Stranger Things turns expectations upside down
After a long-awaited three years, Netflix’s hit original series “Stranger Things” premiered their fifth and final season on Nov. 26. The streaming giant plans to release season five in three parts, with Volume Two available on Dec. 25 and the last episode on Dec.31. I have been eagerly awaiting the return of the show, but in the break between seasons, my expectations have slowly been rising into the realm of unreasonable.
As I began watching the first episode, the most obvious thing to me was that the actors were well beyond the age of early high schoolers. Millie Bobby Brown, who plays Eleven, began the show at age 12 and is now married and even has a child. As much as I love the cast, I found myself being distracted by just how old the cast looked in many scenes, particularly the ones taking place at Hawkins High School.
In the three years since season four has come out, it also feels as though I have forgotten how—for lack of a better word—corny the dialogue can be. Robin Buckley, a favorite from season three, seems to have devolved from humorously witty and intelligent to far too quirky. Some scenes were almost comedic in how cliche the script seemed. While I think in the earlier seasons the characters could get away with these jokes due to their young age, to me, it now feels quite jarring and took my focus out of the show far too many times.
On the positive, Volume One has successfully built momentum towards the “final battle” against antagonist Vecna. However, I think for more casual viewers, it is increasingly difficult to follow Vecna’s backstory with the integration of the spinoff Broadway show “The First Shadow.” Though showrunners, the Duffer Brothers, told viewers they did not need to see the play to understand season five, I found that a lot of crucial details were only noticeable if you had either seen the play or a TikTok summary of it—as I did. While I think the play added some context that enhanced the plot, a lot of these new details conflicted with information established about Vecna previously—focusing my attention towards plot holes rather than the plot itself.
The final episode of Volume One perfectly builds the tension for both Volume Two and the finale by posing the audience with even more questions to grapple with. For me, my biggest question remains unchanged from when I first watched season one: Why was Will Byers taken? As we wait for Volume Two, I encourage all Stranger Things fans to watch season five as soon as they can.
