Stranger Things: Season 5 Has Arrived, Part One Review

They grow up in an instant, my dear. We met them as children and now we are ready to leave them as adults. The fifth season of the Duffer Brothers' TV series finally arrived in Italy at two this morning, bringing back a cast that has literally grown up on set, physically and professionally. Here's our review of Stranger Things 5 - Part 1.

What is Stranger Things 5 about?

The season picks up where we left off in season four (here you can find a recap of the finale, just to quickly catch up), with Hawkins in the hands of the military who are trying to manage the rift to the Upside Down that opened in the spectacular final episode of season 4. Our heroes are, of course, trying to manage the situation in their own way, which means trying to find Vecna (the villain who is endangering our world), by manning underground tunnels that somehow connect our world and the infernal dimension.

Emotions and content: why Stranger Things always works

The fifth season starts strong, heading in the direction it usually takes at the end of a season, when all the protagonists split into small groups to manage the final phases of the operations needed to repel the assaults of Vecna and his minions for the conquest of our dimension. Eleven and Hopper remain trapped in the Upside Down, Mike, Joyce, Robin, Lucas, Will, and Murray (who has meanwhile become a kind of smuggler) try to maintain a communication structure between the two worlds, while Dustin, Nancy, Jonathan, and Steve (who continue to argue) set off in search of a Demogorgon that has kidnapped little Holly and left her parents near death. Throughout all this, Vecna's mind control over Will tightens, so much so that Will begins to go through entire phases where he can see directly through the monster's eyes.

In short, the pace is very fast and full of events, new situations, and characters joining the cast, such as Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay, who joins the army forces in a role that will surely hold several surprises. This explosive start also leaves significant space for Max who, still in a coma, finds little Holly within a particular dimension created by Vecna, to tell her what happened.

As always, the Duffer Brothers once again prove to be true masters at intertwining all the various stories of the protagonists within a larger scenario, managing to give everyone adequate screen time to always create a constant climate of tension, within which to advance the main story and all related subplots.

Into all this is woven a high-level direction, especially for the television environment (although here we are talking about colossal budgets) and first-rate visual effects that complete a work capable of keeping the viewer glued to the screen for 4 episodes of over an hour each, which represent only the beginning of the second part that awaits us next December 26th (here you can find the release calendar)

So far so good, as they would say in Hawkins