Review of Chapter Four: Will the Wise

This is a particularly grim episode between the many tears shed and the growing sense of darkness overshadowing many of the characters. Billy is awful, Eleven's psychic connection to her mother is heartbreaking, and the government pervasiveness over the town is unsettlingly tense. The acting is as strong as always, and the cinematography is a particular highlight for the episode, especially the final twisting shot in the Upside Down tunnels. Things like putting Will's drawings together come across as rather obvious, Nancy's determination to burn down the Hawkins lab does feel a little abrupt and overzealous (like, maybe burning down the entire facility with the demon-world gate inside it, which you have little understanding of, isn't the best idea?), and the overall plot is continually building and still yet to kick off into somewhere as enthralling as the first season.