Stranger Things Season 5 — The first part of the Show Review

The finale of Stranger Things is undoubtedly the main event of the film industry in 2025. And not only among TV shows, but movies too. Hard to believe the first episode came out in 2016. And now, nine years later, we’ve finally reached the concluding chapters. Netflix knows exactly what’s at stake. If the season succeeds, people will forgive the company both the overly agenda-driven The Witcher and plenty of other questionable decisions. What will happen if things go off the rails… better not imagine. That’s why the creative duo behind the show, the Duffer Brothers, were given as much money and freedom as humanly possible. Naturally, the streaming service couldn’t release all episodes at once, so the finale was split into three parts. I’ve already watched the first four episodes, and you and I are in for a long, complicated conversation.

In today’s media landscape it’s hard to find someone who hasn’t heard of Stranger Things. The show became not just a successful project, but a cross-generational phenomenon. Some saw it as a nostalgic return to the 80s, others, who were too young to feel nostalgic for anything, discovered Dungeons & Dragons and stellar sci-fi through it.

The story of a missing boy trapped in the Upside Down among monsters quickly grew with lore, details, and characters. At the same time, trying to neatly define its genre was almost impossible. It had superhero elements, fantasy mixed with sci-fi, and generational conflict. The Duffers are genuinely talented writers, so they managed to talk to the audience about many things at once, and that’s what made the project compelling.

But let’s be honest: for a long time the writers had no clear vision of the story as a whole, and it showed. Eleven and her friends’ adventures were written season to season, naturally creating problems and weak subplots that seemed shot for no discernible reason. Some ideas were definitely planned, but much was rewritten on the fly.

For example, Eleven’s puberty arc when she ran away from Hopper and found her "sister", Eight. Did anyone ever remember that again? Or Will’s torments that annoyed everyone during season four. Were they truly necessary with all that agenda-heavy context? Not really. They could have simply shown the kids growing up and explored how childhood friendships rarely survive time. And the Russian prison with Hopper, or Mike and Nancy’s mom almost cheating on her husband with Max's brother… that’s a separate tragedy. There are tons of examples.

The main thing I want to say is this: the Duffers’ statement that they want to tie literally everything together is, in this case, more a drawback than an advantage. Some things in the show simply should have stayed inside their seasons and quietly disappeared into the vault of forgotten writing decisions. Trying to bring even the weaker ideas to fruition risks fragmenting the story that finally started to solidify toward the end, wasting time on unnecessary explanations. And the creators are severely limited in this sense. This is probably the main problem of the first four episodes.

Let me highlight something: the duration of the first part is about four and a half hours. In that time you can almost watch both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. We were promised the darkest, bloodiest, most mind-blowing season. Questions would be answered, all storylines would matter and receive closure, and viewers would practically faint from emotion. Well, the Danny DeVito meme fits perfectly here: "No". At least not yet.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen all the high ratings on various aggregators, and I generally liked the season myself, which we’ll get to. It has everything we loved about Stranger Things: the atmosphere, the references, the character chemistry. But pretending the season has no issues at all is ignoring whole chunks of the story and setting up false expectations for those who’ll watch it later. The thing is, so far season five is an excellent new chapter in the story, but not the best possible finale.

We'll discuss without spoilers for now, though at the end I’ll give a more specific opinion for those who’ve already watched it. So, several months have passed since the apparent victory over Henry/Vecna/One. The rifts into the Upside Down that opened across the town were magically sealed, and Hawkins has been occupied by the military, who installed barricades, a base, and patrols. Let's stop right here.

Remember those volunteers handing out clothes and food to the affected population? Or the black columns of smoke across the city? Forget them. According to the new season, the portals were sealed by the military, which looks strange since a portal can be opened again on any surface and in any direction. Besides, the military supposedly knew almost nothing about the Upside Down, and if they did, it was the most basic info. They would’ve needed time to study openings into another reality. The only real specialist, Eleven’s "Papa", died at the end of season four. The theory that they researched the place is supported by the fact that a vertical portal is kept open and equipment is transported through it. Some monsters are dissected, others studied.

During this time, the brave soldiers, who for some reason are also scientists, even built a research outpost in the Upside Down. Clearly a massive operation took place. Yet most Hawkins residents keep living their normal lives, blissfully unaware. What happened to the oppressive atmosphere after Vecna’s explosions? Gone. Nobody noticed the red slimy gates, no monsters crawled out, and nobody questioned why there were so many soldiers. But the season four finale clearly set up the expectation that the Upside Down was now an open threat to everyone, not just a group of teenagers. All of this was erased and replaced with a "quarantine" story that gullible adults instantly believed. You know, that quarantine with earthquakes and fires. This move suddenly pushes the narrative a step back. Now we’re dealing with a micro-conflict with a limited cast instead of a full-on war of worlds. Why escalate things last season if you were going to undo it?

