'Stranger Things' Season 4 Episode 1: Eleven feels powerless after unsettling bullying incident
Spoilers for 'Stranger Things' Season 4 Episode 2
We all know how powerful Eleven is in ‘Stranger Things’. I mean, she single-handedly closed the Mind Flayer’s gate in Season 2. However, in Season 3, the supernatural villain returned and wreaked havoc on the people of Hawkins. She took over Billy and other people in Hawkins, forcing Eleven to take help from her friends to defeat the evil.
During the battle in the woods, Mind Flayer grabs Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and bites her leg. Although she manages to get away from the monster, the wound still remained. Meanwhile, during the Starcourt Mall battle, she discovers a slug from the Mind Flayer in her leg wound and has to pull it out. Following the battle, the gateway between the human world and the upside-down got closed. On the other hand, Eleven lost her powers.
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In the first episode of Season 4, we get an idea of how badly she is missing her powers as she joins the high school after relocating. The school is about to go on a spring break and right before that the students have to make a visual aid about a historical figure. We all know how much Eleven loved Jim Hopper and called him “dad”. So, she decides to tell the story of her father.
As soon as she reaches school with Will (Noah Schnapp), a student from the other side of the hall waves at her, and Eleven does the same with a huge smile on her face. However, the girl was actually waving at the group of girls standing in the back. That was the first indication of how Eleven is now facing problems that occur in the real world. But now, it’s time for the visual aid and while other students are choosing other historical figures, Eleven comes right in front of the class and talks about Hopper.
One of the students, Angela, stops her in the middle to ask a question and even when the teacher stops her from doing that, she talks about being confused if the presentation was about famous people or something else.
Eleven says that his father was famous because he saved the lives of many people during the fire accident at the mall. The class teacher tells Eleven to continue with the presentation and she has tears in her eyes. After the presentation ends, she just goes away from the class and even though Will says that it wasn’t that bad, Eleven just keeps on walking away.
New surroundings, new people at school and Eleven is still struggling to deal with everything that has happened in the past. On the other hand, she is now being bullied by Angela and her peers. While walking on the high school premises, Angela purposely makes Eleven fall on the floor and all her friends laugh at her. But, Eleven loses her mind when one of the guys crushes her presentation. She tries using her powers on Angela but is unable to do so because she hasn’t got her powers back.
Everyone starts laughing at Eleven, but then, one of the teachers arrives and gets the idea that Angela must have done this. Although Eleven says that she tripped, the teacher did not take that as a reason and took Angela to the principal.
The main protagonist has destroyed worlds and killed monsters at will, but bullying is something that’s shaking her to the core because it’s making her miserable. I believe, this angle makes people connect to her character more than ever. If you are a bit different in high school, people will always bully you and everyone has gone through this. But the thing that makes Eleven’s character more relatable is the helplessness of not being able to do anything about it. She could have if she had her powers, but as of now, she is vulnerable to these things because her confidence seems to be shattered.
Will she be getting her powers back anytime soon? Let’s wait and watch.
