If you are reading this, then congratulations, because you have survived long enough to see the ending of Stranger Things. It was a long time coming, and it felt extra long because a bunch of the main characters were played by actors who were almost teenagers, and so Stranger Things almost ended up being like an accidental Boyhood. That movie wanted you to notice that 12 years had passed, but Stranger Things would’ve preferred you thought only a few years passed, rather than close to a whole decade.
Since, yeah, the first season came out in 2016, and then the fifth and final season was drip-fed to viewers throughout the last month or so of 2025. Season 1 was probably meant to just be a miniseries, but then it was so damn popular that the potential for money (dollar dollar bills yo) outweighed any notion of a one-and-done thing. Season 2 was good. Season 3 was ambitious but messy. Season 4 largely got things back on track. And then season 5… well, season 5 was something. All the episodes are ranked below. Like Russell Crowe at the end of Gladiator, now, we are free.
8
“Chapter Seven: The Bridge”
It just feels like a whole difficult thing to talk about the penultimate episode of the fifth season of Stranger Things, because people really don’t like “The Bridge.” Avoiding some of the reasons certain people don’t like it, what can be comfortably said is this: not enough happens. Yes, it’s a penultimate episode, and you don’t want a penultimate episode overshadowing a finale, but you gotta have a little more than this.
There needed to be a little bit more of a punch here, in “Chapter Seven: The Bridge,” or some kind of truly exciting cliffhanger.
“The Bridge” is Stranger Things at its most wheel-spinny. It’s also an episode that puts in the foreground just how crowded the main cast of this show has become, with all the wide shots probably meant to emphasize the power of teamwork and all, but instead, it just reminds you how many people are being juggled at once (again, too many). There needed to be a little bit more of a punch here, or a truly exciting cliffhanger. It didn’t need to be as shocking as, like, a Game of Thrones penultimate episode, but it’s not hard to see why many were left wanting more at this late stage in the show.
7
“Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler”
“Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler” is probably most interesting because it was originally named “Chapter Two: The Vanishing of…”, keeping things a mystery until it turns out Holly’s the one who gets gone. And it also references the title of the first episode of the show’s first season, “The Vanishing of Will Byers,” which is where… well, you know, the strange things start happening and stuff.
Anyway, with this one, it gets some more conflict happening in the season, which is nice and all, but it’s silly how the Demogorgon here treats main and supporting characters so differently from random, nameless soldiers. It’s not the first time someone’s bested a seemingly terrifying monster in a kind of laughable way, but Karen Wheeler doing it with a broken wine bottle? Come on. It’s a reminder that Demogorgons really aren’t worth fearing anymore, at this point in the series, which means the overall level of tension takes something of a hit.
6
“Chapter Five: Shock Jock”
Vol. 1 of Stranger Things 5 was made up of four episodes, and that whole arc, if you want to call it that, ended pretty strongly with the climax of episode 4. Then came Vol. 2 of season 5, which was made up of three episodes, and as mentioned before, the third of them (#7) wasn’t great. “Shock Jock” is slightly better, but not by a whole lot, and it kind of kneecaps the momentum that was going at the end of the fourth episode.
People regroup, recap things, and just keep on planning. Will’s powers? Still sort of there and relevant, but not in as exciting a way as the ending of episode 4 might’ve led you to believe. There’s a nonsense cliffhanger that involves shooting something that apparently shouldn’t be shot, but if you’re hoping that makes the pace pick up again, nope. Is that this episode’s problem, or the sixth one’s? I don’t know, man.
5
“Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz”
Speaking of episode 6, here it is. It’s “Escape from Camazotz.” It is probably the best of what Vol. 2 of season 5 had to offer, but that’s not saying a huge amount. Similar problems are here, in terms of pacing and juggling a few too many threads all at once, but at least there’s that scene between Nancy and Jonathan, which delivers some finality for one of the show’s main relationships, and it’s good to have something that feels final season-worthy here.
