Netflix has decided to release the fifth and final season of Stranger Things in that uniquely modern torment: staggered, binge-frustrating segments. The first four episodes are out today, the next three drop on Christmas Day, and the finale lands just in time to upend any New Year’s Eve plans. It’s a scheduling choice that tests patience, but, in this case, may actually serve the story because these opening chapters are so densely packed with gore-soaked action, movie-quality visual effects, and the effortlessly charming banter of a cast now fully comfortable in their roles that pacing yourself feels almost necessary.
The Duffers have structured this season like a finely tuned thriller, layering extended shock sequences with meticulously timed character moments. Watching it all at once might be exhilarating, but it’s also exhausting. By the end of Chapter Four, I was literally out of breath, caught in the swirl of multiple plot threads barreling forward at once. And if you linger on each frame, as you inevitably will, you’ll find yourself savoring the nostalgic Easter eggs the Duffers have meticulously planted throughout.
The season opens with a prologue that revisits a pivotal moment of young Will Byers’ 1983 ordeal in the Upside Down. The effect is impressive: Noah Schnapp has been digitally de-aged in a way that never distracts from his performance. From there, the narrative accelerates, rarely allowing a moment of calm.
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All the key surviving characters are back in Hawkins, Indiana, trapped under circumstances more dire than ever. It’s November 1987, and since the malevolent entity Vecna has flung gates across the town into his nightmare dimension, the military has sealed Hawkins off. The lockdown imagery was intended as a sly nod to pandemic-era quarantines, but in hindsight, the armed occupation also evokes a more unsettling, contemporary resonance reminiscent of ICE raids but wrapped in unmistakable ‘80s military garb.
That doesn’t deter the town’s ragtag coalition of heroes. They’re endlessly scheming, endlessly brave, determined to find Vecna and save Hawkins and by extension, the world from a creeping, vine-choked apocalypse.
Ex-sheriff Jim Hopper (David Harbour) makes the first foray into the Upside Down, a chilling blue-hued reflection of Hawkins itself. Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) joins him reluctantly. He doesn’t want her there, especially not with the feds having established a sinister lab in this wasteland—a nightmarish mirror of the facility she escaped in Season 1. The hardcase Army scientist in charge, Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton, in a casting coup that’s pure ‘80s nostalgia), is determined to capture Eleven and continue her experimentation.
For her part, Eleven has evolved into a full-fledged superhero. Her makeshift red-shorts-over-gray-sweats uniform feels emblematic, almost ritualistic, and her powers are as formidable as ever. Yet there’s a vulnerability here, too a quiet tension beneath her bravura.
The original kids Will, Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) now unmistakably adults, still radiate the goofy, earnest camaraderie that made the show magnetic in the first place. Their friendship, rooted in Dungeons & Dragons-style devotion and shared trauma, feels authentic, even as the actors navigate adulthood.
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The series’ older teens-turned-thirtysomethings show more strain. Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) and Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), now ostensibly mature men, still behave like adolescents in pursuit of Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), competing to climb WSQK’s radio tower in a spectacle both absurd and telling. Maya Hawke, as Robin, however, brings the most convincing youthfulness to this grown-up ensemble. Robin is clever, strategizing with flair, and carries an emotional acuity that might prove essential for Will, who is navigating more than just his supernatural surroundings.
Hawke’s energy can tip into showy at times, but it’s a delight; Winona Ryder, predictably, overacts but that fidgety anxiety she brings to Joyce Byers has become iconic, almost comforting. This season, Ryder allows herself little moments of self-aware humor: Joyce wielding an axe or missing a “Back to the Future” reference. And when Will, now clearly empowered, calls her out on overprotectiveness, Ryder nails the subtle balance between exasperation and maternal love.
Two new child actors join the fray: Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler, Mike and Nancy’s spirited little sister, and Jake Connelly as the audaciously named Derek Turnbow, nicknamed “Dipshit.” Priah Ferguson returns as Erica, Lucas’ hilariously sharp-tongued younger sister. Max (Sadie Sink) remains incapacitated in Hawkins General Hospital, trapped in a Vecna-induced coma. The spoilers are sparse, but what is known hints that her consciousness could hold the key to toppling the season’s big bad.
Jamie Campbell Bower returns as Vecna in multiple forms, each more grotesque than the last. One incarnation is particularly haunting: a Wickerman-like fusion of skeletal roots and unholy organs, realized through prosthetics and motion-capture wizardry that’s as unsettling as it is stunning.
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The first four episodes quadruple the number of demogorgon-like monsters Vecna commands. Both Hawkins residents and soldiers face a profanely oozy wall once they stumble into the Upside Down. Vecna’s strategy kidnapping children through illusion and psychological manipulation feels almost classic Stephen King, a chilling figure preying on malleable minds. Yet where King adaptations sometimes stumble in world-building or pacing, the Duffers, with producer-director Shawn Levy and King veteran Frank Darabont on board, maintain a taut rhythm. Stranger Things manages to be simple in plot but rich in texture mythic, unnerving, and deeply human without ever slowing its pulse.
Season 5 is intense from the outset, a rollercoaster of horror, heart, and humor. And if the first four episodes are any indication, the final act promises to be spectacular. Check back on New Year’s Eve for a full reckoning. For now, brace yourself. There’s little else on Netflix that dares to combine gore, nostalgia, and genuine emotional resonance with such verve.
Content Breakdown for Parents:
Violence & Intensity: The show remains one of Netflix’s darker teen series. Expect supernatural battles, blood and gore, body horror, and tense sequences in the Upside Down. Several scenes feature grotesque monsters, skeletal and vine-like creatures, and tense “chase” moments that could scare younger viewers.
Language: Moderate profanity is present, including occasional strong language. Tone is mostly conversational among teens and adults; no pervasive slurs, but some crude humor is used.
Sexual Content / Nudity: Very minimal to none. Some flirtation or romantic tension exists among older characters, but the series keeps nudity and sexual scenes off-screen.
Drugs, Alcohol & Smoking: Some mild references to drinking or alcohol use among adult characters. No major drug use scenes; smoking is occasionally implied but not glamorized.
Parental Concerns: Some horror and gore may be too intense for younger teens. Tense supernatural imagery could cause nightmares for sensitive viewers. Occasional crude humor or mild profanity may be inappropriate for kids under 13.
Stranger Things Season 5, Volume 1 is streaming now. Volume 2 arrives at 5 p.m. PT on December 25, with the finale landing December 31.
Matthew Creith is a movie and TV critic based in Denver, Colorado. He’s a member of the Critics Choice Association and GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics. He can be found on Twitter: @matthew_creith or Instagram: matineewithmatt. He graduated with a BA in Media, Theory and Criticism from California State University, Northridge. Since then, he’s covered a wide range of movies and TV shows, as well as film festivals like SXSW and TIFF.