Episode Rankings: Stranger Things

Stranger Things is probably Netflix's biggest series, and that is something I am perfectly fine with it. It deserves it. Stranger Things is a really great homage to 80s media that still stands on its own thanks to its large but likable cast, attention to detail, high production values, sharp direction, and terrifying monsters. I know a lot of people think it should've ended at Season 1 and while I do agree that Season 1 is the peak of the show, I think every season of Stranger Things is solid and fun in their own ways. Here's my ranking of its episodes: 

1. Dear Billy (S4.04)
2. Holly, Jolly (S1.03)
3. The Battle Of Starcourt (S3.08)
4. The Spy (S2.06)
5. The Upside Down (S1.08)
6. The Sauna Test (S3.04)
7. The Gate (S2.09)
8. The Massacre At Hawkins Lab (S4.07)
9. The Mind Flayer (S2.08)
10. The Piggyback (S4.09)
11. The Flayed (S3.05)
12. The Bathtub (S1.07)
13. The Bite (S3.07)
14. The Body (S1.04)
15. Will The Wise (S2.04)
16. Papa (S4.08)
17. Dig Dug (S2.05)
18. The Vanishing Of Will Byers (S1.01)
19. U Pluribus Unum (S3.06)
20. The Pollywog (S2.03)
21. The Flea And The Acrobat (S1.05)
22. The Monster And The Superhero (S4.03)
23. Madmax (S2.01)
24. The Dive (S4.06)
25. The Weirdo On Maple Street (S1.02)
26. The Hellfire Club (S4.01)
27. The Case Of The Missing Lifeguard (S3.03)
28. Suzie, Do You Copy? (S3.01)
29. Trick Or Treat, Freak (S2.02)
30. The Nina Project (S4.05)
31. Vecna's Curse (S4.02)
32. The Monster (S1.06)
33. The Mall Rats (S3.02)
34. The Lost Sister (S2.07)

Stranger Things (Season 4)

After three years, Stranger Things is back. It's bigger, longer, and... somewhat better than before? This is a very overstuffed season but its high points are very noticeable.

Stranger Things introduces a new antagonist to the series in the form of Vecna, a monster from the Upside Down who possess people in pain before killing them in gruesome ways. The sheer brutality makes this guy incredibly terrifying, and makes Season 4 probably the scariest and darkest season of the show to date. It also really helps that the people leading the charge are Dustin, Steve, Robin, and Max, easily my favorite clique of the show. Their dynamic is still absolutely fantastic, and the addition of Nancy to the group was a stroke of utter genius. Her dynamic with Robin, in particular, is priceless and I think they're my new favorite ship. Max was the real surprise star of the show though, she has a great subplot about grappling with Billy's death last season that ties directly into the Vecna stuff pretty much perfectly. But what really solidifies Vecna as one of Stranger Things' best bad guys is all the lore surrounding him. As per the usual, Eleven has a focal point as she basically gets experimented on by Brenner to bring back her powers, and while the storyline is otherwise a bit overly depressing, the payoff in what it reveals is absolutely phenomenal, and makes Vecna, Eleven, and Brenner all more interesting characters because of it.

But even in addition to Vecna, I adore the side villain of the season, Jason. When Chrissy (the first victim) dies, he takes it very poorly and accuses metalhead Eddie Munson, sparking a satanic panic in Hawkins over all of the horrible things that have been happening. Stranger Things usually pays homage to the 80s, but since the satanic panic actually happened (and ruined a lot of lives), it's so cool to see the writers give the era a slightly more unflattering look. Vecna is terrifying, but there were and are many Jasons out there, making his storyline even scarier. I also think it's fascinating how Jason feels like a Riverdale character, Archie in particular. He's the popular kid, a "lovable" jock, and a total heartthrob. When the town experiences a shocking death, he rallies the town and steps up to try and solve it, all the while never giving up his morals. But Jason's morals are entirely religion-based, and he can't solve a mystery because he's a high school student, so as much as he thinks he's the protagonist, he only ends up causing more harm. It's like the showrunners are taking direct potshots at Riverdale and I'm here for it. (I swear, one of these days, I'm writing about that show, it's such an awful mess and I hate-love it so much).

