Disclaimer: This review will contain spoilers

After 5 seasons and 9 years, the story of Stranger Things finally came  to a close. Starting off as  a small Sci-Fi show, with the only big name being the glorious Winona Ryder, it became a global phenomenon and one of the biggest shows on Netflix. The show has been fairly consistent with the last 4 seasons, but this last season has had its ups and downs. 

The season picks up around a year and a half after the events of Season 4, where the Byer family are staying at the Wheeler’s house. 

Martial law is in effect in Hawkins where some of the town is closed off by the  military. They have a portal leading into the upside down where they have their own base doing experiments with upside down creatures and more importantly, trying to recreate their own version of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown)

Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) and Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke) are working at a Hawkins radio station called WSQK “The Squawk”. 

Hopper (David Harbour) and Eleven are training to strengthen El’s power. And Dustin Henderson (Gaten Mattarazo) is still affected by the death of Eddie Munson. The main goal is set and clear for all these characters – kill Vecna.

The season was split up between 3 dates – November 26, Volume 1, December 25, Volume 2 and the finale on New Year’s Eve. 

Volume 1 started off with a bang. All the episodes were well written and it really moved the plot forward. It really felt like classic Stranger Things. 

The new character Derek Turnbow (Jake Connelly) was really funny and Connelly was great at playing a stereotypical bully. 

The interactions with Steve and Dustin were sad but some of the best parts of the season. The season brought back the focus on Will (Noah Schnapp) which was cool because he felt pretty useless last season. The scene at the army base was super exciting to see and im glad how they handled it by making him harness the power from Vecna and not copying El’s power.

In my opinion the highlight of Volume 1 was the whole main group of kids finally being together throughout the whole season and them not being separate like in previous seasons.  

Jamie Campell Bowers as Vecna was one of the best performances of this year. He was really terrifying and I could see him being the DCU’S Joker.

And the music choices were great too, like “Purple Rain” from Prince and David Bowie’s “Heroes” in the credits. Bowie had me tearing up a bit. The reveal that the Upside Down is a worm hole was actually done very well and I got chills.

Unfortunately, Volume 2 felt really slow and barely moved the plot. I liked a scene where Dustin crying into Steve’s arms because he didn’t want him to die was super heartwarming. 

The writing felt super off and it was just bad at times. For example, when Max and Holly were about to go back into their bodies you would think Max would want to go back almost immediately considering she’s been in Vecna’s mind for so long but no, she basically has a whole podcast episode with Holly. 

I know she’s just a kid and needs to be comforted, but it was really dragged out. And then when she was running back to her consciousness, the CGI looked terrible. It looked like she was floating on the water or bouncing on it. And then the camera angles while she was running made it look like a cheap Disney show. In Season 4 when she was running it looked so intense and filmed so much better.

They brought back Kali from Season 2 and I felt she was really forgettable and I dont really think she did anything for the plot. It literally just felt like she was just there to be there. I only liked that you didn’t know if you would betray El or not. It gave the show a LITTLE more stakes.

And this season, as a whole, it felt like Millie Bobby Brown didn’t have the passion for her character anymore. It might be her acting, but she showed barely any emotion. She used to have some of the best performances in the earlier seasons. Not to mention I felt she wasn’t in this season as much as she should’ve been. Considering she’s been the main character this whole show, you’d think she’d be in the final season a lot more. 

And Derek’s character wasn’t as utilized this volume compared to the previous one. Some of the dialogue this season was really bad and corny, like when Murray said, “Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit,” (I cringed even typing this). They showed a memory of Henry (young Vecna) of him killing someone in a cave and opening a box, but it was never shown what’s inside or explained? 

In the finale, when they entered the Abyss it was strangely empty. In Season 4, it was full of demogorgons and demodogs, but now it’s empty? And the final battle was actually shorter than the coming out scene depending on what you include. 

If you include the entire time in the abyss, then it’s longer but them actually fighting, the coming out scene was longer. I thought Schnapp’s delivery in that scene was pretty good, but I felt it could’ve been a little shorter. But it just felt they rushed the final battle to have a longer epilogue. 

I liked that they ended with it being up to the viewers to decide whether or not El lived or not, and I guess Kali projecting that vision of El was the only thing she really did if you believed she lived (which I personally believe). But my issue is, if she DID live, that would mean basically no one died. The Duffers were too scared to even kill Ted Wheeler when he barely did anything. Imagine if he died protecting his family, it would’ve made the tone much darker like how Season 1 was.

I think what sucked the most was that Season 4 ended with these super long gates all around Hawkins with smoke coming out of it, and it felt like the next season was going to be almost apocalyptic. But the season started so happily and uplifting. I actually really enjoyed Episode 1, but it wasn’t what I expected it to be.  

For me, the stakes felt way higher in Season 4 than in Season 5. I didn’t feel worried for any of the characters in Season 5. In Season 4, it felt like anyone could die and everyone was at risk. The Volume 2 teaser for Season 4, where they’re all in the RV, got me so hyped and the finale teaser for this season really didn’t.

Overall, I didn’t hate this season, but it felt super rushed at times even though they had 3 years to make it. I did enjoy Volume 1 quite a bit, felt Volume 2 was mediocre, and the finale was decent, so all in all, I would rate this season a 6.5/10