Stranger Things 5 Vol 1 Review: Proves the Hawkins spell is still strong, even when the story starts to shake

Stranger Things 5 Vol 1 Review:

The thing about the the-world-is-ending-and-only-the-chosen-ones-can-save-it trope is that, after a point, the threats stop feeling all that threatening. After demogorgons in season one, the Mind Flayer in seasons two and three, and season four cementing Vecna as the root cause of the Upside Down’s nightmares, it feels like the stakes simply can’t climb any higher. Yes, Stranger Things 5 opens with the promise of finally taking down Vecna, but somehow, these first four episodes play more like a greatest-hits reel of the show’s past terrors than a fresh escalation. The sense of déjà-Vecna is strong. And if one were to summarise this stretch of the finale, it’s probably best to echo Lucas telling a comatose Max about defeating Vecna: “If I’ve learned anything over the years, it’s never going to be that easy.” 

After the previously unveiled first five minutes of the finale, an extremely fearful young Will hiding in his fort and confronted by Vecna in the Upside Down back in 1983, the introduction almost makes us forget that season four ended with Vecna declaring: “This is the beginning of the end.” From there, we move briskly into the present: the Byers crash-landing into the Wheelers’ chaos on one side, and on the other, Robin and Steve running a radio station, recapping the last few months in Hawkins, ever since those red fissures split the small town into two. The city is now quarantined and under military control. Eleven is “missing” on paper, but in reality, she’s in hiding, dodging both the military and Dr Kay (Linda Hamilton), the new Dr Brenner-esque figure. Dustin, meanwhile, is still not over Eddie’s demise, choosing instead to revive the Hellfire Club in his honour. All of this is laid out swiftly and head-on, with the first episode’s world-building almost entirely orbiting around something called “The Crawl”. They’ve attempted The Crawl 37 times, they have an elaborate plan, and Vecna is very much missing. As The Crawl is teased and the gang speaks in code—throwing around gadget names and device jargon like they’ve raided a Hawkins hardware store—the curiosity does spike. But for an audience well-tuned to the Stranger Things formula, it’s obvious that attempt number 38 is where things will go horribly, predictably wrong. Yes, the twists and turns are as twisted as Vecna’s grotesque vines, but the sense of discovery has long evaporated, lost, tangled, and quietly suffocating somewhere in the Upside Down.

For a series that began a decade ago, the cast’s real-life ages no longer matching their reel-life high-school selves is something you accept before stepping back into Hawkins. Despite being written as 16-year-olds, some of them look like they should be paying mortgages, not detention slips. In many ways, the real monster this season isn’t Vecna, it’s puberty, still undefeated. But with a conscious effort to park that distraction and focus on the conclusion that awaits, these bumps are easy enough to overlook. The biggest payoff of them all comes for Will Byers. As the Duffer Brothers promised that Will would finish what began with him, Noah Schnapp finally gets his due after four seasons of getting “goosies” near anything Upside Down, screaming, crying, and occasionally spitting Demogorgon residue. And while we still don’t know how all these narrative knots will tie together, especially with Vecna still looming as the unbeatable endgame, the reintroduction of key characters scattered across new locations and circumstances hints that Hawkins’ final stand is only just beginning to take shape.

Refreshingly, the Duffer Brothers refrain from fully giving in to Netflix’s usual commercial instinct of ending every mid-season with a giant cliffhanger. Instead, the fourth episode of season five ends with two twists, one you see coming, and one you don’t. It’s interesting how the foreshadowing makes both twists predictable and unpredictable at the same time. In the first case, Jane Hopper lays out a theory, and we follow her logic. So when the theory collapses, the surprise lands well. In the second, a character’s ultimate rise is practically narrated to us: one character explains the science behind what could happen, another chips in with motivational cheerleading, and by the time the moment arrives, the runway has already been cleared. The payoff is satisfying, yes, but not exactly unforeseeable. When demogorgons leap into the air to attack the core cast, you already know something will swoop in to stop them, especially since the solution was revealed just minutes earlier. After four seasons of watching and rewatching Stranger Things, it’s almost as though we’re part of the Hive Mind—able to predict the makers’ next move before they make it. Don’t get me wrong, the twist is still thrilling and curiosity-inducing. But the stakes, which should have felt Eleven, end up feeling barely three or four.

Stranger Things still hasn’t moved past its parallel-storytelling template, where multiple threads are put on pause to create that signature whiplash of anticipation. And while the constant cutting between factions keeps the entertainment factor alive and kicking, the logical cracks this season are as wide and visible as the giant split running across Hawkins. After four years of demo-creatures tearing through the town, it’s baffling that some characters—yes, including the entire Wheeler family—remain blissfully unaware of the monsters and the apocalypse brewing in their backyard. Vecna has spent nearly a decade threatening to “reshape the world”, starting with Hawkins, but we still have no real sense of what that actually means. Meanwhile, the world outside Hawkins, Indiana, being blissfully unaware of the dreaded otherworldly creatures wreaking havoc on the city and its civilisation, feels increasingly hard to buy, even with the 1980s setting offering the excuse of slower news cycles. No doubt the Duffer Brothers still have a trick or two up their sleeve, but some of it is beginning to feel like recycled magic from the Mind Flayer’s old spellbook.

With fan theories swirling and memes overflowing on social media, there’s no shortage of excitement for Volume 2 and the grand finale of Stranger Things 5. The audience is desperate to know who’s going to make the big sacrifice (hopefully not Hopper for the millionth time), how or if Vecna is finally defeated, and whether he’s even the real ultimate villain or just a gateway to someone far more menacing. The show remains watchable thanks to its evergreen ’80s soundtrack, this time tipping its neon visor to Tiffany alongside the now-iconic Kate Bush, and its sentimental emotional core. The father-daughter bond between Hopper and Jane, and the mother-son connection between Joyce and Will, still land with a comforting sincerity. Hawkins spell, I guess. There’s also a thoughtful friendship arc between Robin and Will, delicately navigating queerness, which adds meaningful emotional depth to the season. Given the nostalgia high, Netflix knows they could drop us through a portal, and we’d still binge it overnight. Even when the narrative stumbles, the memories grab your ankle like a Demogorgon vine and refuse to let go. Even when the narrative cracks widen, Stranger Things still knows how to pull us back in. Now all that’s left is to see whether the series can deliver an ending worthy of the story that began with a harmless game of Dungeons and Dragons in 1983.