On Friday, Netflix decided to release the first eight minutes of Stranger Things season four a week ahead of its release.
Back when Stranger Things first premiered in 2016, I told people that they only needed to watch the first eight minutes to know if it was something they’d like. While I’m not sure this would apply to new viewers in this context, the preview is sure to have longtime fans of the series wishing for a way to teleport to May 27.
If you don’t want to be spoiled before the release date, then you obviously shouldn’t watch. Otherwise, let’s take a look at what was shown before diving into it a bit.
UPDATE: The video has been made private (which is weird since it was an official release), but you can still watch it here.
We start with a flashback to September 8, 1979 and our old pal Dr. Martin Brenner is getting ready for work. After arriving at Hawkins National Laboratory, he walks into a room filled with child test subjects. Most of them are playing games while simultaneously exercising their powers.
Brenner asks one of the children (Ten) to come with him and perform some tests on his ability to view what others are seeing. During this time, Brenner appears to be genuinely fond of the boy — and not just because of his value as an asset to the program.
Things take a dark turn, however, when Brenner asks Ten to see what a woman named Dr. Ellis and another test subject named Six are up to.
*Side Note: For those of you who read the ‘Stranger Things’ comics, this was the girl that Brenner replaced Francine with.
Stranger Things 4 (Netflix)
After Ten sees Dr. Ellis and Six get brutally murdered, alarms begin ringing throughout the laboratory followed by a chorus of terrified screams. As Brenner cautiously approaches the door to investigate, it’s flung toward him by an unseen force, knocking the doctor out cold.
When he wakes up, Brenner discovers that Ten is dead. He takes the boy’s body in his arms and begins to grieve, but is interrupted by even more screams while the lights begin to flicker.
Brenner steps out of the room and stares in horror at the carnage surrounding him. Nearly all of the children have been brutally murdered along with the laboratory’s staff. He eventually finds a very young Eleven standing motionless in front of a shattered observation window.
When Brenner angrily demands to know what she’s done, Eleven turns to reveal that her face is covered in blood from using her powers. She also looks all types of pissed off.
Stranger Things 4
While the scene makes it look like Eleven massacred her fellow test subjects, I think it’ll eventually be revealed that she fought off a monster/entity (perhaps Vecna) that was actually responsible for it.
Whatever the case, we’ll get to know soon enough when the first part of Stranger Things season four debuts on May 27.
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