STRANGER THINGS season 4 - SPOILERS INSIDE

[King Postwhore]

Master of Puppets was released March 3rd, 1986. This season takes place in late March 1986. Eddie is a fast learner.

Really enjoyed the last two episodes.
Not a fan of Max’s fake out death. They pulled this with Hopper already and I wish they had the balls to just kill a main character other than someone like Eddie who’s obviously a one-season character.

Yeah, no teen obsesses over a new release and learns the lyrics, music over 6 months.  Hell, a huge song from the album!

[lonestar]

Fantastic stuff, really enjoyed it. I kind of agree with the small font, but I'm glad she's still around as well.


Funny side note I saw elsewhere, you all remember the video of the music school covering Pull Me Under with that adorable young girl singing? Seems they had a stun double guitarist for the Metallica scene who is a student there, I saw the schools FB page post about it.

[Metro]

Master of Puppets was released March 3rd, 1986. This season takes place in late March 1986. Eddie is a fast learner.

Really enjoyed the last two episodes.
Not a fan of Max’s fake out death. They pulled this with Hopper already and I wish they had the balls to just kill a main character other than someone like Eddie who’s obviously a one-season character.

There were many of us who were standing in line…before the store opened…waiting for the new Metallica album on release day.

Just sayin.

For sure! My comment wasn't meant as a criticism or anything, I thought that scene was awesome. Eddie seems like the exact type of guy who would do exactly what you said, and then spend every second of free time learning that album.

[Mladen]

Master of Puppets was released March 3rd, 1986. This season takes place in late March 1986. Eddie is a fast learner.

I was wondering about this as well. That's one dedicated guitar player and a Metallica fan right there. 

Regarding the small font part, I dunno. I am happy that not all shows are trying to be Game of thrones. It's sometimes a relief that a character sticks around and you're almost confident they will be fine. 

[faizoff]

Me personally thought that season 4 was one of the best season of the show. I get that season 1 is held to a very high standard because it was new and it had a charm and all the 80s nostalgia mixed into it along with a really fun ride the whole way through. I think season 4 progressively took the show to a very proper place among the lore that the show built. It had a ton of story going on and the characters were already established so nothing else for them to show apart from how they progress along. I didn't mind the extra long episodes, I really enjoyed every minute of it. I wasn't bored for a second. It hit all the emotional beats for me and whatever deaths/non-deaths were all fine by me. It certainly wasn't perfect, had many eye-roll scenes but in the scheme of things it didn't detract for me.

Season 5 is probably 2024 at the earliest, I'm hoping it's summer at least, but yeah the wait is going to be very long.

[SoundscapeMN]

A little surprised they didn't bring back Ms. Kelly and the possibility she is connected to Vecna.

[MirrorMask]

Finished the show as well. Great stuff. Nice to see Eleven unleashed (the helicopter scene!), and Eddie having the most metal concert ever 

A pity they couldn't destroy Vecna for good, but I guess they needed a final villain for the last season.

Argyle was a low-key top player, he helped a lot through his always-stoned facade 

Didn't expect to see basically the Upside Down crawl to the surface, we're in for an all-out last season! pity we'll have to wait and see the guys grow even more but hey, we waited this long for season 4, we'll find other gazillion shows to watch to bide our time.

[MinistroRaven]

Finished the show as well. Great stuff. Nice to see Eleven unleashed (the helicopter scene!), and Eddie having the most metal concert ever 

A pity they couldn't destroy Vecna for good, but I guess they needed a final villain for the last season.

Argyle was a low-key top player, he helped a lot through his always-stoned facade 

Didn't expect to see basically the Upside Down crawl to the surface, we're in for an all-out last season! pity we'll have to wait and see the guys grow even more but hey, we waited this long for season 4, we'll find other gazillion shows to watch to bide our time.

I was shocked to find that Max is a 20 years old actress, that girl looks like 13-15 to me. By the time the new season arrives they all will certainly look much more older.

[jingle.boy]

Very late to the discussion, as jingle.son and I decided to push watching Part 1 closer to when Part 2 would drop.  All done now, and wow... just fantastic.

Now I have all kinds of theories about the nature and existence of the Upside-Down, now that we know why there was a portal there to begin with. Looking forward to finding out. July can't come quick enough.

Mostly just want to point out that somewhere along Part 1, jingle.son predicted that Henry was indeed 001, Vecna, AND little Creel.  I'm like "yeah, whatever"  001 - sure, that wasn't too hard to call; Vecna ... maybe; kid-Creel... no way - I didn't think the dates/ages lined up.  But alas!

There was a lot that was farfetched, almost too much, but I still enjoyed the fuck out of it.  I thought the aging of Mike's actor was the most jarring; Lucas a close 2nd.  Really had to park that in the back of my brain, but they both stuck out like a sore thumb.

