This was hands down the best season of Stranger Things to date. Every episode felt like a cinematic event, which is apropos given the finale spanned over 2 hours and twenty minutes. Not only did season 4 introduce by far the best, most terrifying, villain of the series in Vecna, it also brilliantly tied a well placed bow on all the events that proceeded it with the massive reveal that not only is Vecna the big bad of the show, he’s also the shadowy puppeteer who’s been pulling the strings behind (or underneath) the scenes for seasons 1-3. Vecna is an absolute unadulterated freakshow who is easily the most calculated, brilliant, vindictive, and brutal villain in the series. He is truly terrifying. It’s rare to see a villain have any depth these days, especially in a horror series or movie, but the writer’s added needed depth to the character by intertwining Vecna’s history with Eleven’s. This dynamic also allowed for Eleven’s character to grow retroactively as she delved into her past, and we felt she was able to shake off the mediocrity of the prior season when it felt like her character’s story arc had grown slightly stale and overplayed.
You could feel the stakes being physically raised this season, as we learn that not only is the entire population of Hawkins at risk of being wiped off the map by demon spawn, but the entire world now finds itself in the cross-hairs of a doomsday level demonic incursion with the “upside down” that would make Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness look like child’s play. With this seismic threat looming, the town, and the world, need heroes, and the biggest unsung (and sung) heroes of this season were the newcomer Eddie Munson, portrayed by Joseph Quinn, and Dustin Henderson, played by Gaten Matarazzo. Their bromance felt authentic and their banter provided a needed source of levity with such dark and graphically-violent source material. It’s hard not to root for these loveable goofballs. These guys are not your typical knight in shining armor, they nerd out on dungeons and dragons and look like they couldn’t throw a punch if you paid them to, which makes their selfless heroism in the face of impossible odds and demon hordes all the more impressive. Nancy Wheeler, played by Natalia Dyer was also a total badass this season, from busting open the monsters from down under with a sawed-off shotgun to going toe to toe with Vecna on his home turf. Honorable mention to Max, played by Sadie Sink, who’s character had annoyed us in the past with her melodramatic moodiness, but she took it on the chin (and the arms, and neck, and legs, and torso) when she willingly sacrificed herself to give the gang time to dispatch Vecna.
Our only real criticism of this season would be the way they handled the secondary squad in California, and the Russia storyline. The characters in California literally felt like the B-Squad of the season, they were the Tampa Tarpoons (the Yankee’s Minor League Team) and the Hawkin’s characters were the New York Yankees. Their entire storyline was boring, weirdly paced, and mishandled, and something about Nancy’s boyfriend just freaks us out, he looks like he needs a shower. The Russia storyline dragged on as well, but it did come to a satisfying conclusion when Hopper and Dmitri, who spark up an unlikely friendship while imprisoned together in the Mother Land, went mono e mono with the Russians’ pet Demigorgon and lived to tell the tale.
At the close of the season the floodgates have quite literally opened in Hawkins. The threat of the upside down has never felt so real, with the final scene closing with a shot panning away from our heroes as they watch in horror as the familiar dust particles of the upside down fall all around the real-world Hawkin’s in what can only be described as a beautiful nightmare. The confused residents remain totally unaware of the impending inevitable darkness that will befall their town. The demonic dust particles are reminiscent of a nightmarish downy snow, which perfectly juxtaposes the beauty of the real world with the horrors of the twisted world that lies beneath. Season 4 of Stranger Things was a knockout, it hit all the right notes and was a perfect encapsulation of everything that’s come before it to this point. We are pumped to see what the final season of Stranger Things has in store, who could say no to every episode being feature length? Unfortunately we’ll all have to wait until 2025 to witness the epic conclusion. 9.0
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