Speak Now Storyteller

Summary: Stranger Things Season 5 is the final chapter, focusing on the ultimate battle to defeat Vecna and close the rifts as the Upside Down merges with Hawkins, forcing the group to unite for a massive confrontation, uncovering the true nature of the Upside Down as a wormhole to “The Abyss,” and culminating in sacrifices and bittersweet goodbyes for the beloved characters

There will be spoilers. The season has been finished for a while, I just rewatched so I could see it in it’s entirety without waiting a week or two between volumes. Buckle up buttercup because I have a lot to say.

I might do another post related to the season but I haven’t decided yet. But I’ve been working on this review for a long time. It’s soooo late.

Pros:

Cast and Characters.

As per usual the cast is big and I thought long and hard about if I wanted to keep the previous format I’ve done with this season. I decided to do that, so it’s kind of long but I think the teens section is longer because I just didn’t find some characters to have a ton to talk about in this formal review. But I still wanted to touch on them because I do still like/enjoy these characters as a whole. But I will touch on a lot of them in the cons… unfortunately.

The Teens.

• Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler. In Vol. 1, we see Mike lead by explaining the first plan to his friends and the audience. Mike has a few good moments this season. We get to see him actually be “The Paladin”, something he explained to Max back in S2, when he led those kids through that warzone with the demogorgons in episode 4. He has a great scene with Holly where he gives her the little DnD character he created, “Holly the Heroic”. He has more scenes with Nancy after their parents get attacked, which we could have used more of. I liked it when he (along with Lucas and Will) walked up while Dustin was being bullied. Mike being “the catcher” in their Home Alone trap was fun. I really liked how much time he spent with Lucas. I’ve always considered the two of them to be best (best) friends, so it was nice to have them paired up again. He gets a couple of scenes with El throughout the season (not enough, but I’ll touch on this later), and I think his shining moment was in the finale episode in the void with El. I’ve always liked Mike, and I say it every review that he’s my favorite character, and though my love for him hasn’t waned, I have been frustrated with how the writers (mis)handle him. Finn Wolfhard is still good when he actually has things to do. I think he really shines with micro emotions. Mike, as a character, stamps down his emotions most of the time, and you can see him in sequences either dissociating or actively trying not to let it out. Finn does this eyebrow twitch in these moments, which I think adds to how he blocks it out. I think he’s still good, but I think he’s the best when they actually give him good things to do.
• Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven / Jane Hopper (“El”). In S5, El is on the run from the military who are hunting her. It’s residual hunts from S4 when she killed those soldiers who were hunting her while she was in Nina. We do learn later that they’re trying to restart Brenner’s program and want to use El’s blood. El’s spending her time training, running, jumping and using her powers so she can go with Hopper on the crawls to find Vecna. She’s not allowed to go to the crawls because Hopper is still super overprotective even though El feels like she’s ready. She chats with Mike about what they’re going to do after everything is over and it’s a sweet moment between them. El ends up being in the Upside Down after she follows Holly through the portal. From there, she’s in the UD with Hopper. They find Kali and she tells El about her experience and starts plotting that in order for everything to stop past Henry, they both have to die. Now El is struggling with this idea. She finds Will’s mind in the UD, then goes with Max and Kali into Henry’s mind prison to find Holly and the kids. They’re able to help them escape into Max’s cave but is forcibly pulled out of the tank because Hopper saw a hallucination that he shot her. She then jumps into the Abyss to fight Henry, she does and they win. Then, when they’re leaving the UD, triumphant, they’re caught by the military and El somehow slips away to be on the other side of the gate. She has an emotional scene with Mike in the void and then she dies (allegedly). In efforts to stay positive here, El is an extraordinarily strong character in many ways, she’s the main character and always has been. I think some of MBB’s acting choices for El get panned, but I disagree. El always spoke in a stilted way, she doesn’t tend to speak in contractions “I am” instead of “I’m” or “I do not understand” vs “I don’t understand” and I think those are smart choices, whether that’s from her or the actual script. She also is very clearly struggling with the weight of everything (her and Mike are truly peas in a pod) and trying to find out how to be happy with those she loves. She very clearly has wants and needs but instead makes a decision (allegedly) that she believes is the best one. It’s not the best but she’s a young woman who’s always been able to stand for what she wants; she can make it. This is all attributed to MBB’s acting. She doesn’t get the chance to interact a lot with the party but when she does, I enjoy her chemistry with them.
• Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson. Dustin is going through a lot of emotional distress this season. He’s trying to look like Eddie by letting his hair grow out (it looks disgusting by the way) and wearing his Hellfire shirt and he’s just angry. He’s being antagonized by Jason’s basketball friends but he’s not taking it lying down as he’s antagonizing them right back. But his friends are also worried about him (and a bit annoyed) because of his attitude. He ends up missing the most important crawl because he goes to visit Eddie’s grave to clean it and he gets into a fight with the basketball team. Because he’s not there, Jonathan and Steve have to work together to follow Hopper through the UD. Dustin ends up showing up, but things aren’t great with him and Steve. They’re arguing a lot with snarky comments to each other and clearly needing space. They, along with Nancy and Jonathan cross into the UD following the demogorgon after their Home Alone trap and once again Dustin is separated from the party to be with the older teens (young adults). They discover the wall and end up going to the UD Hawkins Lab where Dustin and Steve get into a massive argument and physically fight. Dustin discovers his theory was wrong about the wall. He later has an emotional breakdown with Steve about him potentially dying trying to save Nancy and Jonathan. It’s a good moment. After that, Dustin doesn’t really have a lot to do after besides explaining what he found in Hawkins Lab and coining “the Abyss” for the other dimension. I like Dustin but sometimes he gets a little arrogant to me that I don’t like him as much as I did in S1. This season, I think Gaten gets to shine because he has a lot of emotional moments (with Steve) that we don’t get to see from him in the past. I definitely teared up when he stopped Steve from using the ladder and breaks down with him. It’s one of the more emotional character moments this season.
• Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair. I love Lucas! think Lucas and Mike tend to end up in the same boat a lot of the time, which is hilarious since they’re both in my top 3 favorite characters of the show. Lucas shows up at the start when the bullies are bullying Dustin and his intro was great; I was like Lucas! So, intimidating! lol. But he’s paired with Mike for a lot of Vol 1 where they’re doing lookout together, or Lucas has to lead the demogorgon through the house to the trap. Also, they have Caleb doing these crazy hilarious stunts where he’s throwing himself to the side or doing a random crawl run towards Will. I think Caleb was just trying to have fun, but he cracks me up. He along with Mike gets some cool moments in episode 4 where he’s trying to protect the kids in the tunnels from the Demogorgon, they fail but it was still cool. It was his idea to Frankenstein’s monster the demogorgon for Will to use to tap into the hive mind. Later, he goes to the hospital to talk to Max and continues to play her song hoping she’ll return. He gets a great sequence where he carries her through the hospital, (he holds Max, the radio AND kicks a demogorgon away from the elevator!) refusing to let go of the radio, not giving up on her return. When she does return, they have a wonderful emotional reunion. He doesn’t get a to do much after that. In the final battle, he’s once again teamed up with Mike (which I loved) but that’s about it. Caleb McLaughlin continues to be great as Lucas, he’s very likable and has relaxed into his role and I think even with the lazy writing all around for the season, he manages to continue to find the joy/fun and comedy in his character.
• Noah Schnapp as Will Byers. Will has become a major player again this season. He gets a little dizzy spell at the start of the season, which we later learn is because he’s seeing Henry’s targets through their eyes as he’s in their minds. In vol 1, he’s being babied by Joyce because she doesn’t want him to get hurt and he’s just trying to prove that he’ll be okay if she lets him try out his ideas. Because of this, he ends up paired with Robin because she sees how Joyce is overreacting but also because Will spots her and Vickie kissing in the hospital. That prompts Robin to try and find out if he saw but also for him to talk about it. Robin becomes very instrumental in his journey on self-acceptance with his sexuality. That’s basically his storyline, is overcoming his fears and using his connection to the UD hive mind to tap into some newfound abilities. We also learn, if it wasn’t clear before, that he has unrequited feelings for Mike. Will has some moments where he uses his hive mind powers which are cool and useful. I think Noah Schnapp is fine. He has some cool standout moments, and I enjoyed his time with Robin.
• Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield. Max is still in her coma from the events of S4. We don’t see her until a cliffhanger where Holly receives a treasure map from “Henry” and Max finds her. She spends most of her screentime coupled with Holly and I didn’t necessarily mind this. I like Max, thank goodness for S4 lol, and I like that you can tell that she’s tired of fighting and willing to just wait for someone to come and save her. But with Holly, there’s a renewed chance for escape, especially when she notes how much Holly reminds her of Mike. She still has that sarcastic nature to her but due to the trauma of dealing with Vecna and her wandering Henry’s mind prison, she’s a little down on her luck. Once she wakes up, she doesn’t get a ton to do besides going back into the mind prison to lead Kali and El through. Sadie Sink has always been great as Max though. She has a great reunion scene with Lucas that had me tearing up and I thought she was strong in the epilogue.
• Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair. Erica returns and her main job this season was to drug her ex-friend Tina’s family so they could spirit them away from the demogorgon and set the trap and save Derek from Henry. She’s hilarious and intelligent that it’s always fun to have her involved, helping them figure things out and provide ideas. I’ve always liked Erica, and I think Priah continues to do a great job in her role. She’s overshadowed a lot but the moments where she was involved really counted.
• Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler. Holly becomes a major player this season because she has an imaginary friend, who we all knew was Henry, but he convinced her that monsters were coming, and he can save her (and her family later). She ends up attacked by the demogorgon, seeing her mom brutally attacked before her eyes but is “saved” by Henry who brings her into his mind prison after taking her into the Abyss. She was the first taken. Soon enough, she meets Max and finds out everything he’s said is a lie. She comes into her own trying to be brave and heroic in the face of crazy dangers and she does have an arc by the end. I think Nell Fisher is good in the role and she’s interesting even if I think her addition was unnecessary.

