⚡Stranger Things – Season 5 Part 2 (2025)⚡

“Holiday scheduling and plot stalling: the final boss duo.”
And furthermore… is anything actually starting to matter?

🎬 Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers, shall we?

First off, I’ll give Netflix credit for one thing this season: the trailer strategy has been weirdly clever.

That first teaser months ago only using footage from Part One? Smart. That was Netflix basically saying, “We’re hiding the rest of this season like it’s Area 51.”

Then the Part Two trailer only showing Part Two footage? Also smart. They’re guarding the final episode like it’s the Ark of the Covenant and we’ll all melt if we see it early.

So yeah. Trailer marketing? Clever.

The release schedule, however? A crime.

This three-part structure is actively hurting the season.

Part One: November 26th at 8 PM
Part Two: December 25th at 8 PM
Part Three: December 31st at 8 PM

Why these dates? Why 8 PM like this is network television in 2005? Why slice the final season into holiday leftovers?

This isn’t suspenseful. It’s disruptive. It kills momentum, makes the story feel like it keeps restarting, and turns Part Two into filler you waited a month for.

And the worst part? Part Two does not justify the wait.

🧾 Non-Spoiler Plot Overview

Part Two (Episodes 5–7) feels like the show stalling while occasionally tossing out a big lore crumb like, “Here, chew on this while we delay the real plot until the finale.”

There’s a lot of splitting up, regrouping, arguing, wandering into gross Upside Down locations, and characters being told the stakes are high instead of us actually feeling them.

Yes, the gang learns something major about what the Upside Down actually is. And yes, on paper that should raise the stakes.

But somehow… the stakes still feel low.

This is supposed to be the endgame. Final season. Final stretch. Apocalypse incoming.

Instead, Part Two feels like setup for the finale to do all the heavy lifting.

👥 Character Rundown

This is where Part Two really starts to get on my nerves, because now the show is doing that thing where it makes half the cast act annoying or stupid so the plot can move.

Hopper has fully regressed. Angry, barking, snapping Hopper is back, and I don’t know why. We already did this arc. We moved past it. And now we’re pretending growth never happened.

Dustin is still the brain, but he’s becoming a walking cheat code. Any time things get confusing, it’s “Dustin explains it,” and everyone else just nods like they’re attending a TED Talk in hell.

Steve and Dustin’s forced drama is ugly and unnecessary. It doesn’t feel organic; it feels assigned. And dragging Eddie into it makes it mean in a way that doesn’t feel earned.

Jonathan and Nancy are… a mess. Their “we’re about to die” scene proves they don’t even like each other, and somehow the show still expects me to care.

Kali still doesn’t work for me. She feels like a reminder of a storyline the show never committed to, and now she’s back like, “Hey, remember this? It matters now.”
Does it though?

And then the group gets even bigger. A quantum physics professor. Robin’s girlfriend. More bodies, more dialogue, more noise.

Also no I still cant buy Linda Hamilton as a evil person, same issue I have with Jensen Ackles as Soldier Boy and Matt Smith as Dameon Targaryan.

This is the FINAL season. This is where you tighten the cast. Instead, the group feels like a clown car.

⏳ Pacing / Episode Flow

This is the biggest problem.

Nothing feels like it’s escalating the way it should. It’s a lot of bickering, running, and “uh oh” moments — but very little payoff.

Even the big “dangerous mistake” with the shield generator doesn’t land the way it should. The show keeps teasing catastrophe, and when something finally happens, my reaction is just: “…that’s it?”

✅ Pros

The Upside Down atmosphere still works. When the show wants to be creepy, it can still be creepy.

Some of the imagery is strong. Some of the worldbuilding ideas are genuinely interesting.

The reveal that the Upside Down functions more like a bridge or wormhole between worlds instead of a simple alternate dimension is intriguing.

And yes — the moment where Will enters Vecna’s mind, snaps his leg, and tells Max and Holly to run through him?

Its cool looking but seeing Vecna face make that screaming Will impression like when Will was a small kid absolutely looks doofy.

That ruled. That’s the energy this season needed more of.

❌ Cons

The stakes feel fake.

Max waking up destroys a huge amount of emotional weight. Season 4 promised consequences, trauma, permanence — and Part Two basically says, “Actually… never mind.” I hate that.

Characters are acting stupid. Not “panic makes you messy” stupid. I mean “why are you doing this” stupid.

