Every beginning has an ending, but with the end of our favorite teen show so near, it’s getting scarier to hold on to hope. Knowing that the fifth season will be the final one and that there won’t be a new season to look forward to after that is a looming feeling as the fourth season draws to a close.
The fourth season of Netflix’s Stranger Things has surprised and alarmed viewers in equal measure, both with its tone and the length of the episodes. Fans had one and a half months to process everything that happened in the first volume, but now that the finale—one of the Volume 2 episodes—has been released, it’s time to give in.
The creators of the teen thriller, Matt and Ross Duffer, said there was no choice but to up the ante on the horror and include a detailed synopsis. There are good reasons for this.
The brother duo explained that the teen thriller’s core structure, which involves four separate storylines, justifies longer runtimes for its episodes in an interview with Variety. Matt remarked, “If you look at one of the episodes, you couldn’t cut it out 15 minutes early.”
Ross continued, using the finale as an illustration: “Reel one is build-up dread. The second reel is action and chaos. After all of that, reel three, which serves as our customary coda, should be played. Considering the anticipation alone, you didn’t really want to break it. The episode wouldn’t feel like it was satisfying. Therefore, we simply said, “Well, it’s just a mega episode,” at a certain point. Anyone can pause it if they want to!
