STRANGER THINGS Season 4 dropped on Friday and I'm going to spend this week and next week talking about some nice moves in different episodes.
Today: Episode 401, "The Hellfire Club," written and directed by show creators the Duffer Brothers. It's a new year in Hawkins, Russia and that little town in California where Joyce moved her family and El/Jane. And with a new year we get a ton of new characters, including Charlie's pothead friend Argyle; Dustin and Lucas' DM Eddie Munson; Hopper's Guard Dmitri; Max's acquaintance Chrissy; Nancy's co-editor Fred; Lucas' teammate/public speaking expert Jason Carver; Joyce's frenemy Yuri; and that #!%!% Angela.
(Oh, and Vecna lol.)
Even with extra long episodes, this is a lot of characters to service on top of the 17 main cast members. A couple will only be around a couple episodes, but that's immaterial at the moment of their introduction. Every single one of these characters need a first moment that defines who they are in a way that is distinctive, compelling and immediate. There's just no time to waste.
(And the Duffer Brothers are really, really good at this. Last season they introduced Billy, Max, Robin, Suzie and Erica, and each of them was immediately iconic.)
So how do the Duffer Brothers do it? Let's look at a couple characters.
Argyle: While the real key to Argyle is his voice, by which I mean both his laid back Cali cadence and his blissed out pov, when we meet Argyle it's all about the visuals. He has extremely long hair, which immediately sets him apart, and paired with sunglasses and a hat with the bill up, which just looks ridiculous. And he's driving a pizza van. It's a package that tells us, this kid is likely to be some variety of absurd.
Jason: We meet basketball team captain Jason Carver at a pep rally. He, too, has his own look--he's clean cut in the extreme, which becomes a great point of contrast with Eddie, who he will come to consider his enemy. But the key with Jason is his public speaking ability, which is demonstrated in two ways: First, the subtle demagoguery of his words themselves: he's an excellent speaker, with a clear strategy of first affirming the crowd and then pitching to their heartstrings, but raise your hand if you weren't just a little bit creeped out when he stopped in his speech to say hey to his girlfriend.
Second, how people respond to him. When he speaks, people want to do what he says. This is his magic power, and we'll see him exercise it again and again.
So the Duffer Brothers tell us who Jason is through his talent and others' reactions to him.
Angela: Angela's introduction is very interesting. We first see her laughing at Jane, after some boy hits her with a spitwad. That establishes her as a bad guy crony type, but nothing more.
In a sense we're not going to see her full potential until Jane starts her presentation and Angela undermines her with her constant questions to the teacher.
But we open that scene at the end of Angela's presentation of her hero. And it's a very 80s high school presentation in tone. But I think the key is that she's talking about Helen Keller. You couldn't choose a hero that is less controversial or more likely to make you look "good." And Elodie Grace Orkin's performance subtly plays on this; when she finally names who she's talking about she's got so much self-pride. And at the same time when she mentions the word "disability" she does so with just a hint of condescension. She's the good girl who is actually a real shit, basically.
So in her case the Duffer Brothers reveal character through her voice--again, her tone and point of view--and also through her choices. She chooses to speak about Helen Keller, and in a very typical way, and in doing so we learn what's at her core.
Eddie: Eddie walks into STRANGER THINGS like he's been here the whole time. He's perfectly pitched for the show, and once again iconic.
Because he's going to be so important to the plot, the episode gives him quite a bit of time. He has three scenes--his introduction in the cafeteria; him as a DM; and him with Chrissy in the woods--that are each in their own way character defining.
But just to take the first one, when Finn and Dustin go to meet him in the cafeteria: we open on him, reading a Newsweek story about Satanic panic around Dungeons & Dragons. There's a cool needle drop going on behind him, "I Was a Teenage Werewolf," by the Cramps, and he puts on this newscaster voice and at first we're just getting little glimpses of him--the black metal hair; the rings; his eyes.
Then at the end of the sentence, which says D&D leads to murder, he throws down the magazine and we get a full look at him. And his tongue is out and his head cocked in such a way that absolutely looks like '80s "Satanic" heavy metal groups like Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden or Motley Crüe. And as he finishes we cut to those around him, who laugh, all clearly on his side.
Just in this moment, which is only the barest beginning of him in this scene, there's so much good stuff. The things he's mocking are exactly what he's about to accused of. His character is defined in terms of his speech and the adoration he receives back, all of which exactly parallel his soon-to-be enemy Jason. And at the same time his type of speech is the exact opposite of Jason; he's ironic where Jason is earnest, he's ridiculing the voice of the status quo which Jason is absolutely the mouthpiece for. And where Jason gets an entire room cheering for him, Eddie has just his few devotees, and seems happy with that.
So, with Eddie character is defined through his look, his voice and point of view, his relationship to those around him and to society, and also the background music used for him.
But also, though we may not be aware of it in the moment, he's defined through contrast. He is everything that Jason is not.
If you're looking for an exercise for your own writing, try watching the first episode of any season of STRANGER THINGS, and see the many different ways the Duffer Brothers introduce new characters. They really are so good at it.
