Stranger Things 4 Volume 1 Forges Fellowship of the Vecna: Review

The Duffer Brothers can seemingly do no wrong with it comes to their ode to the ’80s horror adventure series Stranger Things and the first volume of the fourth season is no exception. It’s not odd the fact the Netflix series split the season into two parts because, logistically speaking, the progression makes perfect sense with regards to the storyline flow. Having the second volume made-up of only two episodes but both feature-length works at this stage because what’s left needs to be huge & epic. Given the wide cast of characters of the series, this is your minor spoilers warning.

When we last left our heroes at the end of season three, the Byers family went their separate ways taking Eleven/Jane (Millie Bobbie Brown) with them away from Hawkins. Hopper (David Harbour) is revealed to be trapped in a Russian prison. When we pick up in season four, the kids have all reached their growth spurts in high school. Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) are members of their local Dungeons and Dragons group called the Hellfire Club, led by Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), who is also passionate about rock music. Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) is largely a benchwarmer for his basketball team, but looking to gain greater acceptance by hiding his nerdy side from his teammates. Compounding things is his breakup with Max (Sadie Sink), who’s still grieving the loss of her brother Billy. She’s also trying to remain numb in her broken home with her father abandoning the family and an apathetic alcoholic mother.

Setting things in motion for the main adult character in Joyce (Winona Ryder) is news of Hopper’s status in the Soviet Union, recruiting Murray (Brett Gelman) in the process to try to free him. Also in Hawkins are Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke), who run into their share of romantic failures in attracting women. Steve fails in trying to establish relationships while Robin fails to confess her feelings to her band crush. Eleven is having a hard time adjusting to life in high school with her social awkwardness that is compounded by a bully, while Will (Noah Schnapp) finds himself as a hapless bystander. Nancy (Natalia Dyer) is trying to lead her high school newspaper into relevancy, which is set in motion when a mysterious death of a Hawkins High cheerleader. Victims find themselves contorted before their skulls are crushed in a horrifically dramatic fashion.

Four seasons in, the Duffer Bros still manage to stick to formula when it comes to their narratives while circling back to past canon. They never needed to reinvent the wheel because it never stopped moving. New characters like Eddie, Hopper’s friend Dmitri (Tom Wlaschiha), and alpha jock Jason (Mason Dye) fit into the greater paradigm of the Hawkins lore as their more established counterparts, a testament to the casting. We also get the most comprehensive look into Eleven’s past with Martie Blair playing her younger counterpart and doing a commendable job replicating Brown’s early performance during the flashback sequences. Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays a mysterious friendly orderly, gives serious Bill Skarsgård vibes. The themes haven’t largely changed given existing social orders and misunderstandings. Paralleling the times of its setting echoed by the current sentiments to media and video games, we do get the familiar stigma stroking the fears and ignorance of the townsfolk to the Gary Gygax game. Similar to its real-life release, “Dungeons and Dragons” stoked fears because of its supposed “dark occult references,” and became an additional driving force behind the narrative, adding to the already deadly supernatural threat.

Lost in the Stranger Things Shuffle

It’s hard not to feel some level of empathy for the main characters. If there was one casualty as far as getting lost in the shuffle is Schapp’s Will, because his relationship with Mike is severely underdeveloped. We also never got a chance to see any depth into his and Eleven’s fraternal relationship. You also feel the same for Charlie Heaton’s Jonathan, who was also at a disadvantage as far as the narrative is concerned with the Duffers’ decision to split the Hawkins gang. His story suffered because he is physically away from Nancy. The one saving grace of that group aside from Mike is new addition Eduardo Franco’s Argyle, who plays up every single stoner cliché including working at a pizza restaurant while also sounding like Jay Baruchel.

Netflix Pet Peeve: Dump It All or Release Week-to-Week

Volume 1 checks every box as far as the narrative requirements for better or worse even when some got lost in that shuffle. It just seems rather odd to undercut the momentum to leave two episodes to give the audience a month to process the bulk of the season, no matter how well the Duffer Bros & their team prepared us for what’s to come. Perhaps, it just makes better sense to have made the series to make it a week-to-week release than the bulk one Netflix users are used to and nothing would be lost even with the final two episodes being about two-feature length films long.

Stranger Things 4 Volume 1

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Review by Tom Chang

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9.5/10

The Duffer Bros can seemingly do no wrong with it comes to their ode to the ‘80s horror adventure series Stranger Things and the first volume of the fourth season is no exception. It’s not odd the fact the Netflix series split the season into two parts because, logistically speaking, the progression makes perfect sense with regards to the storyline flow. Having the second volume made-up of only two episodes but both feature-length works at this stage because what’s left needs to be huge & epic.

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Creators

The Duffer Brothers