This new ‘teaser’ for the upcoming live-action spin-off we got today seems to have caught some people off guard and triggered some confusion over how this even connects to Stranger Things, why are we going back to the 1950’s and why there’s a random UFO flying over some fictional town in Nevada, so I’m making this breakdown to clear all of this up based on all the information we got since 2022 and speculate a bit on what we should expect. Hope you guys enjoy the read.
Marion, Nevada
The name “Marion” might sound familiar to those who have watched The First Shadow on Broadway; the name of this fictional location only became a thing in the stage play after re-writes and changes done for the official pro-shot filmed back in February this year, which (as I randomly predicated a while ago) turned out to be setting up the spin-off’s setting.
Before the re-writes, the mentions to this location would’ve been Rachel, Nevada (openly mentioned as the Creels’ hometown in the original West End run), or simply Lincoln County, Nevada (as re-written into the Broadway run before the final pro-shot re-writes). Before “Marion” even became a thing, the setting obviously immediately screamed UFO conspiracies and obviously Area 51 when Rachel, Nev. was first revealed to be the Creels' hometown years ago.
The filming location/stand-in for Nevada will be once again New Mexico, just like it was for Season 4 and Season 5. This is the first time ever that we really see some town in Nevada even though we've visited this location a couple times. So far all we had is Owens' adobe house in Ruth, and a few shots of the town in The First Shadow (recording of Henry's birthday), it's also cool this is the fourth fictional town in this universe (we've had Hawkins, Lenora Hills and Kyrzran).
New Town and Military Base
With Other Worlds, the Duffer Brothers and Kate Trefry craft a new ensemble and adventure that is imbued with the DNA of our flagship series while exploring a new era, setting, and all-new characters, themes,and mythology — the seeds of which may have been planted in Hawkins,but now venture into other worlds of spectacle, action, and emotion.
Here in this teaser, we see the fictional town of Marion in the horizon, but what really caught my attention is obviously the fence, with an ominous warning sign reading “RESTRICTED AREA” (familiar, huh?). The warning obviously screams military, and the fence in question is bordering a military base that we don’t see but have at least already heard of in The First Shadow, which is where the in-universe connective tissue with Stranger Things begins.
The military base in Nevada seems to be this show’s Hawkins National Laboratory/Camp Hero; they’re going full blown “Area 51” here. But the connection goes beyond the “evil lab in a small town” theme. It’s from here that all the seeds planted in Hawkins came from: Dr. Brenner, the mysterious Abyss “rock”, young Henry Creel – they’re all chronologically here in this base and/or town in 1955, this is essentially the "birth place" of all the things that eventually "cursed" Hawkins 4 years later:
Stranger Things Connection
Dr. Brenner:He came back changed. Even his blood type was different. For years, we've been trying to figure out what happened to him. We even developed a special machine, called an X-ray computed tomograph, to look for clues in his brain. Here's what we found: no reaction to medication, lobotomy, shock treatment.There's not much this man hasn't been through in Nevada. At the military base. That's where I work, Henry.
It’s in this facility that the remnants of “Project Rainbow” (AKA the Philadelphia Experiment, which later continued as the ‘Nevada Experiment’) were researched on by the Department of Defense: namely Dr. Brenner’s father (Subject 000) - the USS Eldridge’s Captain and sole survivor of its inadvertent trip to Dimension X; and the otherworldly substance (rock) that was previously in his body before being extracted, stolen and taken to a mineshaft we’re already familiar with.
It’s also from this facility that the “Scientist” (a Russian spy) little Henry encountered in the mineshaft came from. As the Duffers had already stated, this spin-off would answer these specific lingering questions left by ST5’s finale: where the Scientist came from? How did he get ahold of that rock? Where did the rock come from? The answers to these questions lie within this location and story, even though we’re not exactly focusing on that (as per the Duffers):
Matt Duffer:No, in terms of learning the origins of this thing. I don't want to mislead people in thinking that that's really what the spinoff is about. It's going to answer that question, but it's its own mythology. So it's very, very different. It's not a spinoff about the Mind Flayer. I don't want to set up false expectations, but for people who are frustrated that they don't know what exactly where that scientist came from, how he's in the cave, what the glowing rock is, at some point, that will be answered for you.
