Stranger Things 4 Ends by Trusting in the Season’s Best and Worst Instincts

Though Netflix hyped Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 as being its own standalone season of the

Duffer Brothers’ nostalgic sci-fi opus, its two extra-long episodes are truly just the final

chapters of Vol. 1’s story about what’s really been hunting Eleven and her friends.

Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 puts a period on this season’s introduction of Vecna, and sets the stage for

its psionic hero and villain to take on even larger roles in the series’ future.

As a season finale focused on emotional payoff, Vol. 2’s manages

to rise to the occasion and deliver. But it does so while also leaning into some of Stranger Things

worst instincts that have plagued the series from the jump.

While Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 does actually sneak in a solid couple of jokes that succinctly summarize the important bits of Vol. 2