Stranger Things Season 5 isn't Amazing
Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1 Review: Rushed Pacing Undermines Decade of Buildup
Discover why this review argues the long-awaited Stranger Things final season volume feels rushed, undermines established lore, yet still delivers key character moments. Learn which narrative choices are frustrating fans waiting nearly a decade for payoff.
Short Summary
- The military antagonists are presented as cartoonishly evil and incompetent, ignoring decade-long established weaknesses of creatures like the Demogorgon.
- Character dynamics, particularly Dustin/Steve and Jonathan/Steve/Nancy, regress into constant, non-constructive arguing, feeling forced for conflict.
- The Upside Down has become sterile, losing its dread, and the plot prioritizes new questions over answering established lore mysteries.
- Will Byers receives the season's best character development and a logical power boost that felt earned.
- Vecna remains an interesting antagonist, but lazy writing causes him to break established character consistency in key confrontations.
This review covers the major frustrations of the first four episodes of the final volume, focusing on inconsistent world-building and forced character conflict, while highlighting surprising strengths in character arcs for Will and the integration of past lore.
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Top Comments (10)
First episode was so strange, but I’ve seen stranger things
Mike riding a bike everywhere looking 27 was sending me 😂
Nah the mom getting her throat ripped out then being awake a few hours later to write intelligent responses is a level of locked in I dream of being
Why is nobody talking about how will and vecna are literally potter and voldemort
The worst thing about this season is that NOBODY cares that eddie died except for dustin and NOBODY cares that max is in a coma aside from lucas.
Vecna: "I have an army" Mike: "We got family" Dom drifts in and runs Vecna over.
All the soldiers standing in a circle and shooting machine guns inwards? They would have shot each other dead before a single demogorgon fell.
The fact they've been doing these 'crawls' for months and didn't see that huge meat wall even once.
No one is talking about how they ignored s4's cliffhanger and the massive gate spanning over all of Hawkins by LITERALLY putting a metal bandaid on it. Season 5 was supposed to be like a part 2 of season 4. It was supposed to continue right after it. But they had a time skip and that completely ruins the cliffhanger. I wanted to see hawkins in ruins with monsters everywhere. I don't want the cartoony military back again.
The upside down jus looks like Detroit now.
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Top Comments (10)
First episode was so strange, but I’ve seen stranger things
Mike riding a bike everywhere looking 27 was sending me 😂
Nah the mom getting her throat ripped out then being awake a few hours later to write intelligent responses is a level of locked in I dream of being
Why is nobody talking about how will and vecna are literally potter and voldemort
The worst thing about this season is that NOBODY cares that eddie died except for dustin and NOBODY cares that max is in a coma aside from lucas.
Vecna: "I have an army" Mike: "We got family" Dom drifts in and runs Vecna over.
All the soldiers standing in a circle and shooting machine guns inwards? They would have shot each other dead before a single demogorgon fell.
The fact they've been doing these 'crawls' for months and didn't see that huge meat wall even once.
No one is talking about how they ignored s4's cliffhanger and the massive gate spanning over all of Hawkins by LITERALLY putting a metal bandaid on it. Season 5 was supposed to be like a part 2 of season 4. It was supposed to continue right after it. But they had a time skip and that completely ruins the cliffhanger. I wanted to see hawkins in ruins with monsters everywhere. I don't want the cartoony military back again.
The upside down jus looks like Detroit now.