Stranger Things: Season 4, Chapter 8- Papa

 "If we're trying to avoid angry hicks, maybe we shouldn't go to a store named The War Zone?"

And so the run of uber-long episodes with ensemble casts continues. It should be over-bloated. It shouldn't work. It does.

Where to start? Eleven's story is amazing, from the betrayal of "Papa" to her perfect verbal denunciation to the dying doctor's face, right after she crashes the helicopter after trying to kill her. Her story in this episode uncannily (deliberately?) echoes that of Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back, using  her Jedi powers to lift a metal shack and being torn between further necessary training and saving her friends. This has to be a deliberate echo. And her constant gaslighting by "Papa" is every bit as creepy as intendeds.

Then there's the lovely chat between oh-so-brave Max and a lovelorn Lucas. There's Will's selfless act of loving froendship as he reassues Mike about Eleven's need for him- noticed by Jonathan. There's the beautiful love between Joyce and Hopper as they keep trying to escape from Siberia in the most entertainingly funny subplot.

Oh, and the Soviets are breeding tons of Demogorgons in jars. For next season?

Prediction: Eddie's going to die next episode. He's funny, he's cool, we like him. He's scary, but not a coward. He tells Dustin to "never change". He's doomed.

This, if it needed telling, is superlative telly.

Stranger Things: Season 4, Chapter 7- Massacre at Hawkins Lab

 "Where others saw order, I saw a straitjacket..."

SPOILERS. Be warned. .

But, like, wow. I mean, yes, there are other plot threads- although the California contingent are suspiciously absent from the whole episode, suggesting that they have big things to come. But, well before we discuss Eleven's memories and the huge bombshell, let's do a tour of the characters.

So the police are a bit wet. Dustin, Lucas, Max and especially Erica are awesome. Yet poor Nancy, Robin, Steve and interestingly Eddie fare well in the Upside Down- Eddie in particular being his cool metalhead, D&D self. The kids avoid the police materdfully. The bikes blatantly reference ET.

And we get the suspense of the veryblovely Joyce and the indefaiigable Murrat rescuing action hero Hopper and his mate... and the Russian Demogorgon.

Yet this is all about Eleven’s past, about who did. About who One is, who Vecna is. The revelation is masterfully handled, and will hopefully restore Eleven’s powers. It really does come as a huge revelation, masterfully delivered. Yet we end worried about Nancy.

There’s so much character stuff here. The bug between Joyce and Hopper. The chat between Steve and Eddie where they connect and Eddie tells him not to let Nancy go. Erica being awesome. Dustin being a genius.

I now need to wait until 1 July. Bastards.

Stranger Things: Season 4, Chapter 5- The Nina Project

 "You're bigger than Madonna to them!"

Yet again we have an insanely long episode that juggles so many plot threads and so many characters, and does so with real aplomb. This season is extraordinary, and this episode, with the Creel mansion as a haunted house, is more Lovecraftian than ever. So much so that the subtitles keep describing sound effects as "eldritch".

Much of the episode is taken up with the splendidly directed sequences of Eleven in her own, very dreamlike, Groundhog Day, back with "Papa" in that hellish institute from whence she came, regaining her powers but at the price of facing the demons of her bloody past. Meanwhile, the conspiract theorist loons nearly catch up with Eddie, until Vecna gets one of their number. And there's excitement for Joyce and Murray as they escape from Yuri while crash landing a plane.

But it's all about the chatacter moments, too. A severely depressed Hopper thinking he's a curse who destroys all he loves. A sweet moment between Max and Lucas. An ironic conversation aboit the pains of potentially unrequited love between Mike and Will. A frisson, again, between Nancy and Steve. Robin being awesome, as ever.

There are, I think, a few more clues about Vecna. But I'm clueless, and that's how I like it. This is excellent telly.

Stranger Things: Chapter Eight- The Upside Down

“Mike, I found the chocolate pudding.”

Here we are then; the finale. Just four short days after Mrs Llamastrangler saw the first episode and with our time somewhat limited by necessary adulting. This is one addictive telly programme.