The military research also brings questions. We see their full-scale study of monster properties, but when it comes to demogorgons, the most common and dangerous creatures, all defenders of humanity are absolutely helpless. Yet somehow they developed devices capable of blocking Eleven’s powers.

People freely buy wine and goods, they’re not giving up comforts. Kids go to school, adults to work. The apocalypse feels postponed. Only the main characters constantly need either acetone or bullets, which are definitely unavailable in the area (though they didn’t actually look), so they require help from their old friend Murray. And that’s the only reason he’s in the plot: for four episodes, he brings guns to the grown-up kids. He’s never stopped at checkpoints, never questioned. He just does something useful without drawing attention. Remember the storylines that "will definitely get closure"? This is one of them.

Overall, the involvement of the military feels artificial and unnecessary. The characters already have a very clear enemy, but Vecna’s return is clearly being stretched out. And to give Hopper someone to shoot at, they added General/Doctor Kay, played by Linda Hamilton, known to everyone as Sarah Connor. What do we know about her besides her villainous vibe? Nothing. That doesn’t change for four episodes. She doesn’t even have a clear goal. Maybe they’ll reveal more later, but they had four hours for setup. Was that not enough?

But there was enough room for Will. His connection to Vecna was obvious. For fans it wasn’t even a theory, but a fact, yet the writers try to turn it into a mystery. All of this is framed through familiar minority issues. The generous handful of agenda dropped on us last season became less jarring, but it’s still there. Because of this, Will grows close to Robin, who becomes a sort of rainbow mentor, if you get the hint.

Honestly, it feels incredibly fake. I don’t know when the Duffers decided that Stranger Things should also be about minority struggles. Maybe Netflix pressured them, maybe they wanted an extra audience segment. But personally, the story always felt like a fairy tale that touched on serious topics in a naive way, not on sexuality or lack thereof.

And Will and others haven't changed as much as expected. Many characters simply aren’t given time to develop. Eleven just… exists. She does things on screen and struggles in her standard fashion, but her relationship with Mike gets one quick scene tossed in on the go. Hopper is still the sweet dad, Steve is still the eternal helper in supporting roles. Nancy is brave and hot, Jonathan still stuck in his internal crises. Same with the others. This has been going on since season one, though earlier there was more development.

The only character who got proper treatment is Dustin. The boy still can’t recover from Eddie’s death and imitates both his style and his love for D&D. He wears a now-viral T-shirt (sales will spike again) and tries to find new players. That part, by the way, is especially painful. The tabletop theme has been reduced to small references. The characters explicitly state that Dungeons & Dragons was their childhood hobby and they have no time for it now. A rather unexpected slap from the creators to everyone who discovered and fell in love with D&D thanks to the show. As a result, Dustin constantly clashes with jocks and even gets into an uneven fight, earning plenty of punches. There’s no trace left of the funny lisping kid.

So what actually happens across these four episodes? Basically nothing. Seriously. It feels like watching an extended trailer where all the interesting stuff was hidden from you. It exists somewhere, but entirely off-screen. All the important information could easily fit into a single hour, yet the creators seem determined to stretch events as far as humanly possible. We’re introduced to useless new characters, dragged through flashbacks from previous seasons, and forced to watch pointless arguments between characters who were inseparable before. And everyone keeps talking, talking, and talking. About nothing relevant.

There’s nothing essential you’ll learn here that you didn’t already know before starting the finale. Vecna’s plan is especially confusing, since last season he didn’t mention it even in passing (remember the whole writing-on-the-fly issue). Even when the villain outright states his motivation, it still makes no sense. It all feels illogical and clearly in need of extra work from the writers. Though I’ll allow that maybe that was intentional.

By the end I couldn’t shake the feeling that the original plan for the finale was four episodes total, but Netflix decided to squeeze every last drop out of the project and strongly suggested the Duffers extend the runtime. That’s how Kay appeared, along with repeated conflicts between characters over the same topics they already settled. Yes, you understood correctly. These early episodes are not the finale, nor even the start of the finale. They’re a very, very long prologue and nothing more.

Still, as I wrote earlier, the season leaves a positive impression. The key is to lower expectations and understand what you’re getting into. The show’s signature atmosphere is still felt in every frame. The weird hairstyles and outfits are here, the music and props hit just right. From the first minutes you get that familiar feeling of coming home to friends, cozy and warm, and in that sense the new season is a complete delight.

