Stranger Things Season 4
Overview
Season four splits the gang across the map, and somehow every storyline lands. Eleven is stuck in a secret facility trying to get her powers back. Hopper is rotting in a Soviet prison camp. And back in Hawkins, something new has crawled out of the Upside Down: Vecna, a skeletal predator who targets teenagers carrying trauma and guilt, played by Jamie Campbell Bower under layers of prosthetics. The Duffer Brothers went big here — several episodes run past the hour, one nearly hits two, and the budget shows in every frame. But the season's beating heart is smaller stuff: Max, grieving and withdrawn, fighting for her life while Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" blares. That scene, in "Dear Billy," became a genuine cultural moment and sent a 1985 song back to the top of the charts. Sadie Sink is phenomenal throughout. Released in two chunks in 2022, the season turned into a streaming juggernaut and pointed everything towards one last fight for Hawkins. It's the show's darkest run of episodes, and for many fans, still its best.
