Online Series: Stranger Things season 4

[I am not exposed]

I also didn't give a crap about the Master of Puppets scene. Didn't care for it at all.

 

[Kevinsane]

I also didn't give a crap about the Master of Puppets scene. Didn't care for it at all.

I’m not much of a metal fan, but that scene was absolutely epic.

 

[I am not exposed]

I’m not much of a metal fan, but that scene was absolutely epic.

I am a rock/metal fan, and it I thought it was meh.

 

[beowulf]

I also didn't give a crap about the Master of Puppets scene. Didn't care for it at all.

I liked it and I am a rock and metal head and have been listening to Metallica since about 1988.

 

[I am not exposed]

I liked it and I am a rock and metal head and have been listening to Metallica since about 1988.

Master of Puppets in Old School > Master of Puppets in Stranger Things.

Running up the Hill in episode 4 was far better.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Master of Puppets in Old School > Master of Puppets in Stranger Things.

Running up the Hill in episode 4 was far better.

To your point, I've seen the mashup a few times. As an instrumental, Raining Blood just fits so much better and is so much more epic. Plus it was also an '86 release to it fits their timeline

 

[beowulf]

To your point, I've seen the mashup a few times. As an instrumental, Raining Blood just fits so much better and is so much more epic. Plus it was also an '86 release to it fits their timeline

Disagree Master of Puppets fits so perfectly with the way 1 becomes to puppet master of people.

 

[SPV]

I really enjoyed this season, some of the kid actors are quite good. Lucas and Max especially. I really liked Eddie, as someone that was in high school in 86, I can think of several kids that he reminds me of.

I don’t know why they are concerned about the kids aging up, if they film next year they’ll only be a few years older than who they are playing. And there’s a ton of shows and movies that have actors that were much older. In a show about the supernatural I can suspend a little disbelief if the kids are a little older. .

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

This was easily my least favorite season. I'd say that I loved the first, liked the second and thought that the third was OK, so I've liked the series less as it's gone on. I'll watch the fifth season, since it's the last, but I can't say that I'm looking forward to it now.

100%. I liked seasons 1 & 2 and thought they were nicely written and paced, but 3 was a huge drop, and a break in tone that they won't be able to overcome (I really hate the type of "humor" they tried to inject). Season 4 is even worse - the writing, the pace, the acting, everything is wrong. They managed to ruin pretty much every character (to me Joyce being the worse - going from her fantastic breakdown in S1 to making jokes while crashing planes and fighting the Russia army... ).

I get (and appreciate) the "everybody's someone else's weirdo" angle, and it worked fine in the original season without making every character an (overacted) eccentric. Now it's just dumb.

 

[Tawnos]

Disagree Master of Puppets fits so perfectly with the way 1 becomes to puppet master of people.

Yeah, it does fit the premise pretty well. But as a metal head I kinda wish they’d gone the same route as the Kate Bush thing, which is something known but also a little obscure. A Slayer song or a Megadeth song, both bands had new albums in 86, would’ve fit the bill.

It’s the most minor of nitpicks though, because Master of Puppets is still great.

 

[Ozz]

That Raining Blood edit is awesome.

 

[LarKing]

What was the point of the Hopper stuff? I like his character but man I don’t think those scenes added anything to the season at all.

Season 4 was the second best season but there’s just so many characters at this point. They probably should’ve killed some off or had some go to college. Feels very incoherent at times because 83 different storylines.

 

[Osprey]

What was the point of the Hopper stuff? I like his character but man I don’t think those scenes added anything to the season at all.

The writers apparently felt that they needed something for the adult characters to do. Perhaps they assumed that we'd be disappointed if they weren't involved enough (even though we all fell in love with the series because of the kid characters). Maybe, also, they wanted to give them exciting stuff to do because they'd grown attached to them, themselves. Either way, their subplot did seem pretty contrived. Also, I imagine that the writers wanted to ensure some 80s flavor, and a skirmish with the Soviets does that.

 

[Love]

What was the point of the Hopper stuff? I like his character but man I don’t think those scenes added anything to the season at all.

Season 4 was the second best season but there’s just so many characters at this point. They probably should’ve killed some off or had some go to college. Feels very incoherent at times because 83 different storylines.