However, while this season has its many high points, I do have a solid amount of criticisms towards it as well. Starting with the elephant in the room, these episodes are too long. I've always been against this trend of TV shows becoming more like movies, but Stranger Things having episode lengths ranging from an hour to 2.5 hours is just plain ridiculous. The writers could have easily cut the season into around 18 standard length episodes and it would be perfectly fine. To compare, I looked at two other shows with infamously long episodes. Sherlock's episodes are all an hour and a half long, but there's only three of them per season compared to Stranger Things' exhausting nine. Games Of Thrones' final season made a lot of buzz over its episode lengths, but its longest episode (The Long Night) is only four minutes longer than this season's first episode. I'm sorry, but this is not normal, and it put me off of watching the season for quite some time because I had to allocate time in my busy schedule to actually do so. The funny thing is that I actually think the editing is on point, it's super punchy and creative, with plenty of truly stunning cross-cutting sequences and even a long take in Episode 4! Instead, the problem is the sheer amount of storylines we have.

While everything surrounding Vecna, Eleven, and Hawkins is fantastic, Season 4 really divides up the cast to the point where we have like half a dozen major storylines, and a decent number of them kinda suck. The worst one is easily the one about Hopper in a gulag. Putting aside the fact that I think Hopper should've stayed dead, as his being alive cheapened the impact of the fantastic Season 3 finale, storylines about characters in prison are always overlong, depressing, and repetitive, and this one is no exception. Joyce and Murray trying to rescue him is a bit better since their dynamic is fun, but it's not enough to save the storyline as a whole, especially considering Joyce could've played a really interesting role in the aforementioned satanic panic storyline. The other bad storyline is the road trip one about Mike, Will, and Jonathan trying to find Eleven, which ends up feeling really aimless and dull. I'm sorry but these three characters haven't been interesting for two seasons and sticking them in a car together for the entire second half of Season 4 didn't help matters.

Highlights:

Dear Billy: While it progresses the plot as much as any other episode of Stranger Things, what I like about Dear Billy is that its main storyline also works as a standalone high concept story, about Max trying to break out of Vecna's possession while also confronting her PTSD and grief. I'm a sucker for when shows take supernatural stories and have them also be metaphors for personal struggles (part of why Buffy is so good) and Dear Billy does that masterfully, culminating in a final few minutes so powerful and well-done that it finally managed to top Holly Jolly as my favorite episode of the series. The fantastic long take as soldiers shoot up Will's apartment and the fun interactions between Nancy and Robin only sweeten the deal, it's yet another case of the fourth episode of a Stranger Things season really shifting things into high gear.

The Massacre At Hawkins Lab: Holy mother of loredrumps, I have no idea how much this series was planned out from the start but the revelations in The Massacre At Hawkins Lab are so good, unpredictable but make total sense. The highlight for me was the reveal that the Upside Down is Hawkins frozen in time, but all the lore about Vecna/Henry/One is fantastic too and makes him a far more interesting antagonist. Add in Steve's group having to survive in the Upside Down and Hopper finally being broken out of prison and you get a pretty massive episode, definitely a good point to have that hiatus, as much of a dumb concept I thought it was.

The Piggyback: At a whopping 2 hours and 30 minutes, this finale is too long, and because of that, it's probably the weakest one so far. However, even the worst Stranger Things finale is pretty great. There are just a lot of really strong moments scattered through the finale, like Max's confrontation with Vecna, Eleven's "mind fight", Eddie performing Master Of Puppets, Jason's (deserved) death, and that insane cliffhanger.

Overall, Season 4 of Stranger Things is probably the most uneven season of the show yet. I adore the main storyline about Vecna and everything that stems from it, it's dark and ambitious and tense, and it's only carried further by the hard-hitting satanic panic subplot, the fun interactions within Steve's group, the fantastic character arcs for Max and Eleven, and the tight and confident editing. On the other hand, this season is overstuffed and overlong, and is dragged down by two pretty bad storylines. At its best, Season 4 has some of the best episodes in the whole show, but it's just not as consistently strong as its predecessors.

4/5 Stars

Stranger Things (Season 3)

Season 3 of Stranger Things is a bit of a weird beast. While the first two seasons were fairly small in scale, this season is absolutely nuts and goes for the largest swings imaginable, with giant monster fights, an evil Russian base, way more horror than before, plenty of extended chase sequences, character sacrifices, musical numbers, and a lot of bright colors. It's overstuffed, to say the least, but it's also ridiculously fun once it really starts to get going.

