The long-awaited second volume of Stranger Things season five has finally landed on Netflix, presenting viewers with a penultimate batch of episodes that are, against considerable odds, still wildly entertaining. The show, now approaching its decade mark, carries a colossal weight of its own convoluted mythology, yet manages to deliver pedal-to-the-metal spectacle that reminds fans why they fell in love with Hawkins in the first place.
A Plot Bursting at the Seams
Let's be clear: this is no starting point for newcomers. The narrative baggage is immense. The Duffer Brothers, who initially conceived the show as a one-off, have spent years layering on lore to keep the engine running. The result is a storyline so dense that a significant portion of these new episodes is dedicated to characters explaining the plot to each other. At one point, Maya Hawke's Robin halts the action to deliver a painstaking, prop-assisted recap, as if addressing a particularly slow class.
The core thrust of this volume reveals that the Upside Down is not merely a parallel dimension but a wormhole to something far worse. The villain Vecna – memorably described as a winning cross between the Grinch and an unbroadcastable outtake from a colon cleanse commercial – aims to collapse it and conquer our world. Our heroes, now notably older (the male cast, as noted, is 90% Adam's apple), are scattered: some in the real world, some in the Upside Down, and others in a secret memory world within it. For reasons best known to the writers, two characters even find themselves trapped in a room slowly filling with yoghurt.
Spectacle Versus Sense
The miracle is that this chaotic soup of ideas isn't unbearable. When Stranger Things focuses on action, it absolutely slaps. The sequences are beautifully choreographed, high-octane fun. The potent nostalgia and operatic emotion remain effective. On a moment-to-moment basis, the show is a masterclass in maximalist entertainment.
However, the release strategy – with a month between volumes and a week until the finale – grants time for reflection, and that's where the cracks show. Characters' intelligence fluctuates wildly to serve the plot. The sprawling ensemble feels overloaded, with more than half the characters appearing dramatically superfluous. The unforgivable sidelining of Winona Ryder's Joyce Byers is particularly glaring. Furthermore, the physical ageing of the child actors, now playing teens, creates a palpable dissonance.
The Daunting Task of the Finale
Typically, major drama series streamline as they approach their conclusion, shedding extraneous plots to empower the finale. Breaking Bad and The Sopranos perfected this art. Stranger Things, by contrast, is accelerating in the opposite direction. The finale now faces a mountain of narrative admin: defeating Vecna, rescuing children, saving the world, and stopping the evil scientists who began it all.
Most dauntingly, it must then find believable and distinct emotional conclusions for an estimated 17 major characters. The task of wrapping a satisfying bow around this sprawling mass in a limited runtime seems Herculean.
Yet, for all its messy, overstuffed, and occasionally baffling nature, Stranger Things season five volume two retains its infectious heart and sheer audacity. It shouldn't work as well as it does. But then again, as the show itself has taught us, stranger things have happened. The final chapter awaits.
