By Scarlett Tarango
Stranger Things is one of the most viewed shows on Netflix, breaking over 140 million streams. The fifth and final installment of the series is set to begin releasing on November 26. But will the new season live up to fans expectations? Stranger Things is a great show, but it has definitely changed a lot since it began. It first became popular because of its use of 80s nostalgia and unique plot concepts, but it isn’t perfect.
One of the things it’s most well known for is each season’s emotional and climatic endings. But since season 2, an evident pattern has begun to show. Each season typically ends with a beloved character dying, but not really.
Across all the seasons none of the actual main characters have died. Each season, the Duffer Brothers introduce a new character just to kill them off at the end. In season 2 it was Bob, in season 3 it was Alexi, and in season 4 it was Eddie. Now that teasers for season 5 are being released, there is a new mystery character being shown alongside the very main cast making fans can’t help but think that character deaths have gotten just a little too predictable.
Another apparent issue is the massive gaps between seasons. The last season released, 4, debuted in May of 2022, meaning it took more than 3 years for season 5 to come out. Not only did the Duffer Brothers take a break between seasons, but they have been spending time with even more special effects and making the episodes much longer than ever before.
The series finale is going to be more than 2 hours long. Of course spending time on more effects and longer episodes isn’t exactly bad news, and many fans are excited for it, but other fans don’t quite agree, preferring the earlier season’s smaller budget. “The success of Stranger Things season 1 proves that the show never needed to produce massive, blockbuster-like episodes to be successful,” Max Ruscinski says in a Screen Rant article. “After all, the first season of Stranger Things got so many people hooked on the show and barely had any set pieces.”
Besides killing the fans’ anticipation, the amount of time the season took is heavily reflected on the ages of the actors. Between each season, there’s typically about a year’s time gap story wise. But Stranger Things has taken over 9 years to film. In season one the main cast were all no older than 12, and now they are all in their mid to early twenties.
Despite some of these issues, Stranger Things has proven time and time again its greatness, and many people have very high hopes for the new season after the long wait.
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