“Have you watched Stranger Things yet?” was a constant refrain I heard on Thanksgiving Day, when Netflix released the first four episodes of the show’s final season. Truthfully, I hadn’t been planning on watching it, which surprised even me due to how much I loved the show in middle school. After being underwhelmed by the third season and disappointed by the fourth, watching the new episodes wasn’t a priority for me. However, I saw multiple glowing reviews hours after the first episodes dropped from friends and on social media, leading to the decision that I should probably do a service to my younger self and complete the first part of season five. Shockingly, I wasn’t disappointed, underwhelmed or bored this season. Instead, the new episodes reminded me of what drew me to the initial two seasons in the first place.
Season five diverts starkly from the previous seasons of the show. Although writers Matt and Ross Duffer (“The Duffer Brothers”) clearly had an arc planned out to last over the course of seasons one and two, that structure was lost when it came to three and four, making the show feel disjointed. But, with the continuation of the villain from season four to the new episodes, it feels like some of the attention to finer details that was so apparent in seasons one and two came back; there were so many callbacks to the former seasons of the show. From how the title of the season’s second episode directly referenced the first episode of the show to certain dialogue and lines and many flashbacks, the structure of this season so far successfully reminded viewers like myself why Stranger Things became so popular and stayed relevant.
That said, I do think that some callbacks didn’t work in the show’s favor as much as others. This time, it seems like the Duffer Brothers dialed Mike’s (Finn Wolfhard) obsession with Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) up to 100 — in the first episode alone, he brought up D&D enough times for it to be a bit annoying. The first season had a certain nostalgic charm for both younger viewers who weren’t alive in the 1980s and for older viewers who were, but the main characters’ constant mentions of D&D and 80s pop culture were admittedly more charming when the actors were 11-12 years old rather than in their 20s.
Some of the line deliveries also could have been better. There were multiple moments when a character said something that was so oddly spoken or poorly written it was jarring. One distinct moment of weird dialogue is in episode four. After Mike and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) see Mike’s younger sister, Holly’s (Nell Fisher) classmates taken out of their homes by the government and put onto buses, they rush to alert the other characters. Lucas says, “I don’t think they’re taking them to school.” The line could have been a snappy way of concluding the scene but, since he and Mike quickly biked to get to the others, he’s out of breath while saying this and the line just falls flat.
This season broke the mold of the previous four in many ways: Rather than following the formula of having the main characters split up in groups that will eventually come together in the end to defeat that season’s villain, this time the entire gang started united before slowly getting unwillingly separated. The cast also gained a couple of fresh faces: Fisher’s portrayal of Holly and Jake Connelly’s performance as Derek. Adding these two to the show brought back some of the same energy the first season had with a mostly young, new-to-acting cast while also adding a refreshing twist to the main group and plot.
When it comes to my predictions for how season five will wrap up, I have many. Although I hate to say it, someone from the main group is probably going to die. A minor character has been killed off at some point in every season so far, a choice that makes it feel as if they were introduced solely to die (Barb, Bob, Eddie). In the final stretch, what better way to go out with a bang than to kill off a beloved character from the show’s main group? I also think that the Duffer Brothers could surprise audiences with who some of the main characters end up with. As I see it, changing around the known couples of the show could go in two ways: disappointing fans or adhering to their demands too much.
Overall, this half season shocked me for many reasons, which can mostly be attributed to how much I ended up enjoying the new episodes after originally having no plans to engage with the series anymore. The next four episodes release on Christmas Day, and the series finale on New Year’s Eve due to Netflix’s newer structure for releasing seasons of their most popular shows in parts. This release schedule allowed for the midseason episode to conclude on a big reveal, ensuring viewers will stick around for the later episodes. After watching it myself, I can say for sure that I will be among them.