Volume one of season five of the popular TV series Stranger Things was recently released on November 26. The first four episodes of the final season were released while the next three will be released on Christmas with the finale being released on December 31st.
The final season of the show was split into parts to give the narrative more structure and gain more viewer engagement throughout the holiday season. The creators of the show, Ross and Matt Duffer, designed volume one as its own “mega movie” with its own climax. This builds anticipation, excitement, and allows cliffhangers for the next volume to be released while gaining more popularity. From a logistical stance the series is capitalizing on high traffic holiday periods when people have more time at home to watch. Lastly, the breaks between episodes release dates gives the visual effect teams more time to finish later episodes, ensuring high quality CGI rather than rushing to meet a certain deadline.
Season five has overall gotten a good rating so far, with a score of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes. Many, though, believed the age of the actors had worsened the appeal. It had been almost three years since season four had kicked off, and a decade since the show had started. The main actress, Millie Bobby Brown who plays Eleven was 12 when the show started and is now a 21-year-old mom. It’s hard to watch the show because the cast keeps growing up, but the show isn’t making Hawkins, the setting of the show, feel isolated from the actual world.
Another criticism was that the four episodes were overly grim and had issues. Many felt that the show was moving away from its small town creepy feeling and more towards a fantasy “hollywized” feel. Some found the episodes pacing as slow and boring, forcing characters to give information dumps to explain the plot. Even with these negative reviews there were many positive comments on the season so far. Many found the pacing well done with a sense of urgency and action packed. Fans mentioned the strong emotions they felt watching loved characters face and overcome challenges. They also felt nostalgia because the show captured the fun, classical 80s feelings from previous seasons and fan’s childhoods.
Overall, the beginning of season five has mainly received positive reviews and fans are excitedly waiting for volume two. The end of this popular Netflix show is highly anticipated, leaving many wondering how will it end?
