‘Stranger Things’ Season 4: Everything to Remember Before Watching

Stranger Issues hasn’t uploaded new episodes since 2019, earlier than the coronavirus pandemic. It looks like without end in the past, and viewers could be forgiven if they do not fairly keep in mind the place the hit Netflix present left off. However with the primary half of Stranger Issues season 4 arriving on Could 27, and the second half on July 1, it is time to return to Hawkins. So the place did we depart off?

(Spoilers for the primary three seasons of Stranger Issues forward.)

The fundamentals

So again within the first season, Hawkins, Indiana, is only a regular little Eighties city. Till younger Will Byers disappears. Seems that the close by Hawkins Nationwide Laboratory is messing round with the supernatural, and someway broke by means of to a creepy dimension referred to as the Upside Down, unleashing such monsters as demogorgons and the terrifying Thoughts Flayer. The lab can be experimenting on children who appear to have particular powers. One in every of them, dubbed Eleven, escapes and joins Will’s group of mates — Mike, Dustin and Lucas — and helps rescue Will. Eleven will get adopted by city police chief Jim Hawkins. Blissful ending? Ha, we’re simply getting began.

We additionally meet the entertaining older siblings of Will’s crew — his brother, Jonathan; Mike’s sister, Nancy; and Nancy’s then-boyfriend, Steve “The Hair” Harrington. (Steve begins out as a jerk, however he will get means, means higher.) Additionally, Nancy’s pal, Barb. RIP, Barb.

Within the second season, a brand new household strikes to city from California. Purple-headed Maxine “Max” Mayfield ultimately suits in with the Will-Mike-Dustin-Lucas-Eleven group, whereas her violent stepbrother Billy Hargrove unnerves the youngsters. However whereas characters come and go, the Upside Down and its creatures stays a menace. That brings us as much as season 3, which aired in 2019. Right here we go…

Season 3 begins

It is 1984-85, and the Starcourt Mall is Hawkins’ new hangout, full with Jazzercize health club and all of the neon-crazy colours of a mall again within the Madonna heyday.

• Dustin’s again from science camp and mooning over a Utah lady named Suzie he contacts by way of ham radio. 
• Mike and Eleven are a pair, and Hopper is not pleased about that. THREE-INCH RULE!
• All of the mothers on the pool are drooling over lifeguard Billy, however on his technique to a doable rendezvous with Nancy and Mike’s mother, he will get possessed by the Thoughts Flayer. Billy finally ends up kidnapping a fellow lifeguard, Heather, and ultimately feeding her and her dad and mom to the creature. 
• In the meantime, Nancy and Jonathan are digging into the city’s mysteries by way of their intern jobs on the native paper (which is staffed by a bunch of misogynistic losers). They examine the case of a wierd previous woman, Mrs. Driscoll, who’s been noticing some bizarre rat-related occasions.
• Steve and new character Robin Buckley work collectively on the mall ice cream store, Scoops Ahoy, the place they assist Dustin translate a Russian radio message he is intercepted. Lucas’ sister, Erica, a scene stealer if ever there was one, seems and finally ends up serving to the Scoops Troop far more than you would possibly count on.

Brawl for all of it on the mall

All the assorted teams work collectively to attempt to determine the mysteries — of Billy’s bizarre possession, of the Russian transmission, and extra. All of it culminates in a rocking battle on a number of fronts. You actually gotta watch it, however listed here are some highlights.

• The Scoops Troop (Robin, Steve, Dustin and Erica) discover a Russian lab under Starcourt Mall, the place troopers are attempting to pressure their means into the Upside Down. At one level, Steve and Robin are drugged by the Russians, however they get better. Erica is rattling sassy and afraid of nothing, and Dustin reaches out to Suzie for a pivotal code, at which level they sing a romantic duet of NeverEnding Story, the theme from the 1984 film. Not kidding. Right here, watch it.

• Nancy and Jonathan discover Will, Mike, Lucas, Eleven and Max, and so they all find yourself racing across the mall hiding from Russian troopers, the Thoughts Flayer and the possessed Billy. Eleven makes use of her powers to journey into Billy’s troubled previous, and manages to free him from the Thoughts Flayer, whereupon he sacrifices himself to avoid wasting her.

• Hopper and Joyce enlist the assistance of Russian-speaking Murray and take a jovial, Slurpee-loving Russian named Alexei as their principally keen hostage. He is useful and enjoyable, however will get shot (by means of a Woody Woodpecker carnival prize) by one other Russian on the Hawkins honest. Hopper, Joyce and Murray struggle to shut the gate and kill the Thoughts Flayer, however sadly, Hopper is trapped on the mistaken aspect of the gate. In a tearful scene, he tells Joyce to blow it up, presumably killing him. NOOOOOOO, HOP! 

The place are the characters at season’s finish?

Hopper is again within the USSR

 The Hawkins crew assume he is lifeless. However an after-credits scene proven throughout the finale reveals an American is imprisoned in a creepy Russian jail camp the place unfortunate prisoners are fed to a demogorgon. Trailers have since confirmed Hopper is certainly alive at this unnerving jail positioned in Kamchatka, Russia. By no means concern, he’ll get out someway. He and Joyce need to get that relationship relationship off the bottom.

California, right here we come

Joyce Byers moved out of Hawkins, taking sons Will and Jonathan. Since Hopper is presumed lifeless, Eleven, who’s now with out her powers, went together with the Byers household, ending up within the fictional city of Lenora Hills, California. Issues do not look sunny within the Golden State, nevertheless — a preview exhibits El getting snubbed in school, after which being taken away in some sort of jail van. However hey, not less than their new city appears to have a curler rink. And Dr. Owens (Paul Reiser) is again, telling El that the world has no hope with out her.

In the meantime, again in Hawkins…

So who’s again in Hawkins? Properly, Lucas, who seems to be doing nicely on the college basketball staff. Max, who’s mourning Billy, and at one level floats within the air above his grave. Mike and Dustin are seen cheering Lucas on throughout a sport, and Mike’s carrying a shirt for the Hellfire Membership, which is seemingly the college Dungeons & Dragons membership. There’s some sort of plotline revolving round what appears to be like like a haunted home, and a deteriorating grandfather clock performs a job — time journey, perhaps? Erica, Steve and Nancy are briefly seen within the trailer, however we’re left to marvel if Steve and Robin actually received these jobs on the video retailer. (Supervisor Keith advised Robin: “You … begin Monday,” earlier than pointing to Steve and saying, “You … begin by no means.”)

Learn how to watch Stranger Issues season 4

Get your self Netflix and settle in for the primary half of season 4, set to reach on Could 27, and the remainder of the season on July 1. Not like Dustin and Suzie’s track, it is not a endless story — there’s just one season of Stranger Issues remaining after this one.