The Reel Rejects - REJECT RECAP: Stranger Things 4, Chapter 1: "The Hellfire Club" Breakdown & Review!

Episode Date: May 28, 2022

Couldn't be more excited to be back in Hawkins for what might be Stranger Things' darkest season yet!! Greg & John discuss the first episode which catches us up on where all our characters have been since we last saw them & what new threats loom from The Upside down... REACTION HIGHLIGHTS on YouTube & FULL LENGTH (Sync-Up) WATCH ALONGS at Patreon.com/TheReelRejects!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-reel-rejects/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How's it going, Reject Nation? John here, wanted to quickly take a moment to welcome y'all. Back to Hawkins to our Stranger Things 4, React, Review, Recap Breakdown, et cetera, series. We have full-length watch-alongs for Stranger Things for all the episodes over at our Patreon. If you want to sync up and watch the whole thing with us, or you can check out the reaction highlights on YouTube. But, yeah, this has been a very exciting season so far. This is our discussion of Chapter 1, The Hellfire Club. very excited for what's to come

and I hope you guys have been enjoying as well anyway that's enough babbling from me on to the review that was so much worse than I expected it to be that was brutal damn that was metal

this show gets violent but that is one of the most violent things I think the series is done. That's disgusting, yeah. Wow. It's so painful and visceral. That was, I was, I was, I was taking a back by Violet that was. Yeah.

Yeah, man, oof. Oh. Oh, whoa. That's hardcore. Yeah. It was brutal with an umlaut over the U. I like that these episodes are so long. They really take their time to breathe.

Like, this is transported, man. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, and it's the perfect kind of halfway point between a feature movie and a... This one of these is like five minutes short to be a feature for a other. Yeah, absolutely. But at the same time, this was a great, really lovely paced episode. Yeah. Especially when you're going to introduce new characters.

Yeah, you've got to introduce new characters. You've got to catch up with everybody. You've got to set the stage in. You've got to build the tension without going too ham too fast. And I thought they absolutely achieved that here. And I like the new character, or the new villain, you know, like we've seen before. Like, I think what's interesting is so much of the time, like, every preceding season, even the first season, every character's dealing with their traumas,

and it's so much about overcoming their traumas, you know, in order to win the day. And to have a villain that specifically feeds on your traumas is a cool direction to take your next villain in Stranger Things. and also a villain, presumably, from the upside down, it seems, that is also humanoid and, humanoid to an extent. Like, humanoid and speaks as well, versus, you know, like, and accepting your mind or, you know, death and organs. It is a different direction to take it.

So, yeah, there's a lot here. Yeah, there's more to talk about. Damn, wow. All right, so ideally we want to keep these discussions short because there's so much to get through, but they put so much effort into each episode that you want to, like, break it all down. Yeah, there's so much to unpack here.

So, you know, it's like, and I know usually by the time people are watching our reactions, they're already like, they're done with the show. Yeah, they're already done with the show. You know, so I get it. I get it. And, but this, this in particular, for your pilot to return, it's, there's so much depth in it.

And they seem to be dropping a lot of clues about time travel. Like a lot of us have suspected that there might be some type of time travel quality, a Russian doll already, like right at the beginning of the story. And, you know, everything with the clocks. And the way they called, how would you explain that, like when you're cutting back and forth of a series of events? When you're intercutting, like, two sequences that mirror each other in terms of, yeah, the action as well as the sentiment spoken or whatever.

yeah there's a lot of that in this episode I don't know if it was to like get through the setup or if that was a thing that was also thematically tying in with the whole time element I think it is I think I think there's definitely a time motif and there's also definitely a sort of mirrors motif it's okay this is this is what Dustin has to do with on a daily basis but yeah I thought that there is a definite mirroring and paralleling motif that they do definitely within those montages and within those intercuts between, yeah, that sort of exquisite corpse style.