I guess they really wanted the theme of 4 running through everything. The main characters split into 4 groups, season 4, 4 chimes on the clock when Vecna attacks, etc. But yeah the Hopper stuff was a bit of a stretch as far as it’s relevance. Of course it was relevant because it weakened Vecna, but that whole idea of them attacking the monsters in Russia was what caused Vecna to be significantly weakened required me to have an attitude of “I’ll play along”. A bit forced perhaps.

But I agree that season 4 was the second best season IMO. I also 100% agree that they needed to kill off a couple people but killing Eddie was the wrong move. I thought they should’ve killed Nancy tbh even though they’re trying to force her relationship with Steve.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Just finished the season, WOW!!!!!

Don’t know what people are going on about, the final 2 eps were amazing. This whole season aside from 1-2 slower eps were fantastic and I might even rank this season as my favorite, actually no, I do rank this season as my #1.

And yea, Max staying alive…they are going to have a huge twist with her in the last season, think she turns bad somehow.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

What was the point of the Hopper stuff? I like his character but man I don’t think those scenes added anything to the season at all.

Season 4 was the second best season but there’s just so many characters at this point. They probably should’ve killed some off or had some go to college. Feels very incoherent at times because 83 different storylines.

With Hopper they pretty much wrote themselves into a corner in S3.

They killed him off then went "just kidding" and had to somehow shoehorn that whole subplot into a story that didn't involve it in anyway. He became a MacGuffin to give Joyce something to do.

Part of me feels like if Harbour's version of Hellboy didn't bomb as spectacularly as it did, Hopper would be dead and Harbour would be doing movies. I think they wrote it with that ambiguity in case his movie career went anywhere

 

[Foppberg]

Just finished the season, WOW!!!!!

Don’t know what people are going on about, the final 2 eps were amazing. This whole season aside from 1-2 slower eps were fantastic and I might even rank this season as my favorite, actually no, I do rank this season as my #1.

And yea, Max staying alive…they are going to have a huge twist with her in the last season, think she turns bad somehow.

Having re-watched the final two episodes I don't dislike it as much, I still found it disappointing but maybe that's because of how good part 1 was. Episode 7 in particular was amazing, by far the best of the series.

In general if you enjoy a show/movie/anything, best to avoid the internet because there's always going to be people ready to tear it down

 

[Osprey]

In general if you enjoy a show/movie/anything, best to avoid the internet because there's always going to be people ready to tear it down

Stupid internet. What good is it for if it never agrees with us? Seriously, there'll always be people praising a movie/show/season/episode that you disliked, as well. In general, if you have an opinion on anything, there'll be people on the internet with the opposite one. If you're going to go online, you have to be willing to learn from different opinions or learn to not be bothered by them.

 

[Foppberg]

Stupid internet. What good is it for if it never agrees with us? Seriously, there'll always be people praising a movie/show/season/episode that you disliked, as well. In general, if you have an opinion on anything, there'll be people on the internet with the opposite one. If you're going to go online, you have to be willing to learn from different opinions or learn to not be bothered by them.

Well yeah of course. Nobodies saying it should be Kumbaya, just be prepared to hear that thing nitpicked into oblivion the internet is rarely a place where you hear the positive.

 

[Osprey]

Well yeah of course. Nobodies saying it should be Kumbaya, just be prepared to hear that thing nitpicked into oblivion the internet is rarely a place where you hear the positive.

This thread has been mostly positive. The season also has an 89% audience rating at RT and an 8.7/10 average at IMDb and is being praised by many as the best or second best of the series. There's a lot of positivity to go along with the "nitpicking."

 

[HanSolo]

I guess they really wanted the theme of 4 running through everything. The main characters split into 4 groups, season 4, 4 chimes on the clock when Vecna attacks, etc. But yeah the Hopper stuff was a bit of a stretch as far as it’s relevance. Of course it was relevant because it weakened Vecna, but that whole idea of them attacking the monsters in Russia was what caused Vecna to be significantly weakened required me to have an attitude of “I’ll play along”. A bit forced perhaps.

But I agree that season 4 was the second best season IMO. I also 100% agree that they needed to kill off a couple people but killing Eddie was the wrong move. I thought they should’ve killed Nancy tbh even though they’re trying to force her relationship with Steve.

