Stranger Things 4: Vecna's curse over the legacy of the show
Written by A Robinson
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*MAJOR SEASON 4 SPOILERS*
Stranger Things. You've either questioned someone's life choices for having not seen it, or you've had your life choices questioned for not having seen it. A relatively undisputable cultural phenomenon that invigorated Netflix and provided the streaming service with a powerhouse show, now follows in the suit of other famed series; being established as a hallmark show, with a worldwide fanbase, yet announces it's imminent completion and final season at the time it is at its (arguable) height of popularity (I'm looking at you, Dan Levy of Schitt's Creek).
I'm writing this two days after Vol. 2 of Season 4 dropped, and one day after I watched the final episode (Episode 9 The Piggyback), as I was regrettably unable to participate in the worldwide breaking of Netflix's server at the time of release on 1st July 2022. The immediate shock has subsided, and 24 hours have passed in which I can attempt to absorb the events of the final two episodes. However, past delving into where the final two episodes have left our beloved characters and the incredibly dark, bleak future that lies ahead of them in Hawkins, of more importance to me is the continued sensation of Season 4 leaving a stain on the previous seasons.
Now: I have read countless articles, Buzzfeed polls and Tweets that argue that each Season of Stranger Things, 1-4, respectively are thought of the best or the worst season out of the bunch. So the minefield of conflicting opinions of which season is the best or worst is oddly equal, despite it being polarised; the only general consensus I could draw, which I would happen to agree with, is that Season 1 is a masterpiece. People argue Season 2 is irrelevant (don't even mention Episode 7 The Lost Sister), just as easily as they argue that Season 3 is a complete misfire and doesn't capture the tone that made 1, 2 and now 4 great. In equal measure, Season 3 was vibrant, increased the scale of location and threat and continued the Mind Flayer storyline, and in my opinion Season 2 was the perfect development from the smaller scope of Season 1 and provided excellent character development, partnership (El and Hopper, of course) at the same time as introducing new characters that quickly solidified as fan favourites. For all the nuances and conflicting pros and cons of seasons 1-3, I possess a roughly equal love for each of them, and consider them all incredibly rewatchable and are responsible for making Stranger Things one of my favourite shows of all time.
Then Season 4 happened.
I was thrilled. The longest wait between seasons, just under three years since Season 3 premiered, a pandemic, and promises of the biggest scale yet, I was counting the days to delve back in to Hawkins. Episode 1: The Hellfire Club. The familiarity of pace in the introductory episode, getting well acquainted with our heroes since we last saw them... taking in the new location of California and being surprised at how quickly the young adult actors mature. Then Chrissy, poor Chrissy, has an unpleasant experience in the bathroom. Okay. Bit unnerving, but I've sat through a fleshy spider looking Mind Flayer terrorise my screen, I'm sure it can't be that bad. Then she hears a clock in the woods and it goes dark. Okaay. I don't really like where this is going, is it all in her head? Is this a possession thing? Oh never mind, Eddie Munson is here and their cute chemistry is enough to distract me. Then Chrissy takes a trip to Eddie's trailer and I'm done. The unrelenting terror of Chrissy's trauma, being trapped inside (what we now know is Henry Creel's childhood home) being met with gruesome and downright horrific images of her parents, whilst being tormented by the now unveiled Vecna struck fear through me. I was in disbelief; this was not the horror of Stranger Things that I knew and loved. I did not sign up to watch this terrifying possession, and no sooner do I have a pillow in front of my face, I see her bones aggressively snap in ungodly directions and her eyes sucked out of her skull.
This was a far cry from the tone of what Stranger Things was known for; the horror of previous seasons, to recount them in all their forms: the Demogorgan (S1), the Demodogs (S2), the shadow Mind Flayer (S2) and the physical Mind Flayer (S3) were each not without their respective darkness, but were not remotely in the same ballpark of what I saw with Vecna's doings in that first episode. The sinister nature was amplified and the tone went from entertaining threat with monsters that we are impressed by, but not truly fearful of, to pure terror as if I was watching an 18/ R rated horror movie.
A disclaimer; I am not a fan of horror movies of this nature, and do not seek them out in any way, which admittedly intensified my appalled reaction to Vecna and his possessions because I thought this was the last thing I would find when watching Stranger Things. In fairness: a callback to Season 2 where we saw another 'possession'; other than an unpleasant scene where we see the shadow Mind Flayer possess Will, and then intensely see him be freed of the possession at the hands of his mother Joyce (who else?) at the end of the season, but absent are ANY graphic images or gruesome deaths in Season 2. It just doesn't exist pre-Season 4.
I stuck it out for the second episode, at the request of my partner as I was worried this would impede on the enjoyment of our nightly watch of Stranger Things together, but as soon as I saw that reporter have a chilling vision in the car with Nancy and then wander in to the woods, I was done. As I was looking at the floor with my face behind a cushion, attempting to tune out the chilling words of Vecna and counting the seconds to the sound of more bones cracking, I was angry. I was angry that I was sat there listening to something that was scaring me, and I was angry that a series that once gave me so much joy and was a confirmed comfort show, was now the complete opposite. My decision was made; and as my anger morphed into dispassion, I had no interest in watching the following episodes. I saw pieces here and there, and instead of watching the thrilling climactic scene of Max's escape to Running Up That Hill in Episode 4: Dear Billy on the big screen like everyone else, I saw a snippet on my phone without any context as it was now lighting up everyone's timelines. I spoiled the rest of the episodes for myself, because they were already spoiled for me. An intense stance to take with a TV show, I know, but I was so annoyed that this was the case. A note: this does not extend to Vol. 2, as I watched the final episodes in full, but I'll get in to that later. For me, the damage was already done.
