Stranger Things (Season 5)

Show Details

Directors: The Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy, Frank Darabont

Episode Count: 8

Cast: Millie Bobby Brown, David Harbour, Winona Ryder, Sadie Sink, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Joe Keery, Maya Hawke, Charlie Heaton, Jamie Campbell Bower, Natalie Dyer

Synopsis

With Hawkins now under military control, Eleven and the rest of the outcasts devise a plan to stop Vecna once and for all.

My Review

Unfortunately after nine years of fantastic television, the Duffer brothers have failed to stick the landing with their finale season. With an extremely bloated cast and an abundance of new faces, the close knit, character focused storytelling was lost, never spending too much time on the characters that actually matter and ultimately tackling too much at one time. Sure, there are flashes of brilliance, but if I am being brutally honest, those moments would likely add up to about 25 minutes of television across the entire eight episode season, the rest filled with sloppy exposition and cringe worthy dialogue that seemed to be tailor made for the audience that spends half their time on the phone, scrolling and watching simultaneously. I would also say the visual effects have had a substantial drop in quality, looking miles away from the refined visuals we have become accustomed to in previous seasons.

All of those criticisms could somewhat be forgiven if the endgame was executed well, but unfortunately I was left underwhelmed and disappointed. The final battle was incredibly anticlimactic, there was not a single demogorgon, demo-dog or bat in sight, the horrifying menaces that have caused so much trouble were nowhere to be seen and I guess that makes sense, god forbid the Duffer Brothers actually raise the stakes and put their characters in some real danger, with real consequences. I mean even Derek somehow out strengths Vecna pulling Holly to safety… they even had the cheek to tell us “no one is safe in season 5”, which was the biggest load of nonsense I have ever heard, Karen Wheeler could get run over by a tank and come out alive at this point. But I will say that Jamie Campbell Bower was the saving grace, certainly showing the others how acting is done, portraying a more menacing figure outside of the Vecna makeup and creating a complex villain that was let down by the writing.

I actually liked the wormhole reveal, I thought that lore worked nicely and made a lot of sense, whilst the actual ending for the characters was also quite touching and rewarding! But it was essentially an emotional goodbye to this group of outcasts we have come to love over the last nine years, with nostalgic flashbacks to really tug on the heartstrings. The story of the Mind Flayer, the upside down and the origins of the mysterious rock that corrupted Henry was never explained, ultimately leaving more questions than answers. Perhaps their focus was on their new spin off, instead of focusing on tying up loose ends. I fear I could ramble on and on about why season 5 has been such a big let down, considering they had three years to make it, I struggle to see how it has happened. But one bad season won’t negate the previous four that have created incredible television and there are some big lessons that studios need to learn when handling the conclusion of the worlds most popular shows because this is becoming a frequent occurrence.

My Rating: 5 out of 10

Thanks for reading.

Film Review Club