Stranger Things

:

Season 4
  • Network: Netflix
  • Series Premiere Date: Jul 15, 2016
Season #: 5, 4.5, 4, 3, 2, 1
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 175 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 133 out of 175
  2. Mixed: 23 out of 175
  3. Negative: 19 out of 175

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User Reviews

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  1. kirkender
    Jun 12, 2022
    4
    A marginally better experience than season 3, but there is no real reason for this show to exist. Initially a fun nostalgic adventure, now each episode strains the definition of entertainment with the absolute minimum of character and story every 60-90 minute episode. The streaming TV bloat is very strong with this one. A bunch of scenes with no stakes for the first 95% of the episode andA marginally better experience than season 3, but there is no real reason for this show to exist. Initially a fun nostalgic adventure, now each episode strains the definition of entertainment with the absolute minimum of character and story every 60-90 minute episode. The streaming TV bloat is very strong with this one. A bunch of scenes with no stakes for the first 95% of the episode and ending on a cliffhanger is so played out and exhausting. The productions values are good, and the visual effects aren't terrible. Oh and it's not "strange," it's barely to the level of bad X-files episodes.… Expand
  2. stoneymahoney
    Jul 1, 2022
    5
    The show still suffers from many of the same problems that have been developing since Season 2. The cast has become even more bloated with many legacy characters becoming purposeless, existing out of pure habit like the writers just can't bear to throw anything away. The cinematography is still extremely basic and has all the narrative subtlety of a ten tonne weight, relying on theThe show still suffers from many of the same problems that have been developing since Season 2. The cast has become even more bloated with many legacy characters becoming purposeless, existing out of pure habit like the writers just can't bear to throw anything away. The cinematography is still extremely basic and has all the narrative subtlety of a ten tonne weight, relying on the enormous budget and computer graphics to make up for it's shortcomings in even the simplest fundamentals. The story itself has too many disparate threads and the runtime of each episode is approaching ridiculous at this point, often padded out quite obviously through characters making extremely questionable decisions.

    But the primary antagonist is a compelling villain, well presented and built around, grounding the series in a way that Season 3 lacked. If the show runners had been brave enough to strip out a third of the cast, cut the run time of each episode by 20-30mins and fire the idiot in charge of cinematography, this could have been an excellent return to form, expanding the world and lore in a logical way. Instead it's merely passable.    … Expand
  3. tlrelement
    Jun 29, 2022
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I really wanted to love it. However this the most disappointing season by far. The sheer amount of plot holes, ass pulls and macguffins is overwhelming. It's clear they had no vision this far into the show and are earning that dollar. The acting is phoned in or somehow inexplicably actually got much worse as adults.The characters in the show don't even seem interested in what they're doing, but how could they?… Expand
  4. Rincemac
    May 31, 2022
    5
    "Punish me more, Stranger Things!" is how you'll most likely feel for watching Season 4 (Part 1) - a jumbled mess of loose threads the Duffers couldn't all pick up if they both were octopi - I fear they'll be pulling a "Lost", "X-Files" or "Game of Thrones" on this one - but sure hope not!

    Letter to you, the adoring fan: If you, like me, watched other nostalgia reboots trying to    "Punish me more, Stranger Things!" is how you'll most likely feel for watching Season 4 (Part 1) - a jumbled mess of loose threads the Duffers couldn't all pick up if they both were octopi - I fear they'll be pulling a "Lost", "X-Files" or "Game of Thrones" on this one - but sure hope not!

    Letter to you, the adoring fan:

    If you, like me, watched other nostalgia reboots trying to re-capture the essence of the weird hairdo, synth music and similar 80's pop culture, to carry you over the almost 3-year wait for Season 4, I salute you for your endurance!

    I hope you, the reader of this unimportant review, won't join me for being disappointed to see Season 4 fail to get into old form almost from the get-go. Unlike in me, I hope that small flicker of hope is still more alive in you after watching the "Part 1" of the "please subscribe at least two months, will ya?" cash grab.