The Rock
And ultimately, it’s around Marion, Nevada that Boy Scout Henry becomes infected with the same rock-turned-liquid entity that had been extracted from Captain Brenner/Subject 000, connecting him to the Mind Flayer, giving him preternatural abilities and turning his life upside down; the rest of the story is what eventually becomes Stranger Things as we know it:
Henry’s unfortunate accident leads to the Creels moving to a new town for a fresh start; Dr. Brenner tracks him down to Hawkins; an investigative unit associated with Project Rainbow is deployed to investigate the infected, dangerous subject in town, recommissioning the town's local vacant power plant in the process and turning it into Hawkins National Laboratory.
Storytelling
“The most important connective tissue I would say is the storytelling sensibility of it,” they continued. “There is story that connects to the ‘Stranger Things’ world, but it really is more about how we’re telling that story.”
“It’s so different than something like ‘Star Wars,'” Matt said. “It doesn’t really work like that.” Instead, the spinoff will be part of the show’s “brand” and “style of storytelling” — “kids, adventures, sci-fi/fantasy, rather than increasingly expand what could become an insanely convoluted mythology.”
On the subject of this spin-off’s connection to Stranger Things, I think it’s worth bringing up the fact that this project’s “storytelling sensibility” is its main connective tissue with its predecessor. They’re doing another Amblin-esque sci-fi tale, following the same “ordinary-meets-extraordinary” style of storytelling that the Duffers grew up loving.
The Duffers themselves called this a “Stranger Things brand”, Matt specifically mentioned: kids, small towns, sci-fi/fantasy, which is exactly what the imagery of this new announcement teases with the fallen bike, an ordinary small town in the horizon and obviously, the “extraordinary” UFO briefly appearing in the dark, cloudy sky. It’s something fresh and new, but it’s still pretty much Stranger Things at heart.
Mythology-wise it also seems to use conspiracies as its main source material to build a story around; Stranger Things was primarily based on the Montauk Project (despite moving to Hawkins and changing it to Project Indigo); it also dealt with MKUltra and Project Rainbow. Here we’re clearly seeing something pulling a lot from UFO conspiracies with a story literally set in a supposed UFO hotspot.
New Mythology and UFOs
“It’s Stranger Things, but also thrillingly fresh, with a new setting, new heroes and villains, and new … actually, we’re not allowed to say any more. Now, on to casting. In the meantime —watch the skies, nerds!”
As we briefly saw in this teaser and the Duffers statement, this new Mythology seems to shift away from alternate dimensions and instead be centered around UFO’s and otherworldly threats from the skies (1950’s? Nevada? A military base? Who’d have thought). Stranger things with UFO's.
A completely new mythology built around aliens was something pretty predictable on the Duffers’ part, specially taking into account their old statements about their personal preference for sci-fi than supernatural/spiritual horror plus the fact that they’d just be repeating themselves by playing with other dimensions again:
Matt Duffer:The monster [in the alternate dimension] doesn’t come from a spiritual domain and it’s not connected to any religion. It made it scarier.I don’t believe in ghosts, but I believe in aliens and alternate dimensions.
Matt Duffer:Spiritual-based horror has never scared me, so anything science-based scares me.Aliens, I believe in aliens so anything alien related scares me. Ghosts don't scare me.
But while we are primarily dealing with a new threat and mythology from the skies, we’re also diving into a military facility that (supposedly) was researching on a whole multitude of ‘supernatural’ elements considering a complete separate research and conspiracy (Project Rainbow) connected not to ‘space aliens’, but to another dimension entirely was part of it as well. Close Encounters was a huge influence for the adults’ storyline in ST1, and it might return as an even bigger influence now with this project given its setting and themes.
In terms of Mythology they’re doing a complete 180 to what Stranger Things was: we’re moving away from the darkness “beneath” Hawkins to now dive into a new mystery “above” the small town of Marion.
Where the Hell Are the Mind Flayer, the Upside Down, or Dimension X?
Matt Duffer:This spinoff does connect and will answer some of the lingering questions.It’s not specifically about the Mind Flayer or the Upside Down, but hopefully it provides some answers to that at least those lingering questions related to Henry’s memory.
