***This review contains some spoilers***

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In its penultimate season, “Stranger Things” crams almost two seasons worth of material into its over-bloated fourth season, with multiple storylines in multiple locations bogging down the narrative at times. But the final hour expertly brings everything together and deliver an emotional ending that come off as unsatisfying because they’re holding too much back so they can wrap it all up in season five.

The basic plot this season is relatively simple and focuses on the characters trying to stop a new villain’s master plan. While the majority of the group work on this, the rest of them are on their own separate quests. The attempts to get Eleven her powers back moves slowly at first, and then that splits into her having to go off her own from the rest of the California group. But while having El back at full power seems like it will be important to stopping the bad guy, Joyce’s quest to save Hopper feels completely separate from the crisis at hand. It’s only in the two and a half-hour final episode that their story is able to contribute to the big picture. (Even El’s story has to take a sudden twist to get her in place for the finale.)

Every episode this season is over an hour long, and while there’s not much filler, there’s just a lot of story here. Between the actual plots and character moments, there’s just a ton of content. It takes a very long time for things to really get going, and even then, it mostly moves at a leisurely pace. That’s why it seems to stand out that going into the final episodes, half the characters don’t seem to be in place to wrap it all up. While it does work overall, it almost feels like they painted themselves in a corner a bit, and just came up with the best way to still make it all connect.

As usual, the world-ending threat often takes a backseat to the character drama, and that’s a good thing because the show has so many great characters with strong emotional connections to each other. Every character is given a moment to shine, and all the actors bring their A-game to elevate the critical moments. (Resulting in some tear-jerking scenes, especially in the final episode.) Were introduced to a couple new characters, a while Argyle is fine a comic relief, it’s the lovable Eddie that makes the biggest impression. But all good heroes need a great villain, and we get one here with Vecna. Despite the Freddy Krueger similarities, he’s his own thing and is tied to the show’s mythology, and he also finally gives a voice to the Upside Down as opposed to the snarling monsters and shadowy clouds that are the usual threats. (Although we did get a taste of this from the possessed Billy last season, here we’re seeing the real puppet master.)

And not only is Vecna an awesomely designed and executed , but everything else in the series is. Whether is the disturbing kills, the eerie mindscapes or just the classic Upside Down creatures, they all look fantastic and all like they’re part of the same nightmare reality.

“Stranger Things” season 4 is another solid season that absolutely nails it at times, but the over-long episodes drag the momentum down, and the show trying to save too much stuff for next season created an unsatisfying ending.

**** out of *****