    If you hoped for a great send-off for your beloved actors, who've mostly now outgrown their roles (age-wise) since Netflix didn't film them in time to appear their now supposedly 15 year-old selfs, I tell you: good luck with that! I'm rooting for you.

    Oh, Netflix! How you chagrin your fans with creating multiple convoluted storylines while introducing even more new characters like the mouth-breathing jocks. Unfortunately, your story is now all over the place and you seem unsure which of the loose threads you spun to pick up first. Then you decided to pick them all at once and tie them into an incoherent knot before ending the series. Congrats.

    To add insult to injury, you also decided to go with "Volume 1", making the ones among your fans who still believe you can somehow pull it off. Then you make us wait for "Part 2" (a two-parter, to add irony) for the series finale.

    For anyone who wants to hear a guess: You set yourselfs up to pull an "X-Files (Season 9)" or "a Lost Series Finale" in the end. Or you could "Game of Throne" it, if you so wanted, using the last eposide to untie the epic ball of yarn you've spun in a time warp for the ages, undoing years of setting up in one tiny series finale?

    Hope you prove me wrong, Netflix and Duffer Brothers - I will be there just for the LOLZ anyway.    … Expand
  5. UncleWillard
    May 28, 2022
    5
    Not a huge fan of this past the first season, but what's with all the crying? I can't believe they brought the annoying sister along. Did they learn nothing? Erica is worse than the monster.
  6. tteotdead
    Jun 8, 2022
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. To start, I mainly enjoyed seasons 1 & 2. Season 3 was certainly not great but was passible. It was obvious that the series was running out of steam. Season 4 is more of the same formula from previous seasons, but less. Much of the luster from the show's earlier seasons, and what made it feel unique, has been mostly washed out. This review is more of a list of what I found problematic or frustrating from S4 V1, from my subjective point of view.

    - The characters were all shells of their former selves, almost caricatures at this point.

    - A lot of character developments from previous seasons were forgotten or ignored out of convenience.

    - Some of the (main?) characters have very little spoken dialogue, have very little meaningful on-screen time, and are there just because.

    - There was too much jazzed-up shooting the breeze styled dialogue where nothing happens.

    - Most of what happened in seasons 1 & 2 is insignificant at the current point in the series. The elements that did remain felt forced and only served the purpose of reminding you, the audience, that you're still watching the same Stranger Things™. For instance, the scenes with the lights. This wouldn't have a problem if the series was anthological, of course.

    - Every episode is severely bloated, especially the first 4 episodes. Each episode could have been trimmed down into 45 min. long episodes instead of what they ended up being - 1+ hour long slog fests. It was very obvious the show had a massive budget and was trying to justify the budget. The budget was demanding the show, rather than show demanding the budget.

    - Side plots and side stories were bland, contrived, and almost felt pointless. Most of the side plots/stories felt like mere after thoughts just so that some characters could have some screen time for superficial character development, and to give the main plot a buffer.

    - Tone shifts felt forced and were not especially fluid.
    Comedic tones overstayed their welcome, and dramatic/emotion tones felt out of place and melodramatic at times.

    -There were too many jumps in logic just to chug the plot along, even after suspension of disbelief.

    This part is a rant and contains spoilers, but nothing is mentioned in specifics. The writers tried too hard to be clever here with the twist ending and pushed it too far. "You know that minor character that's been added and has been, retroactively, gaining the trust of the main character? Well, they're actually the bad guy. But wait! There's more. You remember that one character that was mentioned in passing, who was assumed dead? Well, they're this same bad guy, the main villain. haha, get it? They're actually Vecna!" If this all happened in season 2, it would have been acceptable, but happening in season 4 feels like a copout. It all just feels contrived at this point in the story.

