Season 4

So I got through the entire season for them to get together and the main action was all in different places......... awesome.
I think the whole finale would make more impact if the villain was introduced in 1st/2nd season, even for a scene or two to show us that there is a bigger boss. We were just left season after season with scarier monsters but I just didn't make the connection between Vecna and them. Its just random that while sending him to the upside down world with the monsters already existing, Eleven made a way for them and Vecna just happens to be on the same level as them, not a boss and not someone they could eat I think. The series didn't show much to think otherwise. It would be great to feel the need to understand every little thing to connect the boss to everything, not at 4th season which while almost entirely premiered at the same time and you didn't need to think, just get through episodes.
Almost all the crew was "dying" soooo long for Vecna to have a slow speech to Eleven and for Eleven to found her braveness again... also I hate when suddenly the plot is saying 'you hurt one you hurt all the bad guys' x.x
And also the plan which all of others thought is not going to work, worked, and they almost didn't need Eleven.... well.

Idk, maybe this show isn't for me but it still has the thing that interests me. I just cannot with the characters. I barely like Steve, I liked Max in the beginning, not now. I like Eleven for her powers only nowadays. So this season almost got none of it. I'm just staying for monsters and Upside Down world so it seems next season will be it for me, but I also thought every time that the next season will be amazing/better than the previous so idk really anymore.

I also liked the new characters more than the old ones and I wished for the new guys to live more than the old ones.... hmmm.

“Stranger Things” already jumped the shark with the third season, and honestly, I was never too fond of it to begin with. As Netflix’s first blockbuster, it might deserve its status from a productive standpoint, but the limits of the writing and especially the poor pacing started to take a toll after a few episodes.

This season was mostly an improvement in all aspects, except for two major things.
First, there’s no way they needed thirteen hours for this. It’s good to take time to explore characters, but the material here was barely enough for a couple of 90-minute direct-to-video movies. This has been my biggest issue with this show since its beginning, and I can’t believe that episodes are getting longer and longer with each season. The finale felt as grandiose as a blockbuster movie and really managed to build momentum, yet two hours and a half feel way too long to swallow for a TV show. At this point, it pretty much became an extremely watered-down movie series.

Secondly, the Russian storyline. This was the biggest problem of season three, and here it arguably got even worse. At this point, it’s just the most ridiculous excuse to keep the grownups busy. Judging by the premise, I thought it was supposed to be a way to quickly “undo” an unpopular storyline and bring Hopper back into the game, and instead it just kept getting crazier and crazier.

Other than the problems above, I have to say I enjoyed it. It belongs to a genre where contrived writing and stereotypes become inevitable, and I am fine with the silly moments and suspension of disbelief as far as it doesn’t get too much on the nose like in the previous season. The show has been packaged extremely well, and the ensemble cast felt more balanced than usual. Some historical characters have been put aside, but it's good to see the others getting more screen time and more relevant roles in the story. The new characters were sometimes even more interesting, too bad that they mostly serve as cannon fodder for the horror scenes.

Is it worth going through seasons two and three? No, but if you already got to this point and were unsure about continuing, go ahead and enjoy these overlong episodes little by little. It’s pretty much a 13-hour feature film chopped into pieces, so watching 30 minutes at a time won’t change your perception much.

The season is not well-rounded and most of the time boring. I don't understand why the single episodes lasts almost 90 minutes when it primarily consists of filler material. It feels like they had to put some stuff in so that the season feels big but its only shallow stuff, like the empty vastness in modern open-world RPGs that has no relevance to anything in the game. The same applies basically for two of the four main plots. It felt like watching three different movies that only connect in the penultimate and ultimate episode - and again in a very shallow way.
The season has some great ideas but since it choses to increase the cast and tries to give every character a decent storyline, the screentime for the interesting parts of this season get neglected.

So, in general, it's just a bunch of ideas thrown into a season, but nothing is ever explored in some deeper way. That's why this season feels shallow - with no heart and soul attached to it. Most of the emotional moments feel cliche and forced.

On the plus side, the visuals and soundtrack are nice as always. The retro feeling is still on.

This season will probably the reason why I will not watch the next season - the first two seasons were awesome though.

I'm sure the "two volumes" format worked in terms of buzz and post production but that month of waiting, hype, chatting and watching trailer is, I think, part of the reason why the ending didn't move me as much as it could have. I was too focused on that, on guessing deaths, on the wait, and even though I had lots of fun, something didn't click for me. And I found a confirmation of that when I rewatched some scenes and found them more emotional on a second viewing. So I really think I would have enjoyed this so much more if I had the two final episodes ready two watch a day or two after the seventh. I guess I will never know.

That being said, I still think it's the best season after the first one, I still think the ending of episode four is one of the best moments of all Stranger Things (and that may also be part of a problem, because after such a high in the middle, you wait for something as powerful to come, and it doesn't), I still think that the longer episodes are not a problem because sure, they could have cut something here and there but it was always very enjoyable and in fact the length helped them to give dignity to all storylines, like it happened in season one and didn't really happen in two and three.

The new bad guy really works, even though he looks ridiculous and his info dumps can be quite annoying. The cast is amazing as always and the Duffers confirmed their talent in introducing characters that I don't really care for at first sight but I end up loving. It happens at least three times here, in very different and successful ways.

