Submit Search Review: First volume of ‘Stranger Things’ finale disappoints, but it’s not too late Fans have been waiting for the final season of “Stranger Things” for over three years, begging the question: was it worth the wait? Maya Latz , Staff Reporter • Dec 15, 2025 David Harbour as Jim Hopper and Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in “Stranger Things.” (Netflix) The Duffer Brothers have been blessing Netflix with their terrifying sci-fi monsters and ‘80s nostalgia since 2016. This holiday season, they are finally wrapping up “Stranger Things” with a final season consisting of two volumes of episodes and a series finale. The first four episodes, released on Nov. 26, gave fans plenty of time to mull over new revelations from the Upside Down and speculate for the finale. As a fan of the show since its premiere nine summers ago, I have anticipated this conclusion since they teased its final season back in 2022. Unfortunately, the first four episodes did not live up to my expectations, but it’s not too late to turn it around. Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers and Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler in “Stranger Things.” (Netflix) So far in the season, the main crew has gotten back to their old antics of sticking their noses in interdimensional business, as the military presence in Hawkins increases. Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) targets the Wheeler family’s youngest, Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher), by kidnapping her via Demogorgon, landing Karen (Cara Buono) and Ted Wheeler (Joe Chrest) in the hospital while Eleven “El” (Millie Bobby Brown) and Jim Hopper (David Harbour) embark on a rescue mission in the Upside Down to save Holly. The show’s writing has become increasingly cringeworthy, with Robin (Maya Hawke) being the pinnacle of my complaints. The Duffers and co. have forgone her carefully crafted critical quips for clunky and awkward lines that don’t make sense for the character. Beyond character assassination, the clear differences in writing and craft when comparing Season 1 and Season 5 are hard to overcome. The first season plays into the mystery of the unknown creature that took Will (Noah Schnapp), with properly spooky, shadowy jumpscares as opposed to Season 5, giving us more of the same murky CGI creatures without any care taken in their presentation. The seasons have become less scary over time, a disappointment given how truly frightening the show was during its debut. Another omnipresent trope that the Duffers lean on is the fake-out death. This show has three fake deaths in the first season alone and has overused this tactic with central characters ever since, only killing off side characters. Time has run out for fake deaths, and the stakes are high for the core characters. In this initial volume, nobody has met their maker, but fans anticipate either El or Will’s death in the finale. Based on the show’s history, El’s death seems the most likely. The Duffer Brothers even admitted in a companion book that the original plan was to kill El in the final episode of Season 1. When the show was picked up for another season, this was eventually spun as a fake death. It seems only appropriate to fulfill El’s death as the series comes to a close. Noah Schnapp as Will Byers in “Stranger Things.” (Netflix) Complaints and qualms aside, the show has done a good job with setting up the end of Will’s character arc, specifically his sexuality. The show has long implied that Will is gay, tracing all the way back to the first episode. It is also heavily implied that Will has romantic feelings for Mike (Finn Wolfhard), which are unrequited due to his relationship with El. In the fourth episode of Season 5, we get a flashback scene of Mike and Will becoming friends with Robin’s “come out of the closet” monologue from earlier in the episode. The flashback effectively confirms to the audience that Will has romantic feelings for Mike in showing that his queerness has always been part of him. While it was more subtle in the earlier seasons, the hints were always there, and this flashback montage does a great job at making the audience realize this. Will’s sexuality has always been subtly written, which I appreciate in comparison to how other TV shows portray queerness — it’s not the main attribute Will brings to the table — where, too many times in film and TV, queer characters are portrayed one-dimensionally, which reinforces negative and simplistic stereotyping of queer people. Throughout the show, Will has wrestled with complex emotions and relationships without his sexuality being the shaping factor of his actions and decisions. The fourth episode of this season allows him to finally come out without feeling cheesy or over the top. This first volume is messier and less focused than previous seasons as it relies heavily on all-too-explicit dialogue to handhold viewers as to what’s going on, as opposed to previous seasons, which allowed smarter subtext to carry more of the narrative. In the second volume of episodes, one can only hope that the Duffers and co. return to the smarter, pared-back visual storytelling exemplified in Season 1. The second volume of “Stranger Things” will be released Dec. 25, and the finale will be released Dec. 31. View Story Comments Source: https://goldengatexpress.org/114445/ae/review-first-volume-of-stranger-things-finale-disappoints-but-its-not-too-late/