It’s been a long 10 years since 2016 with lots of twists and turns. A highlight of 2016 was the release of Netflix’s Stranger Things, a show about young teens trying to uncover the secrets of their haunted hometown, Hawkins, Indiana. Although the show has had a massive impact on pop culture, has it lived up to its expectations and high standard of the first season?
The fifth and final season of Stranger Things, divided into volumes 1, 2, and 3, premiered on Netflix on November 26, 2025. The first of the three volumes set high expectations for season 5, with the audience left on a cliffhanger in the final episode. The CGI of the monsters had evidently advanced since the show’s release in 2016, and the camera work seemed flawless. However, there were still critiques.
I left the first volume feeling that something was missing. The dialogue was choppy and uninteresting, often sounding like it was AI generated because of the awkwardness. Much of it felt simply like filler and a way for Netflix to fill the allotted time space. It was clear that the dialogue was made purposefully simple so that people could watch the show on their TV while scrolling on their phone at the same time, without missing any major plot points. The majority of the season consists of characters explaining plans to one another without much exposition outside of dialogue, failing the most basic “show-don’t-tell” rule of storytelling.
Volume 2, released on December 25, brought more of the same. It seemed that the producers, the Duffer brothers, had gotten lazy and complacent with the already famous show. It seemed to me that they were focused on getting the show wrapped quickly instead of producing a deep, meaningful ending to a beloved project of their own making.
Volume 3, the series finale, released on December 31 and consisted of a massive 2 hour long episode. The show finished with a fight between the main characters and the ultimate monsters of the Stranger Things universe: Vecna and the Mind Flayer.
The battle seemed empty and lifeless. Although there was action, fire, and blood, the entirety of the fight only lasted about 5 minutes, with no characters sustaining as much as a scratch. The battle that the entire series built up to, the fight of these kids’ lives, was anticlimactic and honestly, boring. The main characters seemed to be protected by “plot armor,” the idea that a main character does not die in a situation where they should because the plot requires them to live. This “plot armor” greatly reduces the stakes of the show, as audiences never really fear their favorite character getting injured or killed. In the finale, there is a moment where it appears as though main character Steve Harrington, played by Joe Keery, was going to be thrown off of a platform and fall to his death. The screen went black, and when it came back, we saw that he was, in fact, saved.
Throughout the entire 5 season span, almost none of the main characters died. Even though the characters are beloved by the audience, in order to have an impactful story, it is crucial for the audience to experience heartbreak. The one death that was included was that of the series’ poster child: Eleven. But even her death was written in a way meant to be up to audience interpretation, another example of lazy writing and lack of concrete decision making by the Duffer brothers.
The final episode finished with an hour-long epilogue showing the characters graduating from high school and what they went on to do in a life outside of Hawkins. However, this hour felt empty when put up against the rest of the boring final season. Of course, it’s great that they went on to live happily ever after, but without any significant losses, what was it all for?
Overall, I enjoyed season 5 of Stranger Things, but felt disappointed about the clear laziness and lack of effort put into it. I felt bittersweet about the show of our childhood being over, but that’s exactly it. I think I only enjoyed the final season because of the nostalgia and excitement built around the show. With its major plot holes and boring action scenes, season 5 did not live up to the expectations the show set in season 1, which actually felt like a horror movie and was a never before seen showcase of creativity by the Duffer brothers. In comparison, the show ended feeling lazy and rushed.
