Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1 Review: An Epic Start Almost Worthy of the Hype

It’d be nice to dive into the fifth and final season of Stranger Things like it was just another TV show, free of expectations. But that’s not what Netflix wants, hence the company spreading out the release across all three major American holidays at the end of the year, the rest of the episodes premiering on Christmas and New Year’s Eve. This is a goddamn TV event, if only by sheer force of will on the part of the massive streaming service. Thanksgiving, it’s implied, ranks second.

The good news for Netflix is that the first four episodes of the season do match the demand for epic-ness created by this release strategy, culminating in big action and a few big answers. They also serve nicely as a microcosm of the show: Charming at some points, frustrating at others, and without question overlong.

Season 5 begins in November 1987, a year and a half since the end of Season 4, when the right-side-up part of Hawkins, Indiana became infected by the Upside Down. Ever since, the town has been under quarantine, with the military containing the original crack in the earth with a “giant steel Bandaid” and occupying the town to study all the supernatural mishegoss at hand.

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Those military forces, led by the ruthless Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton!), are also actively hunting for Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), who’s been in hiding ever since her return to town in Season 4. But most Hawkins residents are doing their best to live as if they’re allowed outside the heavily-policed borders: Parents go to work, kids go to school, and Robin (Maya Hawke) has taken over the local radio station as the new DJ — Steve (Joe Keery) of course serving as her helpful assistant.

Robin’s new job as Rockin’ Robin allows her to help coordinate with all our favorite characters, who have been on their own search for big bad Vecna in the Upside Down, under the military’s radar. The first episode is largely devoted to laying out exactly how this operation works — an organized effort that involves everyone, from adults Joyce (Winona Ryder) and Hopper (David Harbour) to older teens Steve, Robin, Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) to the younger teens, Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Will (Noah Schnapp), and Eleven.

This feels like a good point to acknowledge how those cute 12-year-olds from the first season have fully graduated into their “high school student on a ’90s teen drama” era. This can’t technically be considered a surprise, given that the show premiered in 2016 and no one is immune to the passing of time. But the main cast is now all in their 20s, long past the point of realistically playing teens. (Let’s not even dwell on how Millie Bobby Brown is a mom now.)

Stranger Things (Netflix)

Season 5 thus brings in an even younger generation of kids, with baby Holly Wheeler from Season 1 now a much bigger part of the story. Holly ends up exemplifying this show’s very fuzzy relationship with the linear passing of time: Up until Season 5, this show wanted us to believe she was born in 1980, but now it’s 1987 and she’s been retconned to the age of 10.

Yet 10 is still pretty young to be dealing with monsters, and it’s Holly who inadvertently helps our heroes get closer to tracking down Vecna; her classmates also end up playing a big role in the first half of the season. It’s in their scenes that a core truth about this show comes out: The secret sauce of Stranger Things was always brave kids facing supernatural peril. It’s a realization that speaks to how it’s for the best that the series is almost over — just four more episodes to go. (Four more episodes but who knows how many minutes; the series finale will be at least two hours.)

There are definitely points where the first four episodes deliver exactly what we want: As one example, I took visceral pleasure in watching this large ensemble execute some ingenious strategies for evading the military. Even watching Eleven fight her way through a wild obstacle course designed to test all her powers is satisfying, not to mention a strong character beat — she keeps wanting to push herself harder, knowing that she has to be at her best if she’s going to take Vecna down. And there are also some effectively eerie moments involving Vecna and his victims that have potential for the second half of the season.

What hinders the show is its overly dense mythology, as well as its reliance on cliches and borrowed plot elements. There’s one cliffhanger in Season 4 that barely reads as a cliffhanger, despite all the melodramatic flourishes heaped upon it, and several other “twists” are so telegraphed that they don’t offer any major surprises. Episode 4 does feature technically impressive action, but also divides up the cast for most of its runtime — as Dungeons and Dragons players know, splitting the party is rarely a good idea.

That’s not to say the episodes are devoid of shocks — one major sequence features some perfect home invasion horror, with serious stakes for all involved. Yet the best scene of the season has nothing to do with monsters or the military: It’s Robin and Will, having a heart-to-heart that includes a beautiful speech from Robin about her identity that proves very important for the plot — but more importantly, who she and Will are as characters. It’s genuine and human and real, and millions of people are going to watch it and that’s quite cool. It’s moments like that which make it easy to forgive those plotting issues.

Since its premiere, the Stranger Things franchise has done its best to monetize its deep lore, with novels, games, and a dang play on Broadway all expanding upon the history of Vecna and related figures. But as much as this show might want us to invest in that lore, these characters and their relationships are the true fuel for our engagement. And when Stranger Things hits the level one might call epic, it’s not because of CGI battles, but because unexpected heroes are rising to the occasion. That happens more than once in the first half of Season 5, making it a promising start. Let’s hope the second half lives up to that.

Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1, consisting of four episodes, is streaming now on Netflix. Volume 2 debuts December 25th at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT., and the series finale arrives December 31st at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. Check out the most recent trailer below.