During Geeked Week, one of the things discussed about Stranger Things 4 was the inevitable march of time. As the actors grow up, the characters have to grow up to. Though not at the same rate, season 4 sees the former youngsters just entering high school. This aging up also informed a tone shift going forward in the show.

“Them growing older forces the show to evolve. [For us] middle school was a fun adventure [and] high school was horrible. I have nothing but terrible memories of high school,” said series co-creator Matt Duffer, via Rotten Tomatoes.

Calling up these not-so-fond memories, Matt and his co-creator brother Ross infused the season with a greater exploration of anxiety and depression. Something best represented by the new villain Vecna, who is to trauma what Freddy Kruger (Robert Englund, who notably makes a cameo during ST4) is to nightmares.

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“Season 3 [was] our big blockbuster movie. Season 4 was Nightmare on Elm Street and Hellraiser,” he said. One character who Vecna sets his sights on is Max Mayfield. As her actress Sadie Sink explains, the audience eventually learns that Vecna targets people who are “in a real place,” and Max is one of those people because she’s dealing with the grief of Billy’s death. However, luckily Max has the music of Kate Bush to help her in what some call ST4’s best scene.

The season also sees Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) struggling with several new challenges. Besides dealing with a dark and terrible secret in her past, she also has to deal with one of the worst elements of high school. Bullies. And all this is without the psychic powers the character previously possessed before burning herself out in Stranger Things 3.

Not all gloomy, though

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However, while season 4 reaches some of the darkest and most violent depths that the show has gone to so far, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any levity to be found. Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) and his new friend Argyle (Eduardo Franco) taking up pot-smoking provide some humor. For example, Eleven naively recounts Jonathan saying it was safe because it came from the Earth, but not to tell his mom Joyce (Winona Ryder).

“We shot a stoner thriller comedy where they shot a different, psychological kind of movie. It was insanely fun,” said Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike Wheeler on the show. ST4 sees Mike, Jonathan, Argyll, and Jonathon’s brother Will (Noah Schnapp) going on the run from army personnel while trying to find Eleven’s location. At one point, they end up at the home of Suzie Bingham (Gabriella Pizzolo), the long-distance girlfriend of Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo). A sequence that’s notable sillier than the rest of the season, much more in the vein of John Hughes than Wes Craven or Clive Barker.