We begin with the gentle interrogation of Joyce and, well, the not-so-gentle interrogation of Hopper... But Hopper is clever, using the suggestion he may have told others what he knows as a basis for an agreement to let the two of them go and allow them through the portal through to the Upside Down. I’m not quite sure I fully buy the plausibility if this but it's in character and done with admirable sleight of hand. We also get some heartbreaking flashbacks of Hopper’s daughter slowly dying of cancer, and having a young daughter myself I find this harrowing. This certainly gives us a damn good reason why Hopper finds such meaning in making bloody sure that another parent doesn’t have to suffer as he did.

Meanwhile Jonathan and Nancy go hunting again, this time in Joyce’s home, setting a trap for the Demogorgon, while the kids hide in the school. We then get two parallel narratives as Joyce and Hopper explore the other dimension and find a captured and inert Will, while Nancy and Jonathan hunt the beast while being rudely interrupted by a contrite but highly annoying Steve. The scene where they try to revive Will and finally succeed is absolutely gripping, as is every damn scene in this finale.

But the climax simply has to involve Eleven and the boys, so the wounded Demogorgon turns up just as the authorities have the boys trapped, leading them all to hide from the ensuing massacre. The climax has Eleven seeming to destroy the monster... and vanishing in the process. Poor Mike, who almost kissed her earlier, is heartbroken.

It’s a rare example of a genuinely satisfying and exciting ending, and we also get a little Christmas coda, seeing Mike and Will with their happy families but also showing that Will is not unaffected by what happened- that snake thing on his mouth is delightfully disgusting.

This episode, and this season, are as good as telly gets. Sublime.

Stranger Things: Chapter Seven- The Bathtub

“Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?”

You can tell it’s the penultimate episode as all the goodies are getting together; yes, the eRly scenes are full of the men from the lab chasing Eleven and the boys but it isn’t long until Joyce and Hopper find them, and by that point both Nancy and Jonathan are on board. The battle lines are drawn. This obviously needs to happen for plot reasons. Before this, though, and importantly, Eleven sends a van or baddies flying through the air which causes the gang to all become friends again- Lucas apologised to Eleven and shakes hands with Mike. All is well, at least within the gang.

But they’re fugitives; the baddies have successfully enlisted Mike’s wary parents and, presumably, those of both Lucas and Dustin, whose families have been conspicuously absent all season. But this just draws all the protagonists together, able at last to join forces and compare notes. If this episode, unlike the others, feel as though it’s shaped by plot necessity then, well, it is; you can imagine this all being planned on a board in a writing room. But it’s all unavoidable in a penultimate episode and shows just how good the writing has been that you don’t notice the plot structure holding everything up.

The expanded gang conjures up a makeshift sensory deprivation tank for Eleven, and we learn both that poor Barb is dead and that Will is alive, hiding, in the version of his den that exists in the Upside Down. So Joyce and Hopper head off to the lab to sneak in to the portal, but this time are well and truly caught. Meanwhile Jonathan and Nancy are off hunting again; you can tell it’s the penultimate episode. Especially as we end with a proper cliffhanger as the Demogorgon gets Will...

One more episode. Go on, let’s.

Stranger Things: Chapter Six- The Monster

”You read any Stephen King?”

The pre-titles is tense, with Jonathan frantically looking for Nancy in the upside Down as the beast attacks her- and the way he pulls her slime-covered body out of the tree is a visually memorable moment. Shockingly, the gap in the tree immediately closes; they were just him time. Does this mean portals can spontaneously open and close, at least in the general vicinity of a main one?

Meanwhile Joyce and Hopper finish comparing notes and are now, it seems, a united force. But a shocked Nancy, after a symbolic shower, Nancy stays with Jonathan for reassurance and, understandably, has him sleep in her room overnight.  It’s obvious this is going to cause trouble. Just as shocking are Hopper and Joyce’s investigations- Eleven’s Mum (her real name is Jane) was subjected to experiments with LSD and isolation tanks while pregnant and believes her daughter to have been born with psychic abilities, taken away, and the whole thing covered up as a “miscarriage”. Brr. No wonder poor Terry has withdrawn from the world.