Stranger Things' third season has a lot to talk about, so I'll just go over the things I liked in this paragraph and the things I didn't in the next. Season 3 is about the Mind Flayer from last season finally staging his attack on the town of Hawkins, possessing people and generally terrorizing the place. As the main cast of kids fight the Flayer, the other half of the cast gets trapped inside a Russian base under a newly built mall and stop the building of another portal to the Upside Down. I actually really like the story here, it's a lot more involved than the one in Season 2, especially on the Mind Flayer front. The Mind Flayer just stood back and watched last season so seeing it actually roam around in public gave me Demogorgon vibes, and his creepy fleshy appearance made for some of the scariest scenes to date. Meanwhile, while I know that a lot of people found the Russian base subplot really goofy, I actually thought it was my favorite part of the season. It's silly but a ton of fun and a neat call-back to Cold War era movies, and it helps that Steve, Dustin, and the former's coworker and new friend Robin have such an amazing dynamic together that carries even the sillier moments. Frankly, most of the new characters are great, as I also really liked the surprisingly lovable Alexei. I also have to praise the presentation this season, the visuals is so good and the final battle in particular feels like a movie in its massive scale. You can tell this is the series Netflix is still giving the most money too, it really shows. Overall, once the plot really kicks in, Season 3 just has such a blisteringly fast-pace that doesn't stop for anything, and it was an absolute joy to watch. 

So Season 3 of Stranger Things is a fun time, though I do have some issues with it. Nothing as bad as The Lost Sister, but it's still enough to stop the season from getting a full 5/5 from me. For starters, Season 3 just takes some time to really get going, as the first three episodes are pretty much all set-up. The group doesn't become aware that the Mind Flayer is still alive until the third episode, and the Russian base subplot doesn't kick in until Episode 4. Granted, that's not entirely a bad thing until you realize that this season is still only eight episodes, which makes that almost a half of the season's worth of set-up. This short length also doesn't help in terms of just how overstuffed Season 3 is. Just like the last two seasons, every character gets a subplot or character arc here, but as the cast continues to expand further and further, this becomes a bit too much for Stranger Things to handle. And with so many subplots, it's only natural that at least one of them ends up being a dud. So let's talk about my least favorite part about Season 3 of Stranger Things: Hopper. I thought Hopper was an alright character in Seasons 1 & 2, though his relationships with Eleven and Joyce were pretty good. However, in Season 3, he just became a massive jerk and quite frankly unstable. Hopper was pissed at everyone and everything, he was a pretty awful boyfriend to Joyce and an even worse parental figure for Eleven, and his shift in characterization felt incredibly drastic. Hopper was easily the weakest part of the season because of this, I just hated watching him, and it got to the point where I was almost relieved he sacrificed himself in the finale (though he's technically not dead so let's see how he turns out in Season 4).

Once the season gets good, almost every episode is a highlight:

The Sauna Test: Aside from really kicking off the plot with the arrival of the Mind Flayer and the start of the Russian base subplot, The Sauna Test also just has a killer third act where the group tries to test if Billy is possessed only for him to break out and attack all of them. It's just such a great horror scene that made for one of the show's best episodes.

The Flayed: The Flayed is pretty much just one long chase scene, and it's fantastic. The kids are being constantly pursued by the Mind Flayer, who just continues to get more terrifying by the episode, while the Starcourt Mall crew gets chased by the evil Russian Terminator Grigori. It's an nonstop, action-packed thrill ride that ends on yet another very memorable scene where the group has to escape from the Mind Flayer in a hospital.

The Bite: While somewhat slower-paced as it focuses on setting up the finale, The Bite has three fantastic moments: First, there's Robin secretly coming out to Steve in a way that fits the time period perfectly, which just solidified their dynamic as the best part of the show. Second, there's Eleven getting bitten and starting to lose her powers, a great twist. And finally, there's Alexei's abrupt and devastating death. Stranger Things really does love killing off its lovable side characters in the penultimate episodes, huh?

The Battle Of Starcourt: Out of Stranger Things's three finales so far, The Battle Of Starcourt is definitely my favorite. It is so jam-packed, eventful, climactic, and large in scale. The final battle with the Mind Flayer is so grand and exciting, Hopper's sacrifice is a fantastic moment despite how much I've hated his character this season, the Neverending Story scene was hilarious, and Joyce's family moving out was such a great shift in the status quo. My only gripe is the fact that Hopper isn't actually dead, which made his death and letter a bit less impactful, though everything else in this finale worked super well in spite of that.

Overall, I'd say that Season 3 is a solid improvement over the second season, with a more present threat, way more creativity and energy, better pacing, and a stronger finale. While it's still overstuffed and similarly takes some time before it gets really good, I could totally understand why someone would call Season 3 the best one so far for its sheer energy alone.

