There are four episodes of Stranger Things.
Wow. The fourth episode of Stranger Things is a real treat. One of the best episodes of this season, and one of the best episodes of any show I've seen in a long time.
There are more to come.
It is recommended to read this post while listening to Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill.
Let's recap this sucker.
This episode is so juicy that we will head to California where the boys have been separated from the superhero.
After Owens took her from the police van and explained how dire the situation was, Eleven decided to go to a secret location to try to regain her powers.
At the Byers residence, agents give a presentation to the boys, letting them know that Eleven has been taken to get her powers back and that the less they know the better. While his mother is away, Jonathan will no longer be in charge. Two bodyguards will rule the roost, preventing any incoming or outgoing calls and keeping a close eye on the boys.
Mike and Will are back at the Byers residence and finally have the heart-to-heart we have been waiting for. Mike apologizes for how he has acted, and assures Will that it is not his fault. He tells him that since Will has been gone, it has not been the same in Hawkins, and that he has focused too much on Eleven and not enough on their friendship, all of which brings tears to Will.
Mike would like them to be a team of best friends. Will smiles and as they pack up to sneak off with Argyle, he grabs a rolled up painting he didn't show Mike before and stuffs it in his bag. I can't tell if Will has a crush on Mike or if he's just a sensitive kid who really cares about their friendship. If it was a crush, the feelings would not be reciprocated.
One thing they all agree on is that they need to find Eleven regardless of what Owens or his people think so they hatch a plan to have Argyle deliver them pizza and secret them away in his van. The bodyguards fall for it and call in the order. The pineapple pizza pitch on the other end of the line is classic. Wallace went to get the pizza after the doorbell rang.
Boys run.
It's not the pizza. Wallace was shot in the stomach by a uniformed soldier. Everyone inside is frozen except for Agent Harmon who springs into action. These guys looked like a couple of couch potatoes a moment earlier, but this guy proves that looks can be deceiving and offers up one of the most badass shootout scenes in recent memory.
The boys scramble, grabbing their bags and running down the stairs until they see soldiers in the back. After shooting one of the soldiers, Harmon directed the boys where to go and then opened fire on the invaders. He took down two soldiers with his gun, all against automatic rifles. Shoot, reload, fire again. What is the name of the agent? More like JohnWick.
He shot, just as Argyle pulled up with the van and the boys hustled him out to the street, pile into the van and scream at Argyle to drive. Argyle is a bit slow on the uptake but eventually puts pedal to the metal and makes a noise.
Joyce and Murray are related to Yuri.
Hopper escaped from the Soviet prison in Russia. He followed the guard to a nearby toolshed after breaking his sledgehammer. Hopper attacks the guard when he opens the door. He quickly removes the chains from his feet, but the prison guard who has been looking at him and his friend over the past couple of episodes finds him.
Hopper and the guard are fighting and the guard fires his gun. The other guards come running when Hopper makes it out of the roof, but a gas cannister explodes, sending the guards running. In the last part of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Hopper hops on a snowmobile and zips off to safety in a snowmobile chase scene.
Hopper was told by Enzo where he finds peanut butter. He tastes American food for the first time in months when he opens one and dips his fingers in it. It makes him sad. We feel a sense of great relief when he clambers into a nearby bed, but only for a moment.
In Alaska, Joyce and Murray arrived at the hangar where they would meet the Russian pranker for the first time. At first, Yuri told them that he was killed by polar bears. He's a jester as much as he is a smuggler, but it turns out this is part of his act. He counts the money and buys time as Murray and Joyce sip on his coffee.
The Americans have been sold out by Yuri in order to get rich quicker. What is it worth more than $40,000USD? Keeping that money and giving it to the KGB. Russian soldiers burst into the church where Hopper is hiding after Joyce fell to the ground. At the prison, Yuri explains his betrayal, as guards race towards him to make the arrest.
Damnit, Yuri. It's not cool, man.
Friday The 13th's Robert Englund plays Victor Creel.
Nancy and Robin head to Pennhurst Asylum to meet with Victor Creel, who is played by the famous Freddy actor, Robert Englund. They have to convince the director of the asylum to let them see the maximum security prisoner.
They pose as college students with good grades and a thesis about Victor.
Dr. Hatch told them that they should have filed a visitor's application months ago and that they might have a chance to see him in a few months. Nancy says their thesis is due next month. Hatch snaps back, "Then you're too late."
Robin is not ready for defeat. She gets angry. She told Hatch that they filed their application months ago and were denied, so she put on ridiculous clothes to get an audience with Creel, and that she appealed to Hatch directly. She talked about how she was intrigued when she first heard of the murders. She wanted to be like Dr. Hatch and study these terrible minds.
Robin and Nancy are dressed up.
Hatch allows them a brief meeting with Creel as part of a tour of Pennhurst. When they asked if they could talk with Creel in private, his heckles came back up. Their excuses are flimsy and Robin messed up their professor's name. Hatch allows them the ten minutes alone because he has urgent business to attend to.
Victor tells the story of his family's demise to the audience.
Victor bought a lovely manor house and moved his family there after he got some money from a relative. His daughter thinks it's a fairy tale house, but his son is not sure.