Like, they're both basically saying the same thing in two different scenarios. But there's also, I think, in a way where, you know, you watch Moon Night and it's like, yes, it's very easy to tell there are million reflections and mirrors, and that's part of the motif. But I thought this also has that in the visual, in the settings. There are a lot of things that are played off of mirrors or glass or reflections and things like that. And I think they lace those things together visually as well, really nice. along with the cutting and stuff like that if I had one little I don't even know it's a nitpick because I want this why you people binge watch I want to wait to see

how the rest of the season unfolds is that after wanting you know a season for so long I was surprised how it felt like most of the time was not spent with the returning characters but with the new characters yeah like they give a lot of focus to Eddie. Oh. Like, so much focus. Eddie and Chrissy. Yeah, yeah.

That's about it. Pretty much. But yeah, it's like you have this whole... It's not like this is Eddie's episode. It really does, yeah, because you got a play set for the entire ensemble. You've got to establish some core conflicts and then establish to the new situation going. And I think, yeah, I'll wait to see how they do it. But for a first episode, I did kind of appreciate that because as the trauma, you know, continues, and as this village

and dives directly into character's traumas. I wonder if they're going to now kind of expand the themes into, you know, traumas shared by communities and generational traumas and things like that and other things. Definitely what I was picking up on to. Yeah. Because it talks to the basketball player. The basketball player, too, another player. The basketball, yeah.

Absolutely. That really leaned in on, sorry to interrupt, but yeah, his speech was very much about, like, Hawkins community. Yeah, and so it feels senseless. from here right now that they would start that way and that they might be bolstering the heft of the overall scope of the story with that stuff but at the same time yeah like it hit me most when we cut back to 11 when they uh in the scene that was released as a clip where she runs into the bullies and they smash her diorama uh like that was the moment where i was like oh wow that's right

we really are doing a lot and we haven't seen 11 except for in these couple scenes even yeah um so my my guess is yeah the next one we'll dive further into to our main ensemble again. I mean, gosh, this creature preys on 11's traumas. It was an interesting set up though, you know, to go from the early days of Dr. Brenner. I don't know if it was ever made clear that 11 was the one who offed the rest of the kids.

Part of me now is wondering if that is a mislead or it, because if you look at the way Chrissy died and if you look at the way all the kids died, it's that same, like all their limbs were twisted and snapped around. And so I wonder if it's meant to look like 11 did, all that when really she might have been in fighting fighting oh yeah when i assume they will eventually call vekna yeah yeah i think they said to call i think the duffer brothers or someone said is

yeah i forget some details of what i've learned in the past which if that's they say about lucas being on the basketball team i don't remember that that was told or not or if that was shown in trailers he's shown in the jersey yeah is he yeah okay i don't remember that ellen and for him to i feel Like, there is sort of an interesting migration of that plot line of like, hi, every season, one of the kids is feeling especially alienated from the group. Yeah. I mean, it's part of the, this goes in theme with Stranger Things of Growing Up, you know. Yeah, and I like the way that the tone and the 80s style is able to grow up with them.

Like, this felt more like a teen summer movie, you know, than perhaps like the E.T. or Goonies type of inspirations of seasons past. I thought I guess I get my dates all mixed up I was like I thought that Jonathan would be done

with high school now I know working at a newspaper do you still in high school I thought half these people already graduated and I was like

oh never mind I guess I'm getting my dates mixed up on I don't remember last season took place in summer I don't think they were in actual school

who was 4th of July yeah yeah you'd be in the midst of summer yes yes yes yes okay so it makes sense it's spring yeah okay 185 days all right so we're into everybody's last year that's right they were working a summer job at the newspaper I was just like I thought you were done with school and now getting jobs yeah my memory was serving me incorrectly

but yeah you got some fun little easter eggs with Tammy I remember now that they were talking Robin and and Steve were talking in the in the bathroom that one episode and they bonded over Tammy yeah so yeah that um and then Dustin's girlfriend coming back right away Not the last time we'll see her I assume. No man, no, she gotta keep coming back. But yeah, I do want moving forward

to spend time with the characters we've grown to love over the years and really make that the focus but you know, that's why I said like for returning and to have your episode length be as thick as it is and for all of them to be really long I think if it's as shorter

I'd probably have more of an issue with that yeah um but no that was a gripping ending you know yeah well it made really well what was uh if i'm not mistaken when they get transported to the upside down in the previous seasons they they're actually transported even when will i'm trying to remember what the rules are because i remember when they went trick-or-treating in season two in their ghostbusters outfit will was he had he had uh the camcorder and then he got transported and he fell down. And then I remember Mike was like, Will, where are you?

