The fifth season of ‘Stranger Things’ has not benefited from the coincidence in broadcast with ‘Welcome to Derry’, a prequel series to ‘IT’. Stephen King’s book was a clear reference for the Duffer brothers, especially since the appearance of Vecna, and it is very easy to draw parallels between this new installment of the gang, and the clown prequel, which is dazzling critics.
But it is not about making a comparative table and going section by section, because what most differentiates the two series is that, while ‘Welcome to Derry’ dares to go beyond what is proposed in the book and its adaptations (remembering the excellent TV adaptation of ‘Watchmen’), ‘Stranger Things 5’ errs on the side of cowardice and autopilot. As if its creators and the entire team involved were fed up with the series and wanted to end it with the law of minimum effort. This new batch of episodes feels like a pure formality on the part of a team that has stopped liking the series it is a part of, and is more focused on new projects.
It is understandable, of course: it has been almost ten years since the 1st season was released, and Netflix has tried by all means to squeeze the goose that lays the golden eggs, with long waits between seasons, divisions of those seasons, very long episodes without need, etc., to falsify records that the series already has. The 4th season was great with its commitment to terror, the greater role of Max and the musical symbolism, giving us what we can say has been one of the great moments of the streaming era of the series.
It ended in style, with a huge cliffhanger from which they now back down in a movement that, more than artistic, seems designed solely to stretch the gum further. Between filler subplots that go nowhere (it’s embarrassing to use bullying again and… for what?), the characters going from point A to point B throughout the footage without anything really changing nor is there any care for that journey… the drop in quality compared to the previous season is considerable.
This drop is also noticeable in the interpretations. Perhaps due to the fact that they have to act as much smaller characters (Dustin is not a “college student playing a high school student,” it’s just that he already seems like the typical kid who has been in college for eight years), the main cast accuses that autopilot that we were talking about, trying to defend a script that also seems affected by that. There are compilations on Twitter of that laziness in the dialogues, moments from this season in which the characters say, “My name is Pepe, I’m entering this bathroom because I drank water in the kitchen, so I need to pee.” Instead of being motivated by the critical success of season 4, the creators seem to have surrendered to empty nostalgia, something perfectly represented in the character of Linda Hamilton. You have the chance to do something with her, and you call her for… this? If the news came out that they have used AI to write this season, I wouldn’t be surprised at all, because what is missing here everywhere is what the previous season had: soul.
There are exceptions, of course. In the acting section, Sadie Sink continues to be the best actress in the series, and Maya Hawke and Noah Schnapp are also saved, whose character is somewhat more polished. The chemistry between Robin and Will works, and its final scene does manage to combine the supernatural part of the series with its personal plot very well. The attack on the Wheeler house or the subplot of the boy Derek are also notable, coinciding with being a little more elaborate and offering something a little different. Hopefully for the final part of the season and, this time, of the series (to express it, Netflix has even wanted to separate the last episode), the team gets out of this autopilot and does the rest, because they have shown that, when they want, ‘Stranger Things’ can be something more than an exercise in nostalgia.