The costume and makeup teams worked hard to make the now-adult actors still look like fifteen-year-old teens. It doesn’t always work, but far better than it could have. There’s no major dissonance. Even Millie Bobby Brown, who’s often styled like a forty-year-old woman, looks as she should: like a kid.

The newcomers feel out of place at first, but they try their best. Nancy and Mike’s younger sister is adorable. The girl has very expressive facial acting and a guaranteed future career. The second character, Derek, who seems ripped straight from Eric Cartman from South Park, is a special case. I don’t know if anyone is offended by the fact that Erica (Lucas’s sister) mocks Derek’s weight (Lucas and Erica are African American), but it looks extremely funny. And the guy is 100% sure of his own usefulness, which only adds to the comedy. He’s brash, rude, and wildly overconfident. I’m convinced the Duffers added him intentionally as a very subtle jab at the agenda Netflix pushed them to include. Who’s going to accuse the fat kid of intolerance?

One of the season’s strongest points is the subtle hints at the future and the action scenes. The first part is tough. It needs extra thought, but even now something stood out: during Erica’s physics lesson, the teacher talked about the Einstein–Rosen bridge. That’s the theory of a kind of wormhole allowing one to reach any place and, importantly, any moment in time. I strongly doubt this was random. Lucas also mentions that Hawkins’ timeline looped back on itself. After all, events occur in the same month and days that Will went missing in season one. Just a few years later. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

As expected, the action is very good. Every chase, fight, and escape is impressive. Eleven has leveled up, but she’s constantly artificially weakened by new devices, clearly being prepared for the real finale. The rest of the group, on the contrary, has become much more capable. They’ve grown up and no longer feel utterly helpless against monsters. The demogorgons are scary again. After the Russian prison, where the creatures’ power seemed artificially lowered, the flower-mouth monsters feel threatening once more. Even one is a major problem, and when there are several... well, disaster. Personally, I loved every action moment. They’re not only well conceived but also well shot. And each episode feels different from the previous one.

Now let’s talk with spoilers. I’ll start with the main thing: Will. His newly discovered ability to control the monsters of the Upside Down raises a lot of questions. We already know the boy isn’t the only one the noseless villain abducted. Does that mean they all can do this? If not, what does it depend on? And Will didn’t just scare the demogorgons off, he actually destroyed them with telekinesis, just like Vecna used to do with his victims. In other words, no one has shown us "control" in the literal sense. Most likely Will now has powers similar to Eleven’s and Vecna’s.

The battle with Henry turned out spectacular, though pointless. The villain was redrawn to look more powerful, and the way he uses his abilities is genuinely impressive. But the reason Vecna even came out of the Upside Down remains unclear. The demogorgons were doing just fine without him. He only told Will about the children but still didn’t explain why they’re needed. And for some reason, there are twelve of them. He delivered his speech and left. For now, we can only guess why that specific number. Throughout season four, Vecna was closely associated with clocks, which, yes, have twelve digits. From Dustin we know that Hawkins is surrounded in the Upside Down by the Wall, shaped like a circle, a clockface. Maybe the number twelve is nothing more than Henry’s personal quirk, not a necessity, but there isn’t nearly enough information.

Personally, the final epic moment was also ruined for me by the creators linking the number of monsters Will commands to his body parts sticking out. One arm for the left one, the second for the right, his head for the one in the fields. And if he lies on his back, can he use his legs too? Feel free to continue the joke yourself.

Overall, the finale of episode four feels like action for the sake of action. As if the creators realized nothing big had happened for too long and decided to dump a bunch of fights without meaning or purpose, purely for the wow-effect. The soldiers again proved completely useless in a fight with demogorgons. No clue what they were studying all this time.

And practically no one actually died. Mike and Nancy’s parents don’t count, they’re just injured. There’s still none of that tearful ruthlessness on the level of Game of Thrones. Even when Vecna throws Joyce, he does it carefully, avoiding her head and other fragile parts. Lucas gets his chest slashed with claws, but only a little, he doesn’t even flinch.

Looks like the second part will start chopping characters right and left, otherwise the Duffer brothers will have to admit they exaggerated for the sake of extra hype. But if the bloodbath happens only in the last hours, it’ll look less realistic and less tragic. The runtime will be bursting with events, and the audience simply won’t have time to process the loss of a beloved character.

The Wall is another mystery of the new season. It has no gates or passages, and even the soldiers don’t know anything substantial about its nature. There are persistent rumors that Vecna won’t end up being the main villain and that the real final boss is gathering strength behind the Wall. According to some leaks, it might even be a whole dragon, but there’s zero confirmation. Let’s not forget that Vecna has been wanting to bring the Upside Down into the real world all along and still hasn’t properly started executing this plan.

