After much anticipation, Stranger Things season five volume one has finally arrived and fans have already flocked to social media to praise the four-episode drop release. However, while many viewers have hailed the first part as “incredible”, fans all appear to have the same complaint after watching the final episode of part one.
“Episode four was EPIC. How am I supposed to just wait for the rest?” said one Instagram user, with fans having to wait a whole month for the next batch of episodes.
“How are the Duffer brothers going to reveal this holy grail and leave us high and dry?” said another user. “I can’t wait to see the second part.”
Others chimed in to leave crying face emojis at being left “on so many cliffhangers for a month”.
The season, which left fans in “pure shambles”, picks up in the autumn of 1987 with the Hawkins gang diligently preparing for their final battle against Vecna. The synopsis teases “a darkness more powerful and more deadly than anything they’ve faced before” for the show’s final outing.
Netflix
Fans aren’t the only ones who have been blown away by the first volume of season five, with critics also heaping praise on the episodes. Check out some of the reactions below:
“It’s classic 80s adventure fare, in the best way: kids outsmarting adults, lashings of humour and a surprising amount of heart. I gulped it down – more please.”
“All the trademark elements are intact: the dark humour, the whimsy, the poetry of trauma and hard-earned resilience. Most reassuring of all is how quickly the show proves it has not lost its sense of fun.”
“Stranger Things feels noticeably tense throughout volume one. It’s a tension that never dips, deliciously creeping up to a Running Up That Hill-level of anguish, without much warning.”
Netflix
Some reviews highlighted episode four as noteworthy:
“The bombastic episode four is Stranger Things at its best – 81, presumably very expensively produced, minutes culminating in an epic battle between the demons, the military and the people of Hawkins.”
“Episode four is a solidly thrilling 90 minutes of flame-throwing, bullet-dodging spectacle that makes good use of what looks like a virtually limitless effects budget, and which culminates in a moment that will have fans standing on their chairs and hollering joyfully.”
“I can say that the final moments of episode four gave me full-body chills and honestly had me on the verge of screaming. Stranger Things season five, volume one, is epic, and will remind you why you fell in love with TV in the first place.”
Courtesy of Netflix
However, the response to season five hasn’t been exclusively positive. Variety criticised the show’s inability to handle the “stars’ obvious maturation with an accompanying complexity”.
Slate was also disappointed by the lack of growth in the characters and show itself, stating: “It’s not just Hawkins that feels cut off from the world. It’s Stranger Things itself, a show now sealed in an airless, impenetrable bubble of stagnant characters and snarled lore.”
Viewers will now have to wait until Boxing Day to watch the second volume, with the finale arriving in the new year.
Stranger Things seasons 1-4 and season 5 volume 1 are available to stream now on Netflix. Season 5 volume 2 will debut on 26 December, followed by the finale on 1 January 2026.
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. Â For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. Â She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
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