Meanwhile, the boys and Eleven are still all divided between themselves, and the episode’s attempts at truces all fail, in spite of Dustin’s best efforts and wise role playing-based warnings about the dangers of splitting the party. But it gives us a touching scene between Dustin and Mike where Dustin calmly accepts that Mike’s best friend was always Lucas, and that’s ok.

The scene with the homicidal bullies pressuring Mike to jump into the water far below is chilling, and reminiscent of It; this is a Stephen King reference I’m getting but it’s clear there are many that I’m not. Fortunately Eleven comes to the rescue in a kick as way with her telekinesis, levitating Mike out of danger and breaking the bullies’ bones. Unfortunately she collapses, worn out, and disappears into the absolute darkness that we’ve always seen in her flashbacks. Even worse, she confesses that she opened the gate to the Upside Down and blames herself, even though she plainly did it under duress. That’s heartbreaking.

Things are about to get worse, though; the baddies are on to the gang. Time to intravenously inject another episode of this Class A drug...

Stranger Things: Chapter Five- The Flea and the Acrobat

”Science is neat, but I’m afraid it’s not very forgiving.”

On the one hand Hopper is being the conspiracy theorist hero, sneaking into the lab, pulling guns on people and being awesome. On the other, just as Joyce reaches her lowest ebb, her mansplaining wanker of an ex turns up, telling her he’s crazy, telling Jonathan his Evil Dead poster is “inappropriate”, and generally acting as though he’s in charge although he’s spent an indeterminate amount of time not being there. I can’t stand men like that and I hope he dies. So there.

Hopper is caught and creepily deposited on his sofa, surrounded by carefully placed empty cans of undrinkable lager. But he’s not fooled for one moment, and goes through everything electronic in his house until he finds it- The Big. Clever. I like how this initially unlikeable sheriff has become such a hero. Go Hopper.

Jonathan and Nancy are on the case too, sticking up to hunt the creature; this episode seems to be a turning point. Plus the boys ask their favourite teacher about how other dimensions work, which gives us a cool scene. We begin to realise that a portal into said other dimension must exist. And Lucassoon realised that compass directions are distorted- they can follow north to find the portal. Surely things can’t be that easy?

Well, no. Eleven sabotages the boys’ hunt through telekinesis as she knows the danger they would be in- and there’s a massive row. And this leads to Lucas getting hurt and a lot of drama, leading to weird and unsettling flashbacks for Eleven. But there’s progress on other fronts as Hopper confers with Joyce, finds her bug and reveals that Will’s body is just a big fake. The people doing the digging are finally comparing notes with each other.

But the monster hunt with Nancy and Jonathan gives us the most dramatic moment as Jonathan shoots a dying deer..  and it vanishes in an unexpected and bloody effective jump scare. Then Nancy finds a portal in a hole in a tree, just like a fairy tale, and goes inside to find a very weird place... and the monster. It’s a superb ending to a superb episode and, just when you think it can’t get any better, the closing titles are to the wonderful “Killing Moon” by Echo and the Bunnymen...

Stranger Things: Chapter Four- The Body

”I think somehow she’s channelling him.”

“Like Professor X!”

So the police have found Will’s body- that’s it, right? Joyce is just crazy and the gang are just deluded? This episode we begin by sharing their doubts- and Joyce (to the sounds of Joy Division’s splendid “Atmosphere”- loving the contemporary soundtrack) reaches seemingly her lowest ebb, in denial and chopping a hole in the wall of her house. And Mike lashes out at Eleven for supposedly lying- and then there’s Will, on the radio. It’s a beginning that has us on multiple tenterhooks.

Things then deepen as an already suspicious Hopper realised that Will’s autopsy was carried out by the cat ate, which is odd. It’s at this point that we, the viewers, know damn well that all is not what it seems and Joyce is right to refuse to identify the body, whatever Jonathan may say.

Nancy cracks during a lesson on Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, realising that one of Jonathan’s ostensibly pervy photos shows something next to Barb, while the people as the lab speak of a “rift”. There is clearly some kind of Lovecraftian monster lurking in a reality at some kind of right angle to ours, and the way it’s being slowly built up is absolutely bloody terrifying as Mandy and Jonathan discuss the “man with no face”.