And then with Max and Holly, and their journey coming to an end… like, their heart-to-heart isn’t poorly written and acted, but it’s weird how long it goes on for, when time feels of the essence. And the hospital stuff, while initially exciting, gets so silly. Why don’t the Demodogs hear the music that Lucas doesn’t want to stop playing, but they do hear something rattling around in a washing machine? Why do they move so damn slowly once they enter the room where the main characters are? Their defeat feels so unsatisfying, as Karen does it again in a moment that’s probably supposed to be cool, but falls flat. Honestly, some good character stuff here, strong performances, and those one or two good scenes do quite a bit of heavy lifting, because elsewhere, “Escape from Camazotz” falls fairly flat.
4
“Chapter One: The Crawl”
There’s not too much to say about “The Crawl.” It is indeed a season opener, and it mostly does the job without really excelling. There were some interesting things left open at the end of season 4, and they’re sort of covered here, but that mounting dread you kind of get after the “victory,” if you can call it that, in that season’s finale isn’t really continued here. It’s not quite business as usual, but it would’ve been nice if things felt a bit darker right from the jump.
To its credit, “The Crawl” doesn’t introduce too much that’s brand new; some restraint there, in terms of accepting the size of the cast was already at near breaking point (as for cutting out or killing many side characters? Uh, not really on season 5’s mind, for the most part). You are reminded of things and why they are strange. And then the end of the episode promises something kind of crazy, which is exciting and a bit intense, but then when episode 2 comes around… well, the opening of that one was already complained about.
3
“Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap”
You wouldn’t really be able to guess that the guy who directed The Shawshank Redemption also helmed two episodes of Stranger Things 5, but yeah, Frank Darabont did, including “The Turnbow Trap.” It makes sense, though, given he’s directed three Stephen King adaptations, and Stranger Things does borrow quite a bit from King. Hell, you can see it in this episode, which is certainly not the first to owe quite a bit to It.
It’s a season 5 episode alright. People band together, they make plans, and then they defeat the monsters in front of them pretty easily, maybe because they’ve been doing it for years now and are good at it. You get some frustration here, in “The Turnbow Trap,” with that overall sense of ease, yet at least there’s some fun to be had in watching this particular episode’s plan get laid out and then executed. Not great, but good. It’s fine. It’s cool.
2
“Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up”
It doesn’t 100% stick the landing, but “The Rightside Up” is thankfully more satisfying than the bulk of season 5. There are problems throughout the season that are still here, to some extent. There’s a good deal of plot armor being worn by some, dialogue’s not the strongest, and there are still too many people all over the screen. The core of what happens, though… it kind of works.
It works enough. It’s not a great enough finale to cement Stranger Things as an all-timer of a TV show, but there have also been a bunch of arguably better TV shows than Stranger Things that actually face-planted on the finish line. “The Rightside Up” plays things mostly safe, goes big in the ways you’d expect, and tries very hard to tug on the heartstrings. You may be moved, or may find it a tad much, or feel a bit of both. There’s closure here, though. Perhaps that’s the main thing.
1
“Chapter Four: Sorcerer”
“Sorcerer” concluded the first half of season 5 pretty well, and even after the dust has settled, it still feels like the final season’s high point. It’s got the most impressive action of the season (though the finale does try to top it, in scale, to a potentially ridiculous extent), and it’s also the episode where Vecna feels his most threatening. And that scratches the season 4 itch, so being reminiscent of that largely celebrated season of the show helps.
Also, it’s got a strong cliffhanger that might well have drummed up too much excitement for what came next, since what came next wasn’t on the same level. “Sorcerer” being as good as it is means few are likely to call the final season of Stranger Things an outright failure, and sure, one genuinely great episode out of eight isn’t amazing, but it’s better than nothing. And there are a couple of other good episodes around it… they’re just not great enough to make the season, overall, a high point for the entire series.
Stranger Things
- Release Date
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2016 – 2025-00-00
- Network
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Netflix
- Directors
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Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz
