dex14

Stranger Things (S4E04) -- "Chapter Four: Dear Billy"

Runtime: 1hr 17min


Episode 1 Thread: https://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/65...fire-club.html
Episode 2 Thread: https://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/65...nas-curse.html
Episode 3 Thread: https://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/65...superhero.html
Episode 4 Thread: https://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/65...ear-billy.html
Episode 5 Thread: https://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/65...a-project.html
Episode 6 Thread: https://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/65...-six-dive.html
Episode 7 Thread: https://forum.dvdtalk.com/tv-talk/65...wkins-lab.html

dex14

HOLY. SHIT. This is episode was the best so far.

The shootout out at the Byers house was shot really well.
Yuri.
Robins big speech to the doctor... and then her weird running.
All the stuff with Robert Englund and the flashbacks.
And the end sequence... wow. The editing with the Kate Bush was great.

MysterioMan007

To me, this or the 7th episode were the best of the new season. I'm leaning towards this one, though.

Random thoughts:

--Steve is babysitting again lol
--More Robin and Nancy shenanigans. Yay!
--This Murray/Joyce Alaska stuff is kind of dull, imo Hopper escaping was fun, though.
--Everyone has grown so much since the show started, yet Max still looks 12.
--Callback to Silence of the Lambs with them leading Nancy and Robin to Victor Creel's cell.
--Robert Englund looks creepy as hell. The Creel backstory was interesting...
--Holy shit! Shootout at the Byers house. That cop was a boss for taking out so many of those guys and protecting Jonathan, Mike, and Will. Too bad he didn't make it himself. A hero.
--Yuri is a scumbag. You're no Alexi, Yuri.
--Good God, Max in the graveyard! Billy! The upside down! This whole sequence was a thrill.

In my opinion, the episode of the new season.

Throwing Copper

This was awesome. Probably one of the best of the series. 75 minutes of pulse-pounding carnage.

Not much if any Eleven at all. This is a hell of a season.

Sadie Sink was great in this as Maxine. Loved the Robert Englund cameo and the guy who played Young him, dude pops up in everything but i can never remember what i saw him in. 😅

Cellar Door

Great episode-loved it!

Fucking Yuri, commie bastard. I would have thought Murray would be suspicious enough not to drink the coffee, though.

The scene with Mike mending fences with Will was really good.

The shootout at the Byer's was great, and that agent that ended up in the van with them was a badass.

Nancy and Robin at the institution was good, and Robert Englund was fun as Creel--creepy but also pitiful.

I lol'd at Robin's line "It took me six months longer to learn to walk than the other kids."

And that big final sequence with Max and Vecna was really awesome, and I think of significance is that she was able to physically hurt him. Just a little, but it shows he is not invulnerable.

Oh, and a bit of personal trivia, the song that was playing--I guess in Argyle's van--before and after the shootout, "Pass the Dutchie" by Musical Youth, was the very first music I ever bought for myself, when I was about 10 years old. I bought it as a 45 rpm vinyl single. I had no idea what the song was about, I just liked the sound of it.



ETA: speaking of Argyle, I laughed at his conversation on the phone about pineapple on pizza. A perennial debate.

Toddarino

What a great episode. Nice to see Paul Reiser back. Hopefully he sticks around a bit. I assumed that was all too easy for Hopper. Glad Max isn’t dead yet.
Oh yeah, pineapple doesn’t belong on a pizza.

Shannon Nutt

Agreed this episode was great. The shootout surprised me, Hopper getting re-captured surprised me, the Robert Englund stuff was great, and that ending was fantastic. Surprised they just didn't use this episode for the mid-season break (even though it was only #4).

Tom Banjo

He was most recently in Ozark as the son of the head of the KC Mafia. The one whose dick got shot off by Darlene.

Toddarino

No that was a different actor. Young Victor was played by the guy who’s life went to shit because of the Byrde’s. His overprotective mother died, then he became a gambling addict, then he fell in love with a stripper, then he ended up working at the motel.

Decker

Really liked this episode. Very well done
Two questions
1) How did the kids decide that Robert Englund character was a victim of Vecna's killing Spree years before?
2) Why was Robyn wearing Nancy's bra? Did she arrive at the Wheeler house braless?

Decker

Great point!

mugwump

I really liked the shootout at Casa Byers. At first it seemed pretty unrealistic but viewed through an 80s lens where our military at the time wasn't honed by 20 plus years of warfare it's not outside the realm of possibility that a middle-aged, fat Federal agent just might have more experience in actual firefights than whatever soldiers they rounded up for that mission. Hopefully the dude survives and gets to kick some more ass.

Superman07

I haven’t commented on the series yet, but we just finished up this episode. Strong!

The general review I’ve hear is the season was bloated, but I feel like they’re doing a great job of juggling all the balls and keeping the story moving.

Agree the Joyce/Murray stuff is slow.

Pizza dude is growing on me. Hopefully he gets read in on stuff in the way to Hawkins. I’m sure he’ll say it makes total sense.

Nancy (Drew) and Robyn are starting to grow as a pair.

Max is a badass!

The Antipodean

I’m only up to here but this was a great episode, the final sequence was amazing - Sadie Sink’s acting game is so far ahead of most of the rest of the cast.

I’ve still got a few more to go but honestly the whole Russia subplot seems pointless and only there because they painted Hopper into a corner with the cliffhanger three years ago, it certainly doesn’t add anything to the story. Cut all that and the episodes wouldn’t feel quite so bloated either.

Trout

Loved the Fulci reference with Max in the cemetery.

stingermck

My first comment for the season (which has been strong) but this was the best episode so far.

andicus

The Silence of the Lambs stuff, was awesome! Glad they didn't have a Multiple Miggs in there.

I was definitely worried for Max, as she's probably my favourite character, but suspected she would somehow survive. I'm shocked that she's 20.

Still not keen on pizza guy. I mostly find him annoying.

Rob V

1. Because of the gossipy "magazine" they found in the library archives. It was a magazine devoted to stuff nobody really believed in like Bigfoot and aliens... it happened to have a story about Victor that aligned with the victims of 1986.
2. No, she's just kinky

Decker

I kind of missed that magazine thing. I remember them searching the microfiche in the library but had no idea how they decided to do their search, thought they were just reading old newspapers. Thanks.

Josh-da-man

I would assume that the Creel story is a local legend and well known by everyone in Hawkins, so it wouldn't be a stretch to make a connection if Vecna is using a similar MO to the Creel killings.

Decker

Sure, that's what I was thinking. But since I didn't hear anyone saying anything like "I haven't seen a scene this gruesome since the Creel family", I was confused as to how those kids found out about the case and made the connection.

Big Boy Laroux

That pretty much was what happened. Eddie's uncle talked about Creel to Nancy when she was Nancy Drewing at the trailer park. That's where she heard about Creel for the first time - then she acted on that hunch/shot in the dark at the library with Robin.

Cellar Door

I admit that I am not all that familiar with much of Kate Bush's work, despite having grown up in the 80s. Still, I think it's pretty cool that Stranger Things has generated a revival of interest in her song Running Up That Hill (the song that helps save Max) some 36 years later. Hopefully Bush is profiting nicely from it. She put out the following statement:

Deftones

I had never heard that song, but it is very good. I admit to listening to it a few times since I saw the show.

Coral

I used to make fun of that song in the 80s - mainly because of Kate Bush's voice.

Weird how 36 years later - I don't mind the song.