I don't know. I really liked Eddie. But they're up to the endgame. It kind of makes sense that Eddie wouldn't be some late game upside down expert. I think they could have written the sequencing of his death better but ultimately I'm okay with his death. The fact that he was being hard on himself for running is a little silly since there's nothing he could have done for Chrissy, but it guides his entire story. Giving his life to help defeat the monster that killed Chrissy is a fitting end. Just not executed perfectly.

But I do like how Eddie encapsulates that the strength of this show, ultimately, is the characters. Between the casting, writing, and directing of Joseph Quinn as Eddie, people are still pissed that he was killed off and Quinn has basically become an overnight superstar.

 

[HanSolo]

I rewatched volume 2 with my brother. I still think they slipped up in spots but there's a lot of great high points in there that to me offsets things. Though volume 1 is definitely better. On reflection, Volume 1 is right on par with Season 1 and Dear Billy is still the best episode of the show

I will say that the Russia subplot, in a wide scope, still felt a bit unnecessary. Like the Duffers were trying to give Hopper, Joyce and Murray something intense to do while simultaneously justifying the Season 3 Russia subplot. But I don't know, on reflection I still liked a lot of the action involved and Hopper giving some more of his back story.

I've pulled back on my critique of the Max fake out death. I recognize that El having powers to resurrect is narratively problematic and the Duffers not killing off more characters...I mean, they're right it's not Game of Thrones and it doesn't have to be. But as others have mentioned, it's unlikely it'll be a quick happy ending for Max. Her body is alive, but her soul is presumably with Vecna. I think it's a fair choice to use a main cast member for some dramatic stakes in the final season.

Overall, having sat on the season for plenty of time now, I still think it was a strong showing for the series. Where the writing wasn't as concise and well developed as Season 1, I think it made up for it with well developed dramatic stakes and character exploration. And Season 1 honestly gets the benefit of being shrouded in a lot of mystery that they could slowly unpeel. You couldn't keep the base mystery and intrigue up forever. For a season that not only has the lid lifted on a lot of our understanding of the supernatural dynamics of the narrative, but more or less shed all mystery remaining, I think they did a great job. I'm really intrigued to see how things play out in the final season.

 

[Hivemind]

Plus it was also an '86 release to it fits their timeline

Raining Blood was released in October 86. Season 4 takes place during spring break 86, so Raining Blood wouldn't have been out yet.


Generally speaking, while the show has made some nods to slightly deeper cuts of 80s metal bands (Tank poster on Billy's wall, Eddie's Saxon patch), most of their references have been stuff that was and is recognizable to a more mainstream fan (multiple Metallica references, Eddie's Iron Maiden tape, Eddie's Dio backpatch). They weren't going to cut away to a band that's more exclusively for metal fans, as opposed to a track that has mainstream rock appeal.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Have a feeling 11 resurrecting Max...isn't going to go as well/obvious as people think...

They never actually showed her come back, I wouldn't be surprised if she is somehow a villain in the final season....who knows what exactly 11 did to her..

 

[zombie kopitar]

Yeah, it does fit the premise pretty well. But as a metal head I kinda wish they’d gone the same route as the Kate Bush thing, which is something known but also a little obscure. A Slayer song or a Megadeth song, both bands had new albums in 86, would’ve fit the bill.

It’s the most minor of nitpicks though, because Master of Puppets is still great.

You have to remember, there are millions of zoomers out there watching this that don't know this genre of music at all, hell i don't think my GF really knew it who is in her mid 20's and a pretty big music listener. MoP was the perfect placement, it was one of those songs I remember hearing for the first time and my mind being completely blown. It fit perfect while also being one of the most approachable metal songs, and unlike Enter Sandman doesn't suck balls

Kate Bush is also just a different thing entirely, she has always been heralded in a Bowie/Tom Waits kind of way, and stylistically is more relevant to pop music in 2022. It was a perfect marriage to be placed in ST and it's awesome it blew up cause she is a motherf***in beast that was ahead of her time

Just finished the season, WOW!!!!!

Don’t know what people are going on about, the final 2 eps were amazing. This whole season aside from 1-2 slower eps were fantastic and I might even rank this season as my favorite, actually no, I do rank this season as my #1.

And yea, Max staying alive…they are going to have a huge twist with her in the last season, think she turns bad somehow.

They could/should have edited it better and made it three eps, the flow was bad. S4 pt 1 is on par with season 1, a masterpiece. Part 2 is on par with the rest of the series, which is a really fun tv show.