Rating (out of 5):

Thoughts and comments:

(Review to be added.)

Rating (out of 5):

Thoughts and comments:

(Review to be added.)

Overall Rating (out of 5):

Warning: This will mostly be complaints about the latest season.

Thoughts and comments: Let me be clear: I once considered myself a long-time fan, as I was around since the show began in 2016.

Emphasis on once, because I very quickly grew out of that opinion several seasons later, when I learned some of the cast members (Noah Schnapp and Brett Gelman) were openly Zionist. It sucks, especially since I grew up enjoying the show and its premise, but I could not see those actors the same way anymore.

The same could not be said for my immediate family, who are really, reaaaaally diehard fans-- while I was happy to be rid of the show, they refused to let it go. The short summary being my parents think that I am too "woke" (aren't we all). It's likely that my family's attachment to the show might be due to the fact we watched almost every season together. Stranger Things was one of very few shows where we could all willingly sit down and watch together, as every family member has drastically different interests in TV shows, games, and books. My parents praised the accurate 80s' American movie culture and influences, my brother, a fan of the musical artists from that time period and can name every artist and song that played without hesitation, myself enjoying the acting and sci-fi/mystery aspects that the show had to offer. But we could all agree that what the show had lined up from the very first season was weird, horrifying, but also incredibly promising.

I spent my last few days of 2025 overseas with my family. So for old times' sake (and because I was stuck in an AirBnB with nothing else to do), we watched and completed Season 5.

...But what the fuck happened??

I've seen many people online suggest that after events like the writers' strike and a Duffer Brother's divorce (the wife was also a writer for the show), the cracks in the show's writing REALLY begin to show. I don't know how much of this is true, but honestly-- I wouldn't be surprised. The direction of the last season is a far cry from the shock and excitement that I felt in the previous seasons. This feeling doesn't come from the fact that "everything" has been revealed this season and there's not much "mystery" really left-- it's just the fact that the season's writing was absolute dogshit.

For starters, yhere's at least one plan montage in EVERY episode of season 5, and it gets old fast. A character would randomly have a revelation, get random objects to explain the reasoning behind their ideas, and then describe their long, convoluted plan while everyone stands around with a quirky comment or disagreement. Speaking of dialogue, it's now also Marvel-movie level bad-- predictable, annoying and unrealistic. Sure, you could chalk the dialogue up to the fact that they're likely referencing cheesy dialogue from 80s films to really amp up the nostalgia factor-- but surely even back then, it had to be cheesy to moviegoers at the time too, right? Especially if it was almost every movie...

Some of the characters, especially the women, feel whittled down to one or two personality traits and nothing more. I found this especially apparent for those who didn't have much to contribute: like Robin (she's the quirky one!), Vickie (she's the overbearing gf!) and Joyce (she's the hysterical mother!). This writing highly bothers me, especially compared to how female characters were treated in previous seasons. For example, although Joyce was considered "overbearing" and "hysterical" by other characters in the first season, the audience and the main cast learn that she was right and onto something much bigger than everyone expected. But this season, she's suddenly treated less seriously again. Her relationships with other characters like Mike (who has been with her through almost EVERYTHING that happens), suddenly regresses as she's treated like a ticking time bomb-- characters sneak out behind her back or chalk up her concerns as her being dramatic. She's an overprotective, hysterical, overbearing mother stereotype all over again. And it sucks!

This season Nance also had it pretty bad, as she also feels whittled down to being "the cool/strong female character" who conveniently has to shed all her feminine traits and become more masculine to be taken seriously as a female character. The debilitation of female characters is where I think the theory of all the good writers disappearing might be right-- the Duffer Brothers really cannot write women for shit.

With the Stranger Things cast so spread out, and its' numbers somehow EXPANDING this season: no one has time for character development at all. Dr Kay for example, with no apparent character motivation, just shows up to do... something? And then disappears without us ever knowing what happens to the military after they leave Hawkins. Characters who would have had a perfectly well-suited role in helping the main cast (heavy on Dr Sam for this one, who knows how to help Eleven better than anyone!) never show up again.

Don't even get me started on the excuses that the Duffer Brothers' provided. Things that they supposedly deemed as irrelevant to the main plot (such as Vecna knowing Joyce and Hopper from highschool)...

All happened off-screen. All of it. Because fuck you, I guess.

Also, I spent the entire season waiting for someone to die. Like actually, brutally die. I don't typically wish for death, but the stakes and my immersion with the story were genuinely so low that I wanted someone to get permanently wiped off the screen. I got EXCITED when I saw Steve fall. EXCITED.

But maybe I am woke, because I was disappointed that one of the only people who really died on-screen was a person of colour, and a side character of all things. This is also funny when you remember there was a "violent and brutal death" that the Duffer Brothers were promising us-- which we never got. Any on-screen death was reserved strictly for the "throwaway side character". I sincerely think Kali was done dirty this season. Because clearly they were really struggling to find someone to kill from the main cast, huh? Here you go guys eat up! ANOTHER SIDE CHARACTER DEATH! GREAT! FANTASTIC!

And no, I am not counting Eleven's "death" in this review. She had the worst ending of all.

(Review to be continued.)

Last updated: 13/01/2026