The seasons change. Children are growing up. Monsters evolve. My favorite series is over.
“Stranger Things” its fifth and final season begins Wednesday after a nearly three-and-a-half year absence. It's a long-awaited but bittersweet reunion for fans of the series who have spent the last ten years watching a group of misfit kids (now teenagers) use their nerd skills as weapons against supernatural and deadly enemies in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana.
Will (Noah Schnapp), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Max (Sadie Sink) and their super-powered friend Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) are now ready for the final battle against their mind-blowing enemy Vecna when the first volume of the season premieres with four new episodes; The second volume (three episodes) will be released on Christmas Day, and the finale will be released on December 31st.
I could complain about the unevenness of the episodes (of course, they're all holiday-themed), but this strategy gives sentimental viewers (my hand is raised) a little more time to emotionally detach from the show.
The end of Netflix's strange blockbuster series marks the end of an era and is certainly a touchstone for the latest generation of TV series. Generation Z, who grew up in the early days of YouTube and then TikTok, tends to favor short-form content over longer pieces; however, Stranger Things was an exception. Young fans strained their attention, watching entire seasons of the show, the episodes of which could last anywhere from an hour to two hours or more. “Upside Down,” the dark, gooey parallel universe of Hawkins and her predatory demogorgons, became part of their middle school vernacular, the same way generations before streaming used the “isms” from their favorite shows: (“Just MacGyver, dude”).
Stranger Things is set during the Reagan era, so from the very beginning, Gen Z parents could watch the series with their kids while reminiscing about their favorite and/or harrowing adventures. memories of growing up in the 1980s. My son was in sixth grade when the show premiered, which means I was there to confirm that, yes, tragic hairstyles, pleated jeans, and uncontrollable bullying were commonplace in the '80s. But unlike Eleven, we didn't have the ability to force said bullies to pee their pants in public. If only…
The Day-Glo decade still plays a key role as Stranger Things returns this week. Look forward to Tiffany's “I Think We're Alone Now” moment, a nod to great bands like The Fall, and a timely mention of a magnetic capacitor. But Hawkins is no MTV dance party. The sleepy town is under militarized quarantine. This is for their own protection and also because the government is up to no good again. Nothing enters or leaves this place without the knowledge of the authorities, unless it is smuggled in through constant intrigue. Murray (Brett Gelman).
Hopper (David Harbour) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) travel to an upside-down world. (Netflix)
Max (Sadie Sink) remains in a coma while Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) tries to get to her. (Netflix)
Last we knew, antagonist Vecna (who takes many forms) had finally opened the gateway to the Upside Down dandruff, merging it with the real world. It was a violent event, but most of the townspeople believed that all the shaking and noise was caused by an earthquake. Poor souls.
Hawkins' favorite group of nerds knows better. They made secret crawls to find and destroy Vecna before he turned the city, and then the world, into a muddy wasteland. Joining the fight are Mike's older sister Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Will's older brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton), friends Steve (Joe Keery) and Robin (Maya Hawke), Will and Jonathan's mother Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and Elle's adoptive father, Jim Hopper (David Harbour). Max is in a coma in the hospital. Her consciousness is stuck in Vecna's mental space, no matter how many times Lucas plays Kate Bush's “Running Up That Hill” to wake her up.
After numerous attacks on their modest home by Demodogs and American agents, Byers moved into Mike's basement with his family, the Wheelers. An unsatisfied Mrs. Wheeler (Cara Buono) gets to work on the gravy, and the usually lethargic Mr. Wheeler (Joe Chrest) is finally concerned about something—they're eating his morning bacon! Wheeler's youngest, Holly (Nell Fisher), is now approaching the age the main cast of children were when the series premiered in 2016. And Erica (Pria Ferguson), Lucas' little sister who still provides all the best moments of the series, is now in Mr. Clark's middle school science class.
Enhancing the storylines of the younger characters helps bridge the age gap created when the main cast of child actors had the courage to grow up over the course of the series. Brown was 12 years old when the show premiered. She is now 21 years old. Critics complained that they shouldn't play high school students. But accepting 22-year-old Wolfhard as a teenage Mike isn't that hard, especially given everything else Stranger Things fans are willing to believe (talking Christmas lights, psychokinetic battles, a nefarious Soviet lab under a mall food court).
There are plenty of spoiler embargoes, so there's a limit to what can be said about the first four new episodes presented for review. Suffice it to say, a mega-battle is on the horizon. Eleven trained hard, honing her powers. Now she can throw armored vehicles, jump on large buildings and bend the toughest minds with minimal nosebleeds. Dustin struggles with anger over the death of his Hellfire Club buddy. Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn). Steve and Jonathan are still vying for Nancy's attention while she focuses on perfecting her marksmanship skills. Hopper has an annoyingly long beard. And Mrs. Wheeler proves to be a formidable warrior when she wields a jagged, broken wine bottle.
Their original children's circumstances haven't changed much, but their views have, leading to unpredictable changes in their abilities, strengths, and alliances.
In the final season of their little show, creators The Duffer Brothers (twin brothers Matt and Ross) lean heavily on the interpersonal feuds and friendships between all of the aforementioned characters, combining big-budget action with evolving storylines about the people fans have come to love. In the end, it's the children at the center of the story that keep us coming back for more. And it looks like they will continue to do so until the very end.
