Although Stranger Things repeatedly indulged in one tired trope throughout the show’s first four seasons, the ending of season 5, volume 1, proves that the show has solved this particular problem. Stranger Things season 5, volume 1 has arrived, and the long-awaited first chapter of the Netflix hit’s final outing was worth the wait.
Admittedly, the first four episodes don’t tell viewers everything about Vecna’s Stranger Things season 5 plan, or Will’s newly discovered powers, or how El’s “Lost sister” Kali is connected to all of this. Still, these episodes fill viewers in on the blanks between seasons 4 and 5 and set up a killer ending, which is what really matters.
While Nancy’s upcoming Stranger Things spinoff will go into even more detail about the gap between seasons 4 and 5, the show’s final outing has already proven that the series has grown out of one tiresome habit. For years, Stranger Things artificially inflated its story’s stakes with fake-out deaths, but volume 1 put an end to this.
Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1 Avoided A Fake-Out Death
Near the end of season 5, episode 4, “Sorcerer,” Eleven finally got inside the secret lab that the army maintained for a year inside the Upside-Down. With Hopper’s help, she managed to defeat Linda Hamilton’s villainous Dr. Kay for long enough to get into the lab’s containment unit. Eleven was certain that Vecna was imprisoned inside the unit.
With ten minutes left in episode 4, Hopper entered the lab’s containment room wearing a vest of explosives and bid a tearful goodbye to Eleven. The moment Hopper called the Stranger Things heroine “Jane,” her real birth name, I immediately got worried. This sentimental goodbye, along with Hopper’s explosives, implied that he was sacrificing himself to save El and kill Vecna.
This would have been sad, but I wasn’t really worried about Hopper dying, per se. What truly worried me was the thought that Stranger Things might once again end with a major character’s death, only to reveal that it wasn’t really a death after all in the next episode. This has become a shockingly common routine.
Thankfully, Hopper is revealed to be alive and well five minutes later when it turns out it’s really season 2’s guest star Kali who is inside the unit, not Vecna. This was a genuinely great, unexpected twist that makes season 5’s ending much less predictable.
That said, I was mostly just impressed that the show’s creators resisted the urge to keep viewers in suspense until the release of Stranger Things season 5 volume 2. After all, the series has a long and disappointing history of stringing viewers along with cheap fake-out deaths, as outlined below.
Stranger Things Has Overused Fake Deaths
One of the saddest moments in Stranger Things season 1 is the discovery of Will Byers’ dead body. Soundtracked by Peter Gabriel’s haunting cover of the late David Bowie’s “Heroes,” the scene is almost too heartbreaking to fit the tone of the surrounding series and sticks out as a jarringly tragic moment upon a re-watch.
The reason the scene seems so ill-fitting is that, of course, Will’s not really dead. By the time viewers find this out, season 1 is rocketing toward its conclusion, and fans are unlikely to care. However, before the end of the first outing, another two fake-out deaths occurred in quick succession.
Dr. Brenner is attacked and presumably killed off-screen by a Demogorgon in season 1’s finale, only to show up alive and well in season 4. Similarly, Eleven appears to destroy herself to save the boys from the Demogorgon in season 1’s finale, but season 1 immediately revealed that she was actually okay.
This means that it wasn’t all that shocking when, in season 3’s finale, Hopper’s death turned out to be a fake-out. Season 4 soon admitted he was okay, but even this did not stop the show from pulling the same stunt with Steve in season 4’s mid-season finale.
In that instance, Steve was attacked by monstrous bats during the closing moments of season 4, volume 1, and it seemed like he would die before the rest of the gang reached him. Of course, he didn’t, and although Joe Keery’s breakout character is one of the most beloved members of the Stranger Things cast, I couldn’t help but feel let down.
It’s Too Late For More Stranger Things Season 5 Fake Out Deaths
This long string of fake-out deaths has consistently goaded viewers into continuing to watch, only to then reveal that the seemingly tragic twist didn’t really occur. This makes the stakes of the series feel less impressive, as any major death could be lazily undone in the next episode.
Fortunately, there is no more time for Stranger Things to add in more fake-out deaths solely to keep viewers watching. There are only two more releases for the series, so unless volume 2 ends with a death that the finale immediately undoes, Stranger Things is finally, mercifully in the clear and has officially ended this annoying habit.
- Release Date
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2016 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Netflix
- Showrunner
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Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer
- Directors
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Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz
- Writers
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Kate Trefry, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock
