Netflix is releasing the fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” in binge-frustrating segments (the first four episodes drop today, the next three on Christmas Day and the finale on Dec. 31, just in time to crash your New Year’s Eve plans).
That said, the initial quartet of chapters are so packed with gory action, movie-grade visual effects and effortless, amusing interactions from its now-veteran ensemble that watching in spurts is probably advisable.
You’ll want to savor the finely structured storytelling and extended shock setpieces that series creators Matt and Ross Duffer serve up. Additionally, those who indulge have extra time to obsess over all the nostalgic Easter eggs the Duffer Brothers plant. And considering the escalating pace at which the narrative barrels along on multiple tracks, viewers could need a breath-catching break; I know I was absolutely winded by the end of Chapter Four.
After a prologue that reveals a crucial moment during young Will Byers’ 1983 captivity in the Upside Down — expert digital de-aging of now adult actor Noah Schnapp here — the new season gets down to business and rarely lets up.
All the show’s key (surviving) characters are back in Hawkins, Indiana — and stuck there. It’s November 1987, and ever since evil supernatural entity Vecna opened gates around town to his nightmare Upside Down dimension, the military has put Hawkins on lockdown. The Duffers conceived of this to evoke memories of Covid quarantines, but the armed occupation imagery is now a more disturbing reminder of our ICE raid era, albeit decked-out in ‘80s standard issue.
That can’t stop our generation-spanning gaggle of local heroes, though, from perpetually plotting to find Vecna and save their town, the world and themselves from certain, vine-choked doom.
Ex-sheriff and Vietnam grunt Jim Hopper (David Harbour) makes the initial sortie into the Upside Down, a blue-hued hellscape reflection of Hawkins. He’s soon joined by surrogate daughter Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). She’s the last person he wants down there, especially since the feds have established a lab in the wasteland like the one she escaped from in Season 1.
The hardcase Army scientist who runs this operation, Dr. Kay (“Terminator” star Linda Hamilton in the series’ coolest ‘80s callback casting coup yet), wants to capture El and perform further experiments. For her part, El has gone full superhero, implacable in her red-shorts-over-gray-sweats impromptu uniform and renewed powers, but perhaps more vulnerable than ever.
The original kids the series was built around — sensitive Will, Gaten Matarazzo’s rebellious tech wiz Dustin, Caleb McLaughlin’s good-hearted Lucas and Finn Wolfhard’s reliable Mike Wheeler — all look like they should be paying off college debts now. But even as unmistakable grownups, the guys easily recapture the dynamics of their childhood friendship in all of its goofy, Dungeons & Dragons earnestness.
The thirtysomethings who portrayed “Stranger’s” older teens exhibit a bit more strain trying to act like young(er) adults. Reformed bad boys Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) and Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) shouldn’t come off as immature in their efforts to win demogorgon hunter Nancy Wheeler’s (Natalia Dyer) non-mission critical attention, but there they are trying to outclimb each other to the top of WSQK’s radio tower.
Maya Hawke, now 27, has the most convincing youthful energy in this acting cluster. Her Robin may be the most ingenious strategizer — if not always the best one — in all of Hawkins. The motormouthed lesbian is also a fount of emotional intelligence, which could be vital for closeted Will as he comes to terms with a lot more than his sexuality.
Hawke overdoes it in an entertaining, charming way. As usual, Winona Ryder just overacts. But the fidgety, perpetual anxiety she applies to Joyce Byers is so iconic by now, you can’t imagine her any other way. There are some welcome hints of self-joshing in this season’s performance, too, like when Joyce picks up an axe or doesn’t get a “Back to the Future” reference. And Ryder finds the right tone for some of the overprotective mother moments, especially when a clearly empowered (and how!) Will finally calls Joyce on it.
Two excellent new, actual kids join the fight this season: Nell Fisher as Mike and Nancy’s ultra-plucky little sister Holly Wheeler, and Jake Connelly as the thoroughly dislikable yet courageously capable “Dipshit” Derek Turnbow. Priah Ferguson returns as Lucas’ delightfully foulmouthed kid sister Erica.
What, you may well ask, about fan favorite Max? Sadie Sink’s Kate Bush-loving body lies in a Vecna-induced coma at Hawkins General Hospital. Thanks to the Netflix spoiler-prevention list, all we can tell you is that Max’s consciousness lives, and in a manner that could be key to finally bringing the big bad down.
Which, you’ll recall, Nancy almost succeeded in doing last season. But that old adage about you better not miss when gunning for the king applies to an apocalyptic degree this season. Jamie Campbell Bower returns as multiple incarnations of Vecna. The most bloodcurdling one is a Wickermanish weave of skeletal roots and unholy organs, achieved through a grotesquely gorgeous combination of sculpted upper body prosthetics and mocap digital artistry.
Speaking of effects, these first four episodes alone quadruple the number of those flytrap-faced demogorgon monsters Vecna commands. Hawkinsites and soldiers alike come up against a vast, profanely oozy wall when they inevitably end up in the Upside Down. Taking a page from the Pennywise playbook, Vecna is focused on deceiving and kidnapping children to achieve his world-conquering aims, taking on less-frightening guises and invading their malleable minds.
But where Stephen King and some of his recent media adapters can get ponderous in the plot and world-building departments, the Duffer Brothers — aided by fellow producer/director Shawn Levy and, new to the series, old King hand Frank Darabont (“Shawshank Redemption,” “Green Mile,” “The Mist”) — have a wonderful way of goosing things along at an always brisk clip. There’s a simplicity to “Stranger Things’” storylines that somehow allows rich behavioral, cultural and mythically unnerving elements to make their marks without slowing things down.
It all gets intense as ever in Season 5. So far, anyway. Come back to this space on New Year’s Eve and I’ll tell you how well it all played out. You couldn’t possibly have anything better to do, right?
“Stranger Things” Season 5 Vol. 1 is now streaming on Netflix. Vol. 2 premieres at 5 p.m. PT Dec. 25 and the finale on Dec. 31.
