I have a unique relationship with Stranger Things. I somehow never got into it over the last ten years, even though it touches on a lot of subject matter that made it seem like the exact sort of show I'd be into. I think a large part of what kept me away was likely the movie-length episodes, but that's besides the point.
Come this holiday season, the fifth and final season was announced, and my family—several of whom had been keeping up with the show's run—decided we should all watch the new episodes together as a group activity. Having never seen the previous four seasons, I literally looked up the cliffnotes as the intro to the first episode of season 5 was playing, and I watched the entirty of the final season with only the rudimentary understanding of the overall plot granted by that summary.
Now, this leaves me in a rather interesting position. My thoughts and opinions on the show are limited almost solely to the final season in a vacuum—to how well it functions as a standalone story to someone who doesn't have ten years worth of investment and nostalgia. So, what are my thoughts? Let's dig in.
Oh, and if it wasn't self-evident, this article is going to contain major spoilers for the entirety of season 5. You've been warned!
Plot
Season 5 picks up in the wake of what seems to have been a dramatic loss for our heroes. The town of Hawkins is under the occupation and surveillance of a shady military organization trying to hunt Eleven down while doing strange experiments on the Upside Down, and their military base contains a literal portal to the other plane. The gang are doing their best to track down their archenemy Vecna in the Upside Down, but with the military presence, the best they can do is send Hopper in for discreet crawls while Eleven trains for the eventual fight.
One criticism I saw several times online was that season 5 failed to properly follow up on the cliffhanger ending of season 4. Of course, I can't comment on whether or not this is true, having never seen season 4, but I felt the basic setup of season 5 was very intriguing and effective. A recurring theme of the series seems to be the blending of supernatural/fantasy elements with more realistic/scientific/sci-fi elements, and I think the two pronged assault of the grounded military antagonists and Vecna as a supernatural antagonist is a great example of that dynamic while also doing a great job of putting the cast in a tough spot. The situation feels truly desperate and, at times, hopeless, and that's exactly how such a tense finale should feel.
Where problems start to crop up is with how our heroes actually deal with this two-pronged assault. The development of their search for Vecna is fine. The focus on supernatural elements gives it plenty of leeway, and I felt the show did a good job of explaining why things worked the way they did and of putting together a satisfying trail of clues for the heroes to follow. I saw many criticisms online of the "breakdown" scenes, where a character grabs random props and uses them to explain a science concept or strategy; while I agree that these scenes were cheesy, I found them pretty charming, and they seem to me like an important part of the show's identity.
No, the real issue lies with the military—particularly, how easily our heroes manage to maneuver around it. The soldiers come off as truly incompetent. They're somehow unable to track down Eleven in a small town, they allow Hopper to repeatedly sneak into their caravans to explore the Upside Down, and overall our cast of regular civilian teenagers just seem to have far too easy a time outsmarting these highly-trained professionals. This trend is even worse when it comes to action. I can largely suspend my disbelief that Hopper can kick the asses of average soldiers, given he's an adult and has an ex-military background. But right before the finale, there's a scene where Nancy shoots down multiple soldiers while completely surrounded, and she accomplishes this with relative ease and without getting injured.
In general, our heroes seem to have a lot of plot armor. Unless I forgot someone, only one major character dies the whole season—Kali, during the finale. I don't necessarily think the show needed to kill anyone off, but it stands out just how many scenarios the main cast escape alive through pure luck or plot armor. The prime example of this, to me, is the insane difference in how deadly the Demogorgons are when facing the soldiers VS our civilian characters. In the scene where the military are ambushed by a Demogorgon inside the Upside Down, it's portrayed as an unstoppable beast with incredible strength and speed which shrugs off bullets with ease, slaughtering an entire platoon almost effortlessly; against Karen Wheeler, it just sort of stands there and lets her wound it with a shattered wine bottle.
Additionally, while this isn't so much a plot issue as it is a choreography/action issue, I want to highlight another of my biggest criticisms: crossfire in action scenes. The main offender is the scene in episode four, where multiple Demogorgons invade the military base. There are multiple shots during this sequence that show soldiers on opposite sides of a monster firing straight at each other. Real soldiers would never do this, because it would result in all of them getting shot. This may seem like a small nitpick, but it, alongside the general plot armor the main cast have, diffuses a lot of the tension the scene should have—along with future scenes. If our heroes can be surrounded by monsters and a hale of bullets being fired haphazardly in all directions, yet somehow all of them escape unharmed, how am I supposed to feel invested in future action scenes when the show has made it so abundantly clear that danger does not apply to the heroes?
Another issue I had was with the handling of Dr Kay and Lieutenant Akers, the two main representatives of the military as an antagonist faction this season. In particular, my issue stems from their defeat in episode 4. Hopper and Eleven manage to best them in combat, and I was under the impression while watching that they were both dead and that the military was effectively dealt with from that point on. In reality, they were both completely fine and returned to active service immediately. Given how many other soldiers they merc'd and how much of a personal threat Dr Kay is to Eleven, it is incredibly strange to me that neither she or Hopper bothered to double-tap. One could even argue their survival is even another example of the incredible plot armor afforded to the main cast.
