You’ll be forgiven for thinking that Stranger Things was finished, what with the last season having aired three-and-a-half years ago and the once-adolescent cast now in their twenties (and in some cases, their thirties).
Nonetheless, when last we saw the series’ school-age heroes, they were contending with evil villain Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower), aka Henry Creel, who opened a rift in the center of town so the Upside Down could invade Hawkins.
That’s where the Duffer Brothers’ cultural-touchstone hit picks up in its fifth and final season, although those hoping for a definitive resolution will have to hold their breath, since Netflix is only debuting four episodes on Nov. 26; an additional three drop on Dec. 25, followed by a two-hour finale (also in theaters) on Dec. 31.
That release strategy is designed to transform Stranger Things’ farewell into a must-see holiday event, and the season is certainly structured as a distinctly segmented affair, with its initial installments concluding on a cliffhanger. Whether the show’s core audience has outgrown this supernatural saga remains to be seen, but on the basis of these maiden chapters, it’s regained some of its footing, maximizing its lengthy runtimes with urgent, breakneck action.
As always, there’s plenty of out-of-this-world gobbledygook, grating motormouthed humor, and Goonies-esque derring-do, and at least one of its subplots is groan-worthy even by the series’ standards. Still, anyone who retains some fondness for these kids will find that it hews closely to that which came before, all while raising the stakes on its way to an inevitable once-and-for-all showdown between good and evil.
The Duffer Brothers (who direct three of these episodes; the fourth is helmed by The Shawshank Redemption and The Walking Dead director Frank Darabont) stage this latest Stranger Things run with lots of whiplash camerawork and sharp, punchy edits to make sure that things move as fast and furiously as Vecna’s Demogorgon minions.
Before they speed into their home stretch, however, they begin by rewinding to 1983, with Will being abducted by Vecna, who ensnares him in one of his trademark fleshy Upside Down walls and pumps unholy something-or-other into his mouth via a gross tentacle. The relevance of this flashback will only become clear later, as the Duffers subsequently leap to 1987 to find that Hawkins is under military quarantine, the rift has been sealed with metal, and the army has turned the center of town into a heavily fortified restricted area known as the Mac-Z.
Despite this topsy-turvy reality, Stranger Things’ protagonists are handling everything relatively well. Will (Noah Schnapp), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), and Joyce (Winona Ryder) are temporarily living with Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), their little sister Holly (Nell Fisher), and their parents Karen (Cara Buono) and Ted (Joe Chrest).
Robin (Maya Hawke) is the school’s radio DJ, and Steve (Joe Keery) is her engineer. Jonathan and Steve are still vying for Nancy’s affection, and on a makeshift obstacle course, Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce are training Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) to hone her powers in preparation for an eventual battle with Vecna. Not that they’re waiting for the Big Bad to simply materialize; on the contrary, using goods smuggled into Hawkins by Murray (Brett Gelman), and moving about via the tunnels beneath Hawkins, they’re searching for their antagonist by covertly sending Hopper into the Upside Down and tracking his movements in this world.
Truly out of sorts are Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), whose loyalty to dearly departed Hellfire Club leader Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) leads him to antagonize school bully Andy (Clayton Royal Johnson), and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), who continues to sit bedside with comatose Max (Sadie Sink), playing Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” on repeat in the hopes that it’ll wake her.
Stranger Things is bursting with storylines, and yet the Duffers manage to interweave their myriad points of interest with reasonable agility. At regular intervals, the show is weighed down by exposition (often involving fantastical rules and details), and the kids’ habit of concocting elaborate and daring Mission: Impossible-style operations on the fly pushes the cartoonishness a bit far. Otherwise, though, the material is fleet enough to keep tension high, and its balance of suspense and humor is more assured than in season four, due in no small part to fewer extraneous elements.
Revelations about Max’s condition are clunky, and they undercut what is the tale’s most intriguing twist: that Holly (and, shortly thereafter, other young Hawkins residents) are being visited by a shadowy imaginary friend known as Mr. Whatsit who’s promising to protect them from a looming invasion of monsters.
Stranger Things over-concentrates on certain annoying figures (Robin, Jonathan) at the expense of more compelling ones (Mike, Steve), and its intimations about Will’s forthcoming out-of-the-closet announcement are inelegant. However, it does a solid job expanding its saga’s scope, most notably courtesy of a newly established military base in the Upside Down where the nefarious Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton) is conducting experiments on the local creatures while having her minions search for Eleven.
Hamilton chews scenery heartily as the series’ new human antagonist, and the true nature of what she’s up to is one of numerous mysteries teased in the early going.
Per tradition, Stranger Things indulges in a grab bag of era-specific references (A Wrinkle in Time, Back to the Future, Star Trek), and it goes big with its set pieces, highlighted by a fourth episode attack that the Duffers orchestrate with plenty of sharp CGI murder and mayhem.
The heavy dramatic lifting is handled by the show’s synth score, whose creepiness greatly enhances the Stephen King-via-John-Carpenter sound and fury, and the cast is as solid as before, no matter that they all look too old for their parts and that, at this late date, there’s precious little additional room for their characters to grow. For a series that’s been MIA since 2022, it hasn’t lost a step in terms of vibrant personality and PG-13 horror spectacle.
That said, it also hasn’t corrected its shortcomings, be it a mythology that’s marred by too many convolutions, a plot that feels like it’s been extended past its natural lifespan, and certain character dynamics that have grown repetitive and tedious (I’m looking at you, Steve and Dustin. And Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy. And Robin and everybody).
Expecting a revolution at the end is, of course, somewhat unreasonable. But unless it’s got a big-time surprise up its sleeve on Christmas or New Year’s Eve, Stranger Things seems likely to go out on a note that’s more adequate than amazing.