And he was like standing right there. He couldn't see him. Yeah. So here, when they're transported, it's all is within the mind. Yeah, it's like a telepathic link or something like that. Oh, that's crazy. It's the sense that I got, yeah.

So it also mutates then the way in which the upside down interacts with its hosts. Yeah, I mean, we got to catch up with a lot more of our characters because there's a lot of, the thing is you already have a lot of characters and now we're introducing way more than I expected. They're introducing more than I expect. Like, one is it plenty.

Honestly, with the cast of this pick. You got a whole hellfire club. Yeah. And then, yeah, all these other kids on the basketball and the cheerleading squad is band. I feel like the basketball guy's going to be bigger and that's going to lead to some trouble now with the whole freaking...

Oh, yeah, between Lucas and his friends, yeah. Oh, no, I was thinking the basketball player and Eddie. Oh, that too. I mean, yeah, his girlfriend died at the... His... Yeah. He was probably going to accuse of murder. and oh my god the dungeons and dragons go yeah things are going to be really bad for yeah for eddie pretty fast

but no i thought this was i think what they said about wanting to be more horror they've really committed to that um you know like season three got a little bit goofy and a lot more comedic it's very junior year yeah but especially with them all getting a bit older too i think it's very natural to then advance the grade of horror that they're willing to go to yeah this feels more um Yeah, they always up the cinematic quality and it feels more in tune with what we have with season one and two in terms of tone and style.

And they can really take their time for those character. Like, I love that therapy scene with Max. Exactly. And the scene with Eddie and Chrissy in the woods was really charming. Like, you can, yeah, do all the playsetting you would have to do in like 45 minutes, but then actually give some time

to also breathe in some actual character endearment and some actual emotionality into the scenes too. Yeah. Yeah. So is his character, Eddie, is he older or is he's been held back a few years yeah but he performed for a christie's junior high they were in the ad like they were in school together and they did a talent

show and now that they're in high school i think he's just been held back so much like maybe he was a bit older than her maybe he's been like two or three years held back or something like that gotcha gotcha uh still but then again yeah yeah it's so many friends who play dungeons so many. One day, we'll see enough things. Because every time I see it, and I do appreciate the way that they cut that montage between the D&D game and the basketball game,

because I've never really witnessed a Dungeons and Dragons game. And I'm sure there's way more to it than even that. And I know there are a million web series where people do it on camera. But this was one where I was like, I really love that they're cutting back and forth between these two things and giving me some vague sense of how this all works.

And it does look pretty fun. It looks time consuming, but it looks really fun. I used to love a good imagination game And there was a line That I remember in season 3 a line that was That could have either been taken one of two ways with Will Of I forget exactly what it was But a lot of people were like

Did he mean that he just doesn't care for girls And he just wants to hang out with his friends Or was he implying that he's actually gay And then they had that moment there in the classroom When that girl tried touching him and playing footsies And he was like, get away from me See I don't know what to think now because I feel like almost that they want us to think he's gay

and then they're going to reveal him as something. Can't have two gay people. Can't have two gay characters. They're going to reveal, hey, I mean, maybe they'll reveal him asexual. That's a thing, too, that doesn't get brought up very often. Might as well make it happen. But it almost seems like something else is happening that we can't, because I feel like it would be very easy to go,

maybe he's gay, or else he just doesn't like that particular girl or whatever. Well, Millie Bob, everyone's great still, Millie Bobby Brown. excellent as always she's just such a like she's my favorite character a lot of people's like she's an easy one to hurt hopper the easiest ones to go to yeah but no specifically her like her acting is just so unbelievably phenomenal oh yeah and the little nuances about her her speech and vocabulary and all that stuff but i will say my association with fin wolf heart has definitely changed over the years i used to see mike now i see fin wolf heart I see Stranger Things as Finn Wolffard.

