The final season of Stranger Things has set a record for the series, but not a positive one. The long-awaited conclusion to Netflix’s biggest series, Stranger Things, has opted for a block release, with the first four episodes airing on Nov. 26, 2025, and three more airing on Dec. 25, with the final feature-length episode set to air on New Year’s Eve. Audience reactions to the final season have been more mixed than Netflix might have hoped, with one episode now securing the series’ lowest rating.
According to Discussing Film, Stranger Things Season 5, “Chapter Seven: The Bridge,” is the lowest-rated episode on IMDb with a 5.7 rating based on 50k reviews. The previous lowest episode was the controversial Season 2 episode “Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister”, which has a 6.0 rating based on 46k user reviews. These two episodes have a considerable gap when compared to the next lowest episode of the series, Season 3’s “Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy” which has a 7.8 rating and that has 33k user reviews. In contrast, the highest rated episode is Season 4’s “Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab,” which has a 9.6 user rating based on 58k certified user reviews.
Has ‘Stranger Things’ Been the Target of a Coordinated Review Bomb?
Everyone crowding and hugging Will in Stranger Things.Image via Netflix
Why the latest episode of the new season has such a low rating is unclear. There certainly has been negative criticism leveled at Stranger Things Season 5‘s overall direction, particularly the series’ writing, which has been called repetitive by both audiences and critics. Yet it is worth noting that a massive amount of 1-star ratings just hours after the episode aired, which suggests a targeted attack.
Across Stranger Things’ entire series run, “Chapter Seven: The Bridge” has the second-highest number of user ratings on IMDb, behind only Season 5’s concluding “Chapter Four: The Sorcerer.” That certainly is suspicious when one considers the episode has only been out a few days, but somehow generated more user reviews than episodes that have been out for years. This suggests a level of targeted review-bombing by users attempting to manipulate the score, making the series and the episode in question appear more negative than is actually the case.
Why “Chapter Seven: The Bridge” was specifically targeted is not really clear, but it would not be surprising to find it links back to the scene where Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) comes out as gay. The scene itself has been both praised and criticized by many. The massive amount of low ratings might stem from the very fact that people see the perceived inclusion of a queer character as “woke.”
Movies and series with LGBTQ+ characters, particularly in genre spaces, tend to be the subject of massive coordinated review bombing. The idea behind the review bombing is to manipulate the narrative around titles with LGBTQ+ characters and themes to be negative and discourage other storytellers from tackling these subjects.
Release Date
2016 – 2025-00-00
Network
Netflix