As for Eight, captured by the military, the impression is also mixed. Once again we return to the desire to connect absolutely every subplot, which I already mentioned above. It feels like Eight should’ve been forgotten. She isn’t interesting to viewers, and only the most dedicated fans remember her, or those who rewatched all seasons before the premiere. In any case, bringing in a second enhanced girl feels like a rabbit pulled out of a hat, a sudden life raft thrown by the writers out of nowhere to turn the situation around.

Because of Eight’s appearance, the theory that Will might still become a villain feels more plausible: two heroines against two bad guys. Although the reasons that would push the boy onto that path remain unclear. Except for the obvious one. If Stranger Things ends up being about Will turning into a monster because his heterosexual best friend refused to "be closer", that would be a complete failure.

The storyline with Mike and Nancy’s sister, Holly, feels overloaded with details. But what confused me most was her encounter with Max. We still don’t really know where they’re trapped: Henry’s memories or the memories of all his victims? Max doesn’t trust the girl and demands some proof, yet the mysterious man only she can see, who takes her into a cheerful morning immediately after a monster attacked her mother, doesn’t raise any suspicion at all. But even in this subplot there’s something interesting.

First, Max ended up inside Henry’s mind and saw a curious moment in which Hawkins Middle School is preparing a theatrical performance. Everything is happening 30 years ago, and the present-day adults (Hopper, Joyce, Harrington Sr. and others) are in the same class as Henry. Basically, it’s a literal class reunion. Second, we need to stop at Camazotz. This is a planet from the book Holly is reading, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle. Obviously this isn’t a coincidence. Camazotz is a land of evil and darkness, just like the Upside Down. And since episode six is titled Escape from Camazotz, it means the girls will find a way out. But there are a few caveats. In the book, a major theme is mind control and submission to dark forces. Only the power of love can break the hypnosis. This fits Stranger Things perfectly. Either Max or Holly herself might end up under Vecna’s control, becoming his tool, but Lucas or Holly’s family led by her mother could break the effect. There’s a reason we were shown how hard Holly’s life is with her parents, and Max has been stuck in a borderline state for far too long. Another detail was caught only by DnD players. Camazotz is the god of bats and fire, who can appear both humanoid and as a giant bat. Now combine this with the evil Will theory and that rumored dragon boss. Perfect? Hard to imagine a better match.

However, for Dungeons & Dragons fans, there’s another theory hinting at Eddie’s resurrection. One of Vecna’s warlords was a vampire knight named Kas. Remember that before his death Eddie also basically became a knight, and he was killed by vicious batlike creatures that resemble vampire bats. If the creators really stick to the DnD references, Eddie could return as a temporary ally of Vecna or Camazotz, only to betray him and protect, say, Dustin.

The constant conflicts between Dustin and Steve seemed odd to me, as did the reappearance of the Steve-Jonathan-Nancy love triangle. The first two have always been great friends. Either we’re seeing Dustin’s puberty illustrated, or the writers are lazily filling runtime with extra dialogue. As for the love triangle, it’s just silly. Jonathan already figured himself out, and his only issue is being scared to give Nancy a ring. Yet in an argument he says something completely reasonable at the most inappropriate moment. Nancy is charging ahead like a terminator to shred Upside Down monsters; romance is the last thing on her mind. On top of that, Steve is first in line for the nearest heroic death. He’s completely alone and hasn’t been developing for a long time, while still being an absolutely good character. Honestly, I don’t know who would fit the role of a tragic loss better.

Hopper’s desire to sacrifice himself is strange too. Yes, he doesn’t want Eleven to be harmed, but sacrificing himself isn’t necessary either. The former sheriff always has a way out of any situation. When he fights Kay in the lab, he ends up wasting bullets on anything except the devices suppressing Eleven. We’ve already seen those break easily: Hopper shot one on a truck earlier.

As for the tunnels under the town that the military still hasn’t found, I won’t even comment. Compared to everything else, this barely matters.

So what do we have at the end? Season five of Stranger Things is an excellent, atmospheric series in which all the strengths remain intact, and the flaws don’t spoil things too much. There’s only one catch, and that’s the finale. Yes, we still have three more episodes coming on December 25 and the final one on December 31, which we’ll apparently watch under the Christmas tree. But after seeing half the season, I don’t feel like the creators have come up with anything truly amazing for their own magnum opus. Too many inconsistencies and too much time-wasting. It’s interesting to watch right up until you start analyzing. I, and not only I, expected something incredible, but instead got four fairly decent episodes of a long-playing story that really should end already. Strange things indeed.