This is an example where it would be nice to be able to rate the seasons. I would rate the first 3 seasons higher than this. Each of the first 3 seasons had good characters, acting and story progression. The ending of the seasons had some dangling threads but had enough closure on things to feel satisfying. None of the first 3 seasons felt stretched. But season 4 felt very stretched. There were some interesting moments with the characters but the dialog seemed a bit off. Regarding the characters themselves, I was happy to see gay elements but felt that they weren't written in very well, especially with Will. I get what they were going for and they almost had the complicated relationships well enough but again, they were a bit off. I wasn't a fan of the upside down villain in this one. He was actually an interesting character while human but wasn't interesting in the upside down and it made the upside down even more confusing.

I felt that the lackluster nature of the season did not adequately support the far more massive cliffhangers in season 4. I really hope that season 5 is more absorbing the season 4 was.

Also, they have taken the series in a direction which might make it unresolvable. I hope that the series comes to a satisfying end but I fear that they may have gone too far or Netflix might not keep it long enough for a resolution.