I was shocked to discover that no one ever made a thread for Stranger Things, and I searched as far back at 2015.

The show just premiered Volume 2 (two feature-length episodes) of its fourth season on Netflix.

I had long been wanting to watch this show, and I watched the first few episodes of Season 1 in 2019, but then I got too wrapped up in things, and now that my TV schedule is finally pretty much cleared, I picked up where I left off and now I've gone through four back-to-back, emotion-wrecking seasons.  ;D :\'( I've gone back and started watching Season 1 over just to refresh my memory. (It's crazy how young they are were.)

Going into Season 4, I was so afraid that...

they were going to kill off Eleven and/or Max or another beloved character. They faked us out in the Season 1 finale by sending Eleven to the Upside Down after the big fight. (I've read that The Duffer Brothers were originally going to kill her off, but she proved to be too popular.) And at this point, killing her off would be like "killing off Frodo Baggins before he reaches Mount Doom," as Business Insider put it.

And the other one I was especially worried about was...

Max. She came out alive the first time thanks to Kate Bush. The second time around, she barely made it out alive. Not just because of Kate Bush, but Eleven performed a miracle by reviving Max when her heart stopped and she technically "died."

This is some of the best television I've seen in my life! It's like one giant movie.

I have been advised to watch "Stranger Things" for I was told I would like it, and with 34 (I think) episodes to watch, I am wondering when to start binge watching...

I have now rewatched all of the first five episodes I watched in 2019. It's crazy how much I forgot in the span of three years. The tone was somewhat lighter back then. Season 4 is epic and the stakes are real.

There's still a bit of an afterglow and I'm not quite sure how fully recovered I am from the Season 4 finale. I can finally eat again, I know that much. "Running Up That Hill" has become inseparable from THAT scene, that moment. And it still has an effect on me.

Max escaped from Vecna within an inch of her life. And she's barely alive now.

I don't know how I'm gonna survive another season worrying about whether...

Eleven and/or Max, especially, will die

...but as long as they at least make it out alive, I should be fine. I know Millie Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapp have joked about the Duffers' refusal to kill anybody off. Millie's comments, especially, have been misinterpreted by a few news outlets like BuzzFeed as being legitimate complaints/suggestions. It's British humo(u)r, people! ;D "Kill off half the cast. Kill off everybody! Kill me off!" Millie, you joker! :D It's cool seeing that she and Noah are best buds.

It was such a strong season for Eleven and Max, and Millie Bobby Brown and Sadie Sink played the hell out of their roles. This is the kind of acting you win Emmys for. (At the same time, Rhea Seehorn is long overdue for Better Call Saul.) Vecna is already one of fiction's greatest villains. Jamie Campbell Bower definitely deserves from Emmy love. And I'd argue Matthew Modine as "Papa" Dr. Brenner.

Eleven's story is very tragic, and she's such a fascinating character. She just deserves a happy ending for once in her life. "Papa" is one of the best Eleven/Brenner episodes.

Eleven made it out within an inch of her life. She was literally in the crosshairs and I thought the guys in the helicopter were going to shoot her... when everyone needs her (and her powers) the most. Then again, I thought she was gonna die when her life flashed before her eyes when she battled Vecna in a flashback/memory.

The show has Eleven-baited me so many times. I knew she didn't die in the Season 1 finale because I knew she was in the Upside Down, and because the short-lived Nickelodeon show Space Cases did something similar with the character Catalina (Jewel Staite). And things weren't looking good for her in Season 3.

I'm shocked that The Emmys snubbed Stranger Things in the acting, writing and directing department. Sadie Sink and Millie Bobby Brown delivered some of their best acting on the show -- particularly Sink in "Dear Billy" and Brown in "The Massacre at Hawkins Lab," and Vol. 2's "Papa," and the finale "The Piggyback." (To be fair, they could be saving Brown for next year when Vol. 2 is eligible.)

These are some of the best episodes in the history of Stranger Things, and the famous "Running Up That Hill" scene is already iconic... as is Eddie Munson's (Joseph Quinn) rendition of "Master of Puppets" -- Which similarly has made a Kate Bush-esque "comeback," debuting on the Billboard Hot 100 36 years after its release. Curiously, Eddie must have had record time to learn the song since it came out just shortly before the events of Season 4. ;D

At least the show is up for several awards, including major ones. Among them is Music Direction, for which Nora Felder could pick up an Emmy for resurrecting Kate Bush's "Hill," which has quickly become Max's anthem and a curious candidate for Song of the Summer.

I'm still getting my Stranger Things fix during this afterglow period. Reading Yahoo! articles, watching YouTube videos and promotional things. And I've watched the first two episodes of Beyond Stranger Things, which is the official Season 2 aftershow, similar to Talking Dead. It's hilarious that even Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin) knows that "Every Breath You Take" is a stalker song. :D "It's creepy as hell."

Stranger Things 5 will have one of TV's most expensive casts.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/final-stranger-things-season-one-211506129.html

The tiers are divided up into:
The Party/The "kids" (Mike, Lucas, Dustin, Will, Max)
The "teens"/young adults (Nancy, Jonathan, Steve, Robin)
Adults (Joyce and Hopper)
"the rest" (e.g. Vecna, Argyle, the parents)
Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown. Due to her existing Netflix deal, she didn't have to enter negotiations like her co-stars did.)

5 will be the final season. I haven't heard anything about filming dates yet, much less a premiere date. There will be at least one spinoff of sorts; an anime has already been announced.

Millie Bobby Brown earned a record $10 million for Enola Holmes 2.

I'm still not quite over the show. ;D It has this sort of psychological/emotional effect on me. It's crazy. :)