The reviews are in for the Stranger Things season five, ranging from enthusiastic to mediocre.
The supernatural thriller series has been a huge part of Netflix’s original programming since it debuted in 2016. As the show approaches its climax in its final season, the inhabitants of the central town, Hawkins, Indiana, must take control of their fate as a showdown looms between the grown-up teenage heroes and the evil villain, Vecna.
Some critics suggested that the first four episodes were an indication of a killer finale, withThe Guardian’s Jack Seal writing in his four-star review: “This luxurious final run will have you standing on a chair, yelling with joy.”
The London Standard's Vicky Jessop was equally enthusiastic, writing: “It's classic Eighties adventure fare, in the best way: kids outsmarting adults, lashings of humour and a surprising amount of heart. I gulped it down — more please.”
But not all critics were as satisfied. The Independent’s Nick Hilton said in his three-star review that the new series was a “victim of what I call Marvelisation: a feeling that the drama needs to be set against an interminable fight between humans and extraterrestrials.”
He pointed out a frustrating delay in the plot lines, writing: “The episodes in this first tranche range from 57 minutes to 86 minutes (the fourth season’s finale was an eye-drying 139), which necessitates an awful lot of almost killing the demogorgons, almost escaping the clutches of Vecna, almost saving humanity…Stranger Things could do with a little more gratification, a little less delay.”
USA Today's Kelly Lawler said the show “seesaws between thrilling and annoying,” while the Atlantic's Sophie Gilbert described most of it as "largely joyless and grim".
Others pointed out that despite a time jump being added to the new season, the central characters who are supposed to be teenagers — Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, and Gaten Matarazzo — are now very obviously in their twenties after almost a decade in the series, which is sometimes off-putting.
The Hollywood Reporter's Angie Han said: “It's time to let these adolescents do as adolescents are meant to do: grow up and move on with the rest of their lives.”
Variety’s Alison Herman argued that the show had outgrown its core appeal, writing: “By declining to enrich its characters as they age, Stranger Things traps itself in arrested development. When you get bigger without going deeper, you end up stretched thin.”
Earlier this morning, fans reported that Netflix had crashed within minutes of releasing Stranger Things season five, leaving viewers unable to stream the opening episodes of the long-awaited final series.
The outage began almost immediately after the episodes dropped, according to the outage tracker Downdetector, which recorded more than 14,000 reports in the U.S.
Stranger Things follows the residents of Hawkins after a young girl with psychokinetic abilities opens a gateway between the earth and an alternate dimension known as the Upside Down.
The second volume of the final series, consisting of three episodes, will be released on Christmas Day, and the finale, titled “The Rightside Up,” will be shared on New Year’s Eve.
The show’s finale will also be released in more than 350 movie theaters beginning December 31 at 8 p.m. ET, continuing through January 1, 2026. The exact theaters offering the viewing will be announced in due course.
The first four episodes are streaming now on Netflix.
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