The Reel Rejects - REJECT RECAP: Stranger Things 4, Chapter 4: "Dear Billy" Review!

Episode Date: May 29, 2022

POWERFUL & EMOTIONAL! Stranger Things Season 4 Episode 4 Reaction & Review today. Max is Running Up That Hill in grave danger - and running out of time. A patient at Pennhurst asylum has visitors. Elsewhere, in Russia, Hopper is hard at work... These are our thoughts!! 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

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price line. Oh, Reject Nation. Welcome, welcome, welcome to our Stranger Things for Recap Review Breakdown, et cetera series. This is Chapter 4, Dear Billy, and I'm very excited to hop into it. This this was quite an episode and uh you know the the whole season so far has been quite striking but every now and again you see an episode or tv where you're just like oh man i'm i'm gonna i'm gonna remember that for a while this was one of those so anyhow if you want to join us for the full length reaction experience come on over to our patreon page sync up with your own copy or if you want to check out the highlights those are available at youtube dot com slash the real rejects always a good time over there and uh yeah we'll be here for the whole season going into the second part and beyond

So keep an ear out, keep an eye out, and hey, thank you for listening. On to the review. And if I only could make a deal with God, sorry, this is the song, you know, it's going to be back. It's so back, you know, it's not even funny. All right, I got a few more episodes to get through here. Yeah, we'll keep it short. The best we can. That's what we always say.

This is, I don't, I have no idea what that actress, his name is still. I don't know. Sadie sync? Yeah. He plays Max? Yeah. Yeah. She's incredible.

She's fantastic, yeah. An incredible performer, beautiful monologue. And it's so real, it's like such a real performer. It plays that repressed personality, difficult to open up characters so well. so so realistic and yeah you do some shit of love and hope saving the day

you're gonna get me man you're gonna freaking get me right there anytime someone is like in a desperate dash to just get back to the people they love and have just now learned again to appreciate like oh

yeah I like it I like when like an action scene or some kind of set piece can also get me very emotion like when the story really does collide with the action in a very visceral way yes and it they they make a powerful there's so much emphasis on music this season in a different context like it's a part of the before it was like part of the personality of the show embodying the 80s and this really just feels like a horror show now and not you know the 80s nostalgia show at all yeah the 80s wonder

show. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, like, Billy being in a band and... Not Billy. Um, uh, Danny. Look, who's the freaking guy? Dungeons and Dragons guy. Danny. Is it named Freddy? Freddy. That was Danny. Is it Freddy? Freddy. I think. Are you confident about that? I'm pretty sure it's not Danny. Is there another Danny in this show? I'm not sure. What were you going to say? I'll look it up. You might be right. I think it's Freddy. The freak. with him being in a band and then also this emphasis on music

channeling a different part of your brain and I think that's something a lot of us can relate to hence why slapping 80s music onto a show taking place in the easy, so nostalgic and you talk about the soundtrack so there's a bit of like this interesting meta-commentary about that

with dealing with the psychology of why nostalgic kind of works so well and then especially for Stranger Things as a show that was so popular and one of the biggest talks about it was so nostalgic for the 80s and then using a song to help save the day capturing that part in your brain activating it is a big and then leading to this action of love and hope during a time of such great harrowing just like beautiful harrowing visuals by the way that was like absolutely beautiful at the same time as as nightmarish as it was as like mess up as it was it's still beautiful to behold and i think it's

cool that they managed to there's not been anything about ha ha fun 80s song it's the music using that as a part of the actual character for your show is great great choice uh all around and this is this gets more horror as it descends yeah with horror genre tropes of the supernatural haunting but then it also felt most stranger things horror here because it felt most like we're in the upside down than before. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I thought running up that hill, and especially using like the Kate Bush version and all that stuff, like I thought that was a really nicely chosen song because, you know,

I feel like there are always debates to be had about deliberate use of music and when lyrics reflect too heavily of what the plot is doing. But I thought that was a well-chosen song for just all her character beats because it definitely sinks over. and lines up with both, you know, her wishing she could have swapped places with Billy, but also just that, you know, again, that motif of literally running up some kind of, you know, obstacle and just the fact that that is an iconic song. Like, I could see how that would be somebody's favorite song at the time. True.