Perhaps the single most-discussed aspect of the season was Will's coming out scene. It's been panned by both straight and queer viewers alike for just being kind of awkward and out of place, and... I don't have much to add to that. I personally didn't find it outright offensive, but it certainly did feel a bit off placed where it was. The one thing I do have to add to the conversation is an issue with how this scene resolves. There's a triumphant series of dialogue with everyone getting up to affirm their support for Will, except... not everyone gets a turn? Specifically, I noticed that Nancy and Steve just sorta sit there and don't say anything, which is super, super weird? What am I meant to take from that? Is the show trying to tell me that they're homophobic? Did the writers literally just forget to have them contribute to the scene?
Though I did have problems with it, I overall found the story very enjoyable. I found the developing plot intriguing, and I liked the reveal that the Upside Down was actually a wormhole between two worlds all along. Given the running theme of blending supernatural and sci-fi elements, having the strange demon dimension be a wormhole seems perfectly fitting to me. I also enjoyed the running plot with Holly exploring Henry's mindscape, and her growth into a hero of her own right. I saw many complaints regarding her prominence despite being a minor character in previous seasons, but I personally don't see how that would be an issue. Shows increase and decrease the importance of different characters all the time; they'd get boring if they continually focused on the same couple people.
One common criticism I do agree with is that the final battle against the Mind Flayer was a bit awkward. It's hard to believe a bunch of kids with improvised weapons were a real match for a huge-ass kaiju, and, running with the earlier complaints about plot armor, it's utterly ridiculous that they took this thing head-on and all got out without a scratch. I'm also not a big fan of the ending with Eleven.
After defeating Vecna and the Mind Flayer, everyone returns to the real world only to be ambushed by the military. To start, I'm not sure why everyone seems so surprised by this development; they knew they'd be coming bakc out the portal that is literally inside of the military compound, and they just didn't make any plan for their escape? The solution to this problem ends up being Eleven staying within the portal and committing suicide so that the military no longer has any reason to pursue everyone. They're all let go and we get a timeskip to over a year later when everyone's moved on and the main cast are graduating.
Except... why the hell would the military just let them go? Multiple of the people present—Hopper, Nanyc—have straight-up killed soldiers during the events of the story, and everyone involved has been undermining the military's operations in Hawkins for an extended period of time. I'm meant to believe that this evil shadow military doesn't seek any retribution from anyone?
That issue aside, ending with Eleven killing herself also just... sucks. It sort of makes sense from a character standpoint, but thematically, ending the cycle of violence with the death of its primary victim is just not a good or satisfying message. The later reveal that Eleven survived doesn't make this much better, either, due to how halfhearted it is. Mike isn't revealing what actually happened; he's just making up a potential theory, a way that Eleven could have survived. I think the ending would have worked much better if it committed to one side—either be a tragedy where Eleven ultimately does succumb to the cycle of violence, or be a hopeful, happy ending where she escapes and gets to live out a peaceful life. By picking the middle ground, you end up with an ending that doesn't really say anything.
Characters
I honestly don't have a ton to say about the main cast. I suspect that most of them went through the bulk of their most interesting developments over the course of the previous four seasons, and there naturally isn't as much growth left at the very end of the series.
Mike seems to be the biggest victim of this. He doesn't really have anything interesting going on throughout the season, to the point that the Wikipedia synopses for three of the episodes don't even mention his name. Thankfully, every other main character has at least something of interest going on. I don't feel the need to go into the specifics, as it's mostly pretty standard drama between the characters, but I found it all decently entertaining.
I think the show did a good job of getting across just how emotionally confusing the simple experience of "being a teenager" can be, especially in stressful circumstances like what the cast are put through. This is exemplified well by Dustin's heated and vitriolic relationship with Steve throughout most of the season only for the reveal that he is deeply afraid of losing him, as well as by Nancy and Johnathan's non-proposal. The show generally did a good job of getting me invested in the characters despite only having a few episodes to spend with them; in some ways, I think the simple interpersonal drama was handled better than some of the show's more iconic elements.
I don't have especially strong feelings about the main recurring cast, but I enjoyed some of the side characters quite a bit more. Derek was the star of the show for me, especially in his first couple episodes where he was most relevant. He is such an accurate portrayal of a spoiled dipshit of a kid, but the show also highlights how even someone like him just needs a push in the right direction to be someone delightful. I am the world's #1 Dipshit Derek fan, don't @ me.