Matt Duffer:I do want to explain, just because people’s expectations go in certain directions: The spinoff is going to delve into that and explain that, and you’re going to understand it.But it’s a completely different mythology. So it’s not a deep exploration of the Mind Flayer or anything like that.
Matt Duffer:I’ve been pinned down and forced to blow this already, so I might as well tell you.There’s lingering questions about the rock and where the rock came from [in Henry’s story in the finale] and the scientist and all of that.Because we had said that there is something in the finale that is going to connect to the spinoff. The spinoff isnot about rocks or mining the rocks, but I would say that’s the loose end that’s not that’s not tied up that will be tied up.
As most people are probably already aware, we’re not diving deeper into the Mind Flayer, Dimension X, the Upside Down or Stranger Things’ individual Mythology here; this has been stated by the Duffers multiple times over the years and specially after S5’s finale when discussing the spin-off in interviews. We're shifting away from Project Indigo, the Traversable Wormhole and Dimension X.
And as previously mentioned: Marion, Nevada and this military base are the “birth place” of the seeds that were moved to and planted in Hawkins (an infected Henry, Dr. Brenner, the DoD’s Project Rainbow research team), which is why some lingering questions are being cleared up here, but the research on Dimension X materials is likely not the only research going on in the base, nor the main focus of this spin-off’s fresh Mythology.
So to clear up a recurring misconception: there’s no such thing as “rock spin-off”, even though this spin-off happens to answer the lingering questions regarding the rock as stated by the Duffers.
But we still get the sense that it’s the same world, not only for its storytelling sensibility, themes and style but also the possible “cameos” like the rock itself that might visually appear (given the answers the spion-off is stated to provide). I wouldn’t be surprised if a much younger Brenner shows up, since he’s one of the people who joined the DoD research team working on Project Rainbow and was in that facility in the 1950’s; obviously, if this ends up happening we shouldn’t expect it to be more than a cameo, but they're clearly not shy about directly associating this to Stranger Things (its a "Stranger Things adventure" after all).
Possible Montauk Project Inspiration
I’m probably not the only one who noticed how similar this teaser’s imagery is to the Duffers’ original cover for the Montauk lookbook: a kid’s fallen bike right in front of an ominous military base (worth pointing out the song here - "Sh-Boom" by The Chords - plays in one of Henry’s memory Mindscapes). But this is not why I’m bringing up Montauk to this breakdown.
We still don’t know if they’re taking inspiration from a different conspiracy entirely or if they’re still pulling from The Montauk Project, but we know it included much more than the themes Stranger Things borrowed from it (experiments on civilians, psychic individuals, Wormholes, alternate dimensions), some of which the Duffers even originally planned to address in ST such as attempted time travel.
There’s still aliens (duh), alien technology, time travel, super-soldiers, teleportation, and so on. I would say I don’t find it unlikely that some of these are somehow addressed in this new story considering the current suggestion that Nevada, and specifically this DoD facility dealt with anything ‘out of the ordinary’ that might exist out there. We dealt with other dimensions, now we’re dealing with UFO’s.
Other "Worlds"?
I think it's also interesting that this show's title mentions "Worlds" (plural), which seems to suggest we might be dealing with more than one foreing "World" if we take this title literally.
Stranger Things wasn't very telling, but the Duffers used to come up with pretty obvious and literal title choices in the past when coming up with titles for Stranger Things (The Rift, Wormhole, The Nether).
This DoD facility is already known to deal with inter-dimensional research (Dimension X)... now we have "space aliens", what other worlds might have been discovered by those working in there? Surely it isn't a coincidence that Brenner, one of the many researchers in there, was particularly interested in “other worlds”:
Matt Duffer:Brenner’s going, how can I mold this character, but not just into a weapon? That’s really how he sold it to the government, but for him as a scientist, it’s like,what other worlds can this kid show me about how our universe works?
Production
As the Duffers themselves anticipated in interviews back in 2022, they’re not going to be directing this spin-off, but this is (as we already knew) an original story by them and Kate Trefry who’s going to be the showrunner. The person the Duffers said they’d “pass the baton” to years ago in terms of directing is now known to be Joe Wright.
Other returning producers are Paul Dichter, the ST Writers’ Room’s sci-fi nerd who is also credited as a producer which I would say is awesome news, and Michael Maher Jr. (ST’s Senior VFX Artist) who apparently is once again also directing at times given how he’s stated on his Instagram profile that he’s actually directed this small teaser we got.