Also... Eddie will be back.  jingle.son has done some digging, and apparently in D&D lore, Vecna has a vampire as his #2 (or ... puppet). Eddie was eaten by bats and his body remained in the Upside Down.  Hardcore fans caught puppet and bat tats on him .... it's all connected.  MoP as the song wasn't just a random choice.

Perfect cliffhanger .... and yeah, it's gonna be a long wait.

[MinistroRaven]

 

[ErHaO]

Great season! I could list a bunch of cons, but to be honest it's qualities far outweighed those. Great characters, nice visuals and solid action. I thought they did a good job stringing the overlapping story together.

As for the cast ageing. I only thought Nancy and Jonathan do not look like they are about to attend uni. But this is super common in film/tv to be honest. They all killed it in terms of acting.

[DragonAttack]

If someone would care to help me and the wife out:  we struggled with the ending of Episode 1, along with other points in Episode 2, especially the torture, so we had enough.

Should we continue, or is there a lot more of the same?  Thanks in advance.

[faizoff]

You're going to see it a few more times, though I think the shock of seeing it the first time is the most surprising aspect of it. I would say it's about the same with a few more of those moments here and there.

[MinistroRaven]

If someone would care to help me and the wife out:  we struggled with the ending of Episode 1, along with other points in Episode 2, especially the torture, so we had enough.

Should we continue, or is there a lot more of the same?  Thanks in advance.

The torture to different characters is shown at least 4 1/2 times in total if I recall correctly.

[MinistroRaven]

Vecna said he needed 4 portals, thus 4 killing, no portal opened when he killed his mom, right?

[faizoff]

Vecina said he needed 4 portals, thus 4 killing, no portal opened when he killed his mom, right?

Those kills weren't in the upside down though right? He killed his family when he was still a kid and not Vecna.

[MinistroRaven]

Vecina said he needed 4 portals, thus 4 killing, no portal opened when he killed his mom, right?

Those kills weren't in the upside down though right? He killed his family when he was still a kid and not Vecna.

oh, yes, you are right.

[hefdaddy42]

Finished up last night.  Very satisfying.

Eleven is great, but it seems they will need numbers 2 - 50 to help out with what has happened to Hawkins.

[bosk1]

Me personally thought that season 4 was one of the best season of the show. I get that season 1 is held to a very high standard because it was new and it had a charm and all the 80s nostalgia mixed into it along with a really fun ride the whole way through. I think season 4 progressively took the show to a very proper place among the lore that the show built. It had a ton of story going on and the characters were already established so nothing else for them to show apart from how they progress along. I didn't mind the extra long episodes, I really enjoyed every minute of it. I wasn't bored for a second. It hit all the emotional beats for me and whatever deaths/non-deaths were all fine by me.

All of that.  I have a hard time coming up with how it could have been better.  What season 1 had in terms of newness, this season had in terms of really cohesively tying everything together and feeling really solid all around.  And while there were a few odd moments that felt sort of retconned (can't think of them off the top of my head), it really felt like the Duffers had a solid plan/story all along.

Also, just a comment on some of the exposition:  There were two LONG moments of exposition in these final two episodes.  The first where Eleven learns what REALLY happened back at the lab and why she didn't remember.  The second was Vecna revealing his true nature, what the upside down is, and how it all fits together.  When it comes to movies/tv, I have seen increasing criticism of these types of moments rather than finding more clever ways to "show" us instead of "tell" us.  But I actually didn't mind these and thought they were done pretty well.  And there was so much to convey to show us how things in the prior 3 seasons connected to what we were seeing in season 4 that I'm not sure it would have worked as well to connect the dots if done any other way. 

[DoctorAction]

Finished up last night.  Very satisfying.

Eleven is great, but it seems they will need numbers 2 - 50 to help out with what has happened to Hawkins.

😂

Nice.

I thought it was extraordinary TV. The balance of tones (horror/80s high school/drama/comedy) combined with great acting, direction, music/sound and pulling together the previous seasons was terrific.

[ariich]

Only an episode and a half into season 4 so far, but I'm absolutely hating El's story arc. Why is every single teenager in Lenora a complete psychopath? Millie Bobby Brown is still a great actress but everything about this story is just terrible.

The rest of the show is ok so far, although almost all the cast are way too old for their characters now and it's really weird.

[lonestar]

I mean, teens are horrible in general, so it does check out.

[jammindude]

I mean, teens are horrible in general, so it does check out.

This.

I mean, Ariich is right, but I just took it as a given that this was HS in a nutshell.

[bosk1]

I mean, teens are horrible in general, so it does check out.

This.