I enjoyed Holly's story as well. As mentioned above, I saw many complaints online regarding her heightened role in this season, but I simply don't see how that's an inherently bad thing. Her storyline probably would benefit from more development over a longer period of time, but for what season 5 provides, she's a pretty decent character. It's hard not to root for a little girl fighting horrors beyond her comprehension, and her struggles with her own weakness/inaction are easy to relate to; her eventual bravery against Henry in the finale is satisfying.
A character I feel had a lot of potential, but was ultimately utilized poorly, is Kali. I found her deep-seated belief that her and Eleven's deaths were the only possible way to escape the cycle of suffering and violence incredibly compelling. Unfortunately, she gets killed off before that concept can reach its conclusion. Her death didn't feel like an important step in the journey so much as an arbitrary obligation along the lines of "we must kill somebody in the finale, because!" I feel a much more satisfying ending for a character like her would be to survive and have her ideology proved wrong, but alas, it seems that wasn't in the cards.
Where Are They Now?
Something else I'd like to cover in this section is the treatment certain characters got in the post-timeskip portion of the finale. The show dedicates a hefty chunk of timecode to this section, which I appreciate, but even with all that time I feel it still wasn't able to properly wrap up all of its characters' storylines.
First off, Will, one of our main characters, gets barely any dedicated time in this section at all. Most of his time here is as part of the DnD scene, which doesn't really accomplish the whole "where are they now" thing on its own. There's no real conclusion provided to his trauma with Vecna or anything. We get, like, a five-second shot of him meeting his (presumed) boyfriend at a bar and that's pretty much it.
Two other prominent characters we barely see at all are Holly and Karen. They both had direct confrontations with supernatural forces this season, but we don't get to see them at all except for in the crowd at the graduation ceremony. Once again, no real conclusion to their trauma or experiences.
The more I thought about this, the more I realized we didn't really get any definitive conclusions for most of the important characters. The conclusion felt halfhearted in a way, more an awkward "next episode" after the ending than an actual ending in itself. I tried to figure out why I felt this way, and I realized it's because the show didn't really seem to have any central theme around which to give these characters a conclusion. Aside from the "cycle of violence" stuff with Eleven, which I disliked, the main theme is largely just that a bunch of really fucked-up things happened to these people, and now everything's back to normal. There isn't really a core message to act as the hand that ties the bow. The story doesn't end so much as it just... stops.
In a way, you could interpret that as itself the show's intended message. In real life, things don't always work out to be some grand, meaningful journey of growth. Sometimes bad things just happen, and you have to move on with your life. The way Eleven's story is wrapped up, and the scene with Hopper and Joyce deciding to move and start over, exemplify this idea. If it is intentional, I'm honestly not sure how I feel about it.
Visuals
This isn't something I usually dedicate too much time to in my reviews, especially for a live-action production, but it's been such a large part of the online discussion that I feel the need to give my two cents. I'm gonna come out with a controversial take: I think Stranger Things season 5 looks good.
I do agree with many of the criticisms I've seen. Once it's pointed out, you really do notice how most of the show is center-framed and how much it overuses dolly shots. In the end, though, I don't think those are huge problems, and they aren't things the average viewer is likely to notice at all without knowing what to look for. I also think the show's use of lighting is pretty good, and each episode had at least a handful of interesting shot compositions.
All of that is to say, I do think the show could absolutely look better, but I can't in good faith say that it looks bad. I have seen many criticisms include the claim that the show looked better in previous seasons, so this could be a case where I can't truly understand the issue without the full context; if the show went from really amazing visuals to just decently average ones, I could totally see the reactions online being more justified.
I'd also like to comment on the monsters. I think the models and texturing for the Demogorgons and Mind Flayer look great. The CGI didn't stick out at all to me, and they interacted with the world around them quite convincingly. The way they moved also looked good most of the time; when it didn't, it was usually because the plot demanded they arbitrarily stand around instead of brutally killing whichever important character was in front of them.
Conclusion
I think my thoughts on the show's visuals are a pretty good summary of my thoughts on the show as a whole. It definitely has some noticeable problems, but I certainly wouldn't call it bad. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the show despite its flaws; it was a good experience.
What the season struggled the most with was its action and its stakes. Many of my biggest issues come down to the way it repeatedly shoves its cast of civilians into incredibly dangerous situations and has to contrive itself a way out of those situations. It would probably work a lot better if the main cast spent less time actively facing the supernatural threats, but I enjoyed it for what it is.
The team clearly are capable of handling action well. I think the scene where everyone Home Alone'd a Demogorgon was awesome. It largely just seems like there were multiple conflicting visions eating away at the show. One vision had Demogorgons as unstoppable soldier-eating monsters; another had them as relatively weaker mom-level threats. One vision treated the show like an action thriller with escalating stakes; the other treated it more like a drama with supernatural aesthetics.
All in all, I think season 5 was pretty good for what it was. There's a lot it could've improved on, but it handled most things well enough to keep it an enjoyable experience.
i already claimed my spot as the world's #1 Dipshit Derek fan but i guess we can share
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