Spoilers ahead for season five, episodes 5-7
It’s been the Christmas of Stranger Things, Netflix bombarding us with goodies as its crown jewel of a series draws to a close. After four new episodes landed last month, fans including my dweeby self spent last Saturday at an immersive Hawkins experience by the Thames, hunting for clues in the Mac-Z and scoffing a Starcourt Special at Scoops Ahoy. On New Year’s Day we have the grand, this-is-really-it finale but first come these three episodes, freshly delivered by Demogorgon on Boxing Day.
In terms of plot they become increasingly preposterous, resorting to all kinds of geeky contortions to sustain the drama. You buy it — of course you do — but at times it feels a bit back-of-a-fag-packet: suddenly blood is important, and altitude. Sorry to be vague: Netflix has issued a long list of spoilers for reviewers to avoid and it would be un-festive to defy them.
In terms of emotion, though, the saga has hit a golden seam, with a massive revelation or blockbusting heart-to-heart seemingly arriving every 20 minutes.
The big reason why Stranger Things has become such a colossus — the first four episodes of this final season were viewed 59.6 million times around the world in five days — is not the monsters or the magic or the Eighties references, as compelling they are. It’s the bonds: Hopper and El, Joyce and Will, Nancy and Jonathan, Dustin and Steve.
The care with which the Duffer Brothers, the creators of the show, have developed these relationships is really paying off now. It’s the same care that the great Rob Reiner invested in Stand By Me, the Stephen King adaptation that so informed Stranger Things. Caleb McLaughlin’s Lucas has not always been given the most compelling storylines but his loyal support for Max during her Vecna-coma was finally rewarded with a teary jackpot of a scene. Like Reiner, the Duffers understand how warmth and trust fluctuate, how friendships you think will never change can suddenly become something else. As ever, this can happen through the medium of popular culture, such as the priceless moment when one character told another, “I hate the Clash”.
Joe Keery as Steve, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin and Charlie Heaton as Jonathan
NETFLIX
There’s a Pied Piper vibe to the way Vecna is using the kids of Hawkins as “vessels for reshaping the world”, while Noah Schnapp’s Will, after that air-punch twist in episode four, is now a “real-life sorcerer” — not a wizard, his buddies noted nerdishly, because his skills are innate. With great power comes portentous dialogue, apparently. “The truth? The truth is I never stood a chance,” Will intoned at one point. Well, I guess we are approaching the time for grand speeches. And, this being the Duffers, his supernatural renaissance is coupled with a personal one.
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It’s also impressive how new cast members have been added late on and immediately become essential, especially Nell Fisher as Holly, the resourceful third Wheeler sibling, and Jake Connelly as Derek, her brilliantly sneery classmate. Linnea Berthelsen’s Eight feels like bad news and Linda Hamilton’s Dr Kay has been underused but that will surely change come the finale.
Noses will bleed, bones will crack, heads will roll — to underline the value of all these emotional bonds we are surely going to have to lose at least one or two of our favourites. Come January 1, it’s safe to say that many of us will be in bits.
★★★★☆
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