    My biggest personal complaint is the use of Diabolus Ex Machina - adding a villainous, evil element into the story almost out of nowhere for the sake of the plot - because it feels cheap. And the motivations of the main villain are your generic, run-of-the-mill "I want to rule/change the world!" They're trying to make this Vecna fit in as the Vecna from D&D, however ST's Vecna is extremely hollow in comparison. The villain was mad, because they "lived in a society", so they randomly developed telekinetic mind power through will power. Whereas later children literally had to be trained since early childhood in order to gain this same telekinetic power. Also, how did the character that took in the main villain, as a child, even know they had these powers to begin with to start their telekinetic, assassin children training program? Who knows? Maybe that will be explained later in V2?

    It feels like the writers tried doing too much, but ultimately left the series feeling very empty and unsatisfying. It wants to be Akira. It wants to be Star Wars. It wants to be IT. It wants to be the Matrix. It wants to be too many different things that it doesn't commit to any one thing. Also, tried too hard to make this all fit into an allegory for the nuclear arms race and nuclear fallout, but it all falls a flat especially after the first 2 seasons. Again, if this series ended at season 2, it would have been more satisfying.

    Now, there's plenty more but that's what is on the top of my head by the end of the series. The good? The acting, the cinematography, and the score was pretty good. Maybe S4 V2 will wrap all of this up with a satisfying conclusion, but S4 V1 just left a bad after taste in my mouth. But, that's just like my opinion, man.    … Expand
  7. HotelCentral
    Jul 9, 2022
    6
    Well, here's the thing: Episode 9 is 2+hours long and probably rates as the longest finale ever filmed and ultimately the finale finalizes nothing because the bad guy is still out there and the good guys still need to deal with him "one final time"!!! I mean, this is comic book writing. And I'm really getting tired of watching people with psychic powers throw other people and creaturesWell, here's the thing: Episode 9 is 2+hours long and probably rates as the longest finale ever filmed and ultimately the finale finalizes nothing because the bad guy is still out there and the good guys still need to deal with him "one final time"!!! I mean, this is comic book writing. And I'm really getting tired of watching people with psychic powers throw other people and creatures against walls and sometimes through walls. I mean, the first 20 times it was pretty cool, but now it's getting really old.

    Series needs to get some real writing talent involved.    … Expand
  8. Ahlgren
    May 31, 2022
    6
    Probably one of the best fantasy series 2022.
    Probably the only thing that worth watching on Netflix.
  9. doovid
    Aug 29, 2022
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The fact that this show was only meant to be one season gets more obvious every time they put out a new one. The first season was so good and sadly each successive season is just a little bit worse.

    Every character has devolved into something less than they were originally. The strong intelligent people who won our hearts have become boring and stupid. Which makes sense when you realize the plot hinges on the characters being as dumb as possible for it to progress.

    It's not awful, but it's not good either. You can easily find something better to watch.

    PS: Seriously. Hopper was captured by The Russians and has been in a labor camp since last season because no one bothered to even GO AND SEE IF HE WAS DEAD BEFORE LEAVING HIM? So stupid...    … Expand
  10. Maxdom77
    Jul 26, 2022
    5
    Es la caricaturizacion completa de una serie que perdio su estilo original.
    ¿Recuerdan cuando esta serie tenia terror bien hecho? ahora es un slasher exagerrado. Ahora los poderes de Eleven y Vecna estan rotos y no tienen reglas. Tramas de poca importancia que bajo la importancia de la trama de Vecna. Hablando del villano sacado de qlo, es otro villano "LA SOCIedad me HiZO MALVado, vivimos    Es la caricaturizacion completa de una serie que perdio su estilo original.
    ¿Recuerdan cuando esta serie tenia terror bien hecho? ahora es un slasher exagerrado. Ahora los poderes de Eleven y Vecna estan rotos y no tienen reglas. Tramas de poca importancia que bajo la importancia de la trama de Vecna. Hablando del villano sacado de qlo, es otro villano "LA SOCIedad me HiZO MALVado, vivimos es una socieDAD" No, vecna no tiene razon, vecna es literalmente hitler. Esta lleno de agujeros de guion y muchas cosas mas, esta serie se convirtio en la serie de netflix mas promedio que te puedas imaginar.
    Pero bueno, al menos la musica sigue estando re buena    … Expand
  11. skookum
    Jul 3, 2022
    4
    There were some good ideas at the start. I liked Eleven as a bullied high school outcast ready to lash out at any moment, and the Satanic Panic stuff was a great overall premise for the season and a great use of the setting. Sadly, beyond the first few episodes, both of these ideas are completely wasted.

