"At the end of an era, the instinct has always been to look back. That's especially true for television, and just as valid: audiences want to reflect on all the ways their favorite characters have grown, the hardships they've overcome, the relationships they've forged. It's why it's so common to see flashbacks in a series finale - but the final episode of Stranger Things takes that expectation and pushes it far beyond its breaking point."
"Matt and Ross Duffer, the creators of the sci-fi series, described Season 5 more like "eight blockbuster movies" than a television show. They also intended to split all that into three "volumes," adhering to one of Netflix's most irritating release habits. The more the Duffers spoke about their plans, the more they seemed to get lost in their own ambitions."
Stranger Things Season 5 finale leans heavily on nostalgia and flashbacks instead of advancing the plot or presenting meaningful developments. Creators Matt and Ross Duffer framed the season as sprawling and cinematic, planning to split it into multiple volumes, which contributed to a bloated structure. Early episodes showed strong moments, but the finale squandered goodwill by padding runtime with retrospective scenes and echoes of earlier seasons. Major questions accumulated over nearly a decade receive few satisfying answers, and few characters face challenging or consequential growth. The emphasis on past triumphs and memories undermines momentum and emotional payoff for a concluding chapter.
Read at Inverse
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]