It’s
no secret that in a post-cable world where everyone has copied (and in a lot of
cases improved) their business model, Netflix has been struggling. Unjustified
price hikes, the departure of popular licensed programming like The
Office, the constant assembly-line-like churning out of garbage that no one
will ever watch (and the cancellation of quality original programming if said
programming even slightly underperforms), and now rumors of including ads and
cracking down on account sharing has made the once magnificent company wane in
popularity, especially when compared to the much better value that fellow
streaming services such as HBO Max and Amazon Prime offer. Netflix has had one
consistent money-maker over the years that they could depend on, however, and
that is Stranger Things. Returning for what the creators say
is the penultimate season, the nostalgic 80’s horror series proves to be just
as exciting and impressive as it’s always been, although the story does seem to
buckle a bit under its own weight in season 4.
Picking up right where the last
season left off, Eleven and some of her friends are now living in California,
while the other half of the Hawkins crew has remained in Indiana. All of those
kids we watched grow up since season 1 are now in high school, and, true to
form, season 4 introduces some new characters as well, not to mention a
menacing new bad guy straight from the Upside Down. Spooky stuff happens, 80s
references abound, an art project helps to solve part of the mystery, and the synthesizer
theme goes do-do-DOO-do-do-do-do-DOO-do. Pretty much what you’d expect, in
other words, and if you’ve been following the show for as long as I have that
is just fine and dandy. The cast and writing remain as good as ever (special
shout-out, as always, to Joe Keery’s hair), the new characters fit the
established world so well that you would have thought they had been there the
entire time, and the cinematography and style of the show remain beautiful. The
storyline feels a bit darker this time around, especially when it comes to the
violence inflicted by the new bad guy, which is often shocking and downright
brutal. For a series that could have easily been bogged down with an
overextended mythology and continuity while ultimately overstaying its welcome, Stranger
Things season 4 somehow manages to keep things fresh and appealing.
The only criticism I have of season 4
is that it perhaps has too much story. At one point there are no less
than six concurrent storylines to follow, although that number does fluctuate a
bit as characters meet up and then go their separate ways. The story also loses
a little something by going bigger in scope instead of sticking to the
hometown/self-contained horror vibe of previous seasons, making things seem a
little less intimate and a bit more Hollywood. But minor criticisms aside,
season 4 proves that Stranger Things is as strong as ever, and
I’m sure Netflix is very grateful that, for now, people won’t be cancelling
their service because of
it.
Stranger Things season
4 is now available on Netflix.
This review was first published in The Keizertimes on July 8th, 2022. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment