Few series have better depicted the machinations of government and the demands it makes on those involved. The deliciously paced and sharply plotted political drama returns after nine years, with Netflix taking over from the Danish public broadcaster. If you liked the original series of Borgen … then Borgen Power & Glory will be right up your alley. Only some hallucinatory nightmares for bit players, which portend a new evil at work in Hawkins, offer the promise of the necessary new adversary. When Stranger Things is just a story of teenage angst, exacerbated by cliche blonde bully Angela (Elodie Grace Orkin), the seams show via over-the-top costumes and uneven performances. You can feel the show’s narrative engine slowly revving up, but the wait is excruciating in part. It takes three episodes to really click – an issue when the entire season has just nine episodes (the first instalment releases May 27, the second on July 1). The 1980s-set hit returns with a discombobulated set-up and dispersed ensemble cast.
The initial episodes of the blockbuster show’s fourth season require you to consider a new concept: “The Inside Out”. In the paranormal period adventure that is Stranger Things, danger lurks in “The Upside Down”, the nightmarish parallel dimension that co-exists alongside the small town of Hawkins, Indiana.
