*SPOILER WARNING*
This New Year’s, Stranger Things fans across the globe were sitting at their tvs with anticipation, anxiously awaiting the fifth and final season finale. However, since fans were so excited for their favorite show to finally end, hopes were high for the season, since the Duffer brothers had spent so long teasing such a beloved show’s end.
These high expectations, sadly, were not met, due to the poor writing, pacing, and overall rushed ending. For example, one of the key plot points of the season is the fact that Will is able to use Vecna’s “hive mind” to gain powers of his own. However, how this is possible is left unclear and rushed, making one of the main plotlines — Will having powers — dense and hard to follow.
Another way that fans were let down is from the drastic downgrade in dialogue quality, with unneeded jokes and zingers being added in the middle of serious conversations. For example, Robin’s “Steve hears that all the time” joke seems out of place in the middle of a planning session for the end of the world. Also annoying? The sudden need to have every single character have a “Eureka!” moment and explain everything through extremely dense and unneeded metaphors, until another character dumbs the plan down for the audience.
Despite the horrible dialogue and dense writing, Stranger Things excels in one particular area: character relationships. Opening the season, many fans were upset to see that their favorite dynamic duo, Steve and Dustin, were having a rough go of it. However, this turmoil was worth it when in Volume Two, Steve attempts to sacrifice himself for Nancy and Jonathon, and Dustin pleads for him to be smart and worry about himself, with Dustin claiming he “needs” Steve. These relationships are the one saving grace for Season Five and the show overall.
Though overall the season was a rough one at best, the twenty-minute epilogue at the end of the finale left a feeling of warm nostalgia in many viewers hearts lessening the sour taste of the rest of the season.
