The second episode of Stranger Things.
The fourth season of the show is a return to form for the show, which was a little inconsistent in Seasons 2 and 3.
I think Season 4 is the best it has been since the very first season. It feels fresh, with tightly woven stories and character drama that is interlaced with moments of shocking horror and pure comedy. I adore these characters more than ever.
There are more to come.
The above image shows Mike and Eleven skating around a vintage 80s roller-skating rink, having a great time. There is a third-wheel in the picture. There is a pensive look on Will's face, somewhere between a smile and a wince.
Will knows what Mike doesn't: The Eleven has been bullied at her new school, led by the vile Angela and her cronies.
A group of people.
We know that things are going to go badly for El when she shows up at the same roller-rink with her team.
Eleven continues to lie to Mike, telling him that she comes to parties all the time, and that she is not her tormenter. It's sad to watch, and Will is frustrated.
Will finally came clean, telling Mike that El had been having a hard time at school, just in time for him to witness this latest humiliation.
The kids are referring to Eleven as the snitch since she didn't skate into the middle of the rink.
They start circling Eleven in the middle of the rink, taunting her and jeering at her as Mike yelled at the D.J. to shut off the music. He does and just then one of the students throws a chocolate milkshake on her, causing her to fall and the DJ to proclaim "Wipeout!"
The entire thing is being recorded by a person. It's gross and awful and you empathise a bit when Eleven smashes a roller skate into the face of a woman. This was still a very bad idea. Throwing a punch would have been better. blood starts pouring out from her forehead and she starts wailing.
We feel no sympathy for the bully, but we know that this will haunt Eleven. Mike asked her what she did. She flashes back to the massacre at the lab and asks, "What did you do?" What have you done?
Again, I think this is a sign of things to come. The doorway that Vecna can use to reach her and cast her curse is El's shame. This is how he reached Fred in this week's episode. We will get to that in a moment.
Joyce and Murray.
The kids head home after the roller-skating rink debacle and find an old friend cooking risotto: Murray Bauman. After the awfulness at the rink, the next scene serves as some much-needed comic relief.
Murray is here because he and Joyce were able to contact the number from the mysterious package she received in Episode 1 that contained the doll with the hilarious code message, revealing that Hopper was, in fact, alive.
Their contact is a Russian guard who goes by the codename Enzo, and he wants $40,000USD and has arranged a drop point in Alaska. Joyce tells her children that she is going to Alaska for an overnight conference for her job because she is still so determined to protect them.
Jonathan has a hard time following this detail because of his friend Argyle's pot, which they consumed while hitting golf balls at a junkyard, as Jonathan unloaded his worries about Nancy on Argyle.
Joyce seems totally baffled by Jonathan and Heaton, and they are both convincing. It's a funny gag, but ends with Eleven storming off when the roller skate incident comes up.
Murray says he feels like there is tension.
Argyle and Jonathan reassured him.
Max.
Max wakes up from a nightmare. Police show up at Eddie's trailer as sirens go off. She sees the body through the door when she goes out front. Eddie and his van are out of sight.
The cops interview Eddie's uncle Wayne, set up a crime scene, and warn Max when she gets too close.
People tune into the local news station for updates when there is a dead high school student. The identity of the victim and the prime suspect remain unknown to anyone but the cops and Max, who tracks downDustin, as well as the strange flickering of lights and other mysterious goings on. Eddie was not believed to be the killer.
They head over to the video store where they get the help of Steve and Robin to fill them in on the case and try to find Eddie before the police get to him.
They find a Rick whose rental history includes some Cheech and Chong movies and who lives in a remote lake house, so they go to see if Eddie is hiding out there.
The cops head to the old diner where El hid out. Lucas is puking in a toilet as the rest of the basketball team lounge around. They turn on the TV and see the news about the dead student and one joke that maybe it's Chrissy and that's why she ghosted him. Even if it wasn't a joke, it was still not a good one.
The cops made it very clear in the interview that the victim was Chrissy and that she may have been buying drugs from Eddie. The distraught man left the building and went into the woods. Everyone will be looking for Eddie, from the police to the basketball team.
The good guys found Eddie, exactly where they thought he would be. They convinced him that they were on his side and that they would believe his story.
They connect the dots pretty quickly after he tells them what happened. Vecna is a monster of great power. A spellcaster. A dark wizard.
As they discuss this revelation, we see Vecna floating in the air attached to some kind of vines or tubes, and the camera zooms out to show us a decrepit mansion in the Upside Down. A haunted house is connected to Hawkins. The tower is dark.
Vecna.
Nancy and Fred are going to the trailer park where Chrissy died. When they get there, the cop tells them that nobody can enter, but they pretend to be nannies and check on her to make sure she's okay.
As the cop talks with them, he suddenly scowls at Fred.
His face suddenly turned into a snarl. Fred has a vision of a car accident in which he survived, but the other driver did not. His secret shame. He has a scar on his face. The policeman's face is frightening.
Fred was not going to tell Nancy what happened when he snapped out of it.
They dig. People are at the park. Nancy persuaded Eddie's uncle to talk to her about Victor Creel, a man who killed his entire family in the late 1950s and is still locked away at the mental asylum. It is a lead, and the only one that has been so far.
While Nancy is talking to Wayne, Fred wanders out into the woods. The grandfather clock was laid out like a coffin. The mourners are dressed in black and have grotesque faces.
There is a smoking ruin of the car from his previous accident when he makes it to the street. He stumbles backward into a pit and panics, trying to get out. There is no escape.
He turns around. The pit opens up and Vecna is going towards him. He put his fingers over Fred's face. Fred is in the air. He is hovering high above the road as his bones snap and his limbs break, as his eyes look into his skull. His corpse plummets with a sickening crunch to the pavement below.
This was another excellent episode of the show, like the season premiere. The strongest this show has been since the first season. The pacing is tight, each plot is exciting and tense, and there is a lot of horror to keep us on the edge of our seats.
I get the feeling that I will be very sad when I finish episode 7 and have to wait for the next two episodes. If the season stays strong throughout, it could be the best season yet, and I feel that Season 1 was the strongest by far. The second and third seasons were a step in the right direction, but they had a lot of annoying stuff like Hopper being too angry all the time and the constant boyfriend/girlfriend drama.
This season feels like a return to form with both the action and horror elements dialed up and the pacing and character arcs masterfully honing in. I'm very impressed.
I will be posting recaps every day this week on this website, so please follow me if you want to read more. The Monster and the Superhero are next.
Vecna's Curse, what did you think? Let me know on social media.
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