I’d been looking forward to Season 5 of Stranger Things as soon as Season 4 finished. It’s a show I’ve loved from the very beginning. (I’ve even helped teach a college course on show.) The mashup of a show about young adults, geekery, horror, and the 80s brings together all sorts of things that appeal to me. The only problem? Michaela hadn’t seen the show, and when we went to start watching the new season, she wanted to come along for the ride.
There was no way I was just going to ruin the entire thing for her by just having her watch Season 5 without having seen the rest of things, so despite the fact that I’ve watched the entire show three or four times through already, I buckled in and rewatched it all again with her. (Denisa, Daniela, and Tomas watched with us for most of the episodes.) Miška loved it, and I’m very glad I had the chance to watch it with her. For the record, I think Season 2 is the weakest season by a fair margin. Setting aside Season 5, I’d say I’d rank the seasons (from worst to best) as 2, 3, 4, 1. I don’t even think it’s close.
So having all that done, we finally finished the whole series last week. I’d heard varying accounts of it, but I’d been able to avoid all spoilers going into the finale. I won’t be posting spoilers here, so feel free to keep reading.
We loved the last season. I think the first episode was weak, as they tried to exposit their way through a whole bunch of “this all happened since the last episode” territory, but once they got through that (and you got over the shock of everyone looking so much older), things really started humming. The characters generally all get good arcs, and it was a very satisfying close to the show. (Some of my reaction might be due to the fact that I’d heard rumblings that it was actually a bad conclusion, so I went in more than a little worried.)
If you’re a fan of the series, you should definitely see it through to its close. Why is there such discrepancy around the last few episodes? I will be discussing something that I suppose(?) might somehow be a spoiler to some, so fair warning. (Though if you’ve watched the show at all, this isn’t a surprise. It’d be like telling people “Jaws eats a few people in the movie” is a spoiler.)
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SPOILER WARNING
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In a nutshell, it’s because the show got review bombed for having one of its characters be gay. Not Robin, but Will. And never mind the fact that Will’s mom mentions his dad thinks “he’s queer” all the way back in season 1 episode 1. This was clearly telegraphed all along, and a significant part of Season 4 was about that as well. But in the second to last episode of Season 5, Will actually comes out to his friends, and they . . . all love him anyway.
And that somehow makes the show awful and terrible enough that people have to band together and post nasty reviews of it online. Personally, I found it heartwarming and encouraging, if perhaps a tad naive and wishful thinking that a whole slew of people would accept Will’s homosexuality without reservations back in 1989. But then again, I also like The West Wing, and I also thought Steve’s unflinching acceptance of Robin when she came out to him was a highlight for his character. Whatever.
Ultimately, I think I’d have to watch the season a few more times to really be able to rank it with the other seasons. (And no offense to Stranger Things, but I don’t think I’m going to be watching it again any time soon. It’s dominated our viewing time for 2.5 months.) But I was very glad to see it get the send off it deserved, and my whole family agreed. (Daniela said it was easily her favorite season, which was impressive.)
Watch it!