It has been a decade Stranger things The trend took off, and the Duffer Brothers have had plenty of time to finish strong in their breakout hit series. But the start of the show’s fifth and final season feels like a sprint to the end.
While Stranger things In what wasn’t Netflix’s first breakout hit, it catapulted the streamer to a new level of pop culture prominence by telling a brutally engaging story that got everyone talking. Never went into modern-day nostalgia for the 80s, but Stranger things launched a new wave of shows and movies that led to the realization that other studios were doing everything in their power to recreate the success of the Duffer Brothers. Stranger things was a staple that didn’t show many signs of losing steam during its first few seasons.
As of Season 4, though, new episodes of the show are rolling out at a much slower rate thanks to production delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While larger Stranger things With the franchise growing with a stage show and plans for an animated spin-off leading to even more delays after the 2023 writers’ strike, it felt like Netflix was having a hard time getting everyone excited about Hawkins returning for the final season of the cover series.
In the first four episodes of Stranger Things 5you can feel the Duffer brothers trying to solve past production problems that were beyond their control while exploring the narrative ideas they mapped out long before the series aired. Although this season picks up exactly where the last one left off, it’s presented with details that emphasize how much time has passed in the real world since we last saw these characters.
The small cast looks and feels huge in ways that a sudden growth spurt might not. And the characters tend to talk to each other as if they know the people who need their memories are watching. elements of Stranger Things 5 Call for a suspension of disbelief that feels reasonable given all the external factors that have prevented this season from debuting too quickly.
Although a lot has changed about Hawkins in the months since he was almost entirely torn upside down, most people are still able to go about their daily lives. Everyone remembers how the interdimensional energy that shook the earth crushed the streets wide open. But they try not to think about what went down now that the damage is mostly covered by massive sheets of metal.
Aside from mandatory medical checkups and a military-enforced quarantine that prevents citizens from leaving the city, things feel relatively normal for the uninitiated to Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and his many demogorgons. But for Eleven / Jane (Millie Bobby Brown), Hopper (David Harbour), and the rest of their crew, the unnatural calm is a sign of just how dangerous things are about to become.
To remind how this winding story began and to emphasize how the monsters Stranger things‘Heroes Against Her’, the new season spends a lot of time with Will Byers (Noah Schnapp). At the time the youth would insist on playing a bigger role in their plans to take their fight to Vicina, but the show also jumped back into the past to see what happened to the boy when he was first dragged into Ulta in season one. As haunting (in a good way) and impressive as many of the otherworldly set pieces and VFX are this season, Will-based flashbacks featuring a new child actor superimposed over Schnapp’s de-aged face. Like the show’s previous experiments in juxtaposing its fast-rising stars, the effect doesn’t quite work on a visual level. But it gives you the sense that the Duffers really want to make this season feel like it’s bringing certain characters’ stories full circle.
You can feel the same desire at work as it cuts through the missing posters of an eleven-year-old before revealing that she’s actually hiding in the woods and training her powers to use her powers in combat. Hop — originally introduced as a drunken mess in Season 1 — knows his adopted daughter is no longer a little girl. Both he and Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) realize that Eleven may be their only hope of defeating the Wiccan for good, but it’s hard for them to accept her willingness to risk their lives.
Stranger things There’s always a great cast of main characters and they’ve done a (mostly) solid job of weaving together plotlines that feel organic. But because there is so much focus on giving this season all One last hurray, the show quickly begins to feel a little too busy for its own good.
A hyper-family drama, the season bounces between the other remaining members of the Hellfire Club (Finn Wolfhard, Guyton Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Priya Ferguson) and a rich love triangle between some older teenagers. The beats, like the growing friendship between Will and Robin (Maya Hawke), have to move at a relatively fast pace because there’s only so much time on the show. And things get even more complicated Stranger Things 5 Mike’s younger sister Holly (Neale Fisher) and his sarcastic classmate Derek (Jake Connelly) find new importance.
While Stranger Things 5 tries to push some of its players further, it often feels like the show is on the assumption that you still know and love the characters enough that just watching their plots unfold is enough to make for a satisfying story. After all that time spent in the pipeline, though, what? Stranger things Really Needing to Stick the Landing is a final chapter that serves as its own compelling narrative. Maybe the show can pull it off in its final four episodes if it can slow down and really lean into the kind of emotional drama it’s built for. Stranger things Such a knockout in his first season. But already halfway through this seasonStranger Things 5 He has his work cut out for him.
Stranger Things 5 Also starring Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Carey, Brett Gelman, Cara Bono, Amybeth McEntrey, and Linda Hamilton. The first four episodes are streaming now, the next three on December 25, and the finale premiering on December 31.