I don't see Mike anymore. Throwback extraordinaire. Very aware of Finn Wolfheart now. That's my goal for the Zars. Everyone else, I just see the characters. Even when Noda Ryder, I just see Joyce. Even when Nader Ryder is Joyce. Yeah.

For her, Finn Wilfart, I just see Finn Wolfheart. That's my biggest hope for this season is that it can get me back to just seeing him as the character. Yeah. Because so much of what I understand about Finn Wolhardt is just Mike. Yeah. Well, the first two seasons I saw Mike, and then for some reason in season three, I'm like, I don't know why. I'm just aware of, like, I feel like you're playing Mike, but you're not really, Mike. Yeah.

Because I've seen so much of Finn Wolfheart in my life and all these other things now. Well, so much of him is very similar to Mike anyway, so I feel like the lines start to blur. I don't know. I think everyone in, like, interviews and stuff, it comes across a little, like, cooler and confident actor kid. Yeah. But it's, I don't, but it never seems like, man, he's really created a character here. Like, I feel like the things he done, not to slight the performance. I feel like he's not as nerd.

I feel like Mike is so much more nerdy. And like when I see interviews and stuff, he comes across like, I'm a little cool. But I feel like that sarcastic and that quick wit is still in there. Sure, sure. You know, just, yeah, less nerdy. I still still film Wolfhardt. He plays to Ben, you know. Ghostbusters afterlop.

Yeah, Wolfhearter, that one horror movie he was in. Oh, yeah. Like, that's more of the first. Finn Wolford is he now? Okay, I mean, fair enough, yeah. Yeah, yeah. The guy who's like, I want, the guy who specifically says,

I want Bill Hader to play the older me. Oh, hey, could you imagine if Stranger Things did an It thing where eventually we see them all as adults? Maybe. You can make it out, get that it casting right back in here. Yeah, I always like him, and I wouldn't want the show, I don't want that to get mistaken,

I wouldn't want the show without Finn Wolf Ardo to be totally honest. DNA of the show. Yeah, I would not feel the complete without him 100%. Yeah, and I am worried Jonathan will still get

a little bit pushed to the background again. Like, hey, those last season. They'll find something for Jonathan to be important. It seems like they're setting up that they're going to find flaws

in their relationship. I guess that's the thing. I don't know. I feel like, yeah, the most interesting thing they had was like, oh, she's going to choose him over Steve.

And then the rest of the time they're like, okay, cool. How do we make Jonathan engaging now? Yeah, season three wasn't that engaged. I loved him in the first season, and I really liked him a lot to carry on in the second season. But, yeah, third season, he was definitely pushed a little bit to the backdrop. So, yeah, I mean, everyone's still great, and we've got long-ass episodes for a reason.

And, you know, anyone who didn't really spend time with, and I'm sure we're going to spend time with them in other episodes. Do a whole episode on Argyle alone. Yeah, but for a setup, it still managed to feel, like, incredibly engaging and different. does feel more late 80s. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, which is, I think, is a really fun aspect of this. It's a very specific part of the 80s is late 80s.

Yeah, and I mean, some people claim 86 and 87 specifically is some of the best years for pop culture ever, and so they definitely come with distinct, and I feel like, yeah, you're reaching, like, peak 80s at that point, yeah. All right, guys, well, thank you for being here.

Keep a lookout for our reaction to the next episode. We don't know how these are going to be uploaded. We got a lot of shows. So, yeah. Bear with us. Just bear with us as we're going, but hey, we'll just keep a lookout. And last one not at least, let's shout out some patrons. Archangel Gabriel. Alexis Venus and Serena Williams.

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