I started watching Friday night randomly, Oh boy what a RIDE. Not even a single boring episode or character.
IDK why so much hate around Stranger things in insta (at least in my feed).. I gave it a shot Loved it
The Bond between the friend's is the central plot driver of the story and it worked wonders for this show. Steve was unpredictable character and writers made him likeable, weirdly it was organic. Felt heart warming to see Joyce finally have a happy dinner with her children. Prolly the most effected characters has to be Joyce and her First born. They nailed their characters!
THE character whom I aspire to be Hopper. MAN such character in just one season... I really he makes it till the end.
One thing I will never get over appreciating is how perfectly and uniquely Season 1's main human antagonists were handled throughout the story.
Hawkins Labs, Dr. Brenner and his NSA/Military Police lackeys in S1 are the only human threat in the history of this show that, in addition to immediately striking us as an intimidating, dangerous presence, also genuinely triggered a sense of wonder that is equally as intriguing and interesting as the supernatural threat: the only time the show had a human threat that literally represented the unknowable.
This is something that I hope and feel will be back in Other Worlds, due to its role in introducing us to both an entirely new "supernatural" mythology and lore of government secrets. It's something later seasons lacked, even with the government's returning role and S4's fairly interesting worldbuilding surrounding its human antagonists: human threats that didn't feel like simple obstacles in the narrative and are directly connected to the "supernatural threat."
In Season 1, their ominous presence in very few scenes in early episodes increases our wonder regarding what they are up to, what they know and who they really are, while the sense of danger increases simultaneously when we start getting those answers and seeing how powerful they are, how they're many steps ahead of main characters and how far they can go in pulling the strings in a way that we've never seen again in the show and was one of the coolest aspects of Season 1:
Connie Frazier (NSA) with her fake identities, Hawkins Power & Light Repair Men inspecting locations, electronic surveillance spying on the entire town, State Police troopers blindly following their instructions, Military Police personnel disguised as Repair Men.
We go from HNL pulling the strings in order to keep a low profile and cover their tracks, to disguised Military Police storming the streets and ultimately to Dr. Brenner himself, NSA agents and Military Police directly confronting a family and our main characters – this time without disguises at all in the finale (instead we get black sedans, military vehicles… they went with everything they had). Their role perfectly balanced the sense of a danger that human threats in the show usually evoke, and the sense of wonder that perfectly juxtaposed the human threat and the supernatural one with a shared connection.
I mean, yeah, of course it was just there to suit the plot and us seeing a badass, intense fight scene between Tom and Bruce. But in the grand scheme of things, I assumed it would have been at the very least mentioned as part of the mysterious deaths and tragedies that occurred in Hawkins, especially with the Satanic Panic theme in Season 4.
Especially when there were hospital staff that were brutally murdered, and the empty bloodied clothes belonging to Tom and Bruce. Like, how was that not significant to reach the papers and be listed alongside the various tragedies in the show?
For me it’s the endgame battle, too quick, no demodogs, no sense.
I rewatched season 5 this week after the initial launch in 2025-2026. While it was great, am still not fully satisfied with that last battle as endgame!
>It lasted too quick for that years and seasons of waiting we had >Where the hell were the demogorgons at? Chilling on the beach?? >Despite them being fully prepared for the fight, they had no idea what they would be up against and how did the mind flayed just suddenly die with fire, maybe it might have had no effect on it? >How did everyone get to enter the mind flayers’s body immediately after it crashed down while it was still very much on fire! >How did the fire not affect at all El or any of the children inside? Maybe even if not burned because they were far inside, they should’ve been affected since the flames went to its body when it burned. >No one was able to breathe in the upside down in season 1 and suddenly they miraculously do! Then what about the Abyss? Does it have oxygen for them specifically? Or is it because it has oxygen that Henry wanted to merge it with earth?! 🙄 >What about the mind flayer we were shown in season 2? This one looked like a representative of the mind flayer in body and flesh but then what, the mind flayer decided to give up?? >This endgame batte is contradictory to what we saw in the last scene of season 4. They don’t look like the same place with the same monsters and atmosphere etc
Anyway, while I did enjoy season 5 and was satisfied with the ending I still wish they could have done a bit better given that previous seasons were great! Besides the endgame there are other aspects which were lacking such as the bond of the friends, the new kids were too much in there for 8 episodes. The main characters got lost between too many new characters and the charm of previous seasons were kinda missing. All in all it was an amazing tv show and I hope the new one gives us more answers!
