Dustin, Mike, Lucas and Will (left to right) in the first episode of Season 5. Photo Credit: Netflix
After nine long years, the final season of the iconic Netflix original Stranger Things is coming to an end. The first four episodes of its final season released November 26 and with a record-breaking debut of 59.6 million views in the first five days of streaming. That is the biggest premiere week for an English-language TV series on Netflix. After watching the season myself I agree with the enthusiastic response.
For those unfamiliar with the popular series created by Matt and Ross Duffer, who call themselves the Duffer Brothers, or just need a refresher, here’s a quick recap. When the series premiered in 2016, it began in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana in 1983. Will Byers, a middle-schooler, disappeared while a mysterious girl with telekinetic abilities named Eleven appeared. The first season centers around the search for Will by his mother, the police chief and the boys’ friends. They discover that researchers at Hawkins Laboratory accidentally opened a gate to an alternate dimension, which the group coined as the Upside Down. This released a humanoid like monster who abducted Will and terrorized the town. By the end of the season, Will is eventually rescued from the Upside Down.
Over the course of the series other monsters appear as the boys grow older and in season four, they face their biggest threat yet; the monster they call Vecna, a reptile-like creature, that must be defeated.
The season starts with Chapter One, which takes place a year and a half after the events of season four. In that finale, Vecna tore the earth apart in the middle of Hawkins that nearly destroyed the whole town. Because of the large time-skip, this episode spends time on exposition, catching viewers up on what the characters have been doing.
We learn that the military has put the town of Hawkins on lockdown, preventing anyone from entering and exiting. For the past few months, our characters have been looking for Vecna by sneaking Hopper, the former police chief, into the Upside Down. Considering that the episode begins after the time skip you’d expect the pacing to suffer, but it actually remains well paced. It also provides nice, small character moments like Mike and El talking about what their lives might be like after they beat Vecna. The episode also sets up a plot line of Steve and Jonathan competing for the attention of Nancy Wheeler, the sister of one of Will’s friends who has become an investigative journalist. But honestly, the rivalry is completely uninteresting, and it just feels like a waste of time. Besides that one flaw, the episode does a good job of balancing exposition and character moments, and it’s a solid start to the season.
Now Chapter Two, has a fantastic first scene opens with a Demogorgon, one of the monster minions, attacking the Wheeler house with the goal of kidnapping seven year old Holly Wheeler. This whole section of the episode is great, with solid visuals and great moments of tension. It feels very reminiscent of season one, where the demogorgon was portrayed as this lurking, terrifying monster, and it felt almost like a horror movie at times. After the attack, characters begin to split off into their own groups, each with their own goal. My favorite group this episode was definitely El (Eleven) and Hopper, the former police chief, in the Upside Down. Ever since Hopper adopted her in season 2 they’ve had such a great father-daughter relationship, and have a really touching scene together that pulls at your heartstrings. Many other pairings also have really great character moments, which help to make this episode very enjoyable.
Unfortunately, Chapter Three, is a bit of a step down. Now, by no means am I saying it’s bad. It has nice comedic moments, well-shot action scenes and a fantastic reveal at the end, but it’s dragged down by a lot of the episode being essentially set up for the final episode of Vol 1 and although there are some good character moments there could be more.
The Finale of Vol. 1, Chapter Four is not only the best episode in the volume but one of the best episodes of the entire series. It has amazing action scenes and a terrific performance by Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna. The comedy lands, and there are some great character moments and interactions. Since chapter 2, Will has partnered with Robin Buckley, a girl who is in a same-sex relationship, and it has been a fantastic pairing because now Will has someone that he can talk about homosexuality with even though he is still in the closet and this relationship leads up to an extremely well executed finale.
Overall, these four episodes are a fantastic start to the season. The flaws are massively outweighed by everything the show does right, It has action worthy of a blockbuster movie, unforgettable character moments, and jaw-dropping twists and reveals.If the Duffers can maintain this level of quality, then the rest of the season will truly be something you won’t want to miss when Vol 2 releases on Dec 25 and the finale releases on Dec 31st.
