Being sick as a dog this past week with whatever is currently making the rounds in my little California town, and consequently out from work for three days, provided the consoling upside of enabling me to binge (re-)watch Season 4 of Stranger Things.
If you haven’t yet watched Stranger Things, kindly get off my blog now and go watch it, because we have rules here. (Also, there are spoilers ahead.)
Anyway, I naturally binged Season 4 because it is inarguably the best season, and we won’t be taking any calls on that one. In addition to all its other wonders, the penultimate season features the best guest character of them all: Joseph Quinn as the loveable metalhead Eddie Munson. Going through the episodes this time, I was struck by how effortlessly Eddie commands nearly every scene he’s in; Mr. Quinn’s assuredness with the character is astonishing. That’s why his death scene in the last episode (told you there were spoilers) is such an absolute kick in the gut. (“I’m not crying, you’re crying!”)
This time around I also noticed something else about that scene. While Eddie’s death as an unlikely hero is absolutely crushing, what really sells it as an emotional tour de force is the reaction of his lone companion in that dark place — his friend and series regular Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo). Dustin’s anguish and disbelief are so palpable and unfeigned that you can see not only his immediate grief, but how it will mark him going forward (as it does in Season 5). I don’t know where Mr. Matarazzo found the tools and the range at such a young age to communicate that kind of layered emotion, but he’s got my vote for a Supporting Actor Emmy.
Later in that same episode, Dustin takes the opportunity to console Eddie’s uncle — to tell him how, despite what the rest of the citizenry believe, his nephew died saving the town. (And yeah, I teared up again.)
While most of the Stranger Things cast is excellent, Dustin is my favorite series regular. I think Gaten Matarazzo genuinely is among the most talented of the group, but there’s more to it as well. I thought for a while that it was because Dustin reminds me so much of kids I hung with in Junior High and High School; but then I realized that he actually is me from those years — proudly nerdy, chunky, wisecracking, overamped and full of himself. It’s like looking at a mirror image from a very long time ago.
God bless ya, Dustin. Never grow old.
Ronald Crittenden 