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Episodes Eliminated:
The Lost Sister (89%) The Bridge (50%) Suzie, Do You Copy? (46%) The Mall Rats (42%) Escape from Camazotz (23%) Shock Jock (50%) The Rightside Up (30%) The Case of the Missing Lifeguard (46%) The Nina Project (43%) The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler (33%) The Crawl (33%) Vecna’s Curse (57%) The Monster and the Superhero (56%)
Matt Duffer also confirmed that kids will be the main characters again: 'Stranger Things' Spinoff: New Characters But 'Not Star Wars' Quote from Matt in the article: "The spin-off will be part of the show's brand and style of storytelling--kids, adventures, sci-fi/fantasy rather than increasingly expand what could become an insanely convoluted mythology.
What if I said Season 5 gave us a hint at who the main antagonist of Other Worlds will be? What if I said this hint was in Chapter Seven: The Bridge?
What am I talking about? Well, I'm talking about the void scene with El and Kali. In the scene, Kali told El that even if she killed Dr. Kay and ran away with Mike, it wouldn't matter as someone else would just replace her and continue the cycle. Now, what's interesting about this is how it's said.
KALI:"She replaced Papa. Another will replace her."
In order for Dr. Kay to have been a replacement for Dr. Brenner, someone had to have assigned her to take his place. Someone had to have sent her to Hawkins. Someone had to have authorized her program. The dialogue seems to have hinted at this even further when Kali told El that she would eventually be found and that Mike would be killed.
KALI:"It’s a fantasy, Jane. If you flee with Mike, maybe you’re safe for a while. But when they find you, and they will, they will kill Mike, just as they killed my friends."
Notice how there is a "they". To me, this indicates that Dr. Kay answered to the same shadowy government organization that Dr. Brenner once answered to. We've known for years that the CIA-DoD joint group from Hawkins National Laboratory was always a part of something much bigger, and by bigger I mean this government organization which we know exists thanks to something Matt Duffer said in an interview years ago.
MATT DUFFER:Brenner’s going, how can I mold this character, but not just into a weapon? That’s really how he sold it to the government, but for him as a scientist, it’s like, what other worlds can this kid show me about how our universe works? So, he’s really just that scientist who’s not really thinking about the consequences. He just keeps pushing, pushing, pushing, and he’s using the government’s money by saying hey we can fight the Soviets with this kid. It’s something we will get into in Season 5.
Based on the context of this, we can assume that the government in this case means a top secret government organization that the DoD is a part of and had its subsidiary CIA-DoD group under. Now, one thing to note about what Matt said is that he specifically said other worlds which we know is the title of the live-action spinoff. Speaking of different worlds, Kali mentioned in this scene that "they" would use El's blood to create more children with psychic powers and use them to open up more gates to more worlds.
KALI:Then they will take you, and with your blood, they will create more children, children who will suffer as we have. And with these children, they will open up more gates, more worlds.
"More worlds" was most likely foreshadowing Other Worlds. This is highly likely because in the next episode which is in the finale, the rock was featured which we know is going to be a huge part of the spinoff series. The rock which we know was stolen from the government facility in Marion, Nevada. The government facility which we know Dr. Brenner worked at.
The facility which I'm betting was either ran or funded by whoever's in charge of this mysterious government organization, and I think in Other Worlds, we are finally going to meet this person. This person who I believe will be the main human antagonist of the series. The main villain.
This question has been in my mind, for quite some time. What part of it was practical and what part of it was cgi? Were the web thingies cgi, did Milly Bobby Brown had some sort of weird red litted hole to come out of, with like green screen or tracking markers. The usual stuff used to reconstruct a setup in cgi.
Doing a rewatch with my partner and got to the end of season 1for the first time in years.
Its ends similarly to season 5 in my opinion?
- D and D game ends and there's a "is that it?" the loose ends of the campaign are not closed off
- we're left not knowing Elevens faith and its up to interpretation?
