tell a story that feels like it is gaining traction in the lead up to the series finale.

You get the sense that this is the direction the Duffer Brothers are going as they evoke the real-world satanic panic that gripped pearl-clutching 80s parents who didn't understand why people would want to fight make-believe dragons in dungeons. The central monster and the obstacles it throws at Eleven and co. keep this season mostly crackling with a vibrant energy. When one of the many quippy exposition dumps pops up as the season progresses, the energy of the show stops. Some of this season's episodes run long because of the cache of plot detail, which is always delivered in breathless exchanges of almost rhetorical questions.

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There's quite a bit going on this season that's meant to fit together like a satisfying puzzle once all the pieces are in place. That impulse may be justified given how far this story has come, but it only shows how simple most of the show's twists are.

It has a better chance of disturbing you with its gruesome and graphic way of sending off this season's victims than it does of confounding you. There is a logic behind the amount of gore that is displayed in the movie, and the way those things are revealed really works to emphasize what level of threat Eleven and her friends are facing.

What is curious is how the show already feels like it is about to end. It isn't that season 4 answers every burning question you had. It does stand on its own in a way, instead of feeling like it was set-up for the finale. It's bold, bloody, and a little too big, but it's also a good reminder of what made Hawkins such a hit in the first place.

The first seven episodes of the fourth season of the show will premiere on May 27th, 2022, with the final two on July 1st.