The Young Adults – I honestly almost only focused on the teens because I feel like everyone else, while not great, was fine or didn’t have much going on in terms of personal storylines.

• Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler. Nancy is still Nancy but with Holly missing and her parents in the hospital, she’s extra stressed because she’s upset, they didn’t tell their parents what’s going on. She’s annoyed with Steve and Jonathan’s antics but all of that’s brushed aside for her to be badass with a gun until she and Jonathan get trapped in the goo room and have a heart to heart. Natalia Dyer is still great as Nancy, when she gets to have emotional outbursts, I feel like those are really strong moments.
• Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers. All of his storylines comes to a head from S4 where he and Nancy were in a weird place but it’s clear they’ve never talked about it. Instead, he’s competing with Steve for her attention, when he doesn’t have to, so he asks Murray to bring him an engagement ring, thinking it would solve their problems. A good chunk of the season for him centers around his relationship with Nancy (and Steve). When they end up in the goo room, he and Nancy have a heart-to-heart moment and are finally honest with each other. I really liked his acting choices during Will’s coming out scene. Charlie Heaton is a good actor when he has things to do.
• Joe Keery as Steve Harrington. I don’t have much to say about Steve as a character. He’s there. He has a great scene with Dustin in the lab where (and I’ll mention this a few more times) they have an argument, and he brings up Eddie’s death. I turned my friend and said “Harsh…but true” because Eddie’s death didn’t do anything. It wasn’t a sacrifice, it was stupid, and I fully believe the Duffers had Steve criticize it because some viewers criticized it. He does come up with a good idea that the ensemble actually follow through on which is a huge win for him. Joe Keery is charismatic and has good chemistry with the others.
• Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley. Robin has some good moments this season. Surprisingly, she’s away from Steve a lot and instead spends her time with Will. Which sure makes sense. But she’s “Rockin’ Robin”, the radio personality that keeps Hawkins abreast of what’s happening but also uses the station to deliver secret messages to the others. I’ll always be annoyed at how they’ve changed up her personality. I still prefer her in S3. This season she does a lot breathless and smiley conversations and crazy jokes. She has really good moments with Vickie, like their hushed conversation in the hospital when running from the demodogs, or her noticing the interaction between Mike and Will and she tells Will about “Tammy Thompson”. I like Maya Hawke, and I think she’s good as Robin and I think she has good comedic timing and delivery… when her lines are actually good.

Adults.

• Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers & David Harbour as Jim Hopper. I didn’t give them their own points because unfortunately unlike past seasons, I don’t think they have much to do here that aren’t retreads of previous storylines. Or that they don’t have much to do at all. BUT I did still want to praise moments that stood out to me. Joyce has a good moment with Will where she talks about S1 and how she thought herself to be a bad mother because she didn’t know he was missing, and she apologizes for not listening to him or giving him a chance. I thought that was a good scene. As for Hopper, he spends a lot of time with El in the Upside Down and they work well together, they have funny conversations and it’s clear he loves her very much. I also think he has a great moment with Mike in the finale episode. They’re both acting veterans and I think they’ve played these characters wonderfully in the past.
• Jamie Campbell Bower as One/Henry/Vecna. He’s putting in a great performance and trying to do interesting things. I think he’s very intelligent and that shows with how he plays the character or how he wants to play the character. When Henry goes through the mines and sees his younger self, I think that acting from JBC was so good, but I just can’t feel anything but annoyance in that scene because of how they utilized it and tossed it in from the play. He knows how to be menacing with the kids but also that weird tone of voice he uses as Henry when talking to them. It’s unfortunate he doesn’t get to play off the others in the show.

Musical Score/Soundtrack. I think the music in Stranger Things is good anyway and I liked the actual songs chosen for the season. They chose two Prince songs for the finale episode, “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain” and I thought it was great use for them. Music always helps build tension and I think since there’s already a lack of that throughout the show, they do a good job of using the music for it. Using “Purple Rain” during El’s sacrifice and seeing flashbacks of their time together is one of the few moments I liked the flashbacks because not only did they serve as a goodbye for the show but for El as she was saying goodbye to Mike before sacrificing herself.

Transitions. I thought a lot of them were fun. My friend and I cracked up every time they did a crazy transition. I think the directing wasn’t as strong as past seasons, but the transitions were noticeable.

Best/Fave Sequences.

The Demogorgon Hunting Holly. The entire sequence was tense and fun to watch. It was great seeing the iconic monster return and being a bit of threat… not a full threat though. The way it slashed open those portals to the Upside Down and stalked through the house trying to find them… even though it liked to take its sweet time doing so. Plus, the flashback of Karen attacking it with a wine bottle. People keep saying “Walk ‘Em Down Wheelers,” and I’ve been hollering because it’s true, all of the Wheelers are prepared to jump in somewhere.

Mike leading the kids through the battlefield. After trying to get all the kids out of the military’s hands just to be confronted by demogorgons, Mike being the paladin and leading those kids through the danger, trying to get them to safety was great. It made me happy to see him doing that because he definitely would.

Will Saves His Friends. I didn’t feel any tension in this scene, but it was very cool. The acting from everyone who were afraid of being killed, Robin’s monologue and the visuals, it worked very well. It will definitely be one of the most memorable scenes from the season.

El Making a Path. I really liked the sequence where El just ignored Hopper “No! No! Stay behind me!” to block the onslaught of debris as the wall opened up. I thought it was one of the most badass things she did this season (probably the only badass thing they let her do).

Lucas & Max reunion. This was extremely well acted and emotional. Caleb and Sadie have great chemistry together and I think they really shine in emotional moments. I teared up.

Dustin and Steve’s Argument/Makeup. This is here because of the acting. I thought they both did a great job in both sequences. I remember going “ohhh snap!” when Steve said that Eddie got himself killed and I turned to my friend and I said, “but he’s right though.” Then later when Steve tried to use the ladder to cross the staircase and Dustin flipped out, very well acted from Gaten there.

Jancy’s “breakup”. There was a lot of confusion online about whether this was a breakup scene or not and on my first watch, my friend went “sooo… did they just break up?” and I went “I think so?”. While I haven’t been against their relationship, I also was a huge supporter of Nancy being single by the end of the show. She and Jonathan could find their way back to each other but it’s fine either way. The scene was well acted by the both of them and it helps that they have tremendous chemistry since the actors are together in real life.

Mike/El in the Void. I am a supporter of their relationship, and I think this scene was so bittersweet. It was nice to have them have an emotional conversation this season when we didn’t get many interactions with them at all. I thought it was well acted, and it had me teary eyed. The fact that El pulled Mike, specifically, into the void to say goodbye and say that he’s the one who understood her the most. It was a nice and emotional scene.

