Stranger Things Season Five

It’s not quite accurate to say that I’ve been watching Stranger Things for a decade, since my daughter would have been a very young six when Season One came out.

I’m all for giving kids exposure to culture and storytelling and expanding their minds, but sending their little minds into the Upside Down at that age is a little too extreme. We did catch up, though, maybe around Season Three, and have been watching it together ever since. We went to the Stranger Things Experience when it was in Toronto, and she even has a “cute” plush demogorgon on her bed and a Dustin-style Thinking Cap hanging on her closet door.

So much time has passed since Season Four, so we took a moment before jumping into the three-part Season Five to watch some recaps on YouTube quickly. Recap and Chill did a good job (if the narrator’s voice doesn’t make you want to sacrifice yourself to Vecna before you get to the end of 24 minutes):

The Duffer Brothers, the show’s possibly insane creators, recommended that people rewatch a handful of episodes, which we dutifully did:

I’d highly recommend that if you haven’t seen Season Five yet, as most of what you need to know is encapsulated in those episodes.

Without giving away any spoilers, we were really happy with how it all wrapped up. It was hard not to get emotional in the final episodes, which came out on New Year’s. I know there’s a lot of people out there who didn’t like it — fine — but I felt it did a great job of sending these characters off in a way that felt appropriate to having watched them grown and develop for ten years (even if it did have some plot holes you could drive Murray’s truck through and felt like it ended three times before the final curtain fell).

Stranger Things will live on, of course, as every pop culture phenomenon has the right to do. Netflix has announced a One Way or Another - A Nancy Wheeler Mystery spinoff book (shades of Nancy Drew?) and Stranger Things: Tales From ‘85, an animated series. And, of course, the merch is flowing freely:

Official Merch Store with 496 products, including an official WSQK 94.5 hoodie that’s mysteriously only in kids sizes
An “official” WSQK FM94.5 hoodie in adult sizes
A brilliant Max Hallmark Keepsake Christmas Ornament
The Nike x Stranger Things collab collection (could have been a lot better?)
A limited edition series of Nike and Converse Stranger Things shoes
The official (naturally) Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons: The Rise of Hellfire paperback
And, of course, Stranger Kitties, a coloring book in which cats have taken all the lead roles in the show

I don’t know about you, but that Max ornament is calling our 2026 tree’s name. See you in the Upside Down!