I honestly think the whole story of them having the ending since the beginning of the show was true, it was ended that way in season 1, everything after that was just for the demand the show created.
Also the Will spitting up a slug thing at the end scene was most likely put at the end so a season 2 could be hinted at if season 1 was successful.
Season 1 - Incredibly nostalgic! Loved the mysterious vibe and the humour. My favourite characters were Lucas and Dustin.
Season 4 - Loved hearing Vecna's backstory
Season 2 - Only really loved Noah Schnapp's acting this season.
Season 5 - The ending was underwhelming and I expected more but I loved how the Wheelers put up a fight. Loved the group scenes and derek's quick character development.
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Please either refrain from downvoting or upvote more episodes than you downvote
If there’s a tie, both episodes are eliminated
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Episodes Eliminated:
The Lost Sister (89%) The Bridge (50%) Suzie, Do You Copy? (46%) The Mall Rats (42%) Escape from Camazotz (23%) Shock Jock (50%) The Rightside Up (30%) The Case of the Missing Lifeguard (46%) The Nina Project (43%) The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler (33%) The Crawl (33%) Vecna’s Curse (57%)
Note that these are my sincere opinions. We are welcome to agree, disagree, in between, all we want. I know some of what I say might be unpopular on this thread, and frankly, I don't care. This is not meant to be a karma farming post. This is just be giving my thoughts on a show that means a lot to me after I finally had a chance to watch it after putting it in my collection for the first time in years, and the first time after I can officially see the full picture for what it is.
Anyways, that being said, let's go.
I'll be honest, the first couple episodes of season 1 take some time to really get into for me. It's not bad, don't get me wrong, but it is a bunch of set up. The end of episode 3, and the start of 4 where we think Will is dead and the rest of the town does too, is what makes the series get interesting for me. And when it does, it does. The back half of season 1 is fantastic and well worth the build up. Every character is fully fleshed out and has a distinct character arc of their own, even the character we thought at the time was going to be a side / filler character, Steve. Every scene that a character had was a part of a genuine story for them. And the last 3 episodes of season 1 might by my favorite 3 episode stretch of the entire series. Overall great season of television that takes some getting into but once you do its so, so, worth it.
Season 2, and here is where my first of two potentially hot takes come in, is not only the best season of the show, but one of the greatest seasons in television history ever made. Even Lost Sister, honestly is not that bad on a rewatch. It basically gives me similar vibes to Luke training on Dagobah in Empire. Something that's rough to watch but is needed for the lore. Maybe Kali being in season 5 does retroactively help it for me, but still, even before I didnt think it was like the worst thing ever. The timing, however, does suck, full agree. Either it should have swapped places with The Spy, or we slowly add the scenes of the episode to other episodes which yes would make them longer, but it would help the pacing. But beyond that, there's so much good. Steve's character arc is perfection and gives one of the best 2 season stories in television. Max is a great character who has a full story of her own. Jonathan and Nancy's plot to expose the lab is great. Mike helping Will out when Will is in trouble is strong and helps give extra context to Will's crush on Mike. I could go on for hours about why this season is a masterpiece of media, but I don't want to bore everybody here. The Gate is a perfect stopping point of a series and if you stop a rewatch or series watch here you're fine. In fact you're more than fine, you're perfect there. The Gate is flat out one of the best episodes of television ever made in my opinion, forget best Stranger Things episode. I genuinely have this as probably one of my top 10, maybe even top 5, favorite seasons of television ever made.
Which imagine my heartbreak going from that to what is by far the worst season in the history of this show. I don't care what anybody says about season 5, this is by far the worst one. And it's not even vaguely close. BUT a bad Stranger Things season is still a good season of television as far as all seasons go. Steve, Mike, and Hopper were my 3 favorites going into this season. And only Steve leaves with his legacy even vaguely intact after this season ends. The first 3 episodes are by far the worst 3 episodes in the entire shows run time. They are the only 3 episodes in the show I flat out call bad. The season does pick up immensely starting episode 4, and the ending of the season is a good redemption set of episodes, but by that point the damage is done. Robin, while I like her, just does not do it for me until the coming out scene. Nancy's plot, while fantastic on paper, just was not done well in execution for me. Jonathan becomes just a side kick to her. So many characters regress this season and it kills me. This season was made during the peak of MCU hype, and you can tell even if you didnt watch it live with the way the comedy is done. That being said, for some positives, Larry Kline is a great villain. The coming out scene was good. Battle of Starcourt is a well done finale, and despite my comments about Hoper earlier, he does turn it around in the end of the season and I am forgiving of his arc after season 4 and 5 and I can stomach it at least now. Scoops Troops was entertaining. Again this season is not without merit, but holy moly, after 2 masterpieces of television, going down to this, and having THIS be the ending point for 3 years, was brutal and for a while killed my interest in the show. And the crazy thing is, I actually like it more, way more, than I did before. And Im still being this harsh on it. Okay as far as like all television seasons ever go, but by far the weakest of these five.
