“Stranger Things,” is a Netflix show that focuses on students as the main characters who throughout the show underwent various experiences facing supernatural monsters. This year the first four episodes of the fifth and final season were released on November 26, 2025 with the remaining episodes expected to release on December 25, 2025 and the finale on December 31, 2025. In this new season the story explores the concluding battle between the characters and the villain of this season, Vecna, where they do their best to save their town, Hawkins, and their loved ones.
Currently there are four episodes shown, The Crawl, The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler, The Turnbow Trap, and Sorcerer. In these episodes there are various characters who have created a big impact on the story, shocking many viewers, including Eleven, Hopper, Max, Will, and Holly. These characters are whom the show focuses on most this season, where they are the main targets of Vecna.
The episode I prefer most out of the four is the last one called Sorcerer which was an hour and twenty three minutes long. In this episode Eleven and Hopper are seen to be trapped in the Upside Down while being hunted by the military. The Upside Down is regularly mentioned in the show, it is an alternative dimension where everything is dark and morbid, and there are supernatural monsters they call Demogorgons who are under the control of Vecna. The main plot of this episode is the military becoming stricter among Hawkins with the attempt to find Eleven, as well as the other teenager’s effort to ensure a number of children in Hawkins were safe from Vecna. A particular scene in this episode that caught my eye was the ending where the teenagers were about to get killed by the Demogorgons but were saved unexpectedly by an individual, representing this scene’s power to shock myself and other viewers.
The Turnbow Trap is a momentous episode where Will discovers his ability to acquire an insight into Vecna’s mind with the help of Robin. While they discover this the other characters aim to place a tracker into a demogorgon in an attempt to track down Vecna. This mission was a success giving them an upper hand in finally defeating Vecna. I was fond of this episode because we were able to see Murray’s secret delivery to Jonathan foreshadowing his fate for this season.
The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler was an episode full of suspense and tension when Holly was abducted by a demogorgon despite her parent’s efforts to protect her. This worried her siblings, Mike and Nancy, wondering why Vecna would even bother to kidnap Holly, leading them to discover that Vecna was targeting children by displaying himself as a kind and caring individual. I liked this episode because they discovered who Mr. Whatsit really is with the help of Robin and Will, which I thought was an interesting plot twist.
The first episode, called The Crawl, focused on Hopper and the other’s plan to search the Upside Down from time to time to search for Vecna. Prior to this he trains with Eleven teaching her how to control her powers while hiding her from the military. This episode highlights the beginning of a more intense and brutal battle this season. This first episode, I enjoyed because it showed Will’s experience in the Upside Down when he was stuck there in the first season as well as expressing a bit of suspense when Holly was talking to her “imaginary friend.”
★★★★★
