‘Stranger Things’ Season 4 Vol. 2 review: Sadie Sink steals the show in anti-climactic flourish
The Hindu
In the build-up to the final season, the Duffer Brothers ensure that the coming-of-age themes still resonate during several memorable — and surprisingly emotional — scenes where characters have to usurp their personal demons and rise to the occasion
Max’s escape from Vecna’s lair that sent Kate Bush to the top of the music charts. The shocking revelation that Henry Creel, Vecna and One are the same person. The Joyce-Hopper reunion we have been forever waiting for. Eleven getting back her powers.
Volume one of season four gave us so much to take in — and cherish — that expectations for the two-episodic finale hardly seem fair, given that so many plot points need epic conclusions. Do the Duffer brothers deliver this time around?
Well, yes and no.
Yes, as so much of what made Vol. 1 work is present in spades: the gang’s all split up across three different story arcs and locations, but still manage to find a cosmic connection to work together; the coming-of-age themes still resonate during several memorable — and surprisingly emotional — scenes where characters have to usurp their personal demons and rise to the occasion; the long-impending Eleven vs. Vecna face-off does mostly deliver; and several of the show’s stars such as Sadie Sink, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo and Natalia Dyer turn in career-best performances.
But with so much on the line, it only seems right to point out a few grievances. With some of the newer characters getting more prominence, the likes of Mike, Will and Jonathan are in constant danger of appearing redundant. The raging discourse over Will’s sexuality remains unresolved, despite Noah Schnapp getting a couple of moving moments. The whole Eleven-Papa storyline feels unnecessarily dragged and fails to convince.
And finally, Vecna’s connection with The Upside Down, the Mind Flayer and all their demo-minions really should have set up an ideal finale for the whole show. But with the fifth and final season commissioned already, plots have to be stretched, characters have to be resuscitated, and unfortunately, closure still has to be awaited.
Still, Matt and Ross Duffer keep us absolutely glued to our screens throughout the nearly-four hour runtime for episodes eight and nine; a true testament to how much we adore these characters — who have grown up with us over the last six years — and resonate with them.
Your smartphone can take a photograph with its inbuilt camera, but can it also print one? That is where instant cameras score brownie points. The return of all things retro may have catalysed their popularity, but it would be naïve to believe that instant cameras and films are a thing of past. They have been around in India for over a decade now and shutterbugs are clinging to them for the aesthetic, tactile quality they bring to photographs.
Unseen pictures of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination displayed at Chennai’s Asian College of Journalism
Rare photographs of Gandhi’s assassination and canvases of resistance showcased at Asian College of Journalism