Stranger Things S5 is a good and mostly satisfying end to the show, but I won’t remember it as one of the greats

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 a little disappointing. 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 a satisfying conclusion to the story.

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 jump 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 this 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. It is a positive that the final season was entertaining, but there is a small twist to it. To me, the entertainment comes from things that have sort of become a staple of the show and are carried out through all the season. When I think of Stranger Things, one of the first things that comes to mind is the chaotic nature incorporated into many aspects of the show. You know what I mean. For example, the scenes where a big group comes together and every one talks in quick succession to bring everyone up to speed, or the scene where someone comes up with a plan and starts explaining while the camera jumps between everyone, or that one character that is just way over the top and sort of becomes the comedic focus. Of course there are slower scenes and dramatic ones that revolve around revelations or tense moments, often accompanied by heavy dialogue and emotions, but even those feel like they are simply carried over from the previous seasons. I’m not sure if I am making much sense. I guess what I am trying to say is that the entertainment felt superficial. I am not sure how different or similar the previous seasons are, but in this season this elements started to become repetitive. There is action, there is drama, there is suspense, there is comedy (that doesn’t always land), there is a decent script, which all feel different but familiar at the same time. Outside of the big revelations and key moments, as a whole this season wasn’t that memorable.

That was a bit difficult to properly explain, so let’s now change things up and talk about the more straightforward problems. I refrained from calling this season fast paced not just because of the slower scenes and dialogue heavy moments, but because the constant switch up and high energy bites ends up having the opposite effect. Throughout there are almost always different groups and individuals that you are following and the show constantly switches between these. The problem is that this makes some of the groups feel stationary. Like you see a group arrive at a location and have a brief chat, then the show cuts to the other groups and what they are up to, then after 30 minutes it switches back to that first group and they are in the same position/situation as when we left them. This is not always the case but it was definitely noticeable on a few occasions.

Something else that is inconsistent but noticeable is the involvement of the characters and their agency. Depending on the volume, some characters may feel like they didn’t do anything really, while others seem very active and always putting stuff into motion. For example, during the finale I kept thinking to myself: “Why is Joyce here? She has literally done nothing”. She does end up cutting Vecna’s head off but I just couldn’t help think that she contributed nothing to the fight or the victory. While the acting was absolutely solid by everyone one, unfortunately any shortcoming would stand out because of that, namely that of Millie Bobby Brown. Do not get me wrong, I am not saying her acting was bad throughout the season, not am I saying she didn’t have any standout moments, but the memes became so for a reason. It was something that passed my mind too, how her face looks so lifeless and static in a lot of scenes. Yet, I think it was exaggerated by the internet to a point where it seemed as if her performance was like that.

That is something that I have seen plenty of after the show ended; exaggerations. The penultimate episode wasn’t “woke” or “trash”. The final episode wasn’t a huge mess, and the season as a whole wasn’t a big disappointment or dumpster fire. Actually, let’s talk about these statements.

The penultimate episode - The Bridge: I disagree with a lot of people’s opinions about this episode. Some said that it was really slow and that it just set up everything for the final episode. The episode is mostly slow because it is meant to wrap up any ongoing subplots before what is going to be the final episode of the show, what else is it supposed to do? Plus, we get some important reunions in this episode, some of characters that haven’t been together since S4. I’ll agree that the quippy dialogue and chaotic explanations had started losing their charm, but at least I did not get bored or overly annoyed during the episode. Then, there is the scene that was always going to be a topic of discussion amongst the viewers; Wil’s coming out scene. Will coming out or his homosexuality being discovered was bound to happen in the final season, and it is something that has been hinted at enough times, so calling it woke is just stupid. It is not as if the whole show revolves around the homosexuality of Will. That said, it didn’t hit as hard as I was expecting it. In modern times homosexuality has become more accepted and common, even though homophobia still exists and some individuals still can hesitate to come out. Nevertheless, I cannot imagine how it must’ve been in the 80s, the discrimination and biases. That is why Will first tries to explain his friendship with the group and emphasize the common passions they have and the similarities between them. I understand the reasoning behind the long monologue and that it is meant to build up to Will’s confession, but I guess I was expecting his lead up to the confession to be different. We know that the group is going to accept Will and embrace him so it’s not like there is any doubt or tension around that, so a shorter monologue would’ve served better as the long one doesn’t do much, it doesn’t add any tension or suspense. Another issue is with whom the confession took place. In front of everyone? Why? I think it would’ve been a lot more impactful if it was just Will and his closest friends. Because his fear has always been how those closest to him would react, so it would’ve been proper to just include them, as any other characters were just filling up the space without adding anything.

The final episode - The Rightside Up: I cannot deny, it was a mixed bag. I liked the part where Vecna played mind games with Harper and caused him to break the water chamber. I thought that the rest of the finale is going to be Vecna constantly pulling one over the heroes and the protagonists constantly having to overcome these obstacles to finally beat him, and that maybe some lives are lost along the way. But we get none of that really. The reveal of the Mind flayer is very cool but the danger and tension is completely gone as the team finds a solution very quickly, and then they proceed to carry out their plan without a problem. Let us not ignore how these guys climbed a nearly vertical cliff in order to reach the top and attack the Mind flayer from there, that was just unbelievable. Then you have them just stunning this massive monster in its place with some molotovs and weapons. Then you have the fight with Vecna, which was not very exciting, with the only good part being Will taking control of Vecna and ripping his arm off. Not only did the final fight not last very long, it was devoid of tension. It does go up for example when the Mind flayer is revealed, but then it goes down again as you get the feeling that no one is really in danger. It is crazy the closest someone came to dying was Steve when he almost fell off the tower at the beginning of the episode. By the way, I did not buy that scene because I knew that no way would they kill a character this early and in this way, surely they are going to do it later during or after a fight. I was wrong. Yes, they do show El dying, but that was the most predictable death and they hint later that she may not actually be dead. When Vecna is defeated with one hour to go, I was wondering what is gonna happen now and how this time is going to be used. What came to my mind immediately was that the military would now be the problem once again and the final villain that our heroes must defeat. However, after El’s “death” we are not even shown much with the military, we are just told they gave up and left. I know that with El dead they would lose their objective, but did Dr. Kay just completely forget or forgive how Harper killed dozens of her men? So all of that sort of sucked. That said, the show uses the remaining 45 minutes to its full effect. We see each character and where they stand, along with their romantic relationships and friendships with each other. Each character gets some sort of conclusion, and we are told what path may lie ahead of them and what want to do now. It is very sombre and sweat. This part of the final episode is done very well. It is filled with emotions of not not just us, but the characters themselves. This also allows the actors to demonstrate their acting chops as these characters one last time before hanging up the roles. I didn’t have a deep connection to Stranger Things and I was still able to appreciate the send off to the characters, I can only imagine what dedicated fans of the show must’ve felt. At the very end, Mike presents his theory as to what could’ve happened to El. I think that El is alive because how else would you explain her sudden disappearance from the truck and her suden reappearance past the gate? Also there were the ability dampening weapons pointed at them. It caught me off guard but it didn’t surprise me, it is not the first time we are confronted with how a protagonist fakes their own death to find peace. It didn’t change my opinion or feelings too much. After that, I think the show ends in the best way possible: with new kids, the next generation sitting down to play D&D, as Mike looks over his shoulder we see that he sees the future in them and sort of passes the mantle. Very well done.

The final season as a whole: I think the show wrapped up generally well, pretty good even considering it started about 9 years ago. Its separation into different parts I think did it a lot of favor and helped it build momentum towards the finale. Something that I didn’t mention is that the VFX looks amazing. In addition to that, it blew my mind when I saw how many of the sets were practical and were built from the ground up. Respect for the effort of creating the set pieces as much as they could in the real world. The music is there and everyone is gonna have their own pick as for the favourite and/or best fitting song from that time period. The acting is solid across the board and everyone gets their moment to shine. There are twists and revelations that I did not see coming and that added flavour to the final season. While there are a lot of positives, there quite a few negatives. The chaotic, quippy attitude and dialogue does start to become tiresome towards the end. The season struggles to switch between different character groups and subplots in a natural way. There are plot holes here and there, some of them big and others small. There are inconsistencies in different aspects throughout the season, and the final episode cancels all of its fantastic epilogue with the subpar final fight against the villains.

To summarise, they didn’t flop the ending and managed to give a decent conclusion to the story and characters, but it is not extraordinary nor outstanding as a whole.