Stranger Things is back for its fifth and final season. And unlike the seasons prior, we don’t really get a chance to sit with the kids from Hawkins. Instead, we’re thrown right into the mess of Vecna.
Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) faced off at the end of season 4 but it wasn’t enough to kill him. Instead, the Upside Down was connected more to Hawkins than ever before. And now, with the first four episodes of season 5, we get to see just how deep Vecna’s world goes. And what his plans are for the rest of Hawkins in the meantime.
Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and Will (Noah Schnapp) are still at Hawkins High but things aren’t perfect. Dustin isn’t over the death of Eddie (Joseph Quinn) and despite what all of Hawkins saw, it wasn’t enough to have anyone in this Indiana town take things seriously.
But what is typically a check in with Hawkins at the start of a season was quickly switched into what amounts to an exposition drop of what our favorite characters were doing since the end of season 4. Robin (Maya Hawke) and Steve (Joe Keery) work at a radio station that they use to send codes when needed to everyone, including Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David Harbour) and everyone does “crawls” into the Upside Down.
Which is where we find ourselves for most of the season. One crawl goes wrong and when a demogoron attacks the Wheeler family, the latest victim of the Upside Down ends up becoming Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) and the rest is Stranger Things history. It is both a return to form for season 1 of the series while also being four episodes of a lot of explanation.
A lot went down in four episodes
When you compare season 1 of Stranger Things to season 5, the amount of plot that happens in the final season far surpasses the first four episodes of its premiere season. In fact, I’d argue that there was enough plot in the first four episodes to cover the first two seasons and part of season 3. Now, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that we lose part of the charm of Stranger Things in order to get through it all.
There were a lot of unanswered aspects of the series heading into the final season. What happened to Max (Sadie Sink) after she faced off against Vecna? Is Hawkins okay? What is it with Will and feeling the Upside Down? And the show throws us right into answering a lot of questions while throwing more our way. But in order to achieve that, they forego a lot of the character dynamics we love to get through a lot of exposition.
And then, the volumes final moments try to really rely on our love and compassion for them
Fun, exciting, but the least “Stranger Things” feeling season start
Despite having a good majority of this season take place in the Upside Down, this season feels like it is missing a lot of what makes Stranger Things fun. If Dustin and Steve weren’t there and they didn’t call a young child “Dipshit Derek,” it wouldn’t be that fun at all. We’re missing the back and forth between all these kids and it takes Erica (Priah Ferguson) showing up to really bring the humor back to it.
Part of that is because Dustin is not really his bubbly self (rightfully so) but they don’t allow the other characters to carry that missing weight. So what would be a fun season and an interesting start to Stranger Things‘ conclusion often feels like a show just trying to speed us to the end. Still, there are some highlights throughout these 4 episodes.
Look, it is hilarious watching Will and Mike try to fix a leak and help kids escape from a government building. And Steve and Dustin fighting? Cute! But at times, it isn’t enough to carry the darker parts of this season like previous seasons of the series.
There is still a lot of Stranger Things to come and Volume 1 sets up a lot of fun storylines, I just hope that the kids in Hawkins have a little more of their beloved banter when it comes back in December.
Stranger Things season 5 volume 1 is streaming on Netflix.
(featured image: Netflix)
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