The forced drama is bad. Not good tension. Just forced.

The Henry/Vecna continuity is still wobbly. The show can’t decide if he’s pure evil or misunderstood, and that softening undermines everything Season 4 set up.

Will’s coming-out scene is genuinely wholesome, but it’s undercut by how absurdly large the group is.

Jonathan, Lucas, Dustin? Makes sense.
Robin? Sure.
Max? Okay, I guess.
Hopper, Eleven, Nancy, Steve? Fine.

But Murray? Why is he here?
Kali? This is getting ridiculous. The group doesn’t even know her. Will is opening up to someone who’s basically a stranger.

This is what I mean when I say the season feels messy. Also on top of that Holly been getting more screen time and dialog then our main characters, sighhhh.

The lore is also starting to collapse under its own weight.

If the Upside Down is a wormhole, and Henry has his own personal domain… why has he been operating out of the Upside Down this whole time?

Lore isn’t always necessary, especially when it starts getting convoluted instead of clarifying anything.

Also: why is there still no mention of Mike’s father? Did the show forget he was injured too?

Also now characters are just figuring out mathematics randomly, for example Lucas remembers the night they put possessed Billy in a sona back in season 3, all because he was heating up a popcorn bag in a microwave! Uh huh, show you have officially lost me.

And everyone hears out his plan and goes huh sounds plausible, in ehat dimension is any this plausible?

Also the stakes are supposedly high, the main characters have to go save the kids and stop Vecna from accomplishing his end goal, yet they have the time to sit and chit chat like Will coming out of today closet, like cool good for you. But can we save this for after the world is saved? Just saying.

Also why’s Holly the main character this season? And why’s the main characters sidelined this season? Who asked for this?

The stakes feel stagnant, at no point do I fear anyone is gonna die. Everyone says the stakes are high, but instead of showing us the stakes are high. What do we get? A lot of monologuing! Just a bunch of people telling the audience how they feel, what we should be feeling, if thats not lazy then idk what is.

Also stop with the monologuing! Can something just happen instead!?

Also I guess last complaint, there’s too much monologuing this season.

Alsi does someone have a fettish this season? Who was allowed to get away with this stuff? Because this season we have

Vecna a grown man kidnapping kids and putting tentacles in their mouth, uhhhhhhhh huh.

And white melted cumm i mean liquid in a room, yeah so uh what were these writers on? And who approved this?

🧠 Final Thoughts

Part Two didn’t make me more excited for the finale. It made me more tired.

This should feel like everything is collapsing. Instead, it feels like the plot is stalling so Part Three can do all the payoff work. And that feels lazy.

At this point, I’m not hyped. I’m just ready for the season to end.

The first two parts haven’t built momentum — they’ve drained it. I hope the finale sticks the landing, because otherwise this entire season is going to feel underwhelming.

The biggest issue is that the stakes feel safe. I never fear someone will actually die. I just assume everyone will be fine again.

—

⏳ One Episode Left Is Not a Fix Button

This is the moment where it really sinks in:
There is one episode left.

And at this point, a show isn’t building anymore — it’s supposed to be paying off. Finales don’t fix seasons. They release pressure that’s already been built. And the problem here is simple: this season never built enough of it.

A single finale episode can stick the landing.
It can deliver emotional moments.
It can say goodbye in a meaningful way.

What it can’t do is retroactively raise stakes that were never enforced, undo seven episodes of stalling, or suddenly make consequences feel real when the show has spent most of the season playing it safe.

By Episode 7, we should already be at the point of no return.
Someone should be permanently gone.
A choice should’ve been made that can’t be walked back.
Something should feel broken beyond repair.

Instead, the season is still explaining lore, still rearranging characters, and still telling us the stakes instead of showing them. The danger keeps being announced like a weather report rather than felt.

That means the finale now has to do everything:
Deliver the real threat.
Resolve character arcs.
Provide emotional closure.
Wrap up the mythology.
Say goodbye to the cast.

All in one episode.

That’s not impossible — but it’s incredibly unlikely.

And that’s the most frustrating part of all. This season isn’t bad because it took risks. It’s bad because it didn’t. This should’ve been the fearless season. The one where characters don’t get safety nets. The one where consequences stick. The one where it hurts a little.

Instead, it feels cautious. Overmanaged. Afraid to fully commit.

