Although Netflix is promoting Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 as a stand-alone season of the Duffer Brothers’ nostalgic sci-fi opus, its two extra-long episodes are really just the final chapters of a volume. 1’s story of what really haunted Eleven and her friends. Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 puts an end to this season’s introduction of Vecna and sets the stage for the psionic hero and villain to take on even bigger roles in the future of the series. As a season finale focused on emotional payoff, Vol. 2’s manages to rise to the occasion and get the score. But it does so while also leaning into some of the worst Stranger Things instincts that have plagued the series since the beginning.
While Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 actually sneaks in a few solid jokes that succinctly summarize the important parts of Vol. 2, the episodes begin immediately after the ones that precede them without losing the momentum of the story. After doing its best to make you think Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) killed all the other test kids at Hawkins Lab, Stranger Things 4 revealed that her first terrifying display of power as a young girl came via time to battle with Henry (Jamie Campbell Bower), the man who will become Eternal. Vol. 2 opens with Eleven coming to fully understand her relationship with Henry/Vecna and choosing for herself how she wants to deal with his murderous plan to escape the Inverted.
By stripping Eleven of her powers, separating her from her friends, and introducing an even more unexplored story, Stranger Things 4 purposefully returns the series to its roots, when both the show’s audience and its characters were generally in the dark about what was going on. That finally changes with Eleven’s decision to confront Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine), her first—and incredibly abusive—adoptive parent, who has returned in Stranger Things with the promise of restoring her lost abilities.
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By foregrounding how abuse defines Eleven and Brenner’s relationship, Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 is able to frame her rebellion against him as an act of empowerment and recognition of the true love she was able to find after initially escaping the lab. Millie Bobby Brown kept wanting to watch this whole season, but in vol. 2 has a grittiness to her performance as Eleven that perfectly splits the gap between a jaded action hero in their final act and a scared girl who just wants to get back with her family.
In the buildup to Eleven and Henry’s final showdown, Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 makes much of how their overall development — both in terms of their powers and evolving identities — began with their choice to oppose Brenner. Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 has a choice few moments where Brenner comes across as an even more menacing, sadistic presence than before. But Modine stands out most in scenes where his character lashes out and is clearly acting from a place of fear—fear of the monster Henry has become and how he can no longer control Eleven.
Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 wraps up virtually all of its characters’ arcs this season with a complexity that’s impressive, but results in both episodes feeling dense and almost crowded due to the size of the cast. At the same time, as Eleven both regains her power and remembers that she can use it to remotely check on Hawkins’ team, each of their subplots kicks into high gear to make sure everyone gets some (momentary ) level closure.
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Especially at this late stage in Henry’s grand plan — who the show repeatedly mocks by pointing out how many names he goes by — it’s still puzzling that all the kids without powers think they have to go to the Upside Down to fight things there. But Vol. 2 moves Stranger Things into the series’ familiar action-adventure rhythms with a fluidity that was clearly missing from Vol. 1.
The final two episodes rightly choose to spend considerable time wrapping up Max’s storyline, focusing on how profoundly her encounters with Henry/Eternal have changed her. Max’s characterization on Stranger Things hasn’t always been the most three-dimensional, but here Sink is given a chance to really flex as the series revisits what her various relationships have meant to her over the seasons.
As silly as it is, the kids’ plan to fight Vecna in the Upside Down is what gives Stranger Things the chance to really dig into what’s been eating at them all season. Mike almost became a supporting character in both Eleven and Will’s (Noah Schnapp) orbits during Stranger Things 4 Vol. 1, and is much the same in Vol. 2 as the show reunites the three characters. Unsurprisingly, Stranger Things slows down and takes a soft focus as it gives Eleven and Mike the space to properly work through their complicated feelings for each other.
Likewise, Vol. 2 tries to tug at your heartstrings as Will gets comfortable enough to share with Mike and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) the corrosive secret about himself that’s hidden in that hairstyle. But Will’s somewhat clumsy resolution is one of the many awkward bumps that hold Vol. 2 from reaching your full potential.
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While it was great watching Hopper (David Harbour), Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Murray (Brett Gelman) trust the kids to fend for themselves as they deal with their own adventures in the Soviet Union, Stranger Things knows their stories refuge Not what people tune in for. Vol. 2 does the admirable thing though and keeps the adults very busy with real things to do instead of just dropping them back into Hawkins for the occasion.
Vol. 2 wisely uses its time in Russia to start hinting at the final season of Stranger Things, but Hopper’s big fight with the Demogorgon is also part of how these episodes remind you how much everyone has changed over the course of the series. Like Hope, the prospect of potentially dying in battle brings out a sobering sentimentality in Dustin (Gathen Matarazzo), Eddie (Joseph Quinn), Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Steve (Joe Keary) that complements the proactive way they navigate the apocalypse.
It’s kind of wild how Vol. 2 chooses to interrupt the time he spends with Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Max to remind you that he’s also on the run from high school basketball star-turned-cop Jason Carver (Mason Dye). As Jason witnessed Vecna’s wrath firsthand, it became an even bigger part of the weapon in Tom. 2 doesn’t add that much to the episodes other than to emphasize that he’s always been an ass.
In the grand scheme of psychic battles, Eleven’s confrontation with Vecna isn’t necessarily the most spectacular, but it carries an emotional weight that hasn’t always been the case with previous Stranger Things finales. Vol. 2 recontextualizes many of those battles with little clear foreshadowing of what’s to come, and while this season definitely looked like it could be the end of Stranger Things, it’s fair to say the series still has some gas left in the tank.
Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
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