"It has been a decade since the Stranger Things phenomenon began, and the Duffer brothers had had ample time to craft a strong finish to their breakout hit series. But the beginning of the show's fifth and final season feels like a frantic race to the end. While Stranger Things wasn't Netflix's first breakout hit, it catapulted the streamer to a new level of pop cultural prominence by telling a wildly captivating story that got everyone talking."
"By season 4, though, the show's new episodes were releasing at a much slower rate thanks to production delays caused by the covid-19 pandemic. While the larger Stranger Things franchise was growing with a stage show and plans for an animated spinoff, after the 2023 writers strike led to even more delays, it felt like Netflix might have a tough time getting everyone excited to go back to Hawkins for the core series' final season."
"In the first four episodes of Stranger Things 5, you can feel the Duffer Brothers trying to address past production issues that were beyond their control while also exploring narrative ideas they had mapped out long before the series began airing. Though this season picks right back up where the last left off, it's peppered with details that emphasize how much time has passed in the real world since we last saw these characters."
A decade after the franchise began, the Duffer Brothers had time to craft a finale, yet the fifth season's opening feels like a frantic race to the end. Stranger Things elevated Netflix's cultural profile and stimulated a wave of '80s nostalgia across film and television. Production delays from the covid-19 pandemic and the 2023 writers strike slowed new episodes and complicated momentum. The franchise expanded into a stage show and plans for an animated spinoff while the core series faced prolonged gaps. The first four episodes of season five attempt to reconcile earlier production setbacks and long-planned narrative ideas, while characters appear visibly older and rely on quippy exposition.
Read at The Verge
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]