Stranger Things 4 Volume 2 Review: Perfectly Executed Season Finale

How will Stranger Things follow it for season five?

Without a doubt, Stranger Things 4 surpassed viewer expectations. It took the show in a new direction, making the show bigger than ever before. It was not only better in terms of visuals, but it also introduced some new characters to the show.

Many Stranger Things fans did complain earlier about the show being dragged a little too much. However, Stranger Things 4 does a wonderful job at putting everything together, hence solving the mystery behind the gruesome events happening in Hawkins for years.

Stranger Things 4 finale starts with the gang ready to assault Vecna, so that he can be finished once and for all. It’s the year 1986 in Hawkins, and Eleven has already regained her powers after unlocking some of her childhood memories. Previously, she had forgotten her confrontation with One, a fellow inmate with a lust for murder and power. It was during this confrontation that Eleven ended up casting away One into another dimension through a portal that her powers opened, thus turning him into Vecna.

At the same time, some adults from the show are trapped in a Soviet Union prison as they battle the Demogorgon and the dogs in hopes of giving the kids an upper hand since they are all connected to the hive mind.

Since there was a lot going on, the Stranger Things 4 finale was longer than one would expect. It was quite talky, had a lot of dialogues, but also some of the best scenes from the series to date. There have been hints about Will being gay. Now the possibility of that being true is even bigger now after his speech about being “different” and learning to live with it.

Stranger Things may have taken a lot of inspiration from movies belonging to the 1980s, spanning across genres such as cold war thrillers and fantasy. It is usual to see a group of teenagers or kids completely unsupervised by their parents trying to save the day. However, the Duffer brothers add a lot to the typical formula as they completely understand the working of the “town apocalypse” genre.

We get to learn that it is totally fine to be unique. Whether you are angry or shy, or a nerd who is into Dungeons and Dragons, it does not really matter. The small town that you live in with your friends holds significant important for you. Perhaps, you are not different after all, instead, you are special!

Duffer brothers seem to know the true meaning of “coming of age”. Hence, the finale contains a lot of life lessons that are universal. These revolve around killing the monsters that reside within you and growing up in that process. This would mean that you must turn off the Walkman and finally confront with the harsh realities of life. Similarly, you may have to tell your far, “Dad, my values are not aligned with yours, so I’m leaving your underground telekinesis laboratory, and I’m not coming back.”

After putting together, the entire framework, the real fireworks begin. Instead of just randomly killing off the characters in Stranger Things 4, great judgment is made regarding whom to kill and when. All of that depends on the decisions that the characters take at a particular moment in time. The action in Kamchatka, Nevada, and Indiana is all intertwined together beautifully.

Furthermore, one can be sure that Journey and Metallica earned some great royalties from Spotify surges right after the show. The old hits got wielded in the show with great precision, resulting in some of the best scenes in Stranger Things history. It also introduced Gen Z to legendary bands!

After Stranger Things 4, Netflix has already commissioned the fifth season, which would be the final installment in the franchise. It is already confirmed that the final season will feature a disaster on a global scale, as opposed to the earlier seasons where only a group of nerds knew about the conspiracies.

Though, one question remains to be answered. Is Max dead? After the current events of Stranger Things 4, Max is currently in a coma. Whether she will wake up again is not clear. Guess we will find that out in the final season. No official dates for the 5th season have been given yet but rumours say it will be released around 2023-2024.