Season 4 helps this show so much. Hopper's arc redeems him from season 3. The stuff with the Nina Project is genuinely interesting lore and the back story of Vecna was good. The Hawkins material was top notch with great scenes like Steve doing the dive, Dear Billy, Robin and Nancy going to see Victor. Max's character struggles are wonderful. The season is darker, and more fascinating than the other 4 seasons in a lot of ways. The visuals are by far the best in this season. There are two things that kind of ruin this season from being higher on my rankings though. The California storyline is by far the least engaging of the 3 story and just doesn't really grip me. And Eddie Munson's death was just abysmal to a character that was actually really, really good at first, and really interesting. He was on path to becoming one of the best characters of the show, and then that stupid and wasted death happened and ruined it. And Max, I love Max, but that revival at the end was done so poorly. Either let her stay dead, or don't do the killing and then reviving and just have her be saved at the last second because as was, the earth opening stuff barely mattered anyways. I love so much of this season, but sadly the last 40 minutes just does kind of ruin it. But that doesn't change that I love 90-95% of it.
Season 5 is definitely the second worst one. HOWEVER, I do appreciate it far, far more than I did when it first came out. Maybe thats the effect of knowing what happens, so I can just watch it for what it was rather than what I want it to be. Steve and Dustin's character moments are very well done. Max and Lucas realizing that their love was all they needed was really touching. The epilogue is great, especially Mike and Hopper talking, and really all of it. Jonathan and Steve finally admitting they are friends, and Jonathan and Nancy breaking it off so they can move forward is good. The reveal of the Abyss is interesting if feeling incomplete and missing some stuff. There are three main issues I have: The coming out scene just isn't good. The dialogue itself is fine, but it just needed to be with Joyce, Hoper, Jonathan, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Eleven. And the timing was also awful. I could forgive the audience thing if it was earlier in the season, like at the start of Shock Jock, or maybe during volume 1 where Will starts to piece it together faster. Having it RIGHT before the final battle was the problem. Second is the fact that while Im fine with having virtually no deaths, the way they went at it removes even the illusion of stakes / consequences. Like if say Max was forever wheelchair bound after returning, or if say after Steve's fake out there was like 5 to 10 minutes in between that and him being saved, that would have been better. And if say during the battle with Vecna, one of them pummeled a couple of the gang like say Lucas or Mike, and then they come back but with like broken arms and shit, then that would have helped. Or if say one of, if not both the Wheelers actually died, then something. Having characters live is fine. Having characters live in ways that remove even the illusion of stakes is not. And the third one, is by far the biggest one, the season just feels inherently incomplete and like it's missing half the story. This season you can feel is under cooked, and just doesn't really feel like a full story. It truly feels like the Duffer Brothers just decided to get a half written script in the door so they can just film the story and get it over with. I truly believe this season even with most if not not all its plots can work, if it had more time to breath. Like say if the episodes were longer, or had an extra episode, just something. This isn't a bad season, but it is so rushed, and so unfinished, and this shows deserves so much better than that. We all deserve so much better than that. In hindsight, this season needed an extra year to actually refine and finish. But that all being said, I can't hate it. I find myself having some weird love for this season, even though I know it's not a finished story, but I am so let down that it could have been more.
So there's my thoughts on all five seasons. Rankings are 3, 5, 4/1 depending on my mood, and 2. If I had to grade each season, I would say 1 and 4 are about an 8.5-9/10, season 2 is a 9.5-10/10, season 5 is like a 7/10, and 3 is a 6/10.
