Stranger Things 4 threads on repetitive themes, almost pandering to fan service nostalgia

Six years ago, Matt and Ross Duffer whipped up a perfect streaming video dessert,

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low on nutrition but high in sweet pop culture calories.

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Season 1 of their Netflix series Stranger Things

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was an expertly assembled and precisely calibrated souffle of Generation X nostalgia,

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Spielbergian family melodrama and more-intense-than-expected sci-fi-horror adventure.

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It was a delicious, entirely guilt-free indulgence.

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The thing about a dessert, when it’s tasty enough,

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that the people who love it don’t want it to change

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that’s the condition for their choosing it over and over again.

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