Season 4’s finale “The Piggyback” is a massive, emotional gauntlet that serves as a fitting 8/10 conclusion to the show’s most ambitious season yet. The production value is staggering, delivering top-tier VFX and a “Master of Puppets” sequence that is already legendary.
However, the 150-minute runtime is a double-edged sword; while the action is relentless, the pacing falters in a self-indulgent final act that could have been trimmed by twenty minutes without losing its impact. There is a sense of “superhero bloat” creeping in, particularly with Eleven’s expanding power set, but the tragedy remains grounded and visceral.
This season overall felt much darker and grander in scale than its predecessors, trading the quirky “kids on bikes” fun for a high-stakes, cinematic horror that marks a definitive shift in the series’ DNA.