Stranger Things was a pop cultural phenomenon when it first aired on Netflix back in 2016. It was also Netflix’s flagship show, one which rode its success into the streaming platform’s dominance. A great initial harbinger to the nostalgia fueled trips to the apparently glorious 1980’s, a lot has happened since then. For one, the 80’s theme has been recycled enough times to sometimes feel now jaded (though I still believe you can never have too much of a good thing). And the streaming giant has had to fend off a horde of streaming competition with new platforms popping up every now and then, a few of them which have had some great content compared to most of Netflix’s middling efforts since then. And if Stranger Things itself seemed to overkill on its themes sometimes in certain portions of the second and third seasons, the show has come back with a literal bang in this wildly inventive and ridiculously enjoyable fourth season, to establish itself once again as the show to beat.

The good guys are all back, but in a change, they are not all in that deceptively creepy little town, Hawkins anymore. We’re in 1986 now and the young heroes are not yet out of the woods despite the explosive battle at the end of season 3. Joyce (Winona Ryder) has moved away with Will and Eleven and is attempting to start a new life, but things aren’t rosy for the emotionally embittered kids, with Elle in particular subject to some vicious bullying. Meanwhile, Max is fighting crippling guilt and sadness over her brother’s death while Lucas has found an in with the cool kids on the basketball team, but this may mean he has to disavow his nerdy friends, Dustin and Mike, as well as their beloved Dungeons & Dragons, considered by the ‘normal’ good folks as a portent to godlessness and the devil’s work. Which becomes a bit of a problem when teenagers start turning up dead in gruesome form, almost as if they were possessed. Suspicion and public opinion quickly turn towards the supposed leader of the ‘cult’, new addition Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) who ends up having to go on the run before joining up with our heroes in the fight against what seems like the ultimate evil, a monster in the Upside Down called Vecna. Eleven, after a particularly disturbing incident at the local skating rink is taken away from Mike and Will by those ever-affable government agents and finds herself back in a facility suspiciously similar to the one she escaped from all those years back. While she tries to find her powers again, Mike and Will, with Jonathan and his trippy friend, try to find her whereabouts and ger her back. Oh, and in case we forget, Hopper (David Harbour) is stuck in a grisly Russian prison with what appears to be no hope of rescue, until Joyce and Murray (Brett Gelman) find an in which would involve them having to travel to the Sovit icy badlands for a spot of prison rescue. But what they find there is a revisit of a horror they thought vanquished and a perhaps another battle to the death. Pretty soon, with Vecna closing his tentacles around Hawkins and the townspeople baying for Eddie, the youngsters, and some oldies, will have to fight a multi-pronged attack against the evil threatening to engulf them.

It’s exhilarating for the most part and it’s even more than usual, with some of the episodes, especially the last few, turning out movie-length. But credit to the creators, the Duffer Brothers, it never feels stretched out or unnecessary. There is a lot of ground to cover after all. Apart from the obvious battle against the dark forces, there are also the emotional upheavals that these now young adults must deal with, including the first signs of strains in their romantic entanglements. And the backstory which Elle finds out, where the origins of Vecna are gleamed, is riveting even if those portions in the facility are the only ones where perhaps one can feel a bit labored. Perhaps another pain point maybe the fact that some of these kids are starting to look too old for their parts, something I felt stuck out a bit in the initial episodes but which I forgot about as the show progressed.

Eventually though, the best part of the series is the harking back to its original appealing theme; a bunch of plucky kids saving the world from the mess adults have mostly created and, hopefully, living to tell the tale. I loved the dynamic between the mini groups which had formed here, whether the continuing banter between Steve and Dustin or the newfound chemistry between Nancy and Robin. It is remarkable how the show manages to keep all of its original and newly added members of the cast together while also not making anyone feel superfluous to requirements. And be prepared to go a bit heavy on the emotional aspect of things, with some particularly poignant moments in the finale. It may at times feel like a throwback to the John Hughes and Spielberg productions of the 80’s but on steroids and with a bit more of the horror added in, yet this is a show which has firmly established itself in the artistic landscape as a wholly original piece on its own strengths. I can’t wait for the purported last season of this.