Stranger Things 5 ​​begins with a frantic race toward the finish line

It’s been a decade since Strange things The phenomenon had begun, and the Duffer brothers had plenty of time to craft a strong end to their run of success. But the beginning of the fifth and final season of the series seems like a frantic race to the end.

while Strange things This wasn’t Netflix’s first success; The streamer jumped to a new level of pop culture fame by telling a deeply captivating story that got everyone talking. The modern-day nostalgia for the 1980s never went away, however Strange things A new wave of shows and movies began that made it seem as if other studios were doing everything they could to recreate the success of the Duffer Brothers. Strange things It was a hugely important phenomenon that showed little signs of losing steam over the course of its first few seasons.

By season 4, new episodes of the series were released at a much slower rate due to production delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. While the largest Strange things The franchise had been growing with a theatrical run and plans for an animated spinoff, and after the 2023 writers’ strike led to further delays, it looked like Netflix might have a tough time getting everyone to return to Hawkins for the final season of the core series.

In the first four episodes of Stranger Things 5you can feel the Duffer brothers trying to address previous production issues that were beyond their control while also exploring the narrative The ideas they planned Long before the series began airing. Although this season picks up where the last season left off, it’s filled with details that emphasize how much time has passed in the real world since we last saw these characters.

The younger cast looks and feels older in ways that can’t exactly be attributed to sudden growth spurts. And the characters tend to talk to each other in occasional sarcastic bits as if they know the movie is being watched by people who need a refresher. Those elements of Stranger Things 5 An invitation to a suspension of disbelief that seems reasonable given all the outside factors that have prevented this season from debuting more quickly.

Although much has changed about Hawkins in the months since it was almost completely torn apart by the Upside Down, most people are still able to go about their daily lives. Everyone remembers how the earth-shaking interdimensional energy had split the streets wide open. But they try not to think about what happened now that the damage is mostly covered by huge metal sheets.

Aside from mandatory medical examinations and a military-mandated quarantine that prevents civilians from leaving the city, things seem relatively normal to people who don’t know Vecna.

(Jimmy Campbell Bower) and several of his Demogorgon henchmen. But for Eleven/Jane (Millie Bobby Brown), Hopper (David Harbour), and the rest of their crew, the unnatural calm is a sign of just how serious things are about to become.

To remind you how this winding story began and to emphasize the types of monsters Strange thingsThe heroes face off, and the new season spends a lot more time with Will Byers (Noah Schnapp). Will insists on playing a bigger role in the teens’ plans to take their fight to Vecna ​​in the present, but the show also goes back to the past to explore what happened to the boy when he was first dragged to the Upside Down in season one. As unsettling (in a good way) and impressive as many of this season’s scenes and visual effects are, the Will-focused flashbacks feature a new child actor Superimposed with Schnapp’s aging face Undermining some of the show’s imagination. Similar to the show Previous experiments in de-aging their rapidly growing starsthe effect doesn’t quite work on a visual level. But it gives you the sense that the Duffers really want this season to feel like it brings certain characters’ stories full circle.

You can feel the same desire at work as the show cuts to missing children’s posters for eleven younger girls before revealing that she’s actually been hiding in the woods with Hopper and training to use her powers in combat. Hope — originally introduced as a drunken mess in season one — knows that his adopted daughter isn’t a little girl anymore. He and Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) realize that Eleven may be their only hope of defeating Vecna ​​for good, but they have a hard time accepting her willingness to risk her life.

Strange things It always had a great cast of main characters and did a solid job of (mostly) weaving their plotlines together in ways that felt organic. But because this season is so focused on giving everyone One last romp, the show quickly begins to feel too busy for its own good.

The season oscillates between the Hopper family drama, the school problems of the remaining members of the Hellfire Club (Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, and Priya Ferguson) and a fraught love triangle between some of the older teens. Events like the growing friendship between Will and Robin (Maya Hawke) have to move relatively quickly because the show only has so much time. And things get more difficult Stranger Things 5 He gives new importance to Mike’s younger sister Holly (Neil Fisher) and her rude colleague Derek (Jake Connelly).

while Stranger Things 5 tries to flesh out some of its players more, it often feels as if the show stutters on the assumption that you still know and like these characters enough that just seeing their plots wrapped up is enough to make for a satisfying story. After all this time in the pipeline, what Strange things It needs to really stick its landing and it’s the final act that acts as a compelling narrative of its own. The show might be able to pull this off in its final four episodes if it could slow down and really lean into the kind of emotional drama it’s made for Strange things Such a knockout in her previous seasons. But with this season already halfway overStranger Things 5 She’ll have her work cut out for it.

Stranger Things 5 It also stars Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, Brett Gelman, Cara Buono, Amybeth McNulty, and Linda Hamilton. The first four episodes are now airing, the next three will premiere on December 25, and the finale will premiere on December 31.