Everyone has a comfort show. Whether it be something they grew up with or something that has chill vibes, most people return to a show consistently. For me and I am sure others as well, that show was Stranger Things.
Despite Stranger Things not being from my childhood, ever since I started watching it, I felt a nostalgic attachment to the characters, the setting, and the story. Every season built up successfully for me, and after watching season four in its entirety, I was ecstatic for what story the fifth and final season would tell.
A month before the release of season five, I rewatched every season again to refresh my memory of the story. Exactly like the first time I watched it, nostalgia and excitement blended in my brain. Seasons one and two had the small budget, and the low-reaching storyline. Season three had the color and the character development. Season four had the horror and the emotion.
On the release of volume one of Stranger Things season five, I binged almost every episode in one night. All of the emotions were back. The tense storyline, character development, horror, and emotion were all there. During the finale of episode four, I jumped out of my desk chair and started running around my room in excitement.
Then came volume two and the finale. I cannot understate the amount of missteps they made both in writing and production. Writing-wise, dialogue was short and meaningful moments were broken by cringy lines. Will’s coming out scene could have been a much more powerful story of queerness at a time of unacceptance, yet it was rushed through and lacked any emotional depth. Production-wise, CGI was rampant and overused. All of the scenes were massive in scale and lacked any grounding element. After talking with a friend, we agreed the production scale was that of an Avengers movie, not the indie film I first watched.
While I understand that the Duffer Brothers were working with a bigger and more mature audience, I believe that shouldn’t have changed the way they directed or guided the show. Stranger Things became special to so many people because it did not try to enlarge its story out of proportion. It knew its goals, and kept to them.
Without season five, the story, while technically incomplete, serves as a better finished product than with season five. Season five, in the scope of the continuity of the entire show, muddies the waters as opposed to cleans them up.
