With the hunger for content that streaming platforms clamor for every month, it has become increasingly rare to see productions take it easy and elaborate new seasons on solid foundations, which is why Stranger Things represents for the industry a pleasant one exception. Leaving aside the fact that it is perhaps the first – if not the only – Netflix Original series to have created a global cult phenomenon before Squid Game – yes, we know, there was also The paper housebut it was a content born on Antena 3 -, the credit of Stranger Things has always been to brush up on the taste for vintage helping the new generations to rediscover and orient themselves in classics such as IT, Stand by me ei Goonies that most Millennials grew up with. After the third season, released in the summer of 2019, it was evident, however, that the Duffer brothers had to decide which way to go, and it is a relief that they have opted for one fictional even more dark and even more truculentchoosing to be inspired by as many cult phenomena as Nightmare And Carrie.
The story is set six months after the events of the Starcourt Mall: Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Joyce (Winona Ryder), Will (Noah Schnapp) e Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) they moved in California, while the rest of the gang – namely Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Max (Sadie Sink) – have stayed in Hawkins and are confronted with the classic pitfalls of American high school students. Of course, this being the Stranger Thingsthe story certainly could not focus only on problems of adolescence, and here, then, a new one appears threat from the Upside down which takes the name of Vecna, a demon that feeds on weaknesses and of the fears of the neighbor to strengthen. With this in mind, the only person who might be able to stop it would be Eleven which, however, at the end of the third season of Stranger Thingshe had to give up his powers finding himself extremely fragile and in need of protection.
Hopper (David Harbor), who had taken her under his wing, has vanished into thin air, though Joyce doesn’t take long to discover that he is alive and struggling to survive inside a prison camp in the snow-covered wilderness of the Kamchatkataking her and Murray (Brett Gelman) on a long journey to the Russia – “uncomfortable” territory today – to bring him home. We cannot tell you more about the plot to avoid spoilers, but it is enough to know that this fourth season of Stranger Things – available on Netflix in two parts: the first from May 27th and the second from July 1st – will be able to keep you in suspense both for the dark and unpredictable tone of the many subplots present during the episodes, both for the skill and charisma of the actors who, as children as they were, have turned into artists capable of transmitting to the viewer the right sense of terror, estrangement and courage.
The result of this cauldron is a branching story that pleases everyone a little: adults fond of Joyce’s journey in search of Hopper; the thirty-year-olds for the adventures of Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke) to help the little ones discover the truth, and all the others for the original protagonists, now grown up and ready to compete with the cupids and the doubts that adolescence always brings with it. You will often cover your eyes so as not to be frightened, but also to empathize with the protagonists so that the threat of Vecna ​​does not take over: what is certain is that the new episodes – which last from an hour and ten to an hour and a quarter – flow away which is a pleasure, showing us that, when the result is a series as well built as Stranger Thingstaking a few more years to set it on fire as Netflix did can only be precious and necessary.
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Source: Vanity Fair