I mean, Ariich is right, but I just took it as a given that this was HS in a nutshell.

Well, yes and no.  As with much of the show, it is not meant to be a direct representation of H.S. during that period, but is meant to be a caricature of H.S.  It is an exaggeration, but based on real world examples and stereotyping/hyperbolizing them for effect.

[lonestar]

It is a direct representation of Junior High though...god what a fucking cesspool those years were.

[MirrorMask]

I think in each and every single movie or show about high school, bullying is portrayed only as physical violence and intimidation, I must have seen a thousand times the jock pinning down the scrawny kid against the lockers, threatening him to get money or whatever. There's no subtetly, bullying in movies and shows = physical intimidation, stop. There are dozen ways teenager are cruel to each other and rarely they involve violence. I, too, was bullied at school, but I was never hurt or threatened with pyhsical violence.

[ariich]

I think in each and every single movie or show about high school, bullying is portrayed only as physical violence and intimidation, I must have seen a thousand times the jock pinning down the scrawny kid against the lockers, threatening him to get money or whatever. There's no subtetly, bullying in movies and shows = physical intimidation, stop. There are dozen ways teenager are cruel to each other and rarely they involve violence. I, too, was bullied at school, but I was never hurt or threatened with pyhsical violence.

It's not only the physical bullying, even the emotional cruelty is brutal - like when she was talking about her "dead" "dad" as her hero and everyone else carried on ripping into her and mocking her and the teacher was pretty unfazed by it.

Likewise I was also one of those kids subjected to bullying at school, and I saw worse experienced by others, but I've never seen anything remotely close to what apparently happens constantly in this school in Lenora.

Of course, I'm not American. I'm not convinced that it is, but if this really is supposed to be a meaningful representation (caricature or not) of high schools in the US, then it might explain how their adults turn out.

[MirrorMask]

I'm pretty sure the average high school in the US doesn't have 95% of super hot teens with ripped bodies, who suspiciously look like 25 

[Lonk]

I'm pretty sure the average high school in the US doesn't have 95% of super hot teens with ripped bodies, who suspiciously look like 25 

You'd be surprised lol

But yeah, I would say there is some exaggeration, but not too far from how kids are around this part of the world.

[jingle.boy]

Remember … this is mid 80s, and our understanding and approaches with bullying and abuse were very different than now, or even in the 90s.

[jammindude]

I was bullied in grade school and it was pretty close.

Specific things may not have happened exactly like they did in the show…but the meanness was a very typical thing. Close enough that it gave me flashbacks of actually being terrified to go to school.

I suppose that’s why these stories hit home. Because many of us lived our daily lives that way. And seeing a fantasy story about someone like us who suddenly had the power to balance the scales feels satisfying.

That being said, I don’t hold anything against any of the people who did anything to me. I’m sure they learned it from a place that gave them their own nightmares. I just hope they all found peace.

[hefdaddy42]

Remember … this is mid 80s, and our understanding and approaches with bullying and abuse were very different than now, or even in the 90s.

Exactly.  The time the show is currently set (Spring 1986), I was in 8th grade, soon to enter high school.

I didn't see anything depicted on the show that seemed completely unrealistic based on what I remember.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

I just love this show so much. There's nothing else quite like it. I've actually enjoyed it more and more as it's become more and more absurd. The Eddie guitar scene, for example, is ridiculous but it's also just straight up iconic and the most metal thing ever. I can't wait for the final season, and before it comes out, I plan on going back through the show from the beginning because honestly I've forgotten a lot of it.

[MirrorMask]

Well, it's not that ridiculous if you think of it.

The plan was to make noise to distract the bats, any kind of loud noise would have worked.

Since he was at it, why not just embellish it? he had to risk anyway, he took the occasion to basically play a concert "in hell" 'cause it was a once in a livetime event.

Russians being able to build a superlab beneath a mall is far more far fetched than a metalhead killing two birds with one stone (pratical need to distract creatures with noise, and the desire to "play in hell").

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Well, it's not that ridiculous if you think of it.

The plan was to make noise to distract the bats, any kind of loud noise would have worked.

Since he was at it, why not just embellish it? he had to risk anyway, he took the occasion to basically play a concert "in hell" 'cause it was a once in a livetime event.

Russians being able to build a superlab beneath a mall is far more far fetched than a metalhead killing two birds with one stone (pratical need to distract creatures with noise, and the desire to "play in hell").

I think they do a consistently good job of connecting the dots in such a way that even something appearing absurd at face value can be made to feel completely appropriate. Eddie playing Master of Puppets in hell looks and sounds kind of crazy but it works perfectly in the show. By the end, even the Russia sub-plot totally worked for me. Like I said... This show completely rules!