*WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!*
In 2015, a show titled “Stranger Things” was released, and a legacy lasting almost ten years was created. The show captivated fans worldwide with its captivating drama, suspense and horror elements contributing to its title as one of the most-watched and highest-quality TV series of its time. On Nov. 26, 2025, the first four episodes of the show’s fifth and final season were released, giving fans the first taste of what is sure to be an explosive end to one of the most popular shows of the decade. New threats, new mysteries and surprising new abilities made this volume an extremely entertaining addition to the show, with episode four, the last episode of the volume, being (in my opinion) one of the best episodes dropped to date.
The cold open of the very first episode is a flashback to Will Byers, just 12 years old, as he finds himself trapped in the terrifying realm of the Upside Down for the very first time, during the traumatising experience that sets off a chain reaction of horrifying events that will haunt him and his friends throughout the series. In this scene, the audience gets to dive a little deeper into what truly happened during the week Will was missing, and it makes it evident that what we knew prior wasn’t even close to the whole story. The spine-chilling supervillain known as “Vecna” (Jamie Campbell Bower) is revealed to have been pulling the strings all along, formulating a plan that nobody saw coming – and that not even the main characters seem to be aware of.
Season five is set about a year and a half after the action-packed finale of season four, marking the longest time jump yet in the show. When we pick up in 1987, the Byers – Joyce (Winona Ryder), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Will are back in Hawkins, and staying with the Wheeler family, Ted (Joe Chrest), Karen (Cara Buono), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Mike, (Finn Wolfhard) and the youngest family member, Holly (Nell Fisher), who is now around ten years old. It was really heartwarming to see the gang reunited after being split up across the country in season four.
Thanks to a colorful radio show called “The Squak” (call sign WSQK), we get insights into the current state of Hawkins. The show is hosted by Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke) and features fan favorite Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) as her assistant. In their latest broadcast, they reveal that Hawkins has not fully recovered from the recent “earthquake” triggered by Vecna’s last attack, during which he opened the four gates to the Upside Down, splitting open the ground and sending the town into chaos. Everyone is quarantined within Hawkins’s borders, and the military is enforcing strict rules to keep the town ignorant of what is really going on – nobody comes in or out without the government knowing about it. Or so they think.
Meanwhile, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is still on the run from the government and training hard to escape them and, hopefully, defeat Vecna. She shows massive improvement to her powers – she can run, jump and basically fly over large objects – all while using her signature telekinetic powers to throw, smash and completely demolish objects, which was a promising change from her loss of abilities in season four. It’s safe to say El will be a powerful fighter this season.
In fact, everybody seems to be extremely resolute and solid. With finding ways to communicate discreetly using the WSQK, having battle plans and maps locked and loaded, and always bearing their main mission in mind – finding (and hopefully killing) Vecna, everything seems to be going smoothly. However, even with the extent to which they have practiced and repeated these missions over the past year, they overlook a fatal threat that attacks the Wheeler household, critically injuring both Ted and Karen and leaving Holly missing. As they begin to face new dangers that challenge their supernatural-fighting experience, the already dire situation intensifies, revealing that their knowledge may not be enough to prepare them for the unknown difficulties ahead.
At Hawkins high school, we become aware that Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) is still deeply suffering from the loss of his friend and role model, Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), and he displays a lot of emotional turmoil reflected in a new moody demeanor that is staggeringly different from the giggly, cheerful, toothy-grin Dustin that we had known and loved in previous seasons. In this season, another conflict is introduced when Dustin is shown to be getting relentlessly bullied and injured by several high school jocks – who, no surprise, didn’t possess much admiration for Eddie.
Mike and Nancy’s younger sister, Holly, has her own secrets and mysteries that contribute to the season’s intrigue. Unlike the main characters, she hasn’t been involved in any of their escapades related to the Upside Down, and her connection to a mystery involving Venca is something none of the characters anticipated. During the season, Holly is reading A Wrinkle in Time, a classic science-fiction fantasy novel that parallels many concepts explored in “Stranger Things,” such as inter-dimensional wormholes. Holly seems to be acquainted with a person she calls “Mr. Whatsit,” which is the name of a central supporting character in the novel (gender swapped, however). She is shown talking to this man on multiple occasions, and he seems to have earned her trust. But what’s concerning about this new friendship is that she seems to be the only one who can see him, introducing a new and puzzling storyline that appears, at the outset, very whimsical and fantastical. Seeing Holly leap into paranormal fighting at the end of the season was something really fun to see, as she had been an extremely minor character in earlier seasons. I also enjoyed seeing Mike take the role of a supportive older sibling, attempting to ease his younger sister’s fears by gifting her a Dungeons and Dragons figure that he names “Holly the Heroic,” and inspiring her to be brave as she takes risks in later episodes.
But Mike isn’t the only one offering meaningful advice this season. Will, although back with his friends in Hawkins, continues to feel like an outsider. In Season two, he tapped into a network of monsters controlled by a shadowy entity known as the Mind Flayer, which operated as a hive mind. Unfortunately, rather than being able to use this connection to his advantage, Will became completely possessed and controlled by the Mind Flayer. Robin observes that Will seems unsure of himself, and during a heartfelt and passionate monologue (I may have shed a few tears), she shares how she overcame her own self-doubt to become the confident person she is today. With her guidance, Will discovers a newfound strength like never before (wink wink). Their newfound friendship is definitely one of my favorite elements of this season.
Multiple new and magnetic characters are also introduced this season. Through Will’s uncannily accurate ability to predict Vecna’s next move, the gang realizes that Vecna’s next victim will likely be a young boy named Derek Turnbow (Jake Connelly), one of Holly’s classmates. They knock out his family, trap the Demogorgon sent after him Home Alone style, and shoot a tracker into its skin in hopes that if they follow it, it will lead them to Vecna. At first glance, Derek is portrayed as somewhat of a bully to the other kids. Still, his snappy, humorous (though admittedly crude) dialogue and comical behavior make him an enjoyable addition to the cast of characters and bring some much-needed comic relief to the show after a heavy, dark season four.
As always, the music perfectly represented the time period, including quintessential 80s tracks such as “I Think We’re Alone Now,” a song covered by pop star Tiffany, “Who Wants To Live Forever” by Queen, and many others, creating a perfectly era-accurate atmosphere that backed a gripping start to the season.
The fourth and final episode of the release leaves fans with dozens of questions, and Vol. 2 – which will include three new episodes – will hopefully provide answers as well as more drama and action. With this season being the final of the series, it was a bittersweet yet satisfyingly exciting opening to what is sure to be a fantastic season. As a “Stranger Things” superfan, I have enjoyed this season so far, and I, for one, will be anxiously awaiting the release of the next volume, which drops on Dec. 25.
