I think before discussing S5 it is important to lay out my relationship with the series and my expectations of the final season. While I fell in love with the show with the 1st season, I felt that S2 was a step down, even though I still liked it. Then there was S3, and I remember not liking that season, thinking that it was just bad. Then came S4 which I thought was a good rebound and a good watch. This is to say that I have had a mixed experience with the show. I was not invested in it as much as a lot of other people and my interest diminished with the long wait between S4 and S5. The teasers and trailers did bring me back a little but the separation of the final season into parts and the supposed lengths of each episode made me sceptical. Nevertheless, I simply went into S5 hoping to see the big gap between the seasons justified and to wrap up everything well.

The very beginning of S5 throws a curve ball at you. In the last scene of S4 we see a massive fissure open between Hawkins and the Upside Down. Everyone was excited to see the chaos that would unfold and how the characters would have to deal with it. Instead, the 1st episode of S5 begins with a time jumo of 18 MONTHS. I definitely did not see that coming and nor did most people. Instead of panic, fear, and disarray, we are presented with a Hawkins where the people seem to be normally living their day-to-day lives. Despite the military presence and the isolation of Hawkins, there is no tension in the air, no uncertainty as it seems the population has simply gotten accustomed to their new situation.

Not everyone was happy with this, with them pointing out that this killed the momentum of the show after the cliff-hanger ending of S4. While to some extent I get that point, I came to understand that decision shortly into the 1st episode. For me, the momentum was already killed by the 3 year hap between the seasons. Starting S5 felt as if I was watching a new show despite the history and the previous seasons. So the slow start benefitted the show in that it reeled me back into this world again and sort of re-introduced the characters to me. 30 minutes are dedicated to establishing the current situation and then the plot begins to move forward with the crawl. There is no real action till the end of the episode but is understandable given that it is the first episode of a new season.

That brings to me to the separated volumes of the final season. I am usually not a fan of these, but in this case it sort of makes sense to me. After a gap of 3 years, releasing the entirety of the final season would’ve lacked the appropriate impact. The small gap between the different parts helps build up and maintain excitement over a longer period of time, making the season feel like more of an event, which something I am sure Netflix wanted to accomplish. They have pushed it a little too far by even separating the final episode, but overall it was the right decision.

I can say the same thing regarding the length of the episodes. I will discuss the final one separately, for now I will discuss the runtime of the rest of episodes. I was worried, I didn’t know how episodes of such lengths would be able to entertain me or hold my attention. To my own surprise, I more or less was able to binge each part when they came out. There are flaws to S5, some that are specific to certain episodes and others that extend throughout the season. We’ll get to those later, but what I will say for now is that despite these flaws, the episodes are overall entertaining. The episodes juggle between action, drama, comedy, tension, and everything else in between to keep you hooked. Apart from the constant switch-up, there are revelations made during some episodes that immediately get you to watch the next one, such as when it is revealed that the Upside Down is a wormhole in space -that was crazy! Come to think of it, due to the length of the episodes, most working people would probably watch one maybe two episodes at a time, so the small gap between the parts allows that in some way. Despite these, I do NOT want this to become a norm, I don’t want TV shows to adapt this and in turn cost more to make and take longer to watch. For the final season of Stranger Things though, it worked.

Let’s circle back to how the episodes are entertaining.