REVIEW: Stranger Things 4 Volume 1

Netflix's most popular series is finally back. As the name suggests, Stranger Things 4 Volume 1 gives us the fourth year of the Hawkins group created there in 2016 and which has become a phenomenon. Unlike what we had in past seasons, here we had a split in the season, being it in two parts. The first one we could see on the 27th with the first 7 episodes and on July 1st we will have another part with the last two, with one of them over 2 hours long.

The first thing I can say about Stranger Things 4 is that luckily she is not bad. I was a little scared that things would get too big and get out of hand and miss the essence of the series. After the announcement that the episodes would all be over 1 hour long, I got even more scared, but again, I'm glad the result was positive.

New faces, new groups

Regardless of which moment in the series is your favorite, it is undeniable that the characters have always been the highest point of it. In the beginning we only had a small group of children trying to solve a riddle to save a friend, but their relationship with the whole question of friendship with Eleven in the middle is what gave substance to the story.

In addition to the already known cast, Stranger Things 4 added Eddie Munson, the leader of Hellfire, group of rocker nerds who play D&D around. Although he doesn't show up much, he's already won over everyone and I can't wait to watch the guitar solo scene (yes, it stayed for volume 2).

Another new addition to the cast is Argyle, Jonathan Byers' new friend. He's basically the pothead guy who only talks about weed and has Wesley Safadão hair. I had fun with his scenes, I'll admit, but if that kind of humor isn't your thing, maybe you just find him pretty boring.

When we return to the main cast, the narrative of Stranger Things 4 chose to separate everything into locations. As we saw at the end of season three, Eleven, Joyce, Will, and Jonathan Byers headed to California. The new season changes things a little by bringing Mike to California too, creating different groups, with new dynamics.

As the episodes progressed and these arcs developed, I felt that this narrative choice could be problematic around here. Hawkins has always been the focus of the series and continues to be, so as much as the series starts to have Joyce traveling to Russia after Hopper, for example, it starts to get boring as the episodes go on and doesn't seem to be that important. This sentiment also extends to other groups that do not directly involve Hawkins.

Only Eleven's journey seems to be interesting outside of Hawkins' main core and as tedious as these parts are to watch, they are hugely important to both the series and the character itself, so I've discounted it.

Well crafted arcs and good performances

The cast of Stranger Things also gained new faces with regard to the "villainous" part of the series. We have the Upside Down part with the new monster called Eternal, but I think it's important to rate Jason and his fellow players. They are the high school basketball players and as the dramas of the season unfold, they turn out to be pretty bad and with a pretty…curious mindset.

Lucas is also in this group because he is finally feeling good about himself and not feeling like a “loser” anymore, but in later episodes we saw that this group is something that borders on the ridiculous in his ideas, although it is something that happens until the days of Lucas. today.

With a very exaggerated and even political speech, Jason uses biblical passages and other things to accuse Eddie and Hellfire of being connected with a satanic sect. I automatically connected this whole story with the media and people always blaming video games, for example, when some tragedy happens to teenagers.

If, on the one hand, we have this more “ironic” core of the series, Stranger Things 4 raises its dramatic level with the character of Max (Sadie Sink). We followed several of her dilemmas and when we finally got to episode 4, entitled Dear Billy (Dear Billy, in Portuguese) the series closes a wonderful cycle with the character, who works very well with her psychological problems, traumas and the way everything is resolved is very pleasant to watch. (SPOILER WITHOUT CONTEXT: I'm hooked on Kate Bush right now).

Another great highlight of the season so far is on account of Robin (Maya Hawke), who continues to be friends with Steve, but the situation leads her to team up again with Dustin, Max and now with Nancy as well. This combination works very well, and although Robin talks too much and bordering on irritating many times, the quality of her acting is undeniable, especially in episode 4, where she simply takes a whole scene for herself in the most unexpected way possible and it works perfectly well.

Conclusion and expectations for volume 2

The fourth season of Stranger Things, at least in its first part, worked well and should please most people. I loved the novelties with the characters, but I felt that dividing the narrative into parallel stories wasn't such a good idea.

Fortunately the cast is good and even if this narrative isn't always working, the interaction of these characters works very well. And again, with the addition of the new faces, this interaction has become even more interesting and makes it easier to digest both the boring things and the more interesting ones.

Even though we had 7 episodes, a lot in them was to explain and in a way we had some retcons (retroactive continuity, in Brazil) that although they change a little in the already established story, they work well in the new season of Stranger Things.

And you, have you watched volume 1 of Stranger Things 4? Leave your thoughts below, but beware of spoilers, huh. The second volume with the last two episodes returns on July 1st, so stay tuned here on showmetech to check all the news. The first three seasons and the first volume are now available on Netflix