5 Reasons Why Season 4 is the Best Season of Stranger Things

Season 4 of Stranger Things has wrapped up, and its unparalleled success shows it was the series’ biggest and most impactful season to date. Both part one and part two of the season broke records for opening weekend and two-week watching periods in terms of minutes streamed. While the staggering streaming numbers put up by the most recent season of Stranger Things indicates how the show’s popularity has grown, that is not enough to indicate that this was the best season of the series.

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Even though the success is a strong indicator that the show has not fallen off, the many years between season one and season four have allowed the show to see the fanbase grow. With that in mind, popularity is not the only distinguishing aspect of the fourth season, and several aspects of the show’s quality indicate it is the best season of the entire series right now.

Maturity

One of the clearest distinguishing factors between season four and all other seasons of Stranger Things is the maturity of the show. As the actors of the kids in Hawkins have grown older throughout the series, the maturity of their characters has also grown. Seeing the way Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) struggles with separation anxiety while also attempting to make Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) feel better about his relationship with Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) creates a friendship dynamic that would not have been seen early on.

While season four continues to maintain some of the more wholesome and sometimes childish aspects of the early seasons that fans fell in love with, it is continually clouded by darkness in this latest season. The more knowledge the main characters have of the upside down and the “curse” of Hawkins, the more difficult it is for them to remain children. A level of maturity is forced on characters that are growing up quickly, allowing fans to better understand the trauma and struggle that are endured.

Depth of Characters

Season 1 of Stranger Things did a masterful job of introducing an array of new and exciting characters that fans immediately fell in love with. The versions of these characters in Season 1 can be seen as merely the archetypes of what they are now. While every character has been able to stay true to what made them lovable in the early seasons, they have grown in ways that make each character more identifiable.

The struggles and challenges these characters have had to overcome have made it clear that when put to the test, every character overcame some stereotypes they would have been associated with early on. Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) and Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) are the biggest examples because of how strong their stereotypes were early on as the perfect high school couple. Seeing the strength and leadership in Nancy in Season 4 as well as the vulnerability and insecurity of Steve, makes it clear that there was always more to these characters than was seen in the early seasons. The characters’ struggles together brought out these differing qualities in the most endearing way possible. The same goes for Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), and how his relationship with Steve early on led him to be the biggest defender and advocate for Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn).

Acting

Given the age and status of the actors prior to Stranger Things, it is no surprise that almost any of the younger actors developed their talents in a way that allowed them to show additional depth and maturity that was not possible early on. The effectiveness of making the show more mature and the impact of the depth of the characters could not have been accomplished without the actors developing their skills in a way that allowed for a seamless transition.

That growth in acting is one of the more impressive aspects of Season 4, particularly because of the layoff that was experienced between the shows. Adding to their emotional impact is a clear testament to how talented these actors are and how much they have grown over the years.

Doom and Gloom

Even though there has always been a lot of doom and gloom in Stranger Things, the ending of Season 4 separates it from every other. Even at their bleakest, prior seasons ended with the sense that the good guys won, and Eleven, with the help of her friends from Hawkins, were able to destroy evil in a way that made life better for everyone. In Season 4, however, there is no such success. Even as Eleven can triumph over Vecna, it is too late.

Even if Eleven is able to bring Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) back to life, that one minute when her heart stopped was enough for Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) to triumph. In the need, their world has split, and Vecna proclaims that this is only the beginning because he has accomplished his goal through human sacrifice. For the first time in the series, the end of Season 4 makes it feels as though Eleven and her friends failed. This failure makes the death of Eddie one of the most traumatic because, no matter how heroic he was, it was still not enough to prevent Venca from making his sacrifices and putting the world in the greatest danger they have seen up to this point.

The Horror

While Stranger Things has always had a horror aesthetic, Season 4 went places that previous seasons would never have. There has always been a certain level of gore and prominence of death, but Season 4 did not hold back in any way. The most staggering aspect of the show’s horror is how Vecna sacrificed his victims.

The brutality in how their limbs are shattered and twisted along with having their eyes gouged out left a shocking image that was not felt in previous seasons. Additionally, the way Eddie was hunted by the basketball team showed the fans a level of psychological horror was had not been seen before. It is easier for people to understand the horror of the monsters but more difficult to reconcile the horror found in human beings. The depth of evil in the show was brought to the forefront in season four, and the horror that followed made it the most uniquely disturbing season.

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