And of course the point, as usual for Stranger Things, is in how good the characters are and how well they are used. They are amazing, with great chemistry, really well written. Even in its worst moments, this show is always great with characters and relationships. And every episodes has got two or three amazing moments of comedy, drama, sweetness, beautiful interactions that are the engine of Stranger Things. Because they are the reason to watch it.

But it really is time to end it: the seams are visible, there's so much repetition and a huge risk of having emotions deflated by predictability. It kinda happened for me here with how it ended, I have to say.

Hope they don't miss the landing. They never did in season finales, but a series final is a different and tougher beast.

Absolutely, unequivocally a step forward from season three. In many ways, Stranger Things 4 seems to finally delve deep into the subtext of the premise of the show and as a result gets considerably darker than the series has since it’s initial run. This fourth season is a thrill ride and gets going from episode one with little time to let up, which is surprising considering the behemoth that this season is.

The episode lengths have long been discussed and although I never felt like any episode dragged aside from the wrap-up in the 2.5 hour finale, it does feel like it’s long to be long. Many of the longer episodes do feel like there is an opportunity to either be split into two regular sized episodes or to be shortened. Although none of it feels like a waste, some plot threads are less interesting than others—namely Mike, Jonathan and Will’s even though it does end up connecting in an important way.

Overall, I have to commend the Duffer Brothers for course correcting so strongly from the misstep that was Stranger Things 3 to create a season much more in line tonally with what audiences came to expect from this show, even if the lore is a little messy and all over the place. What it lack in finesse, Stranger Things 4 makes up for in sheer power and intensity, with several episodes leaving me on the edge of my couch, white-knuckling through the action. Can’t wait to see how this series ends in the next season.

Special shout out to David Harbour, who kind of carried half this season on his back. Hopper has long been one of my favorite characters on this show and it is incredible to see him back to his brooding roots.

I think Stranger Things has officially taken over Game of Thrones label as the next TV phenomenon. It's odd since this is the only show with a whole season at once release to receive this label (Netflix has had other big successes with Ozark, The Crown and House of Cards, but neither ever turned out to be the big talk of the town like say Breaking Bad and Lost when they aired on a weekly basis). Anyways, this is probably due to the Duffer Brothers for creating a nostalgic work that pays homage to Steven Spielberg, Dungeons and Dragons and Stephen King. Also, like GoT, it's a series with a blockbuster budget and effects, showing that viewers now want bigger worlds on the small screen. Even if the series isn't perfect, it still manages to entertain and remain a favourite among the masses. In other words, there could be a worse show that is currently the biggest thing on the air (remember when that was The Walking Dead?). Anyways, I'll only mention that this season really suffers from the runtime, some arcs definitely could've been shortened which just makes the 90-minute and 80-minute episodes rather annoying and the season finale which is over two hours feel like an overload. Anyways, it's still the entertaining hit viewers dig and hey, at least people are obsessed with a series that's an original idea and not something Marvel/Star Wars.

Best season since season 1 and might even be better. This is the most epic and emotional season of the show yet and it feels very fresh and different from the last two seasons. It is much darker than previous seasons and I really loved the tone. The Duffer brothers called this their game of thrones season and I can really see that, with all of the characters being in different places and having their own journeys but all still being related to the main plot of what's happening in Hawkins. This season really did feel massive and so much bigger than anything they've done before, with the biggest stakes and the most complex story. I think overall this season did an amazing job of capturing that tone. And I really love the way the season ended, not like the happy victory from previous season but much more of a bittersweet and ominous ending and it really makes you feel like things are different this time. It does a great job of setting up what will be the final season of the show, and truly feels like the beginning of the end. My one main complaint is that I wish that some of the main characters got a little bit more attention. However, in the final two episodes many of these characters did get more to do and played a larger role, so this is more of a nit-pick mostly related to volume 1 and many of my complaints about the characters were resolved in volume 2. Otherwise, I thought most of the characters were given great arcs this season and the actors did a great job of conveying these arcs and bringing a lot of emotion to their performances. Just an amazingly epic and emotional season and this show proves it's still one of the best series out there.

2022 TV Shows Ranked --> https://trakt.tv/users/justinnumerick/lists/2022-tv-shows-ranked?sort=rank,asc

NOTE FOR MYSELF SO I REMEMBER SOMEDAY, ONLY REPRESENTS MY OPINION/THOUGHTS FOR MYSELF NOT A “REAL REVIEW“, SO YOU MIGHT NOT AGREE WITH IT
(also its not my 1st language)


I have to say.. so far something about this season feels wrong/off.. since its been 3 years I don't exactly remember what I thought of this show before but I thought it was better. This whole Vecna as the villain thing isn't for me, its a little "basic horror movie monster" which I don't like, the demogorgon and the upside down storyline was better imo.
Also too many character story lines and "groups", feels kinda messy and like nothing feels smooth and together if that makes sense.
Also the characters often make stupid choices or act unnatural like the dialogue was badly written and many (little) things don't make sense (like actually arresting a little kid and intending to put her in jail?! Americans can't drink until 21 but can get arrested at 15?? ok idk how old Eleven is but it was weird)

Im not saying its bad or anything Im just surprisingly disappointed, Im just not enjoying it as much as I thought I would.
waiting for the second half!