After the sheer emotional wallop of Chapter 4, I’m not surprised that the 5th instalment of Stranger Things 4 has decided to step back a bit, because trying to follow up the moment that saw the group use the power of Kate Bush to stop Max contorting herself into an early grave would be an act of futility. However, I must say that Stranger Things newbie Nimród Antal (of Vacancy and Predators fame) has been given something of a poison chalice as his debut episode requires the show to delve into some hard-core Scooby-Doo shit as we’re delivered something of a transitional episode to give us a chance to catch our collective breaths.
Once again widening our focus to include everybody once more, both Eleven and Eddie are given a chance to play this time – but while the search for a weak spot for Vecna continues, is the Joyce/Murray/Hopper plot thread making a bold play to become Stranger Things’ most enjoyably far fetched thread yet?
After sitting out the last episode, we return to Eleven as her union with Owens has led to her being driven out to a research centre in the middle of the Nevada desert in an attempt to undergo more experiments in order to restore her powers, but Things immediately get sinister when she discovers that Brenner is still alive. While this understandably distresses Eleven to the point where she has to be sedated, when she wakes, she finds that she’s been secured in a new, state of the art, isolation tank dubbed NINA and is being forced to work through repressed memories of her early days in Hawkins labs. Meanwhile, while Mike, Jonathan, Will and Argyle have narrowly escaped the raid on their home by corrupt soldiers, the agent who had successfully led them out has succumbed to his wounds, but not before giving them a clue to track down Eleven and protect her.
Over in Russia, Hopper’s recapture has regrettably led to him regularly getting the shit beaten out of him again, but as he’s moved to a new (and somehow nastier) part of the prison, a captive Joyce and Murray are being flown over by the turncoat smuggler, Yuri. However, Joyce is as scrappy as she is plucky and after bigging up Murray’s black belt skills, they manage to overwhelmed and subdue their captor. The bad news is that even though Murray may karate, he knows dick about flying and they promptly crash.
Finally, armed with the knowledge to keep Max safe from Vecna’s curse, the Hawkins contingent forges ahead to Victor Creel’s abandoned house to search for clues and find that they can track him through the house with lights much in the same way Joyce once communicated with Will when he was trapped in the Upside-Down. However, this won’t be enough to save Eddie, who has just been discovered by a vengeance craving Jason Carver; but as he flees, Vecna skips to his next victim, which may make clearing Eddie’s name next to impossible.
So once again, we’re in furious build-up mode as all the characters struggle to understand and process the events that’s recently befallen them. However, all of it is required to take a back seat in order to focus mostly on Eleven teaming up once again with Matthew Modine’s returning Brenner in order to take a science-y vision quest to provide some furious retconning. Of course, you’ll forgive me for bring a little bit hesitant when it comes to plot threads about Eleven going solo thanks primarily to the infamous The Lost Sister episode that nearly derailed season 2 – but while there’s a convenient amount of backstory delivered via the time worn method of “the character blocked vital information from their memory”, it does a decent job of patching some wholes. Are we supposed to buy that Eleven forgot that she once shared an entire lab with gifted kids that not even Kali (who was labelled “eight”) could share some light on? Not really, but is it way more interesting then any flashback to the lab so far? Definitely. It also helps make the jump that the de-aging present here makes a lot of Marvel’s stuff look primitive in comparison as it accurately gives us a little Millie Bobby Brown that reminds just just how young she used to look. However, the actual return of Brenner isn’t as much of a revelation as it could have been, especially considering that was a tidbit of information that Kali did know, but if it sheds some appropriately epic light on what actually transpired during that 70s bloodbath, I’m down for any backstory revisions the show decides to throw at us.
Meanwhile, remember how enjoyably silly Steve, Dustin and Robin’s plot was back in Stranger Things 3 when they found that the Starcourt Mall was actually a front for secret Russian scientists trying to break into the Upside-Down? Well, it genuinely seems like Stranger Things 4 is trying to top it by using Joyce, Murray and Hopper floundering attempts the break the latter out of a gulag. If that massive action sequence/twist last episode wasn’t enough, the fact we get a comedy fight scene with Murray testing out his Karate on Yuri should set it in steel. Once again, I can’t help but marvel at the confidence of a show that’s come so far, it can afford to stage a rather expensive looking brawl in an out of control plane just for some laughs. However, we do take a moment from the snow swept insanity to take a poignant moment for Hopper to lament the fact that it was his handling of agent orange during the Vietnam War that led to the birth defects that ultimately killed his daughter and it’s nice to know that even with its vastly expanded scope, the show still takes great care to target the little moments too.
Finally, after such an emotional close call last episode, we find the Hawkins gang mostly indulging in pure detective work which, while necessary to move the plot along (we’ve got to find out the connection to Vecna and Victor Creel soon, right?), it kind of glosses over a lot of Max’s more touching moments. Just last episode we saw the girl writing letters to her loved ones, utterly convinced she was going to die – but after her truly unsettling near death experience, it’s back to work as usual. Still, at least this thread is still riffing hard on 80s horror, with the Elm Street vibes coming thick and fast and I’m genuinely starting to wonder if the show has any idea what to do with the California group other than have them scream a lot and make jokes about getting stoned. Oh don’t get me wrong – it’s honestly funny, but considering all the other plotlines are moving with full momentum (even Eddie gets to do something, even if it is to freak out and make a poorly planned run for it), these chuckleheads are noticably bringing up the rear.
A noticeable easing off of the pressure signifies a thus far superlative season taking a bit of a pause in order to pace itself (we’re still only halfway through the season, remember?) – however, it seems that we’re long overdue for some of these plot threads to start to intertwine so we can start to see the big picture here. Anyway, with Eleven started on her journey towards powering back up and retrieving some plot-vital memories, I’ve a feeling this pause for breath won’t last long.
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