‘Stranger Things’ Season 5 solidifies show as a pop culture phenomenon
Stranger Things’ Season 5 solidifies show as a pop culture phenomenon
Review: Netflix’s widely beloved smash hit, which began nine years ago, returns with its first installment of a three-act final season that is both gratifying and dragging.
Early in the morning on Friday, Nov. 28, Netflix crashed within minutes of Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1’s release, leaving viewers unable to stream the opening episodes of the long-awaited final chapter. The outage began almost immediately after the episodes dropped, with over 14,000 reports in the United States. These crashes are a perfect metaphor for my main problem with this volume. After building anticipation and expectations over three years, eager fans had to wait even longer for something to actually happen.
Stranger Things follows the residents of a fictional town, Hawkins, Indiana, after a young girl with psychokinetic abilities opens a gateway between Earth and an alternate dimension known as the Upside Down. The first four episodes of Season 5 finally premiered, to mixed viewer reception.
The Duffer Brothers steer their sprawling narrative toward its much-anticipated conclusion. The final chapter of the Netflix science-fiction phenomenon appears to be resonating with longtime fans, myself included, and further alienating show skeptics who believe the show’s occasionally poorly-rendered C.G.I. and mediocre-at-best writing detracts from their enjoyment.
Let’s start on a positive note: the show remains great at the rarest, and culturally significant, skill it possesses: appealing to audiences of all ages. Most shows would lose their watchability under that much pressure, yet the vast majority of Vol. 1 is classic 1980s adventure fare at its best. Hawkins’ teenagers are still outsmarting their parents, Steve Harrington is as dreamy as ever and the friendships between these characters are overflowing with heart.
As a Stranger Things viewer since it debuted on Netflix in 2016, I gulped Vol. 1 down in two sittings. No diehard fan of the show is going to walk away from their television disappointed from these episodes, and the signs are already promising that the series will go out more enjoyably than Game of Thrones. The season’s supernatural elements, particularly Vecna’s mind palace and connection to Will Byers, are already richly entertaining, with proper stakes driving the plot forward. The show’s 1980s nostalgia allows its more unnerving elements, like episode two’s opening action sequence, to stand out amid the bright colors and groovy outfits.
However, not all of the season’s elements are perfectly stitched together just yet. As Hawkins remains quarantined from the rest of the world, Stranger Things as a whole is now sealed in an impenetrable bubble with not quite enough room to breathe. This first volume primarily suffers from execution: with nineteen characters to juggle and newcomer Derek Turnbow being added into the mix, there simply is not enough time left in the series to give each storyline the attention it deserves.
There is a frustrating delay in the plotlines, which either move far too fast or crawl at a snail’s pace. The episodes in this first installment range from a reasonable 57 to an eye-drying 86 minutes, which necessitates a lot of almost killing the demagorgons, escaping the clutches of Vecna and saving humanity, but not anything incredibly definitive. The season is already less distinctive and scary at a point when it should be reaching its peak.
While Season 5 Vol. 1 plays its cards a bit shakily, this installment has solidified the show’s status as a pop culture mainstay. Without spoiling, Byers alone had multiple climactic scenes that are ripe for TikTok fan edits. But narrative-wise, “Stranger Things” seems to be in a state of arrested development, which is not ideal for some of the series’ final episodes.
I both relished the sheer entertainment of this latest installment and suggest the show has, unfortunately, passed its peak. All in all, my feelings surrounding this drop range from mediocre to enthusiastic.
As the show approaches its final episodes, the inhabitants of Hawkins must take control of their fate as a showdown looms between the teenage heroes and Vecna. Despite my criticisms of Vol. 1’s narrative messiness, the first four episodes are, thankfully, indicative of a killer finale, one that will most likely find me standing on a chair, yelling at my screen.
Vol. 1 could definitely benefit from a little more gratification and less delay, as the show seesaws between annoying and thrilling. Despite a time jump being added to the new season, the central characters who are supposed to be teenagers – Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven, Finn Wolfhard’s Mike Wheeler, Noah Schnapp’s aforementioned Byers, Caleb McLaughlin’s Lucas Sinclair and Gaten Matarazzo’s Dustin Henderson – are now very obviously in their twenties after almost a decade in the series, which is sometimes off-putting. It is, unfortunately, time to let these adolescents do as they are meant to do: grow up and move on with the rest of their lives.
The second volume of the final season, consisting of three episodes, will be released on Christmas Day, and the finale premieres on New Year’s Eve. The show’s final episode will also be released in more than 350 movie theaters on Dec. 31st at 8 p.m. ET, continuing through New Year’s Day.
