By setting its action during Spring Break, Stranger Things season 4 has already missed out on its most opportune potential setting. Throughout its 3 seasons, Stranger Things has often taken advantage of famous holidays to make its action all the more explosive. For example, most of Stranger Things season 2 took place around Halloween while Stranger Things season 3 set its final episodes across the 4th of July weekend.
Admittedly, this approach has not always worked for the Netflix hit. One of Stranger Things season 3’s biggest mistakes was failing to wrap up its many overlapping plot lines, and setting the penultimate episode during a holiday where all of the main character's stories almost (but not quite) intersected did not help in this regard. However, one holiday could have helped Stranger Things season 4 out of a narrative dead-end, yet the show has opted not to take this route.
By setting Stranger Things season 4 during Spring break rather than at Christmas, the series made it harder for the entire cast to reunite (since, while Will and Eleven have reason to visit Hawkins on their school holidays, the now-graduated Jonathan does not). Jonathan’s lack of a Stranger Things character arc makes him one of the characters that season 4 needs to focus on most and, as such, it does not bode well that the show missed out on the easiest excuse to bring him back to its small-town setting. Not only that but setting Stranger Things season 4’s action at Christmas would have let the series reference a range of ‘80s classics from Gremlins to Die Hard to A Christmas Story, all nods that would now seem ill-timed in spring.
Jonathan is far from the only Stranger Things character whose story needs a satisfying conclusion and some character growth in season 4, but he is one of few characters the show has seemingly forgotten about. For example, Stranger Things season 4’s test subject storyline proves Eleven’s story can still be improved in the coming episodes, while the lack of any reason for Jonathan to return to his hometown means he is unlikely to receive similar opportunities for growth and development. Meanwhile, Stranger Things’ love of pop culture references makes a Christmas setting seem like an obvious choice for season 4, and the show’s failure to capitalize on this means it will miss out on many era-appropriate nods to famous films.
As well as the movies mentioned above, Shane Black’s legendary ‘80s action movies mostly took place around Christmas, and the Silent Night, Deadly Night series ensured that the decade was a classic in terms of festive horror. However, while Stranger Things now has no reason to reference these hits, the fact that one season 4 plot combines Nightmare On Elm Street and The Shining does mean that the series can still offer some pop-culture nods even if it did miss out on the most obvious setting for its fourth outing. Nonetheless, for Jonathan’s character and the show more broadly, the fact that Stranger Things season 4 is set at Spring Break rather than Christmas is a major missed opportunity.