'Stranger Things' Recap - 'Chapter Four: The Body'

Written by Scott Edwards

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR RISK...

The town of Hawkins is all abuzz since the state troopers have been able to find Will Byers body, but Joyce is not willing to accept it. When talking to Hopper, she tells him all about the lights and how she was able to talk to her son by using them, along with the creature that came out of the wall.  Jonathan not only has to take care of himself now, but his mother as well and when the two go to the coroner’s office to identify the body, Joyce knows that it is not her son. Needing to find a way to get the connection back with Will, Joyce pulls out all of the stops in the house and Will is able to speak again.

Being defeated by seeing Will’s body dragged out of the quarry lake, Mike is upset with Eleven. Wanting his friend to be alive, he wants to place blame on the young girl, but when he hears Will singing on the radio, he knows that she was right. Calling Dustin and Lucas over to hear the same thing, the boys figure out that they need a stronger radio to channel their friend, so they plan to use the one at school, but to get Eleven in, they will have to do some work. Dressing up the girl and giving her a wig, the boys are ready to go, but when they find that the lab is locked, they are caught by their teacher and forced to attend the memorial for Will, but after that, they have free reign over the radio for the rest of the day.

Nancy is still very worried about her friend Barb and wants to find out for herself what actually happened to her. Being called in to talk to the police about what happened that terrible night, Nancy feeds them lies about her night. Her mom knows that she is lying during the questioning, but waits to call her daughter out until they get home. Nancy comes clean about sleeping with Steve, but does not believe that it is important to finding Barb, so she let it go. While sulking in her room, Nancy pulls out the torn up photo of Barb and notices a strange figure standing in the background and thinks that it is the thing that could have taken her friend. Needing to find Jonathan to figure out if he saw anything, Nancy will have to talk to the young man that does not like to talk back.

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After delivering the news to Joyce about her son, Hopper shows up at the coroner’s office to find that the state patrol has taken over for Will’s autopsy. Thinking little about this, Hopper watches as Joyce storms out of the building yelling that it is not her son on the table. Not fully understanding what is happening in his town, Hopper wants answers and knows of a good place to start looking for them, the bar. Sitting next to the man that found Will’s body, Hopper takes the questioning a little bit harder as he beats the answers out of the state trooper.  Seeing that somebody is watching his interrogation, Hopper needs to see the body of the Will Byers to confirm that something strange is afoot in his town. 

​While Nancy is able to find Jonathan at the funeral home, she tells the young man what she thinks that she saw in the woods behind Steve’s house. Showing Jonathan the picture he took, he is able to blow up the image and now is starting to think that his mother is not crazy. While Joyce is trying to get Will to start talking again, she is met with a surprise as Will is able to talk without using the lights. Yelling from the wall, Joyce peals back the wallpaper and sees her boy’s face. All the while, Mike, Dustin, Lucas and Eleven are listing to the events unwinding, but are unable to talk to their friend. Hearing the pleas for help on both ends, Will is scared away once again by the entity that runs this alternate realm and nobody seems to know what the secret behind it really is.

Wow, strange things are really starting to take over in the town of Hawkins, and now more people are starting to see it. Like I said earlier, I love how Hopper works with his own way of investigating and now he believes that there is some sort of cover-up concerning Will’s disappearance. Nancy has turned to Jonathan for help since she feels like nobody is listening to what she is saying, and since he is a man of few words, he might be the right one to rely on. Jonathan is also starting to understand that his mother has not lost her mind completely, but I really want to see his reaction when he sees a new hole in the wall when he gets home. What I really liked about this episode is that Dr. Brenner is starting to work on the entity that houses this alternate realm. Hearing a little bit about what it looks like on the radio, he loses his man inside to something that they have not seen. I cannot wait to get another look inside of this realm, since it is nice and dark and seems to have a monster inside that is looking to feed on anybody that enters, of their own choice or not.  ​

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