Victor tells them that things are going bad soon. They started finding dead animals. The lights flickered in different ways. Spiders were pouring out of the bathtub drain. They told him it was just a wildcat and bad dreams, but he knew differently. The house was possessed by a demon.
Victor Creel has children.
The haunting melody of the song "Dream A Little Dream" filled their dining room as the radio flickered on. The first horrible killing happened moments later. Victor's wife was thrust into the air, her limbs snapped, and her eyes looked the same as that of Fred and Chrissy.
Victor raced to get his children out of the house but was trapped in a vision of his dark secret. A bombed out building in WWII was thought to hold German soldiers and a slaughtered family. It was too late for Victor's children when the vision faded. Victor was taken to Pennhurst where he was able to see through his own eyes.
The voice of an angel told Victor to go back to the real world and save his life. This detail will save the day later. According to Dr. Hatch, music can act as an anchor of sorts, binding broken minds to reality, and can have a therapeutic effect on patients. This, plus Victor's survival, are powerful clues that save Max's life.
Dr. Hatch informs the girls that he called the police after he discovered their deception. They hightail it out of there, making a break for the car, and drive off just in time to receive an important incoming transmission on the radio from none other thanDustin, who has a code red on his hands.
Max.
The meat of this episode is all about Max and her fight for survival as Vecna comes in for the kill. We learned last week that she is his next victim after she saw a grandfather clock and heard its ominous chime.
Max writes letters to her friends and family and gives them to them. Steven drives her to her house where she leaves letters for her family before seeing her mom hanging laundry outside.
She tells her mom about the strange letter she received. Max says that it's just a precautionary measure. Things go sideways after they embrace.
The sky is dark. Her mother's voice changes and she says nothing will happen to you. She heads back to the car and tells Steve to take her to the cemetery, something he is reluctant to do given the circumstances.
They took her to Billy's grave, where she sat and read the letter that this episode is named after. The best part of the letter is that it is a deeply moving letter to her dead step-brother. She wiped tears from her cheek and said they could have become friends. It could be like a real brother and sister. Since Billy died, she hasn't been able to feel normal, and that shows her feelings of self-loathing and shame.
The emotional significance of the scene is just a doorway into Vecna's curse. Billy appeared this time as the sky darkened. He threw something in her face. He claims that she hides from her friends because she was happy and relieved when he died.
Vecna is in the upside down.
Billy transforms into Vecna and Max bolts, racing through a twisted version of the graveyard before he spies up ahead of a hypnotizing red fog. She approaches it cautiously. There are broken pieces of the Creel manor within. The stained glass door window has a twisting staircase. The corpses of Fred and Chrissy are trapped in black vines. Vecna finds her and is surprised.
With the flick of his fingers, vines wrapped around her, pinning her to a pillar and squeezing her.
The boys watch as Max sits by the grave. Steve is nervous, though. He found her, eyes rolled into the back of her head, the same way Eddie found her before she died.
The boys get on the walkie-talkie, but nobody answers.
When they finally answer, they tell him about their revelation. He ran to the grave after grabbing the Walkman and tapes. Lucas asked what was going on but he told them it was too much to explain. The real hero of this episode is Kate Bush.
Max glimpsed herself at the grave with Steve,Dustin and Lucas around her in the Upside Down. She sees visions of her friends as the music plays. Laughing and flirting with one another. Joking with Mike. People are getting ice cream. She feels shame and guilt over Billy, but these fun memories remind her that she is worthy of love and has something to live for.
Vecna says something about ending her suffering and she uses a vine to slash at his neck. Running Up That Hill is playing around her as Vecna hurls boulders and debris at her. She stumbles and falls, but gets up again, and then she comes back out of a deadly hallucination and into the real world.
Lucas holds her tight as her body collapses back to earth. Everyone is breathing heavily and she says, breathlessly, "I'm still here."
Vecna is hunting Max.
This was one of the best episodes of the series. I enjoyed the show but thought Season 4 was the best of the season so far.
I have watched some excellent shows in the past, but this season of Stranger Things is right at the top of my favorites list, which I wasn't expecting. The Duffer Brothers were more of a one-hit wonder with Season 1 than with Seasons 2 and 3. I was wrong. This is one of the best shows of the year.
Special mention should be given to Sadie Sink. Her performance all season long has been top-notch and she really brings it in Dear Billy, proving that she is one of the finest actors on the show. Excellent!
There is one more callout to Agent Harmon. I think he and Hopper would have been good friends if they had the chance. Two tough guys who will put their lives on the line to protect those in their care, and who can rock a mustache and a dadbod. We will talk more about Agent Wallace soon.
Each of these long episodes feels tight with almost no frills. The moments that are less plot-crucial tend to be comic relief, and it's all well put together.
I will be reviewing one episode of Stranger Things 4 every day this week on this website, so be sure to follow me here on this website and sign up to receive email updates for my posts, it's free and helps me out!)
Next up, The Nina Project!
Below are links to my previous Season 4 reviews.
You can read my other articles.
Thank you for reading!
All Rights Reserved © 2024