And, yeah, I thought it was a really nice, thematic choice in a really great way, like you said, to build upon the, you know, motifs and the language of the show. and then make that stuff more meaningful. And yeah, and I thought it was a really nicely... I thought it was really nice the way they orchestrated that as part of the solution or as part of the way we can fight back against Becknell. It felt like a very natural unfolding of that and using the motif of, okay, we're in his flashback,

and, you know, Ella Fitzgerald is playing, and so that's the sort of clue. And going back through that, too, like the whole flashback with Creel and getting, like you said, like a little American hard, horror story-esque interlude where you're in the past and you're seeing the onset of at least the first time we're aware of this having happened, you know, recently. And I thought he'd turn in a great performance too. Like he basically gets to give this big old monologue that is then

filled in with some cutaways and such. But, you know, it's like Vecna itself is such a monstrous presence. And is that, are we to assume that's Robert England doing the voice of Vecna? yeah we established that since the first episode oh i guess so i just wasn't 100% certain but uh either way i mean i thought that uh that yeah like having him in a subtle way he's got the bigger hand on the one side with the claws so there's like that little subtle freddie nod but this also reminds you of just how good of an actor robert england can be and how affecting he can be and uh you know is he also creel he's creole yeah yeah yeah well that's why i was asking because I was like, okay, I can definitely tell that.

Oh, if they were asking about Vecna, yeah. No, that's, yeah, because Vecna, I'm like, okay, he must be doing the voice, but I don't think he's in the makeup unless he is in the makeup. No, no, they did establish that he would be, um, I think they, they, I think the Duffer brothers, um,

said that he would be Creel, yeah. Yeah, absolutely, but I didn't know if he was the voice of the, yeah, the monster, uh, as well. It's to play a human and they cover up his eyes. I know. I know, but I mean, even still, that was a great, as a really good looking effect.

And he really was able to emote through that. And I love the tension that they got out of that whole sequence. Because you get the fun and games of them having to break in and ingratiate themselves. And then, yeah, you get your Silence of the Lambs sort of, you know, unnerving, interlude with him. And, yeah, just the way that that progresses while filling in the blanks, I thought was really well done, too. It's so tension. This is, like, the most intense season. It is so intense.

Yeah. I really love it. And I think that there's like such great little subtleties that are, I think, are fantastic. You know, even when Mike and Will, Will looking up at Mike, as Mike is feeling a little bit more like the mic that we've all come to love, a softer mic, not just complaining Mike, but a softer mic. And Will just always been such a lost soul and he always found like a sense of grounded and feeling grounded with his friends. Yeah. You know, and being in this new state, we're still feeling a bit like an outsider or not in his place of comfort.

You know, the part where he felt he most belonged and felt safe was with his friends. And to have Mike, you know, confide in him and tell him, like, we can do this together, just feeling like this is where I belong. It's really a touching moment. Or even Lucas, you know, all this times of him trying to get Max to connect to him and it seemed like, you can talk to me. And sometimes it could really, like, a little bit desperate. it. But then you see in this moment that if it wasn't for Lucas being, they're knowing Max so well to be able to find

the song choice to help save her. He does know and love her and then protects her. And I think the way they write that whole grieving thing because I really like the monologue Max is giving when she's reading the letter. And then

I did find my mind kind of trailing off a little bit a couple points though going I remember this Billy guy being a complete abusive asshole to you and there was that whole thing in season two where you like uh you drugged him when he was like beating up steve you told him not to mess you again there and him with a bat he was like a total dick yeah you know and and and so and then he was the villain granted he was being embodied uh by uh upside down thinking magia myflater uh yeah he was

yeah so what i appreciated was that they really painted the gray of what it's like to lose someone who is abusive to you who is also family of you do have the good memories and you do have the wishful things you do have I imagine

we could have had this and that and it could have been beautiful but then what he's praying on is the other side that can really make you feel guilty which is I've kind of relieved that you died because you were awful you know now you can't hurt me anymore yeah yeah and I thought that

was such a great way to flesh out her grief, you know, because it's not like she's confessing and saying goodbye and trying to really put this to rest with her letter. It's all this other stuff she's not acknowledging that he can feed off of because that's a hard thing to admit. When you're like, I'm kind of relieved my brother died when, you know, it's like, we know that yeah, Billy was messed up. Yeah. And knew how to make her feel bad always. Like, especially in season two, the relationship, he was insanely abusive. Yeah. So, uh, yeah, me, Bill, it was a great character, like, Dack and Montgomery, it was

freaking awesome. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Like, to have his presence back was nice. Yeah. A little cameo. Yeah. Um, so, yeah, I thought it was great.

And they had a great action scene, too, with the, with the, with the, with the oneer. Yeah, the oneer with the, I was like, where did this cool scene come from? Yeah. Like, this cop who was just a joke. I'm like, you're badass. You're taking out the whole military. Yeah. You're taking out for all these soldiers.

Yeah, no, Netflix, you know, obviously, it's like a meme about their shows, but I thought that was another one of like, wow, you really stepped up for this one. Like, it, as much as it is easy to go like, ah, Netflix won, or it was a really impressive and really visceral and intense sequence. And yeah, it's nice to get maybe Jonathan being a little more important. Yeah, he's the one who's initiated that they go. Yeah, and this is also, except for flashbacks, a nearly 11-less episode, right? We don't even check in with her in the present ones. In some ways, this is like they're walking dead or a Game of Thrones season, where you just like, don't check in with other characters.

That is absolutely a good call. And frigatee, I mean, everything with Joyce and Murray and Yuri and the double cross. I mean, I guess we could have... I didn't see it again. I know. I didn't either. Like, I kept... You didn't see that's coming.

I kept every step of the way I kept being like, okay, it's going to be this thing, or there won't be enough money or something like that. And then, yeah, it just comes right down to the... double cross so I don't know that season that that situation only seems like you can get crazier and more complicated well it's interesting they kept things like a little bit fun despite in spite despite some stuff that was occasionally horrific with the you know the dream sequences with Beckna with Max they kept a lot of it fun because these episodes are so thick yeah so there's they structure them differently than before um it's fun and then

you come back to Russia with Hopper that's when it's really like really really realistic and intense you feel the biting like there's no there's no real stranger things going on over there you know in terms of sci-fi stuff that's why i keep going what about the demigorgia you know isn't there a big demigorgian maybe that's where they put escape prisoners and corrupt guards i was thinking he's going to get away and there's not even a demiguan yeah um so yeah you have that and then the way they are tying it into the events like they had the russians in season all throughout season three they're actually scary well yeah and and yeah and and the even joyce's involvement and murray's involvement have ramifications from that previous season because clearly the kgb is very much aware of

them a thousand percent yeah and uh it's a way to build on that and you know i did think hopper would get away that was also a good fight scene too yeah i thought hopper was going to get away and they they sell you on it like oh he can finally relax he puts his feet under the blanket eats the peanut butter he feels relieved yeah offer's just like suffering into peanut butter oh yeah to get apprehended immediately yeah i mean i feel like the guards would have thought that through why did the warding call him the uri why the warden call yuri i know he said the warden called me or did he call the warden he called yeah yeah he called the warden yeah he just said don't call here yeah yury called you're he called the warden well he called that oh yeah yeah but yurie called

the warden beforehand to let him know that our guy is corrupt and is helping hopper I thought he said the warding called him. Maybe, but the, I don't know, the way I took that scene was he said, I called the warden and ratted on you to make the money for ratting on you. I got to know this. I got to know. I'm pretty sure he said the warding called me. All right, check it.

I must know, not to prove you wrong or something, John. I feel like it changes the context a lot in that scene. Eddie Munson. It's not Freddie. It's Eddie Munson. There we go. We can verify that, and then we can verify this. Don't worry. Someone already put down a comment correcting us.

Yes. Any Munson. Yeah, it's the way it goes, man. Let me just speed through this. I'm very sorry. I just felt you should... Yeah, such a change, you plan. Come on. Speeding this up. Oh, I just got the phone with the board. A very productive call. Okay, so...

So yeah, he just snitched on him. Bastard. Yeah. Fucking A. I trusted the corrupt guy to have a good corrupt liaison. I mean, I imagine that they would... I mean, you guys probably finish the show. It's not week to week.

Yeah, don't... I mean, it won't matter if you comment because we'll probably be past this point anyway. I mean, I'll say this, that I think the trailers did ruin something then. Ah, okay. Because you do see... Yeah. Yeah.

Damn. Try not to think too hard. It wasn't even... No, I just remember the... No, because the moment just popped back in. Yeah, I remember. What moment do you have? Do we see him back?

I mean, we see Murray and Joyce on a plane. Okay. Kind of intensely. Okay. So they're probably gonna overpower Yuri. Damn. That sucks. Wasn't even like a leak.

Yeah. That's just like the trailer. Yeah. There's other shots with Hopper that are coming in mind that they were, like, big in the promos in the beginning that have not come to fruition. Yeah. This is funny about me is, like, movies that could weirdly handle spoilers now and leaks, I don't, like, actively seek them. But if it happens, I don't know. If the movie's good enough, the moment will hit.

But a show is, I'm way more particular about a show for some reason. A show, because it's a longer investment. A way bigger investment. Especially this season of this show. I'd rather not know with a show. Yeah. Yeah. That's something that weirdly irks me a lot.

That irks me a lot more. I like, oh, give it away from me. I don't want to upload it. But this is another great episode. Thank you guys so much for being here. I don't know what day of the week this is. That this is going up. Should we do the rest of the patron collads?

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