The brilliance of “Stranger Things 4” is that rather than gloss over the unpleasantry, it leans hard into their clumsy, painful transition. Now they’re uncomfortably awkward, like a collection of humiliating photos from your 10th grade yearbook come to life: uber-gawky teens so socially inept in comparison to their high school peers that they teeter on the precipice of unlikable. El, Will, Mike, Lucas, Dustin and Sam have outgrown their dorky-cute phase. defeated the Spider Monster in the food court of the Starcourt Mall and thwarted a Soviet plot in the shopping center’s basement.
“Stranger Things 4” is set in 1986, six months in TV-time since the gang from Hawkins, Ind. After three years between seasons, “Stranger Things” is back with an older cast and a new threat: adulthood.