So even if the finale ends up being good — even if it has strong moments or emotional beats — it probably won’t redeem the season as a whole. At best, it’ll be remembered as a solid episode attached to a season that never fully followed through.

And honestly? That’s the worst outcome.

I’m not angry. I’m not hate-watching.
I’m just… tired.

And that’s not how the final chapter of a once-great show should feel.


—

🎯 Rating

Part 2: 6/10

Same rating as Part One. I hoped Part Two would improve things. It didn’t.

⚠️ Spoiler Warning
Everything below this point contains full spoilers for Episodes 5–7.

📜 Spoilers

Let’s get this out of the way: Vecna’s plan finally gets clarified.

He wants to use the psychic kids to collide his domain, the Upside Down (the wormhole), with Hawkins and the real world, destroying everything.

Cool. Clear. Logical.

It only took them seven episodes out of eight to explain his end goal.

Episode 5 continues the trend of cool idea, questionable execution.

The military-kid group gets pulled into Mr. Whatsit’s suburb mind-palace where Holly is trapped. Derek overhears Max and Holly talking, inserts himself into the situation like a human speed bump, and — shockingly — starts realizing Henry is lying.

This is the only time Derek is remotely interesting.

He ends up with Max’s map and a compass, runs into Henry, and gets threatened via his family. That scene actually works because Henry is finally just being evil again.

The Max/Holly stuff leans hard into nightmare logic. The reveal that Max met Mr. Whatsit years ago feels forced and unnecessary.

Anyways, Max is trapped, Henry drains her, Holly begs him to stop, and Will intervenes by snapping Vecna’s leg and telling them to run through him.

That moment hits hard.

Episode 6 is where momentum dies again.

Demidogs attack the hospital. Robin tries to explain reality to her girlfriend, who doesn’t believe her until monsters literally show up.

The chase scenes blur together.

Then Holly’s mom shows up, blows up the demidogs with a gas tank setup, and saves everyone. Yes, she’s awful — and also somehow a hero.

And then Max wakes up.

I felt nothing. Not because Max is bad — but because the show refuses to commit to consequences.

Also on a side note im getting sick and tired of that song running up that hill, plz stop using it. Also that scene meanders too long. Instead of Max running to her portal she decides to stop and havw a TED Talk to Holly Wheeler about how its heroic to stay here?

Hey kiddo remember how I said we will both be leaving together? Well actually turns out im leaving and your gonna have to stay behind in this creepy dimension, but thats ok you got this.

Jeepers can this scene end plz? Also why is no one taking any moment seriously? It’s just always stop and have a discussion.

The shield generator plan falls apart when Nancy destroys it too early, triggering a vortex. The show treats this as catastrophic… but it doesn’t feel immediate or earned.

Its revealed that the Upside Down isnt a dimension but its a wormhole in between 2 dimensions, specifically between earth and Vecna’s dimension. Right so I got so many questions but I guess the one that sticks out to me the most is so if earth is a dimension connected to the upside down, then why is only the town of Hawkins ground zero for the upside down?

Ok quick tangent, so let me get this straight so what we have is

Hawkins which is the main dimension.

The Upside Down which is a wormhole in between 2 dimensions.

Then we also have Dimension X where Vecna is at.

But also does that mean Russia had their own Upside Down? Because they opened a portal and had a Demogorgon, right. Right? To lay it all out more cleanly.

Upside Down was an alternate reflection
Now it’s a wormhole
But also Vecna has his own dimension
But Hawkins is ground zero
But Russia had portals
But the creatures moved dimensions
But the Upside Down is frozen in 1983
But also not really

Yeah checks out, all that makes sense, right?

Also the Duffer Brothers said this has been planned this entire time, no it hasn’t. You cannot tell me with a straight face that they planned for Will to get Vecna powers, as a way to help continence his friends to the end from the beginning. The Upside Down that once had the creatures in the Upside Down, no longer exist in the Upside Down but instead exist in Dimension X. While the Upside Down is a gateway with s gisnt barrier around it that no one has ever seen before.

And season 4 ended with Vecna breaking open the Upside Down into Hawkins, leaving it up for the main group to have to deal with it next, just for them in season 5 to shrug it off and delt with it off screen because time jump.

Uh huh im calling bullishite on this.

Why not anywhere else on planet earth? No really let that thought sink in, because if you do the show starts making no sense.

The Upside Down reveal lands, but the pacing drains its impact.

Then we get the Jonathan/Nancy un-proposal.

