Season 4. Episode 5.
Oh Patrick, we hardly knew ye. Vaguely recognisable as one of Jason’s shithead friends, he still didn’t deserve his grisly fate… bones crushed by the evil hands of Vecna before settling into a watery grave. A tough way to go. That brings the victim count up to three with Chrissy Cunnigham, Fred and now Patrick shuffling off this mortal coil. It feels like we’re edging ever closer to losing a main character and I’m terrified for who that is going to be. If Vecna touches a single beautiful hair on Steve Harrington’s beautiful head there will be riots. RIOTS.
Elsewhere, Owens takes El to an abandoned ICBM silo where she reunites with Dr. Brenner (‘Papa’) who immediately starts experimenting on her because that’s his whole thing. It’s unclear how much we can trust Brenner or Owens even, but he does seem to hold the key to unlocking Eleven’s powers – something that will be crucial as I don’t think the residents of Hawkins can defeat Vecna through the ambient sounds of Kate Bush alone. Even SHE isn’t THAT good.
Finally, the dream team (now containing Max, Lucas, Dustin, Nancy, Robin and Steve Harrington) descend upon Victor Kreel’s house in the belief that this is where Vecna is hiding. This is a fair assumption, and as ever, this team up provides the episode’s best moments. It appears the Duffer brothers have accepted that this is our main cast now (along with Joyce, Murray and Hopper, of course), as Wheeler and Will Byers become ever more sidelined. The smart money is on one of those two not to make it through the season. Maybe it’s time to start at deadpool on who is gonna go first? I’ll mull that over…
Stray Observation
- That whole ‘I am the curse’ speech that Hopper delivers to Dmitri is one of the most affecting scenes in the entire run, and also David Harbour’s finest hour. As one of Stranger Things’ MVPs this is high praise indeed.
- While I love the pop culture references, I felt like the A Nightmare on Elm Street shout out made by Dustin was a little too on the nose. A little forced.
- Speaking of Elm Street, Victor Kreel’s house looks awfully similar to Nancy Thompson’s abode. In fact, it’s a mixture between Nancy’s house from Elm Street and the house on Neibolt Street… and if you don’t get that second reference then you need to brush up on your horror history.
- Murray’s little pep talk to himself about defeating Yuri was a treat. More Murray karate please.
- Eleven being trapped in her own mind castle was reminiscent of the workplace in Severance. Another show I can heartily recommend.
- Yes, I caught the The Neverending Story reference. No, I don’t like that movie. No, I wont be taking questions at this time.
- No wonder spiders wanted to get in Steve’s hair. That’s where I’d be headed if I were a spider. Could really nestle in there.