"Stranger Things" Year Five

Minor spoilers ahead.

So, I didn't hate the ending of "Stranger Things."  I thought that it delivered pretty much exactly what it advertised, giving us a final showdown between the kids of Hawkins and the horrors of the Upside Down, while offering a chance to say goodbye to these characters.  It did some things well and other things badly, but the quality of "Stranger Things" has always been extremely variable.  I wasn't surprised at all by the sloppy writing, unsatisfying character arcs, or prioritizing of the spectacle over the story.  However, it also had some highs and hit some bullseyes, and deserves the credit for those too.    

So, the citizens of Hawkins are living with the unwelcome presence of constant military activity and martial law in the wake of Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) having opened more access points to the Upside Down.  Vecna hasbeen making himself scarce, leaving the kids to deal with smaller threats like bullies and the latest evil government scientist, Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton), while preparing for the next battle.  However, Vecna's been busy, and it soon emerges that his latest target is the youngest Wheeler sibling Holly (Nell Fisher) and some of her classmates.  There are a couple of other new faces, like Robin's girlfriend Vickie (Amybeth McNulty), and a new comic relief kid named Derek (Jake Connelly), but otherwise the show has its hands full keeping up with Mike, Dustin, Eleven, Will, Lucas, Max, Steve, Jonathan, Nancy, Robin, Erica, Hopper, and Joyce.  Frankly, there's little room for anyone else at this point.

The more time that the show spends checking in on the show's regular characters, and emphasizing the things we like about them, like Dustin and Steve's rekindled bromance, the more engaging it is. The more it ties itself in knots trying to justify all the new twists and turns of the plotting, the worse it is.  Sadly, Linda Hamilton is utterly wasted playing a generic villain whose actions don't seem to matter at all to the larger story.  Holly, a character I didn't remember existed before this season, suddenly becoming a main character was an odd choice.  It doesn't help that she's miscast - the actress is talented, but feels very off trying to play a much younger kid.  A lot of problems come from trying to juggle too many characters.  Robin shoulders a ton of exposition and emotional heavy lifting while characters like Mike and Jonathan simply don't have much to do.  Frankly, it's a minor miracle that the show finds its way to any kind of coherent ending at all.  

I'm happy to say that all the long-percolating questions about who Nancy will end up with, whether Max will wake up from her coma, and what's been bothering Will all get resolved at last.  We also get a lot more about the origins of the Upside Down, Vecna, and Henry Creel's past, those who enjoy the show's worldbuilding.  However, the vast amount of the show's time and resources, are spent creating big setpieces.  We get everything from home invasions to daring prison escapes to a giant monster battle.  Some of these are very good, and others are less so.  Suspension of disbelief is vital, as some of the plot developments make absolutely no sense, but I'm not inclined to complain because they're very entertaining.  Nancy and Jonathan hashing out their relationship in a room full of melting ectoplasm is weirdly sweet.  Erica taking point in a mass kidnapping scheme is priceless.  Will finally telling the truth is awkward, but I respect that the Duffers stopped the show in its tracks to let him do it properly.  

The three years it took to make these final eight episodes created all of this hype and anticipation that was never going to be matched by the actual finished product, and I feel bad for any fans who expected something more.  However, this wasn't the fatal stumble that the endings of the last "Star Wars" trilogy or "Game of Thrones" were for those franchises.  The ending of "Stranger Things" got the job done, without too many casualties (probably too few), and I can finally disentangle myself from this prolonged goodbye with a sense of relief.

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