Stranger Things Season 4 dropped this weekend. It. IS. GREAT.
Mild spoilers in the form of context-less stills below. If you are severely spoiler averse, come back after you’ve seen Season 4a (up to Episode 7).
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I’ll be somewhat vague on details here so as not to spoil specific plot elements, though these stills may reveal story and character beats.
Bias up front: I was a kid in the 80’s, from Indiana. Stranger Things is high-grade, pure-cut nostalgia crack for someone like me.
Stranger Things Season 1 was an incredible achievement. In many ways it kicked off an entire genre of nostalgia-bait lookalike projects that often fell flat. In my opinion, Seasons 2 and 3 did a good job at character work, delivered some entertaining moments but lacked some of the thrill of the essential mystery of the first season. There is a formula to it and the formula gets to be pretty obvious.
That formula usually looks something like this:
Hey, Remember the 80s? -> Characters Pair off and Adventure -> Eleven screams and force-chokes a portal -> Roll Credits and Synth Track.
Despite my love for the material I have to admit I’ve been giving my Netflix subscription the stink-eye lately. The subscription cost keeps creeping up while the utility and entertainment we get from Netflix keeps falling. I often see Netflix properties as Great-Value Brand knock-offs of better shows. They’ve hooked me and cancelled several series without providing adequate closure. To the point that I’m often hesitant to engage with newly buzzing series; defense against future rug-pulls.
As of episode 7, Stranger Things Season 4 is an incredible outing for the series. If they stick the landing, it may be the best yet. Netflix spared no expense, spending an average of $30 million per episode and it shows. After watching the series, I’m going to cut that Netflix subscription some slack.
The show continues to do an incredible job of period-accurate set pieces and scenarios. Drawing inspiration from classic 80’s movie, television, music and culture. Not just in subject matter, either. The Duffers continue to nail the aesthetic.
I always appreciate a good period film (Chernobyl, for instance) and Stranger Things excels at this by leaning into period-accurate sets. The video rental store is a really nice touch.
Some of the techno-babble stretches credibility for 1986 tech. “IP-Geolocation” is mentioned. NSFNET was live in 1986 and used early TCP/IP implementation through fuzzball routing but there were only 6 nodes and (probably) no meaningful interconnect between NSFNET & ARPANET-MILNET. I mean, famously the ICBMs control silos still used 8” floppies in 2014. Hopefully that EM shielding on the silo control bunkers is top-notch.
(Pushes up my nerd glasses...) But, I digress…
The episodes are biggie-sized, coming in at an hour or more per episode. The pace feels right and the show never felt like it was running out the clock. It is refreshing to see a show take the time it needs. “Good, Fast or Cheap - Pick 2” We got great, long and expensive and I’m here for it.
Season 3 wrapped towards the end of the 2018 and Season 4 was protracted and delayed b/c of COVID-19 impacts on the industry. In terms of casting there have been valid concerns that the extra four years of real time would strain believability in such young characters. Through lighting, make-up, costume, practical effects and shot-framing the production crew did a great job of accounting for the actors ages. Millie Bobby Brown is a charming young lady these days but they make use of story-grounded reasons to dress her in ways that obscure her age. Through loose-fitting hand-me-downs or other scene-appropriate costuming, you forget that she’s 18 now. It doesn’t hurt that MBB is an incredible performer. At the extreme, Charlie Heaton is 28. Some of Heaton’s IRL pharmaceutical shenanigans have diminished his youthful appearance. The writers lean into that in a clever and fun way to even make Jonathan’s age believable. Joe Keery (Steve) is 30 but has a Toby Maguire thing working for him.
This season nods to classics like Nightmare on Elm Street, Carrie, Evil Dead, Amityville, Munsters, IT and much more. Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) even plays a Character named Victor Creel. Despite the influences, the story never feels like a cheap knock off. The writing on this show is expertly crafted and character moments are interwoven brilliantly. Be warned though, this season leans more into horror territory than the Goonies-esque adventure start of the franchise. If you get easily squicked out by body horror, you may not enjoy this ride. It never feels gratuitous, though - the point of the horror is to establish the stakes.
The light and sound design of this season are incredible. At times, the audio-video experience here is downright visceral and almost always in service to the story. Lighting is usually period-appropriate with incandescent warm glow. Computer monitors and TV’s usually have scan-lines. Though, I suspect they may actually be LCD/LED panels installed in old chassis with black borders and a filter to produce edge distortions. The sound design makes great use of ambient hums and electrical clicks to bring extra intensity and to highlight “power up” moments. They often lean into practical effects and the attention to detail is quite remarkable. There are some digital-de-aging shenanigans on display and they usually work quite well. Clever cuts between old-vs-young keep shots from lingering too long on de-aged subjects and do a good job of hiding the uncanny valley of video-game-like faces.
Shot-blocking and composition are particularly inventive this season. There are some outstanding scene transitions, also in service of the story and designed to clue to viewer into plot details. Thematically, there is a two-sides motif that is often aided by the rotational transitions between Hawkins and the Upside Down. Low camera angles can establish hero shots or be used to put the viewer into the perspective of a child and they use this brilliantly. They often lean into zoom shots instead of dolly works, the zoom-pulls and pushes being a staple of 80’s horror.
The soundtrack is very good - and you guessed it: also services the story. You’ll notice Kate Bush climbed the iTunes chart to Number 1 this week in part thanks to in-story use of one of her songs.
The show explores the 80’s Satanic Panic and Parental overreaction. It also explores Bullying and the “Other-ification” of people, conformity and demagoguery. These things could be mirror-allegories for modern times but the Duffers are here to entertain, not preach - and it all lands without being overbearing.
Honestly, after a month or so of force-feeding my eyeballs some truly laughable modern content: I found Stranger Things Season 4a to be a brilliant and refreshing departure. The writing is excellent, the old characters are even better and new characters really hit the spot. A new character, Eddie - immediately became one of my favorites. Argyle and his not-quite mystery-machine van are a nice addition, as well.
Much like the Purple Palm Tree Delight, Stranger Things Season 4 is a real treat.
Two great podcasts to check out:
As always, I’m a big fan of the guys over at Bald Move:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/dungeons-and-demogorgons-a-stranger-things-podcast/id1296708934
The Streaming Things Podcast is also quite entertaining:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/streaming-things-a-stranger-things-podcast/id1291620241