The seasons change. The children grow up. Monsters evolve. End of the beloved television series.
The fifth and final season of “Stranger Things” begins Wednesday after an absence of nearly three and a half years. It's a welcome but bittersweet reunion for fans of the show who have spent the last decade watching a group of misfit kids (now teenagers) use their nerdy abilities as a weapon against supernatural and mortal 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 prepared for a final battle against their awesome nemesis, Vecna, when the season's Volume 1 arrives with four new episodes; Volume 2 (three episodes) comes out on Christmas Day and the finale arrives on December 31.
I could complain about the staggering number of episodes, all scheduled for a holiday, of course, but the strategy gives sentimental viewers (raise your hand) a little more time to emotionally disengage from the show.
The end of the eccentric Netflix series marks the end of an era and surely the last generational touchstone to emerge from television series. Generation Z, growing up at the dawn of YouTube and later with the rise of TikTok, has generally favored short-form content over longer productions; However, “Stranger Things” became the exception. Young fans expanded their attention spans, watching entire seasons of a show where episodes can range from an hour to two hours longer. The Upside Down, a dark, gooey parallel universe of Hawkins and his predatory demogorgons became part of his vernacular in high school, the same way pre-streaming generations used “isms” from their favorite shows: (“Just MacGuyver, Dude”).
“Stranger Things” takes place in the Reagan era, so from its inception Generation Z parents could watch the series with their children while revisiting their own fond and/or tortured memories of their childhood 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 rampant bullying did exist in the '80s. But unlike Eleven, we didn't have the power to make said thugs urinate in public. If only…
The Day-Glo decade still plays a pivotal role when “Stranger Things” returns this week. Expect a Tiffany “I Think We're Alone Now” moment, nods to great bands like The Fall, and a timely mention of a flux capacitor. But Hawkins is no MTV dance party. The quiet city is under a militarized quarantine. It's for their own protection and because, once again, the government is up to no good. Nothing enters or leaves the premises without the knowledge of the authorities, unless it is smuggled in by the perpetually scheming Murray (Brett Gelman).
Hopper (David Harbour) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) head to the Upside Down. (Netflix)
Max (Sadie Sink) remains in a coma while Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) tries to reach her. (Netflix)
Last we heard, the antagonist Vecna (who takes many forms) had finally opened the doors to the Upside Down dandruff, merging it with the real world. It was a violent event, but most of the townspeople believed that all that shaking and noise was due to an earthquake. Poor souls.
Hawkins' beloved band of nerds know better. They have been doing covert “tracking” with the goal of locating and destroying Vecna before he turns the city, and then the world, into a silty 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 trapped in Vecna's mindscape, no matter how much Lucas plays Kate Bush's “Running Up That Hill” to wake her up.
After multiple attacks on their modest home by demodogs and American agents, the Byers have been living in the basement of Mike's house with his family, the Wheelers. The dissatisfied Mrs. Wheeler (Cara Buono) has been mulling over the sauce and the normally limp Mr. Wheeler (Joe Chrest) is finally bothered by something: they're eating his morning bacon! The youngest Wheeler, Holly (Nell Fisher), is now approaching the age the main cast of kids were when the series premiered in 2016. And Erica (Priah Ferguson), Lucas' little sister, who still provides the show's best commentary, is now in Mr. Clarke's high school science class.
Elevating the younger characters' stories helps close the age gap created when the main cast of child actors had the audacity to grow up over the duration of the show. Brown was 12 years old when the show premiered. Now he is 21 years old. Critics have complained that they shouldn't play high school students. But accepting the 22-year-old Wolfhard as a teenage Mike isn't a stretch, especially given everything else “Stranger Things” fans have been willing to believe (“talking Christmas lights, psychokinetic battles, a nefarious Soviet laboratory beneath the mall food court).
There are a lot of spoiler embargoes, so there's a limit to what can be said about the first four new episodes that will be reviewed. Suffice to say, there is a mega battle on the horizon. Eleven has been training hard, honing her powers. He can now launch armored vehicles, jump over large buildings, and subdue the toughest minds with minimal nosebleeds. Dustin fights angrily, hardened by the death of his Hellfire Club friend, Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn). Steve and Jonathan are still competing for Nancy's attention while she focuses on perfecting her shooting skills. Hopper has a long, distracting beard. And Mrs. Wheeler proves to be a formidable warrior when armed with a broken, jagged wine bottle.
Their children's original circumstances haven't changed much, but their perspectives have, leading to unpredictable twists in their powers, strengths, and alliances.
In the latest season of their little show, the creators, the Duffer Brothers (twin brothers Matt and Ross), lean heavily on the interpersonal disputes and friendships between all of the aforementioned characters, combining big-budget action with advanced stories about people fans have come to love. After all, it's the kids at the center of the story who kept us coming back for more. And it seems that they will continue to do so until the end.
