Stranger Things Season 5 Reviews: Critics Split Over New Episodes

Season five marks the final outing for the Stranger Things gang we've grown to know and love in the last decadeThe day has finally arrived for Stranger Things fans to return to Hawkins, Indiana after a break of more than three years.In the early hours of Friday morning, four shiny, new episodes of the award-winning sci-fi drama began streaming on Netflix (with two more drops also set to wrap up the story next month), picking up the story 18 months after the events of season four.So far, the critical reaction to these new instalments has been noticeably mixed, with a string of glowing, four-star reviews contrasted by more critical takes claiming the show’s central characters remain underdeveloped and that the new series’ bumper runtime can make things feel a little slow at times.Here’s a selection of what critics are saying about Stranger Things season five, starting with some of its more celebratory reviews…The Guardian (4/5)“With each of the four episodes running on from the previous one, we have a five-hour action-comedy-horror movie, where each part of the story is luxuriously stretched.“Episode one is all set up; episode four is a solidly thrilling 90 minutes of flame-throwing, bullet-dodging spectacle that makes good use of what looks like a virtually limitless effects budget, and which culminates in a moment that will have fans standing on their chairs and hollering joyfully.”BBC Culture (4/5) “No Stranger Things fan is going away disappointed from these episodes, which leave anticipation for the rest of the season at fever pitch. “The bombastic episode four is Stranger Things at its best [...] it’s thrilling; and if it’s a precursor to how the Duffer Brothers plan to wrap up the show [...] then viewers are in for an all-time great TV ending.”David Harbour and Millie Bobby Brown in a new episode of Stranger ThingsEmpire (4/5) “As our time in Hawkins reaches its climax, Stranger Things gets grander and gorier. Both our heroes and their deadliest foes still have thrilling new tricks up their sleeves.”Radio Times (4/5) “What Stranger Things still excels at is the character development, with the complex dynamics between the characters still proving just as gripping as the final battle. There’s a huge ensemble here to deal with, but the Duffers handle each character with care, giving us interactions and pairings we’ve not yet seen in the five seasons, while still doing the long-loved relationships justice.”The Times (4/5) “Volume one doesn’t rewrite the manual but why would you want it to? This is richly entertaining stuff with proper jeopardy and bags of emotion.”The Hollywood Reporter“Stranger Things will have to open itself up in the second half of its final season, as it prepares to send the characters off for good. For now, however, these children remain frozen in time and space, unable to move past our nostalgic memories of the people they once were.“It’s just as well that Vecna’s curse is coming to an end sooner rather than later. It’s time to let these adolescents do as adolescents are meant to do: grow up and move on with the rest of their lives.”Critics are pretty evenly split about the new episodes of Stranger ThingsVariety“By declining to enrich its characters as they age, Stranger Things traps itself in arrested development. When you get bigger without going deeper, you end up stretched thin.”The Independent (3/5) “The episodes in this first tranche range from 57 minutes to 86 minutes, which necessitates an awful lot of almost killing the demogorgons, almost escaping the clutches of Vecna, almost saving humanity. Delayed gratification is how writers build a compulsive narrative, but Stranger Things could do with a little more gratification, a little less delay.”USA Today (2.5/4) “The four-episode first ‘volume’ [is] more thrilling than it is stilling, and will likely satisfy its most ardent fans. Could it have been better, sharper, more narratively focused and judicious with its plot twists and deus ex machina magical solutions? Absolutely. Do the emotions feel right even as rationality flies out the metaphorical window? Most of the time.”NPR“Absurd as it may be to grouse about improbable storytelling in a series featuring psychic-powered villains from an alternate universe, it remains true that more fanciful moments play better when they are surrounded by stuff that feels grounded and authentic. So moments where Stranger Things loses that plot can be oddly annoying.”IndieWire (C+) “The longer season five goes, the less charming it becomes, and the two big closing twists don’t exactly inspire hope for the back-half: One is over-telegraphed and the other shocking… but only because it’s so ill-conceived [...] so much has happened since we first met the Hawkins kiddos, and if you still want more – more goofy twists, more sloppy battles, more of the same monsters – season five should have you covered.“But for those who already feel like too much has happened, who want something that feels as big as it’s straining to look, you may have to imagine that ending for yourself.”Vulture“Stranger Things feels trapped in a feedback loop, with little sense of the creative adventure that was once so intrinsic to a series about the imaginative potential of playing Dungeons & Dragons with your friends and building a wide-open world where anything is possible.“That version of the series no longer exists. Instead, Stranger Things is traveling the same paths, and they’re no longer so strange.”Volume one of Stranger Things’ fifth and final season is now streaming on Netflix, with new episodes to follow on Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.MORE STRANGER THINGS:Millie Bobby Brown Reflects On Working With David Harbour After Complaint ReportsStranger Things Bosses Tease 'Plan B' Song For Iconic Running Up That Hill SceneStranger Things Bosses Tease Show's 'Most Violent Death' Ever In Season 5David Harbour Gets Very Honest About Why It's A 'Relief' That Stranger Things Is Almost Done

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