4/5 Stars

Stranger Things (Season 2)

Coming off the heels of Stranger Things's fantastic first season, Season 2 had a lot to live up to. I think it mostly did a pretty great job, especially when it comes to the endgame, though unlike the previous season its flaws are a bit more glaring.

Season 2 of Stranger Things continues where the previous season left off, with Will having returned from the Upside Down only to be influenced by another creature from there called the Mind Flayer. Meanwhile, Eleven has disappeared since her sacrifice and spends the season on the run before ultimately reuniting with Mike and the gang in the finale. There are also plot points about these smaller Demodogs, one of which Dustin ends up befriending, as well as a gate to the Upside Down that has been slowly growing. I wouldn't say this storyline is inherently bad, as it is well-executed and the final few episodes pay off all these elements masterfully, but I'm sure you can tell that Season 2 feels a bit more unfocused than Season 1. The Mind Flayer is still a creepy villain, but since it hides in the Upside Down all season, it's not as involved as the Demogorgon was. It also doesn't help that Season 2's first few episodes feel a bit slower than the start of Season 1, lacking the propulsion that Holly, Jolly brought to the table. Still, I also can't sell short how great those final few episodes are to begin with. Not only do they bring together the cast once again, but they put them in much scarier and higher stakes situations that lead to an (almost) nonstop series of tense and memorable sequences. 

Thankfully, the character work is still just as great as in Season 1, if not even better in certain aspects. This is the season where Steve Harrington really comes into his own, as his redemption arc, friendship with Dustin, and Joe Keery's charming performance helped elevate him to becoming my favorite character of the show. Speaking of Dustin, he also gets a lot more development and focus this season, and so did Lucas, who befriends a new kid named Max with a fascinating and complex character arc of her own. And I can't go without bringing up the amazing and charming Bob Newby, Joyce's new boyfriend whose death is easily the saddest in the show to date. However, another thing I can't not bring up when talking about Stranger Things's second season is the infamous The Lost Sister, an episode that shifts focus entirely to Eleven as she joins a gang and figures herself out. It's a not bad episode, per se, and I think it has some merits in its contribution to Eleven's character arc, but it comes right in between two of the most intense parts of the season and brings the pacing to a screeching halt. I think The Lost Sister's story would've worked better if it was just scattered throughout the season like any other subplot, turning it into its own episode just didn't work here in the slightest.

As mentioned above, Season 2's best episodes are all in its second half, with the exception of The Lost Sister, of course:

The Spy: This whole episode is pretty much just Dustin and Steve bonding, and it's a ton of fun. The hunting party storyline is just so much fun, a great balance of scares, fun action, and genuine character development for everyone involved. And then there's also the killer cliffhanger which has much of the cast in a lab with a bunch of monsters... only for the next episode to be The Lost Sister...

The Mind Flayer: Okay, now that we got The Lost Sister out of the way, The Mind Flayer gets back to resolving the cliffhanger left by The Spy. Pretty much the entire first half of this episode is super intense and great, it's a fun chase through the lab culminating in Bob's legendary and heartbreaking sacrifice.

The Gate: While the actual plot resolution was a bit weaker than in Season 1 (Eleven closing the gate just isn't as cool as the Demogorgon fight), The Gate is still a very satisfying finale thanks to the fantastic school dance sequence that makes up its final third. Seeing everyone get together and tie up loose ends is super heartwarming, and aside from the final shot, I like how this was a much happier ending than that of Season 1.

Overall, Season 2 is still a great season for Stranger Things, but it definitely suffers from a more unfocused plot and much weaker pacing, especially when The Lost Sister is concerned. Still, the character work is great, the eerie tone remains intact, and the final few episodes are an incredibly fun and tense way to end off the season.

4/5 Stars (-1 for The Lost Sister)

Stranger Things (Season 1)

Well, Season 4 of Stranger Things is finally out (albeit missing a few episodes), so I knew I had to get to reviewing the first three seasons before the finale comes out in July. I really liked pretty much all of Stranger Things, and I think it's proved to be more than just a simple 80s-inspired horror-adventure show with its great character dynamics, effective plot twists and scares, and a strong sense of focus throughout. However, I also agree with the general consensus that Season 1 is the show's best so far.

