The fourth episode of Stranger Things: Tales From ’85 starts by focusing on Steve. He accidentally calls Natalie “Nancy” after their date, which ruins the mood right away.
Things get out of hand quickly when Steve gets back in his car. As soon as he turns the power back on, one of the strange creatures from the sawmill attacks him. He barely gets away, leaving the car behind and running for his life.
El is hurt and having a hard time not being able to participate in the action. Mike begins to understand that he hasn’t been able to keep her safe, so he takes her back to Hopper so he can tell the truth about everything. While Hopper calls El to tell her that he will be back soon with some home videos, Mike practices his apology at Hopper’s cabin. El, on the other hand, is upset that she can’t help because danger is still out there.
The group still can’t agree on what to do next, so Dustin and Steve decide to go after the creatures themselves. They find one hidden inside a meat truck, which makes their search worth it. They get it stuck in the back and drive away, but it quickly becomes clear that things are not under control because vines start to attack the truck.
Dustin says they have to take the creature to the incinerator plant to get rid of it the right way. Even though the road is crazy, they make it to the dump, where a second creature follows them inside. Steve works in the control room of the facility to try to turn on the incinerator. After some trouble, he finally sets it off, and both creatures are burned, which ends the immediate threat.
After that, Dustin thinks about how hard he has been pushing himself. Nikki takes Will to her garage, where she shows him her inventions and gadgets. She chooses to leave the main group so that Will and the others can use her tools if they need to.
Mike says he’s sorry to El for not listening and admits he didn’t give her enough credit. They all agree to tell Hopper everything. But at the arcade, Lucas accidentally drops one of his photos, which Keith finds. Keith won’t give it back and shuts down for the night.
Lucas and Dustin hurry to Hopper’s house to tell him what happened, just as Hopper gets home.
Review of the Episode
Episode 4 feels like a slowdown in the middle of the season, with a lot of setup and not much real progress. The action scenes with Steve, Dustin, and the creatures are exciting, but most of the episode just rehashes old character conflicts without any real growth.
Steve and Dustin’s unlikely partnership is still the best part, but their big monster encounter doesn’t seem to fit with what has happened in the past, which makes me wonder about the story’s consistency. Nikki’s introduction also feels like it doesn’t get enough use, even though she has a lot of interesting potential. This is especially true since her relationship with Will isn’t explored in depth after this episode.
In general, this episode feels more like filler than a real step forward. The threat of the creature keeps getting worse in the background, but the story’s momentum slows down a lot. The story is still going in the right direction, but this episode doesn’t do a good job of moving it forward.