They list reasons they don’t like each other. Jonathan pulls out a ring he was going to use. He un-proposes. She accepts the un-proposal.

I genuinely could not tell if they were breaking up or getting engaged.

Also I need y’all to realize how uhhhh questionable this scene sounds, so Nancy and Jonathan are stuck in a room. Where the walls are melting into white uhhhh goo, and Jonathan and Nancy tell each other the truth, which somehow for some reason makes the goo became hard. Uh huh, sorry did someone who write this have a fettish?

Episode 7 finally wakes up.

Holly escapes into the yellow-sky pre-Upside-Down space, cracks open a path, and literally falls out of the sky toward the group. That moment finally feels urgent.

The Kali/Eleven storyline tightens, with Kali suggesting that the only way to end the cycle of experiments is for both of them to be removed permanently. That’s dark, and it actually has weight.

Dr. Kay’s reveal — using Eleven’s blood to create new test subjects — is genuinely disturbing and effective. It’s grounded, cruel, and believable evil.

Will is once again positioned as the living key. Vecna wants to weaponize his connection to create rifts. Will cannot catch a break.

Also Will comes out with his sexuality to everyone and I do mean everyone, that includes.

Joyce

Mike

Dustin

Lucas

Max

Robin

Steve

Kali

Murray

Nancy

Jonathan

Hopper

Vickie

Uhhhh just quick question, yeah why are u telling ur sexuality to Murray? Answer Kali who’s a complete stranger to y’all?

Then we get a moment of everyone saying u won’t lose me or me or me.

And u got my axe, my shield, my bow. Oh wait sorry, wrong franchise. I mixed the 2 together, silly me, how could I possibly mistake stranger things as LOTR.

The cliffhanger, however, left me confused.

Henry sits with the kidnapped kids, lights a candle, they hold hands, clocks chime, and their necks snap upward simultaneously.

The show tells us the stakes are high — but it doesn’t show us enough to make it land.

After all that, Part Two still feels like stalling.

It has moments. It has ideas. But as a whole, it feels like it’s killing time.

And that’s the most frustrating thing of all.
—

🧨 The Kali Problem (And Why Bringing Her Back Backfired)

So apparently the Duffer Brothers brought Kali back because — and this is their reasoning — they felt the audience “didn’t give her much of a chance” when she was introduced in Season 2. The idea being: maybe now she’ll be beloved.

Here’s the issue:
You don’t make a character beloved by re-introducing them without purpose.

Because what has Kali actually done this season?

She hasn’t driven the plot forward.
She hasn’t uncovered new information.
She hasn’t saved anyone.
She hasn’t changed Eleven’s trajectory in a meaningful, earned way.

Instead, her entire contribution boils down to one deeply unsettling takeaway:

> “The only way to stop this cycle — to prevent people from making more test subjects like us — is for us to die.”


That’s it.
That’s her role.

Her only contribution is suggesting mutual suicide as a solution.

So let’s be clear about what that means. The character you brought back to “redeem” in the eyes of the audience is now framed as someone whose main function is to suggest mutual suicide as a solution.

That’s not redemption.
That’s not depth.
That’s not growth.

That’s just… alarming.

And it doesn’t come off as noble sacrifice either — it comes off as fatalistic, bleak, and frankly suspicious. Especially when the show never seriously interrogates that idea. No one pushes back. No one challenges it. It just kind of hangs there like, “Well… maybe she’s right?”

Which makes Kali feel less like a character and more like a narrative device designed to plant an ending idea the writers want on the table.

And that’s the core problem: Kali doesn’t feel organic to this season. She feels inserted. Like the writers realized, “Oh right, Eleven has a sister,” and shoved her back in without actually knowing what to do with her beyond delivering one extreme, uncomfortable suggestion.

If this was meant to make audiences warm up to Kali… it’s done the opposite.
She doesn’t feel misunderstood anymore — she feels misused.

And worst of all, it reinforces the fear that this season keeps circling: that instead of letting consequences come from character choices, the show is trying to shortcut its way to a “meaningful” ending by floating the idea of sacrifice without earning it.

You don’t fix a divisive character by giving them a single grim speech and calling it depth.
You fix them by letting them matter.

And right now? Kali doesn’t.

Anyways let’s see how part 3 sticks the landing, hopefully it does because so far I’ve not been impressed.

Also here’s the season finale trailer.