Spoiler warning for Stranger Things Season Five!

The hit Netflix series Stranger Things recently dropped the first volume of the final season. Here’s what they got right this time and what they didn’t.

Firstly, the exposition in the first episode that was meant to catch us up on how Hawkins is doing post militarization felt somewhat rushed and cheesy. Somehow, the other residents have still remained oblivious to the existence of the Upside Down which seems unlikely for a whole town to simply not ask questions. This choice is a somewhat lazy explanation for why our characters must conduct their operations secretly, but overall, they make it work by writing specialized jobs that feature all of our favorites.

However, the reintroduction of some characters has also been disappointing. They seem to be reverting some main players, like Nancy, Steve, and Jonathan back to a redundant love triangle arc they have been in since season two. I find this to be an extremely detrimental plot line to the growth of some characters. 

I believe that they should have explored Nancy’s choice of relationship fully when she left Steve instead of stretching out this tension to the final season. It would have allowed for her to have character growth beyond just her relationships, which I think she deserves and would be more interesting to watch. 

Furthermore, the weakened personality of Robin’s character is unfortunate, especially since she has had a major increase in plot importance and screentime in this volume. This is the most we have gotten to see of her and her personal life, but this change into a neurotic, rambling character makes her hard to watch. The changes in her character aren’t necessarily a problem, and Maya Hawke plays her well, but she has suffered such a sharp rewrite in personality since season three, the contrast feels unnatural. 

Nevertheless, the Duffer Brothers have exceeded expectations on many aspects of their writing. We have gotten to see the emotional connection between many characters this season that has made the story meaningful across the years. 

So far, we’ve seen the Wheeler family becoming increasingly involved with Holly being introduced as a main character, and the rest of the family featured in many exciting action sequences, as well as other new and classic character pairings—my favorite being Robin and Will. 

This season does a great job of making all characters important to the plot. You end up rooting for everyone, and no character feels shortcharged in involvement. Lastly, Will’s storyline culminates with a huge reveal at the end of the volume, and it’s one of the best moments in the entire show. The ending of the volume feels like the Duffers truly brought the show back to where it was always meant to go. 

All in all, this volume sets us up for an extremely exciting final season, and I can’t wait to see what direction the show will end in. Until then, I’ll be watching every theory to try and guess.