The Epilogue. Just the scene with the party in Mike’s basement. It was nice to see them playing DnD together at the end, with Max included when she’s never wanted to play before. It was fun to see her so into it. It was nice seeing Mike being the DM similar to when we first saw them. I teared up when Mike went through his perceived endings for everyone, it was very heartfelt. I liked his theory for El and everyone saying, “I believe”. I didn’t hate that Holly and her friends ran into the basement to be the “next generation”. My only complaint: I think they can make different characters for different campaigns, I’m unsure, but Lucas was always our Ranger, so I was like “NO!” when Mike said “Knight”. But maybe since Mike was the DM at that time and not the Paladin it’s not impossible for Lucas to be a Knight. But, I wish those titles were kept since it was introduced in S2 and I’ve rolled with that being their roles and I think they fit.

Cons:

Storyline/Time Jump. I was all for the time jump when I heard about it but seeing what they did with it, I wish S5 was a direct continuation of S4. The way season 4 ended with the gates opening and Hawkins splitting and people being displaced, you’d think things would be a bit more apocalyptic but outside of a bit of military presence, things were almost the same. They were in school like normal and the gates were covered with metal plates. I think that already puts a damper on what could have been a really interesting living situation. There could have been squadrons of Hawkins that were under military control where we’d have to watch our party figure out how to live like this while also perhaps fending off demogorgons and whatever other monsters that should have been coming into Hawkins. I think our ensemble NOT telling their families anything was a missed opportunity. The Wheelers should have at least known what was going on. The entire plotline with Dr. Kay was wasted. They hyped up Linda Hamilton’s involvement, but she was barely utilized. She was meant to be a Brenner stand in and I think LH could have worked that way but they did nothing of importance with her. Then they brought Kali back which I was expecting but she also wasn’t utilized well. They could’ve found her earlier and she be involved more, be around the others, argue with Hopper and Mike. The way she said “the famous Mike”, I was like oh…? But then nothing happened. She had some moments with Hopper but that was it. It sucks they brought her back just to talk about suicide and then she dies and it doesn’t really mean anything. I’m not saying she needed to be a villain but there had to have been more interesting avenues if we were going to bring her back into the fold. There were so many plot points introduced that didn’t have a satisfying ending or there were threads from previous seasons that felt wrapped up poorly. A big chunk of the season focuses on Holly and her “vanishing” and dealing with Henry. It was interesting but unnecessary and took up way too much time. Speaking of Henry, his plan makes no sense.

Henry Creel/The Mind Flayer. What was the point of including anything from the play, that most people will not see or know anything about. I did see something TODAY that Netflix is going to film the play and put it on the service… should have done that way sooner but okay. But why retcon Henry’s backstory for the show? The play can exist on its own but to bring those plot lines into the show when we ALREADY SAW a lot of his backstory in S4… it doesn’t make sense. How did Henry go to Hawkins High School when he was like 12 when he was taken by Brenner after killing his family? He was let out of the lab? Then brought back as a young adult to be an orderly? That’s silly. Why would Brenner even do that? Plus, the stuff in the mines, why are we even doing this? I don’t understand why he couldn’t have just felt like humans were a plague on the world, that people did bad things but acted like normal people. Introducing the Mind Flayer as the manipulator from the start instead of a kindred spirit just to make Henry sympathetic doesn’t work, it’s annoying. Henry doesn’t need to be sympathetic. He already tried to do that with El and didn’t work. Then his overall plan is dumb. You want to blend worlds and then do what? If all the humans die and you just have these 12 kids… is the plan to have them make new people? Or are we going to not have humans at all but these kids and the monsters? On top of that… who cares about these kids and them being weak when you literally tortured a bunch of teens last season using their guilt and trauma? That was way more interesting. This is why Henry should have focused his efforts on the party and tearing them apart to get to El. In S3, Flayed Billy tells El they were building this for her. Why did it suddenly switch to wanting to remake the world with weak children? Henry went after child El because he knew she was the most powerful of the lab kids. It’s just so silly. Henry and El are foils to each other, go after who she cares for. Hopper, Mike and the others. Weaken her by constantly going after her loved ones where she’s constantly on the offensive to the point of exhaustion. Go after Hawkins in general, use the monsters, she’s the only one there with powers. His plan was just so dumb. Adding Henry as a “human” threat compared to the Mind Flayer and the other monsters I thought was a good idea, give them someone to actually play off of but there’s nothing wrong with just letting him be evil.

The Pacing. The pacing for this season is all over the place. On my first watch, it was irritating because of how it was broken up and of course they did that to keep people subscribed to Netflix for at least two months. I wish if anything they did it weekly. But on my rewatch of everything all together, it still has a pacing issue. There’s just too much they’re trying to juggle that some plot points or characters get shafted because there’s just too much going on that things have gotten too big. The show did a great job in the past of having 3 (or 4) diverging storylines that came together. Each focusing on a different section of the ensemble as each dealt with their stories in a way that worked. In S5, that still kind of happens but a lot of feels empty and useless. A big part of that is the rehashing of similar plot points and character dynamics that were amended in earlier seasons. It just makes things feel slow. But then we’re also rushing through moments that should be important. If they took out all of the flashbacks from previous seasons and only used them in the last episode, that would have freed up chunks of time to allow the characters to breathe. Stranger Things used to be great at letting characters (and moments) breathe.