    The season quickly becomes a long, plodding, disjointed slog of cringe-worthy    There were some good ideas at the start. I liked Eleven as a bullied high school outcast ready to lash out at any moment, and the Satanic Panic stuff was a great overall premise for the season and a great use of the setting. Sadly, beyond the first few episodes, both of these ideas are completely wasted.

    The season quickly becomes a long, plodding, disjointed slog of cringe-worthy contrite dialog, overacting, and unimaginative plot development. There's too many characters with too little to do. So they endlessly drone on in cheesy monologues about their emotions and relationships with each other instead of allowing the audience figure it out through actions and subtext. So much of this season is spent trying to wring emotional reactions from the audience and failing miserably. I laughed at multiple scenes that were supposed to be big sad moments and that's not a good sign.

    It was a very bad decision to have basically three independent plots happening simultaneously, only finally coming together (sloppily) at the very end. They really wrote themselves into a corner and fixing this season fully would've required a total rewrite.

    One final complaint: the sound design and editing is often so over-the-top that it undermines otherwise good scenes. I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that a trailer-house edited this season, because it's like they desperately tried to punch up every other scene with obnoxious sound effects and cuts.

    I liked the first season of Stranger Things a lot, and enjoyed the other two well enough. But after this season I don't even know if I'll watch the next one.    … Expand
  12. zeroplus
    Jul 6, 2022
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Season 4 has some good moments, but eventually devolves into lazy predictability, many extended schmaltzy dialogues, and incoherence. Many unforgivable violations of their universe's own rules occur. Four demon bats will floor and (almost) eviscerate an intruder. Four *thousand* demon bats will merely fly at high speed past a character at convenient bin-lid-shield height. Smegma can torture and kill instantly, unless the story requires him to work himself up to it over a quarter-hour. Demagorgons are impervious to trained soldiers' automatic-weapon fire, but weak against swords.

    The show has nothing left to say or explore, but dang if they aren't going to keep saying it until someone cancels them. Season 5 teased!    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

11
#11 Most Discussed TV Season of 2022

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 29 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 29
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 29
  3. Negative: 0 out of 29
  1. The Atlantic
    Reviewed by: Shirley Li
    Jun 13, 2022
    79
    Amid the show’s ballooning scale and scope, Stranger Things finds an unexpected anchor not in its ensemble of fan favorites but in its latest villain: a supernatural serial killer dubbed Vecna after—what else?—a Dungeons and Dragons character. Vecna resides in the Upside Down, but unlike previous visitors, he’s humanlike, with a voice, a face, and, most chilling of all, a worldview.
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  2. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Jen Chaney
    Jun 2, 2022
    80
    The visual effects are more sophisticated and so is the filmmaking; the transitions between scenes, which track four different running story lines, are more elegant and make a sprawling season feel relatively cohesive. Does it feel bloated given those longer run-times? At times, yes. But by episode three, I was again invested in what’s happening in Hawkins (as well as some new locations), and less concerned about the amount of minutes that investment required.
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  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Lorraine Ali
    May 31, 2022
    80
    There is plenty of fun to be had in “Stranger Things 4,” which both celebrates and parodies a decade that pushed conformity, conservatism and questionable style.
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