We end with a few revelations; Nancy and Jonathan develop a pivotal photo, the gang hear Will using the big school radio, and Hopper uses his fists to dig deeper into the conspiracy. Will is alive, and we just can’t stop watching.

Stranger Things: Chapter Three- Holly, Jolly

“So, do you think Eleven was born with her superpowers like the X-Men or she acquired them, like Green Lantern?”

We begin with Barb finding herself in a weird, and very well-realised, other-worldly place, with a nasty looking monster- and then we cut away for maximum scares, again showing but a glimpse of the beast. Suspense, not spectacle; that's what makes good horror, and good horror this is. It's also a plus that the cinematography is deliberately quite retro and in line with the early '80s setting. Barb, however, is probably doomed. It's particularly nice how her peril is juxtaposed with Nancy having sex with Steve... although Barb's only climax is to fall into a pit. Let's hope Nancy had a better climax, although I doubt it. I bet Steve's the kind of utter wanker who thinks sex is over as soon as he's spurted.

Like the first episode with Will, this episode sees the terrible realisation slowly settling over Barb's friends and family that she is indeed missing. Understandably Nancy panics, and we see what an utter douche Steve is as his first thought is to hide from his parents what he was doing, Barb be damned. There's also a good scene between Nancy and Karen, her mother, as Nancy lies about what she did the previous night and Karen tears up, hopeless, not knowing what to do as her daughter slips away from her.

We also have Joyce going deeper and deeper into using lights to communicate with Will, with Jonathan understandably quite disturbed. And the kids plan "Operation Mirkwood" while trying to get Eleven to levitate one of those cool Kenner Millennium Falcons- I'm fairly sure mine is still in my parents' loft.

Interestingly, the cops visit the lab- and Hopper realises they're being lied to, turning him into a determined conspiracy theorist which, unlike in real life where conspiracies are generally a load of old right-wing bollocks, makes him a lot more likeable, along with the fact that he lost a child of his own. And further research on microfiche uncovers more details. The chase is on, Watson.

Things end on a bloody scary note, though, with Joyce’s clever Christmas lights ouija board telling her that Will is “right here” and he should “run”. And then the cops seem to find his body...

I know I should be interspersing this with blogging my other regular series. But this is a Class A substance here...

Stranger Things: Chapter Two- The Weirdo on Maple Street

“We never would have upset you if we knew you had superpowers.”

The focus for this second episode is the mysterious psychic girl, now ensconced in Mike’s basement and very insistent that no adult must know where she is or bad things will happen- as, of course, we have seen. It’s touching to see the growing connection between Eleven, as she tragically seems to be named, and Mike.

Meanwhile Joyce seems to be going off the rails after hearing Will’s voice in a phone call- but we see and hear what she does, which makes us emphasise with her. Plus Winona Ryder is VERY good. Will seems to be calling from wherever he is- and, in a nice nostalgic touch, this often tends to involve the then current “Should I Stay or Should I Go” from Combat Rock, a popular album from the Clash even if I personally think Sandinista was their last good album. We get a nice flashback with Jonathan teaching young Will about Joy Division, Bowie and Television as a good older brother should. We also get to see their douche of a dad, Lonnie, with a lot remaining unsaid- was he abusive?

Meanwhile, Nancy and her friend Barb (it’s weird seeing a teenager with glasses like that) are off to a party at the home off rich creep Steve, who wants to get inside Nancy’s pants. Creepily, Jonathan follows them and takes pictures of them while hiding- what’s he up to, seemingly perving around like this while his poor mother is receiving another weird phone call from Will and blowing up another phone and having weird experiences with light bulbs? This is eerie stuff in all sorts of ways. Especially when something starts pushing on the wall and impossibly distorting it. This is getting better and better.

And then poor Barb drips some blood in the pool and a monster gets her- yet another superb jump cut, and yet again not quite showing us a glimpse of the beast. This is exactly what horror should be. At this point I’m officially hooked.