Season 1 of Stranger Things is about a small town called Hawkins, where a boy named Will has been kidnapped by a monster and sent to place called the Upside Down, which is basically just a distorted mirrored version of our world. As the town goes crazy trying to search for Will, his friends run into and befriend a mysterious telekinetic girl named Eleven, who helps them in their search. The plot never gets that much more complicated than this, though it does have its twists and turns, and I think that's a pretty great thing. With only 8 episodes, Stranger Things remains focused throughout and the simple story helps it capture the charm of 80s Amblin films like Goonies, which it's obviously striving to replicate. Not to say that Stranger Things doesn't bring something new to the table, as unlike stuff like Goonies, this show is actually trying to be more horror-driven, and it works! Season 1 of Stranger Things has an eerie atmosphere to it, between the distorted Upside Down and the terrifying Demogorgon. I also really like that this is the only season that doesn't really feel like it's actively setting up a sequel. Not to say that Season 1's finale didn't have its loose ends, but the Demogorgon storyline does feel like it's own standalone story that gets mostly neatly wrapped up by the end, which is more than I can say about the later seasons.

But I think what really stuck out to me about Stranger Things after all these years is the characters. Like many shows that take place in a small town, we get to know a lot of the different residents of Hawkins, and not just the main cast of kids. We follow their parents, some of the friends of their much older siblings, as well as the Hawkins police. Every character gets their own subplot and a lot of time to develop, and the episodes are long enough that no one really gets the short end of the stick. One of my favorite parts about seasons of Stranger Things is when the disparate plot threads and cast members all unite near the end of the season, and seeing unlikely characters interact and put the pieces of the puzzle together in the last two episodes is always very impactful and satisfying. I also have to give some praise to just how damn good the presentation of Stranger Things is. Sure, the CGI for the Demogorgon could be a bit better, but otherwise, the practical sets capture the 80s aesthetic perfectly. The synth-heavy soundtrack is an eerie and perfectly fitting score for the show, and I don't think I need to say just how amazing the title theme is. It's hard for me to really say just why Season 1 of Stranger Things is my favorite outside of the fact that all of the pieces just click nearly perfectly for me. The pacing is perfect, all the characters are likable and get their own arcs, the presentation is great, the story is simple but not too predictable, and every single beat the season tries to hit lands. I still like the later seasons of Stranger Things a lot, but they're a bit messy in a way that Season 1 just isn't. It's razor focused and confident in itself the whole way through.

Pretty much every episode this season is great, but these are the big highlights for me:

Holly, Jolly: This is still one of my favorite episodes of Stranger Things, if not my absolute favorite, because of how unpredictable and impactful it was. Holly, Jolly was a pretty solid episode for most of its runtime, particularly in the now iconic subplot about Joyce interacting with Will via christmas lights. I cannot understate just how many people tried to replicate this scene, I swear. But the thing is, Holly, Jolly was also the third episode of an eight episode season, so when it ends with the group stumbling up Will's dead body, I was kind of shocked. Obviously Will wasn't actually dead, but it was a bold and confident move that fully sold me on the series.

The Body: Coming after the shocking Holly, Jolly, this episode deals with the fallout as the cast struggles with the prospect that maybe Will is just dead. It's one of the more solemn and slow-paced episodes of the series but it's a very emotionally affecting one too, and if you've seen some of my other reviews, you know how much I love episodes that are solely about the characters grappling with death.

The Bathtub: Remember when I said that I love it when the disparate plot threads weave together near the end of a Stranger Things season? Well, for Season 1, The Bathtub is the episode where that happens. It's not even like most of these characters haven't interacted before, but seeing Mike's group, Eleven, Joyce and Hopper, and Nancy's team all meet up together just has a cool crossover vibe to it that I loved. The Bathtub also happens to have the most iconic stunt in the whole series with that incredibly cool van flip. That scene is Stranger Things's "ET moon bicycle" scene.

The Upside Down: Stranger Things always has a great finale, but The Upside Down is still probably the most bittersweet of the bunch so far. The final battle with the Demogorgon in the school is scary and tense, but it's Eleven's sacrifice that really takes the cake as one of the most memorable scenes in the show. Not to mention the start of Steve's redemptive arc that would eventually turn him into one of my favorite characters, as well as the rescue of Will, though that wasn't without its cost.

Overall, while Season 1 of Stranger Things isn't one of my favorite seasons of television ever, I think it's as close to a perfect season as you could get. Sure, it's very heavily based on nostalgia and 80s adventure films, but it manages to captured the great elements of movies like Goonies and ET with its simple plot, tight focus, and likable characters. Though it also manages to bring its new elements to the table as well with the horror scenes, several fantastic twists, and Eleven's entire character.

5/5 Stars