Stranger Things 5 Part 2 will make you question how you spent the past decade
Author: Chris Snelgrove Published
Netflix makes the bold choice to separate fifth and final season stranger things Divided into three parts, the second part is released on Christmas Day. The streamer certainly hopes these new episodes feel like the gift fans have been waiting for, but it seems like the entire fandom may end up on the Duff Brothers’ naughty list.
stranger things Season 5 Part 2 was very disappointing, all the time was talked about and nothing explain anything.
‘Stranger Things’ ruins season 5’s best moments
first issue stranger things Season 5 ended with a crowd-pleasing moment when Will Byers, the show’s weakest, most meek character, suddenly gained superpowers and began tearing apart the Demon King with his psychic powers. Sadly, the second part of the season doesn’t quite live up to that.
Will begins to mope about his feelings again, and we quickly discover that his newfound powers are no match for Vecna. Speaking of which, after shredding Army soldiers like confetti, the show’s big bad spends most of his time in a dreamscape of his memory with Holly and the other kidnapped children.
These stranger things The show spends a lot of time in that dream sequence, some of which is necessary to illustrate how Max manages to escape (and how Holly fails). That time feels largely wasted, as it doesn’t really give us any insight into Vecna’s background, abilities, or plans.
This is indeed a major failure of the season. The penultimate episode ends with Vecna about to implement his big plan, broadly described as merging the worlds together. That moment doesn’t feel like a real cliffhanger because no one knows exactly what this vaguely booked villain is trying to accomplish.
What’s left in Stranger Things
On the bright side, stranger things Finally answers to some of our bigger questions. We discover that the military’s true goal is to use the blood of Eleven and her fellow psychics to create more super-powered children so they can (what else?) win the Cold War. We discover that the Upside Down is actually a wormhole to another world, the one Vecna wants to merge with our own.
These revelations leave us with more questions than answers. Those questions included whether Eleven had to die to break the cycle of Vecna’s blood being used to create super-powered children.
Everything will presumably be answered in the series finale on New Year’s Eve, but that leads to the biggest problem with these middle episodes: It all feels like extended setup for the finale rather than an exciting story in its own right.
Every character arc pays off (like Steve and Dustin crushing their beef, Max breaking out of his coma, Will finally revealing himself to everyone) and we’re left with characters spinning. Mike was just there looking worried, Robin and Murray were just there joking, Erica was just there being snarky, etc. There are too many characters and not enough for them to do.
No nervousness, no excitement
The show requires cutting from one expensive scene to another, which often feels awkward. stranger things its tension. For example, by the end of episode seven, our characters are actually able to drive into the same military base that Hopper and Eleven had trouble infiltrating.
Meanwhile, Vecna and the Demon Lords seem unable to kill or even seriously injure our protagonist, making each battle less dramatic than the one before. Speaking of combat, it’s increasingly embarrassing that geeky kids with only a knowledge of Dungeons and Dragons are better at taking on otherworldly monsters than a small army of soldiers.
The latest final insult stranger things These supposedly smart characters either receive messages (like Dustin conveniently finding Dr. Brenner’s journal) or have weird epiphanies, like microwave popcorn leading Lucas to realize they can resurrect the dead Deroggan. This feels like lazy writing and acknowledgment that the Duffer Brothers don’t know what they’re doing.
Recently, the Duffers claimed they already know how the show will end Year. If this is true, why are they so bad at setting up the endgame?
stranger things Season 5 Part 2 isn’t entirely bad. It’s fun to see Sadie Sink act around the others (can’t wait to see her in the Marvel Cinematic Universe), and there are some truly touching moments, like Max reuniting with Lucas.
However, these three episodes are almost entirely set-up for an oversized, over-the-top series finale that’s unlikely to meet everyone’s expectations. If Netflix can’t stick the landing, fans might think the weirdest thing is that we’ve been watching the show get worse for nearly a decade.
