Stranger Things 4 – Review of the first volume of the fourth season

We have all experienced the adolescent perioda complicated period made up of choices and of a silent growth ready to mix the cards previously at stake in our life. To talk about the first volume from Stranger Things 4 in a reviewit should be noted immediately that the subjective moment of each character – understood as growth – is refracted on the narrative itself and on the narrative structure of the story. The uncertainties, the changefear of tomorrow, the search for those answers that you can only find within yourself, love, and the relationship with your neighbor, everything is sublimated into a genre, that horror, which here as well as the background acts as a leitmotif for the entire duration of the story, blending perfectly with the characters and emotions at stake. Stranger Things 4 then returns with a new season divided into two parts, in two volumes. The first will see the light on May 27 on Netflix, while the second on first July. Although it is not the final season of the story (it has been made official that the fifth will be), something is already perceived in the air, in the way in which the events narrated are moving, in an emotional carousel that continues to advance, continuously looking back, looking at what it has been and has done over the years, without ever forgetting the journey made so far.

A new threat?

We are in 1986 and exactly six months have passed since battle of Starcourt. The protagonists were divided into two specific groups: Joyce, Will, Jonathan and Undi are in Lenora Hills, California, while the others have remained in Hawkins. The time that has elapsed opens the narrative by introducing us to the boys struggling with theirs current lives. Now that they have grown up they find themselves facing the first year of high school, while the older ones have to do with waiting for college and work. This Stranger Things 4, and it is good to underline it in a review, tries from the beginning to frame a seemingly normal situation, in which boys try to find their own place within the world, addressing the small difficulties of the case. The terrifying events of the past are gone, they no longer belong to this present made up of small challenges of everyday life. Everyone therefore tries to move forward. This new adolescent cut is actually interesting right from the start, given that the writing of each of them evolves, framing it in a completely different context, that of American High Schoolswhere survival isn’t easy at all, even in comparison to a deadly challenge with the gigantic Mind Flayer.

We then find one Undi looking for his place in the world, for example, without his own Mike, and launched in a context far from the one in which we met her at the beginning of the story. Or the character of Lucas who would like to elevate himself from a social point of view, coming into conflict with his current identity and friendships, or Dustin And Mike ready to keep faith with their passions to the end. In short, the adolescent age in all its splendor, made up of small and large internal battles. All of this incredibly refreshes a narrative that paws to grow, to move forward, following the very ages of the now remarkably different cast. There maturation of each of them, in fact, will soon be transposed on every single story, with an interesting individual narrative approach until the end.

In the shadow of all this one new threat it branches out on the horizon, something indefinite and yet quite a lot familiar, not too new but still scary. A new adventure will once again transform the lives of each character, expanding its impact even outside the classic circle of friends and heroes that we all know. Curiously, this threat turns out a lot coherent with general writing and not just fear as an end in itself, but something ready for align with the path that the series itself has traced up to now. In parallel we find the vicissitudes of adults, here distinct from all the rest. The story at the center of which we find Joyce And Murray it dynamizes the narration to a minimum compared to past seasons, offering a series of interesting adventures, albeit with some fall in style from time to time.

Nostalgia take me away

Stranger Things 4 delivers to viewers two very important things: a story that knows how to catch you by keeping curious to the end, and as you will read by continuing in the review, one style highly recognizable made of nostalgia And quotes various. As in the past, watching Stranger Things remains synonymous with pure nostalgia. The staging, the costumes, the sets and the way in which the various dynamics are framed inevitably convey backards over time, reconnecting both to the present, in some way, and to all the products released at the time. The fact that the various directors we have disseminated quotes and small “Nostalgic goodies” in the various shots there remains an advantage, even if some aesthetic choices could be cloying. To all this must be added the graphic rendering enough uncertain of some developments in CGI (element towards which this series lacks enough) and the perfectly timed choices musical that from season to season contextualize and enhance the various developments. One could almost say that the music, in this TV series, plays a central role to the point of becoming itself a protagonist capable of arousing and always leaving something to the viewer. The direction, moreover, remains one of the prominent elements to reflect on. It is the latter that transforms even the smallest things into wonder and magicsymbol of a formal commitment that together with the assembly continuously transforms normality and clichés with a particular touch.

Finally, it is also good to talk about the elements horror that go to paint the contours of this new season. We are, in fact, facing one of the more seasons gloomy until now, drawn by recurring elements of the genre (with a flood of quotes that will make the hearts of lovers of this genre beaten) and by even strong aesthetic choices. No exaggeration of course, even if the details disturbing they remain a constant ready to marry with the storytelling photograph mentioned above, in an evidently desired contrast. A product comes out and continues to work, while leaving relatively long episodes in which everything moves in a single and certain direction. In addition we have new personages within the cast, ready to dynamize the narrative more than in the past, with a thematic expansion that comes out of the emotional niche we are all used to. An element to criticize in the negative remains the general chorality, distributed in a structure in which the various paths are split from the beginning: the fact of having a continuous split inevitably affects the general rhythm.