The first four episodes of Stranger Things season five released at 1am on the 27th of November.
The day before its release, all four previous seasons of the show were in the Netflix top 10, and
the fifth instalment has broken the first week streaming record for an English language series.
While audiences feared the show would become stale, the reviews piling in denote that this is
not the case, with âSorcererâ becoming the showâs highest rated episode on IMDB with a score
of 9.7. As a long-time fan of the show, first discovering it back in 2017, I have anxiously awaited
this final season for three years now; on release night, I watched the entire volume until 7am,
before falling asleep for two hours, waking up, and watching it all over again. Safe to say, the
wait feels worth it.
As the show has progressed, Stranger Things has become increasingly grandiose, earning it
comparisons to blockbuster franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe or Star Wars. Of
course, these are key inspirations to showrunners Matt and Ross Duffer. While season five
continues this pattern, with a massive budget of just under half a million dollars, itâs the
character dynamics that keep the show feeling grounded. In earlier seasons, crazy action
scenes and goofy comedy often outweighed the detailed character work that distinguished
season one as a feat of TV. Season five doesnât disregard either of these tropes â âThe Turnbow
Trapâ features a comical Home Alone homage â but brings complex character arcs back to the
forefront. Nowhere is this clearer than with Will Byers (Noah Schnapp). A character who has
been sidelined for the last two seasons, Willâs self-actualisation at the end of âSorcererâ is one of
the most gratifying moments in TV this year. Alongside this, his storyline surrounding his
sexuality is beautifully written, his friendship with Robin (Maya Hawke) quickly becoming a fan
favourite dynamic.
It is not just Will that has had a shake up to his character; Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) gains new
complexity, after previously being relegated to the role of comic relief, or existing to explain
science to the audience. The Dustin of season five is broken and grieving, and seeing
Matarazzo play this anger against the usually bumbling yet charismatic, but here agitated and
worrisome, Steve (Joe Keery) makes for a dynamic usually untouched by the show. The Duffer
Brothers uncover relationships in season five that have been static since the first season. We
finally see siblings Nancy and Mike interact, a sibling dynamic other than the Byers or Sinclairs
which is sorely needed. Mike himself is more likeable, too, not uselessly pining after his
girlfriend but actually helping on missions. If volume two delivers on emotional development for
him, after the attack on his family, then the Duffer Brothers will have scored another home run.
Season five is full of shocking reveals. The revelation of Willâs powers outshines the rest of
âSorcererâ, which is one of the showâs best episodes to date, but itâs not the only revelation of the
season. The reveal of Max at the end of âThe Turnbow Trapâ is equally thrilling, as is the
unexpected return of Kali, a loose end from season two whoâs comeback connotes a refreshing
homecoming to earlier pastures.
With any show, especially one with as turbulent and lengthy a history as Stranger Things, there
are misses. The love triangle between Steve, Nancy and Jonathan feels juvenile and past its
sell-by-date. Watching two thirty-year-old actors pretend to duke it out for the heart of a
supposedly feminist character is borderline embarrassing, and serves neither well. It seems the
writers have forgotten what made Jonathan so compelling in the first place â a glass child in a
complicated family â and instead, have reduced him to a love interest. Steve, similarly, grates
here. If his death does end season five, as so many fans suspect, it will feel cheap and
unearned â and I certainly wonât shed any tears. Hopper is another character who feels stuck,
as he cycles through his usual arc of accepting familial love after the death of his daughter.
Stranger Things is sometimes a victim of its audience. With almost 60 million watches in its first
five days, the general viewership is often a hindrance rather than a help. The show has
extended far beyond the niche base of horror and sci-fi fans it originally aimed to cater to, and in
response, some of the dialogue in season five feels contrived, as if the writers must explain
everything like they would a five-year-old. This is a growing trend in TV, with reports that Netflix
has asked showrunners to produce content that can be understood even while simultaneously
scrolling your phone. When Steve asks Dustin to explain something for the third time, you end
up rooting for his demise rather than hoping he survives.
As for volume two and three, itâs almost impossible to predict what the Duffer Brothers will have
in store for us. From what weâve already seen, itâs safe to say that the stage production The First
Shadow will hold vital information, with the appearance of the cave in Vecnaâs memories, as well
as Joyceâs high school production of Oklahoma, being referenced on screen. From this, a Vecna
redemption arc is more on the cards than some may think. Mr Clarkeâs reintroduction, too,
promises big things. Watch out for wormholes and time manipulation in the rest of the season.
Stranger Things coming to an end leaves a question mark for TV to come, as Netflixâs biggest
hitter. Thereâs already a spin off series on the cards, an animated series set to release in 2026.
Whether anything will have quite the same cultural impact as the original remains to be seen,
but it seems unlikely that weâll be saying goodbye to the world of the Upside Down any time
soon.