What this signifies in the greater context of the show, what I now think of the previous seasons, and what I anticipate for the final season is that Season 4 tainted my view of the overall series. No, closing my eyes for a few unpleasant horror scenes was not enough to do this in isolation. Is Season 4 a complete separation from 1-3 and does it take on a much darker, more sinister tone and threat? Yes. Did I personally enjoy this new direction? No. Where the greater issue lies however is with the unveiled storyline and what that means for the canon. Vecna's storyline.
It is explained that Vecna, once a 'gifted' boy like Eleven called Henry Creel, was the first child that Dr Brenner sought to study and develop their telekinetic abilities, after Henry brutally murdered his own mother and sister as a child in the same fashion that we saw with the Hawkins teens. Thus, he was 001 in the same programme that El was 011. Fine. What we then learn, in a clever yet mentally taxing roundabout way of revealing the past events through Eleven's memories of the past yet she appears as her current age, not a child which she was at the time of the memories which we saw a snippet of in the opening scene of the Season, is that 001 was responsible for the massacre of children at Hawkins Lab, in an attempt to get 011 (then a child far younger than when we first meet her in 1983 of Season 1) to join him in a predictable plea of two powerful beings joining forces to eradicate society and humanity in an attempt to reshape the world how he sees fit. 011 refuses, and in a similar fashion to her pinning the Demogorgan to the classroom wall in the S1 finale, she appears to disintegrate 001, assumingly kill him, or at the very least sent him to the Upside Down. Job done?
No. As we then see him be physically disfigured and decaying, we see him take his form as Vecna. A clever way to reveal this monstrous yet anonymous villain that we had no previous answers for. This is where I find it problematic, however. The writers don't just stop with the identity reveal of Henry Creel/ 001 and that he was a fellow lab child to 011- in Vol. 2 they take it many steps further in creating a substantial explanation that in fact Vecna was responsible for all of the events/threats of the previous seasons, as he was waiting in the Upside Down. Vecna and the Demogorgan? Buddies. Vecna and the Mind Flayer? Pals.
This is where my issue lies. If we now take this into account, as we essentially have to as it's now considered canon, this by default changes how we watch Seasons 1-3. I've identified that I have a pattern of taking issue with this when movies follow this trend, with releasing sequels or especially prequels that unveil a new ground breaking plotline that is designed to fit in with the existing, previous plotline of the original movie, and provides an additional perspective or explanation that didn't exist within the first movie at the time of release. Can't we just let the original be the original? I don't want to go back and watch Season 1, relishing in the quaint small scale of Hawkins and Hawkins alone, baby-faced characters coming to terms with their first interactions with the Upside Down and a single Demogorgan; now thinking Vecna was behind it all. When El opens the 'first' gate whilst within the lab by touching the Demogorgan, that is now explained to be in an attempt for her to find Henry in the Upside Down at the request of Dr Brenner? Sigh.
Another cinematic example where this after-the-fact plot reveal leaves me cold is Blofeld's reveal in 2015's Spectre, taunting Bond with "Me, James. The author of all your pain... did you think it was a coincidence all the women you loved ended up dead...". His connections to the previous villains from the films that preceded him was an enticing concept, but I was let down with the lack of explanation. How did he ruin James' life? How and to what extent did he know Vesper Lynd, or how were Le Chiffre, Silva and others acting on his assumed instruction to come across Bond? Surely this denounces their respective threats and place within their own movies, as I could now go back and watch Casino Royale and not see Le Chiffre as the rightful antagonist in his own movie, as Blofeld is now apparently behind the scenes orchestrating it all.
It can be a wonderful device of expert storytelling across multiple instalments, be it seasons of a TV show or film releases within a trilogy or a saga, but only really when the concept is pre planned at the very beginning. Not to say a masterful explanatory plotline can slot in to previous instalments despite only being realised at a later date, but one runs the risk of it diminishing the previous instalments and their rightful place within the franchise. George Lucas conceived the entire plot of the original Star Wars trilogy, from A New Hope through to Return of the Jedi; the most catastrophic cinematic reveal of all time was not a last ditch effort to heighten the steaks or throw a curveball to the audience; he already knew Vader was Luke's father. It was written in to the context of all three scripts, he thought of the story as one- it just had to be broken down into three feature films due to its length.
A not so far-out jump back to Stranger Things, and I ask myself where does this leave me with a show that I loved so dearly? As alluded to, I did watch both episodes of Vol.2 in full with great enthusiasm as I hoped would have been present with Vol.1, and my emotional investment in the show returned, to my great happiness. As for the direction of the show itself, with how S4 ended and what it means for S5- it's a hell of a job. Not only to do right by each character, each plotline, build on what has been but still honour the essence the show and at the same time provide a perfect ending whilst still providing shock and thrill is a tall order. The more fans you have, the more people you can please, but also the more people you can't please. As S5 remains a good two years away, I'll have time to acclimatise, and perhaps my perspective will shift to a more forgiving one if I choose to rewatch S4. As of now, I want to indulge in sentimental nostalgia with a boy being taken into the Upside Down and his fierce mother fighting to get him back whilst a girl with superpowers tackles mouthbreathers and monsters. Ah, simpler times.
