Stranger Things Season 5 (Matt and Ross Duffer, 2025)
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Rating: DSQ=12, SP=8 / Decadence
Scale A=4, Scale B=4, Scale C=4, Scale D=4, Scale E=4
Retro, 1980s, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Thriller
I don't think I've ever cried so much during a season finale. Or thought so long and hard about all the plot lines of a show. Stranger Things Season 5 blew me away--but in ways I didn't expect. While some of the story reveals and plot twists didn't surprise me, I was still captivated. And the epic "final boss" battle was fantastic and fun to watch, even though it wasn't necessarily phenomenal.
What really got me in this last season was: saying goodbye to these characters, this story, to childhood and the past. We saw each friendship at its peak, most powerful and most vulnerable, then watched all the friends go their separate ways. I sobbed because of how real and deeply moving each performance was. I remember being a teenager and not wanting childhood to end. I remember the many events that broke the magical veil of childhood and the instances when I realized nothing would be the same again. Stranger Things captured all of that. Sometimes it is easier to see our own lives through someone else's story. And sometimes we need to have a fantastical/sci-fi show with monsters and terror and superpowers to see our broken world more clearly. I am so glad this show was created and lasted as long as it did. I'm sure to come back to it again and again.
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