Stranger Things 4 - Any good?

[RangerWickett]

I really adored season 3, especially the big fireworks fight at Starcourt.

I've been having a great time in season 4. I'm up to episode 5. I think episode 4 was probably the best TV experience I've had in a while (with a caveat that I'm not up to date with Better Call Saul).

 

[payn]

I really adored season 3, especially the big fireworks fight at Starcourt.

I've been having a great time in season 4. I'm up to episode 5. I think episode 4 was probably the best TV experience I've had in a while (with a caveat that I'm not up to date with Better Call Saul).

Not likely to change then...

 

[Parmandur]

When I watched the recap, I found I'd largely forgotten season 3

Yeah, my thought exactly. Season 1 & 2 are deeply set in my memory. Season 3, total memory hole material. The first episode of Seaspn 4 is already better than all of Season 3, combined. And I enjoyed watching Season 3, it was just...lackluster.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Yeah, my thought exactly. Season 1 & 2 are deeply set in my memory. Season 3, total memory hole material. The first episode of Seaspn 4 is already better than all of Season 3, combined. And I enjoyed watching Season 3, it was just...lackluster.

Huh. That's kind of the reverse of what happened to me. I barely remember seasons 1 & 2, but completely remember season 3 (and I remember enjoying it, especially with the characters it added, like Max, Robin, and Alexei). It wasn't perfect . . . but I still found it enjoyable.

 

[Parmandur]

Huh. That's kind of the reverse of what happened to me. I barely remember seasons 1 & 2, but completely remember season 3 (and I remember enjoying it, especially with the characters it added, like Max, Robin, and Alexei). It wasn't perfect . . . but I still found it enjoyable.

Oh, I enjoyed it, at the time (Max was added in Season 2, BTW). But I loved Seasons 1 & 2, and more importantly remember them vividly.

 

[Rabulias]

I really enjoyed Season 4 Part 1. I agree with others that Season 3 was fairly weak, and probably could have used another pass on tightening up the characters and pacing.

IMO, some of the events in Season 4 push the boundaries in how fast some things unfold, but viewing it with 1980's movie logic, I will give it a pass. I really like the expanded episode count: I think it's giving them more room to do better pacing.

I had two concerns going in, but I am satisfied after watching:

Spoiler

1) I thought COVID might have impacted the show badly, but I don't think it did. They split the cast into various groups, which might be an artifact of COVID, but that could also have been in the works all along (e.g., the Byers moving away, which was set up before the pandemic).

2) The trailer from April showing "Vecna" gave me (and others) pause that a humanoid villain did not fit well with the established mythology of the show. I am happy with the result. I have to say, while I was savvy enough to peg the orderly as 001 early on, I was oblivious to him being Creel's son and Vecna until just as they started to reveal it.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Myself and all three off my coworkers have agreed that Season 4 might be/is our favorite. None of the 4 of us said the same about 2 or 3 when they were new.

If the second half of S4 episodes are as good as the first half then Stranger Things is going to be going out on top as a show that stuck the landing. Sit down Ozark...you had your chance.

 

[Rabulias]

Myself and all three off my coworkers have agreed that Season 4 might be/is our favorite. None of the 4 of us said the same about 2 or 3 when they were new.

If the second half of S4 episodes are as good as the first half then Stranger Things is going to be going out on top as a show that stuck the landing. Sit down Ozark...you had your chance.

I still think we are getting Season 5 sometime, and IIRC, the Duffer Brothers have indicated that will be the final season.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I've now watched all of what they've released of it so far. Barring something really dumb in the last two episodes they're holding until July I like it a lot better than season 3.

It's got rather slow pacing, and key characters have been sidelined for most of the season. They now seem to be allowed to make episodes as long as they feel like and episode 7 is like an hour and 40 minutes long, and I'm not complaining about that (I've liked every episode), but it defitely is taking it's time. It feels like it's all building up for a big season 5 finale, so ultimately it feels like a season we can't really judge until we've seen the conclusion.

What I dislike about season 3 is that, whereas in the prior seasons the non-fantastical elements seemed grounded in (a heightened version of) 80s reality, in season 3 the Russian base, and even the mall seemed to be grounded only in 80s movie reality. Yeah, that's totally what malls are like in 80s movies, but if mall culture like that actually existed it wasn't in small town Indiana. Add in some obnoxious character arcs and it is a clear low point for the series. Other characters get great development in that season so I won't write it off completely, but I like all the other seasons better.

Season 4 doesn't have anything that really bothers me other than finding some of the characters frustratingly underutilized. But I think this has more to do with having lots of characters at this point, and wanting to get some of them out of Hawkins.

 

[wicked cool]

season 4 might be the the best television show right now