Stranger Things 5: Final Season (Netflix)

Stranger Things 5 "Chapter Five: Shock Jock"

I am very much in "Wait and see" mode. I haven't made up my mind yet.

I kind of like Derek now though. Surprisingly useful.

Dustin was working my last nerve. Not just for being so stupidly wrong about the generator. But I think he got so violently angry at Steve because Steve was right about Eddie. I was on Steve's side of the fight.

That being said, I don't think Steve understands WHY his "friendship" with Nancy is so problematic. I believe him when he claims he's not into her anymore. The problem is I believe she's definitely into him. We'll see how right and wrong I am about these things in a few episodes.

Loving Robin and Will together. He was kind of amazed that Steve was the person she can out to and I totally forgot that bit too.

Wait and see. Wait and See. 3 1/2 stars.

Stranger Things 5 "Chapter Six: Escape From Camazotz"

This episode was kind of the emotional wringer, wasn't it?

As far as that is concerned, Steve and Dustin's reconciliation was one of the briefer bits of pathos, but for some reason, it hit me the hardest.

Still waiting and seeing though. 31 removed link stars.

Stranger Things 5 "Chapter Seven: The Bridge"

I am going to be freaking blunt: I'm still "Wait and see" Guy, but the penultimate episode of ANY genre show needs a better cliffhanger than that. It disturbs me the episode just essentially stops.

I'm wondering if I would even have that complaint if all of the episodes dropped at once. And if they had, and I didn't have that complaint, I'd be wrong. Streaming or not, it's a TV show, and that's the wrong move, whether I would have instantly forgiven it under those circumstances or not.

It's funny, but I have a lot of different standards and expectations from many streaming viewers because I recognize the format IS television. People were absolutely fed up with The Book Of Boba Fett for all of the tangents it took, and while I agree that it focused too much on the Mandalorian, the truth is those detours happened BECAUSE it was a TV show, and it frustratingly (and in my mind admirably) refused to pretend it wasn't. That's how TV has always worked, whether viewers of that show understood that or not. Or even actually understood it WAS a TV show to begin with. It was. And so is this.

Again, big TV guy, so that stuff didn't remotely offend me, but it pissed plenty of people off. Maybe that's why I'm upset this TV show FORGOT it was a TV show. But unlike the Boba Fett show I expect other people will share my opinion about this cliffhanger. But I'm wondering if that's because it's still acting like a streaming show even though Netflix split the parts up. I'm wondering if other people will be frustrated for the same reason I was. I wanted the cliffhanger to be worse. I have a feeling some people will simply be mad it exists at all and think Netflix should have dropped these all at once.

But a good cliffhanger is often a great stopping point, and can be satisfying in its own right. In fact, the best cliffhangers promise great things to come (Star Trek was infamous for ending their seasons like that). Stopping in the middle of a scene right before things start to happen is the show forgetting it's a show at all. And that doesn't actually work when Netflix isn't airing this all at once. Although I am arguing in the bigger picture, it doesn't actually narratively work AT ALL, even if I were to misguidedly forgive it if I could just click onto the finale.

I'm still Wait and see Guy. But I do believe I needed to feel like the finale was gonna be something worth waiting for. Believe it or not, that's a TV show's job in its penultimate episode.

Will coming out might strike current audiences as overly dramatic. Which is why it's so interesting this is set in the 1980's. Reactions back then were VERY different. The worst many kids get today is initial discomfort. Back then, kids were often thrown out of their houses and shunned by everybody. I mean, that still happens, although much less commonly, but when it does, those kids have resources and support systems they did NOT back then. It's why Robin doesn't pipe up with a "Me too!" in that moment.

I lived through the 1980's, and I didn't much care for them. Like now, it was a period in time where human beings seemed to be meaner to each other. Mostly as a backlash to people insisting in the 1960's and 1970's people ought to be nicer. And the reason I have bad memories of that is because that mindset included me as well, and I feel deep shame about that. I hated everyone else back then almost as much as I hated myself. And maybe I wouldn't have hated at ALL if I didn't hate myself so much. And maybe that's what hatred boils down to. It's insecurity about our own crap and inability to feel love.

I guess I responded well to Will's bravery because I feel like this show often (unjustly) glorifies the 1980's. And that's why people like it. But I liked that moment because it's a good reminder to people that as fun as the pop-culture was, as atrocious (and silly) as the fashion was, the truth is, socially and morally, the decade purely sucked. Maybe not as much as today, but the main difference of today is a great number of people are disgusted with the meanness and cruelty and fighting back against it. Back then it was just accepted. By nearly everyone. It's technically worse now, but there are more of us willing to point that out, including me. I hated myself back then, but I don't currently. And maybe that tells me what time I'd rather live in. One where the people potentially disowning Will are Fox News pundits instead of his own friends and family. And yeah, maybe. It's really hard for me to say for certain because things ARE currently so much worse now. But the difference is that view is widely (and loudly) shared instead of talked about in hushed tones. Hard to say.

What I will say is that cliffhanger was the wrong choice for the second to last episode. I will still wait and see but I really had hoped the waiting would have driven me crazier. 3 stars.

Stranger Things 5 “The Rightside Up”

Disappointing? Yes and no. Yes, it was disappointing, but I expected it to be, so that means it technically wasn’t.

I think the hour-long epilogue is an absolutely crazy decision I would not have made in the Duffer Brothers’ place. I predict this finale will get a TON of backlash. That specific thing will be behind most of that.

Do you know why they walked back Eleven at the end? Because her “decision” as it is called is a bad one. There is no understanding or accepting it if that was all it was.

Why did I expect disappointment? Believe it or not the scary monster genre is not exactly the place to expect satisfying wrap-up and closure. Me understanding that about these types of genre projects which is why I was perfectly fine with the finale of Lost, while everyone else cried foul. “The Rightside Up” took extreme pains to give us wrap-up and closure, and for this specific genre, those things work against the premise. I mentioned the hour-long epilogue is ill-advised? That! That!

The final climax / battle with Vecna was good though, because the series did the immensely satisfying thing of having his death being a team effort, all at once, some parts large, some parts small, but they all finally succeed by chipping away at him simultaneously. Frankly, it’s a damn shame MOST genre doesn’t think to do this more often. It’s super empowering for every single character present.

I predict more people will talk shit about that than will rave about it. I will do neither. It was a serviceable if entirely expected ending to a show that resonated with a lot of people. I’m actually fine with “That was a’ight.” 3 1/2 stars.