No Actual Stakes. Even though there are clearly stakes due to the nature of the show, it doesn’t feel like there are actual stakes because people are living life almost without issue. I already talked about the time jump in the first point, but having it be a year and some change since S4 really dampened how dire Hawkins’ situation is. I don’t mind that they didn’t see/hear anything from Vecna in that time frame but what’s the point of the military if their goals are not only dumb but there’s no lasting consequences with what our party was doing. We’re shown the military finding Vickie and Max in the Squawk but then we don’t see them again until the party returns from the Upside Down, but nothing has happened. Erica and Mr. Clarke were found at the lookout, but we never actually saw them be caught or saw them again. What happened? No one was hurt in any capacity, besides Hopper but he walked it off. Karen and Ted were crazy attacked and not only did we not see Ted at all after they were admitted to the hospital, Karen was walking around talking, sure it was painful, but still after being attacked! There are so many fake out moments too! Holly falling from the Abyss, thank goodness Henry caught her because she would have splattered. Hopper trying to kill himself then getting mad when he finds out El’s considering it too. Henry making Hopper think he shot El so he could pull her out of his mind. It would’ve been interesting if he actually shot her, not fatally but still stakes. Kali should have been found sooner because her presence could have added a lot more tension than they allowed. Nancy and Jonathan think they’re going to die in that melting goo room and obviously they weren’t going to kill Nancy at least. I would have been surprised but also so interesting! Nancy and Hopper kill multiple soldiers, but we jump 18 months in the future, and nothing’s happened to our ensemble for these actions? Or for knowing about the military’s missions at all. They got to just continue on with their lives. I never felt like our party wasn’t going to overcome and I think the show did very well in the past with raising the stakes where you’re unsure who could get hurt. I didn’t think Steve was going to die when he fell, I didn’t think the demogorgons were going to succeed in attacking the party (it was one of the better moments of tension though), I didn’t think Hopper was going to die at any point, I didn’t think Dustin or Nancy were going to die during the Mind Flayer Kaiju battle. I never once felt like anyone was in danger and I think I should have felt that.

The Exposition. I’m sure everyone’s heard about Netflix implementing a “second screens” policy where they want Netflix original movies/shows to have the characters repeat important plot points multiple times because they assume the audience will be scrolling on their phones while watching the show. Okay… maybe that’s true but don’t cater to those people. Those of us who are actually watching the show don’t want the stories and emotions to be spoon fed to us. Let those people not pay attention and look like fools when they can’t get involved with conversations about the media because they weren’t paying attention. So, Stranger Things was clearly a product of this policy.

In the past there’s been moments of people talking and making plans, but it was interesting and intimate. It’s been talked to death how there’s so much talking and standing around from everyone that it’s monotonous. They’ve always made plans, but they spend so much time talking (and using props to illustrate their points) instead of doing. We hear Max narrate to Holly what happened while she’s been trapped in Henry’s mind instead of just showing us what’s been going on with her for two years. Vickie literally tells Robin what her facial expressions are when she asks “do you know what my face is saying right now?” Robin could have said “Don’t look at me like that, you don’t have to worry. Or maybe you do because it’s dangerous but it’s okay!” Or something like that. Don’t TELL us when we can SEE IT. We rehash the same conversations we’ve had throughout other seasons that were seemingly resolved. Stranger Things was always so strong when it leaned into the atmosphere and the quiet moments between characters or in the story. Remember in S1, Hopper literally was a one man show and solved the Hawkins mystery himself? Joyce muttering to herself while she hung Christmas lights to communicate with her son? Or watching El wander around the Wheeler house after Mike showed her fun things. As I said, they’ve done plans and group conversations in the past, but it’s never felt this blatant of a runtime padding as it did in season 5. Keeping in line with padding runtimes, we get thrown so many flashbacks of past seasons to make the audience feel things but all it does it make me think of when things were better written.

Bad Dialogue/Acting. This has been touched on a lot, and there are some actors who receive more praise than others. I think it depends on the material and direction more than the talent. But it does feel like some of the cast have checked out which considering what I’ve heard about the behind the scenes, and where their stories were going… I’m not surprised. I’ve always considered MBB to be a fantastic actor throughout the series, and I have no interest in judging her on any work she’s had done because that’s not my business. However, I do think whatever she decided to do has affected her ability to properly emote the way I know she can. It’s the “filler” pout that’s distracting but I also think she can do whatever she wants especially if she doesn’t have any plans on acting in the future. I’ve seen people consider Finn Wolfhard to be the weakest of the younger cast, and I don’t particularly disagree… sometimes. It depends on what he’s given, and I don’t think he’s given enough because, like I said before, he does so well with the micro-expressions, but it does feel like he’s just standing there a lot of the time but that’s not really his fault now is it? Noah Schnapp, I thought, was very strong in S2. I was blown away by him. The show ultimately didn’t know what to do with him in S3 or S4, and it just feels like all Will does is look sad and cry. Sometimes Noah’s trying too hard. I saw someone say that it feels like he’s the only one who’s actually trying, but that doesn’t say much when it’s awkward… and I was like, yeah, that’s true. That giggle moment between him and Robin in the tunnels was so cringe and put on, I literally frowned. I don’t dislike the overall moment of the coming-out scene; I like the intention, but I also found his acting in that scene awkward. Maybe that’s the point, but I didn’t find it heartfelt, and I really wanted to. Winona Ryder and David Harbour were so good in S1-3 (Harbour specifically in S1-S2, with the addition of his voice-over for the letter to El). But they have nothing to do but repeat tired storylines and whine about their kids. I think Maya Hawke is a good actress, but I find Robin to be very annoying most times. But I do overall blame the dialogue because some things they have these characters saying or their direction is bad that it makes the entire scene awkward.

Character Development. I’m going to touch on this overall before I go into more detail about each character that I feel like has been shafted by the writers. Stranger Things has always been an ensemble show, and the characters are what keep viewers interested. Even if it was an anthology after S1, it could have been successful still, but I probably wouldn’t have stuck around because it’s the characters that I keep coming back for. Like if they killed Mike or Lucas in an earlier season, I probably would’ve stopped watching. Similar to what happened in How to Get Away with Murder, I fell so behind after a character death that I didn’t catch back up. Anyway, the show got so focused on the “stranger” element that they forgot the most important thing… the characters. Steve gets pointed out as the best written character with his development, and sure, he’s done a 180, but he’s just been there. Other characters are fundamentally more interesting than him, but nothing happens, or the show forgot how important they were. I feel that Steve, Dustin, Lucas, Max, Robin and Nancy were mostly fine. They have their issues like being underutilized or in storylines I just didn’t care for, but it wasn’t egregious to me like others. So, let’s dive in.

Characters

El Hopper. We do understand that El is the main character of this show, right? Eleven is the MAIN CHARACTER, we know this right?? MBB (and Finn Wolfhard) always had top billing of the younger cast. El and Mike are the main characters of the young cast. I will not budge on this regardless of how writing for them has gone. This season they took all of El’s storylines and importance and placed them on Will and I cannot stand that. I know some people like to say that this all started because of Will when it all started with Eleven. Sure, maybe our Hawkins people might not have been involved without Will’s disappearance but who’s to say that Hopper wouldn’t have run into El some other time? Or that the boys wouldn’t have run into her and Mike still tries to help her as they were immediately smitten with each other (something they both tell us by the way). But she’s barely given anything to do and when she tries to do something, Hopper continuously tries to stop her, or Kali is putting crazy ideas into her head. I don’t mind that she still gets nosebleeds while using her powers because the idea of it being a strain on her brain makes sense to me, but I don’t like that they keep showing her struggle with the easiest things when we’ve seen her flip vans (s1), lift trains and close the gate while floating (s2), putting in WORK against the Mind Flayer and flayed Billy (s3). S4, she spends trying to get her powers back and I can understand her being a little weak then because she just got them back and was thrown right into fighting Henry, but it’s been a year and a half and she’s nonstop training. What’s going on here? Why did it take so long for her to lift a metal plate? I thought it was cool when she shielded them in the Upside Down while trying to escape through the gate but that’s the only cool thing she did. Her fight with Vecna was underwhelming. There could have been some interesting character and relationship moments between her and Kali (and with the others), but the show doesn’t give time to these moments because it’s given to other characters and storylines. Also, why wasn’t she targeted by Henry more? The Mind Flayer tells her through Billy that they were building everything for her, to kill her but she’s barely a blip on their radar this season. Again, it all starts with El, but she was a footnote in her own story.

Mike Wheeler. Not only is Mike one of the main characters in the ensemble (I will always point out that he has top billing alongside MBB), I always thought his role in the party was clear. He doesn’t always get it right, no one does (Mike barely gets grace for his mistakes compared to other characters who’ve done far worse) but he learns from them, and we don’t see him make the same mistake twice. He’s the leader, he’s the paladin, he’s the heart, and the show seems to have forgotten this in S5. We do see him do some of these things in Vol. 1 but then that’s it. We don’t see him do anything else until the final episode. The missed opportunity to have Mike be the one taken by Vecna, or be targeted at all, is insane to me because you take Mike, you crumble everyone. Also, while there was never a chance for “Byler” to happen as the show gives no evidence that it would… Mike knows nothing of Will’s feelings towards him. He doesn’t know what “Tammy” means in this context. The only people who do are Robin and Steve (if he was smart enough to pick up on it). I fully expected when he walked in on Will and Joyce that Will was going to tell the two of them in that moment, but it didn’t happen. I later expected Will to say something when they were on the radio tower and then nothing happened again. I think it would have been important for that to have been addressed since their relationship has been wrapped up in this unrequited love to the point where I can understand why people would say Mike hasn’t received development because of his relationship to Will… which I find so annoying. Mike doesn’t feel the same way but would’ve reaffirmed their friendship and I think that would have been fine. Especially for the 80s. Lastly, I don’t doubt Mike’s love for El, I think it’s very clear how much this boy loves that girl and vice versa. She could literally choose at any point to not be with him if she wanted but she continues to choose him, and I really loved their scene in the void but them barely having any scenes together outside of a few dialogue moments is crazy. Their relationship isn’t in a state of distress because they handled that last season but that doesn’t mean to ignore them when they’ve been THE couple of the show, regardless how some may feel about them. They’re the only couple that’s been there since S1 with no indication that they wouldn’t love each till the very end. Not having Mike interact with his family more when the Wheelers (besides the Byers) have been the only family we’ve seen so much of. We’re shown how often Mike takes the burden on to himself and blames himself, feels guilty for not being able to do things, or not thinking of a way through something, you can see him in this season at times trying to keep it together, but he never talks about it. He doesn’t get to crash out and have any emotional moments. It was really truly all so many missed opportunities.

Will Byers. I don’t dislike Will as a character, but he’s been a bit of a nothing character after S2 to me. If anything, I hate how some of the fans view him; it irritates me so bad that I try to make sure that doesn’t affect how I view him. But my problems with him this season is that we focus way too much on him, but it doesn’t add anything. I don’t mind that he gets “powers” because of his hive mind connection but I think they didn’t explore it well. We’ve always known there was a connection from S3 onwards since Will could sense the Mind Flayer, sure sure, but if he’s connected then he’s connected. Don’t show us that he’s feeling the same pain the demogorgons are feeling but then not show him feeling the Mind Flayer being lit up by the Party in the Abyss or not show him in pain while El’s fighting Henry, even when he jumped in to help, he could have been doing it while fighting through the pain. They’re playing fast and loose with what this connection does. He has no pained reaction when Joyce is cutting off Henry’s head and I think they could have easily shown him leaning on Jonathan and trying to hold back the pain and then when he’s dead, the relief is there. Also, when Henry tells him “You’re going to spy for me one last time” but then he just looked at his memories to see where Max’s room was… very silly. That’s not spying. I fully expected him to actually be spying, I think that would have been fun to revisit (while we’re revisiting things). With that said, Will coming to terms with his sexuality is a good thing for him and I’m glad he had Robin to talk him through it, but his coming out scene should have happened earlier and with less people. He had to come to terms with it twice. In episode 4 when he first uses his powers, he has this whole moment where Robin’s voice over talks about knowing who you are and that was the moment. Coming back to it with “Vecna shows you your fears and he’ll use it against you” had the right idea with him deciding to share it before he could be outed but I don’t know, it doesn’t work for me where it is. I think there was a chance for something better and more heartfelt than what we got. Like I said in Mike’s part, “byler” wasn’t going to happen but Will bringing up Tammy means nothing to anyone but the viewers and a couple of characters. He doesn’t say anything else to Mike after he shares. It was bad enough watching him try to flirt with Mike… just let them have an actual conversation. Mike would’ve reaffirmed their friendship. Lastly, Will’s interaction with Henry in the cave was so silly. What do you mean you’re trying to appeal to this villain because he was taken advantage of by the Mind Flayer? I mean maybe, we don’t really know that though. As far as we know, in the show, Henry’s abuser was Brenner. I don’t mind bad people have sad backgrounds but let’s not act like they need to be redeemed. I didn’t like they had Will do that when according to this season, Henry’s been terrorizing Will on purpose. I’ve always been against the idea that Will was taken for a reason and obviously the Duffers didn’t have all this planned out from the start. Will was always just a happenstance who managed to survive in the UD until he was found in Castle Byers. I’ve always liked the idea that when El went to find Will in the void, that that was how Will was found because they want El to open the gates and let them out in the first place. Barb had a slug in her mouth while dead, I wondered if that would’ve happened to Will if he wasn’t found by Hopper and Joyce. I always had thoughts around this but never that Will was taken for a reason. Because why wouldn’t Vecna just kill Will in episode 4 when he wailed on everyone in the gate? He talks to him and then leaves him. Kill him. You sealed your own death warrant Henry. You see how it all just comes off so silly and not well thought out?

Jonathan Byers. I’ve been indifferent to Jonathan as a whole but I thought he was a good character, especially when he interacted with his family. I think they didn’t know what to do with him anymore. We barely see him interact with Will and he never interacts with Joyce to the point where people are joking about does Joyce know she has two sons? This season he’s competing with Steve over Nancy, and I just don’t think Jonathan would do that or even care to do that. I also don’t like he became a filmmaker, he should have kept his photography thing because that’s his thing. He hasn’t even talked about it since S3. People evolve but that was a big deal.

Joyce Byers. She does nothing this season. She whines about Will and keeping him close like he’s a baby. She doesn’t interact with Jonathan. She doesn’t interact with El past the training bit in the first episode. She barely interacts with Hopper. She literally is just there. In the first 3 seasons specifically, Joyce was always so right and on the money with her instincts about what’s going on, she was relentless, determined, protective of not just her kids but everyone. I loved when El was looking for Will in the bath and Joyce holds her while she does it and then holds her after El finds Barb. She does have some good interactions with Derek in episode 4 that I enjoyed but the only thing of note she does is chop of Vecna’s head and I thought it was a good sequence and I didn’t mind that she was the one to do it but I would have liked to have seen her do more.

Jim Hopper. Why do we keep rehashing the same character beats we’ve already gone through? I’m not saying that Hopper needs to get over the death of Sarah, but this has been a thing since season 1. Why are we showing flashbacks to her time in the hospital again? It’s just padding the runtime. His trauma with her death doesn’t have to go away, especially now that he’s dealing with a young woman when he never got to raise his own daughter to that point, but we’ve been here already! We’ve seen Hopper and El have this conversation about him not trusting her to do what needs to be done, in trusting in her power. It was so frustrating watching story beats with Hopper that have been resolved come back. Then he doesn’t do anything in the finale anyway, he wasn’t even there when they killed Vecna. This is why he should have stayed dead.

Wasted Characters/Too Many Characters. I’m sorry, there are just too many characters in this show. It’s been said to death in reviews and video essays but seeing this group of like 15 people standing around and expositing plans and giving bad quips (looking at you Robin and Murray) is insane. It keeps the stakes from being big. I know Stranger Things isn’t Game of Thrones so I’m not asking for Red Wedding level deaths, but people should have been hurt/killed so many times. The level of plot armor is far too great that it really doesn’t make anything feel intense.

• Hopper should have stayed dead, I will never be sorry about this.
• Max could have died at the end of S4. I also think she could have died when Vecna died because she was no longer connected to her body but in his mind prison but for real for real.
• Steve should have died in S4 instead of Eddie and not because I like Eddie more, I do, but I think his death would have made more sense with Dustin’s emotional state this season and there’s nothing else to do with Steve. That’s clear with how they regressed him back into being into Nancy these last two seasons. Even though I definitely think he was right with what he said about Eddie in the argument, it was hurtful but correct.
• Murray should have died because I don’t like him. He’s overstayed his welcome and I really didn’t enjoy him this season. He could have died in the Upside Down. Honestly, I wish Mr. Clarke was in his role.
• With Will, I don’t necessarily think that he should die just because but with how he was so connected with the hive mind, I think it would have been interesting if he died along with the rest.
• Joyce could have died when Vecna flung her. Not that I want her to die but I think that would have been interesting.
• Ted or Karen Wheeler could have died. I like Karen fine, and I have no actual feelings about Ted because the show doesn’t have actual feelings about him, especially this season. But one of them should have died after the Demogorgon encounter.

Character Relationships. This is something I’ve always praised in the show and what brings me back, and what I think brings most people back. But they don’t handle a majority of them well this season. Joyce/Hopper are just there but they’re fine, I guess. Nancy and Steve don’t interact much, but Steve is clearly still pining for her, even though he later tells Jonathan that he knows nothing’s going to happen. So why are you competing with Jonathan then? That makes him look like a jerk. There should have been a conversation between Steve and Nancy where she tells him to chill out, and he says “I’m sorry Nance, I can’t help but needle Byers a little. He makes it so easy. I’ll always love you, but I know we’re just friends”. Something like that to shut that down completely. Will and Jonathan have always had a strong bond, but they don’t interact at all this season. When Will comes out, Jonathan was very emotional which was great but that’s it. I’ve always been annoyed that Nancy and Mike don’t interact and I was pleased they were paired together in the hospital, and they had an interaction in the Abyss but that was it. El and Max became best friends, but they don’t interact at all, instead it almost felt like they retconned how close Max and Will were when they definitely never interacted on their own. Joyce barely interacts with Jonathan, or El. We barely saw our main party interacting on their own together. Mike and Nancy don’t interact with their family past certain moments and the Wheelers have always been part of the story more than any other family besides The Byers. It’s just very annoying how we spent seasons building up these characters in relation to each other and none of that really matters here. One big thing though with Jonathan and Nancy is in the goo room, they have a great scene but Jonathan… what do you mean you threw away Nancy’s pink sweater? You hate the color pink? I don’t care! Don’t throw my clothes away! That’s not the same as her saying she doesn’t like The Clash, she didn’t say she threw anything away! That blew my mind actually and I’ve never been against Jancy but that made me smush my face up. We can break up right now actually. They said they were going to go back to S1 dynamics, but they LIED.

Things I Just Didn’t Like/Questions.

• What’s up with the melting goo? It wasn’t explained what it was and how did those men die from it? At first when we see the skeletons it almost looked like the skin on their face was melted off.
• I really didn’t enjoy angsty Dustin in episode 1. My love for Dustin dwindled over the years because I find him to be a bit arrogant without being endearing. So, him being angsty, while I get it, I wasn’t enjoying it. We have the bullies roughing him up because of Hellfire but nothing happens with them past the first episode. No one even mentions Jason. Will not being very sympathetic is fine because he didn’t know Eddie but both Mike and Lucas (especially Mike) were part of Hellfire and neither of them had anything to meaningful to say or feel about Eddie’s death?
  • In addition, his spat with Steve was annoying. They were being so mean to each other, and I know this can happen with friends but there was something missing for me.
• What happened to Derek’s family? We never saw them again. Are they still in the barn?
• Why didn’t Mike and Nancy ask after Ted at all?
• Why were all the other kids calling Henry “Mr. WhatsIt” as well? Did he introduce himself that way? They called him Henry to his face. He doesn’t even know they call him “Vecna”. I think they all read or knew of “A Wrinkle in Time” but did they literally all call him that? I need to know.
• Why didn’t the party tell their families what’s been going on?
• Why did the military just let them all go?
• How exactly did Max graduate on time? I think it would’ve been okay to see her in the stands at graduation because she has to wait another year.
• How did Dr. Brenner know anything about the Abyss when his whole thing was creating super powered kids for espionage? He didn’t know about the Upside Down until El opened the gate by accident in S1.
• How did the exotic matter even get there?
  • I don’t think Nancy would have just shot it without knowing if it was okay to do so.
• I hate that they called them “demos”.
• Now why did y’all have Max and Holly stand there and have a 20 minute conversation?
• The scene at the end with Robin, Nancy, Steve and Jonathan was not heartwarming. They’re not a friend group and they’ve never been. Last season, Jonathan wasn’t even there when they were in the Upside Down. It was awkward and felt like the actors more than the characters.
• What happened to Murray at the end? What happened to Vickie? Why is everything open to interpretation?

Overall, I feel like I could go on and on, but I have to let this review go now. I’ve been working on it for too long. I wasn’t impressed with the season. I didn’t hate it, but it was very frustrating to watch because while I don’t think previous seasons (besides S1) are perfect, they still felt like Stranger Things. This season feels rushed and slow at the same time. Characters aren’t destroyed, thank goodness, but it’s clear that the care for them isn’t there like it’s been in the past. I’m annoyed at how El and Mike have been reduced when they’ve always been lead characters, El especially. The music continues to be great and when things are funny, they’re actually funny not forced. When characters get to have moments together, they do tend to be well acted even if the dialogue is clunky. But the season will be remembered as being too big for its britches and falling flat in the end with so much buildup and an ending that makes El feel like some magical girl who needed to leave everyone behind so they could be happy when she’s a young girl who deserved her freedom and to be happy with her loved ones. *sighs*. I’m tired y’all lol. I will say though, in the end, I can see myself rewatching the show without getting irrationally angry the way I know I will if I try to rewatch Game of Thrones, so they have something going for them at least. Oh… I do believe El is alive and that she and Mike will reunite. He’ll finish college and then go find her.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars. I can’t bring myself to rate the season lower than that because it feels wrong, and I did like elements of the season. It was just such a mess. I’m not watching any spin-offs though, except for the animated one, that looks fun.

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