Finally series five has arrived – but how on earth am I supposed to remember what happened?
We are less than a week out from the fifth and final series of Stranger Things. Netflix’s sci-fi behemoth is one of those rare popular programmes that lives up to the hype, delivering heart-wrenching, breath-taking, pulse-racing seasons every time. I cannot wait to get back to Hawkins and find out what our favourite 80s kids – well, teenagers now – and the demons of the Upside Down are up to. If only to find out how the bloody thing will end.
I say I can’t wait, but I have waited – we all have – for three years. In that time, I’ve moved house, adopted a cat, welcomed not one but two nieces to the family. Three years is a long time to wait for anything, but particularly for a TV show as intricately plotted and imaginative as this. How on earth am I supposed to remember what happened?
As with most fantasy or sci-fi shows, Stranger Things is incredibly complicated. It comes with its own language of demogorgans and mind flayers. It draws on science, movies and geek culture, references that can easily be lost if you don’t pay attention. Not being able to easily recall what happened in the last series could easily make the upcoming episodes less enjoyable – particularly if you have to pause every five minutes to Google an important plot point or how a character fits into a storyline.
Stranger Things first arrived on Netflix in 2016 and became an instant phenomenon. The Duffer Brothers’ story of a young girl, Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), with telekinetic powers fighting monsters from another dimension alongside her geeky Dungeons and Dragons-playing mates went down a storm around the world. It was no surprise when a second series was announced just two months after its initial release.
We had to wait only a year and three months for the next instalment, but the third took just under two years to arrive on Netflix. It felt like a long time, too, but once I watched it, I forgave the delay. Culminating in an intense battle between the Mind Flayer (a huge spider-like monster with a psychic link to all the other creepy-crawlies in the Upside Down) in the now-instantly recognisable Starcourt Mall, this was television on a grander, more theatrical scale. No wonder it took longer to create such magic.
The fourth series came almost three years later, but given there was a global pandemic during filming, there was not much anyone could have done to speed that up.
To make matters worse, Netflix is stretching out the release schedule of the individual episodes of series five. Once you’ve gobbled up the first four episodes next Thursday, you’ll have to wait until Christmas Day to watch the next three and then another week to watch the feature-length finale. Yes, that is an entire month between the first episode and the finale.
But the three-and-a-half years this time just feels excessive. My patience has run out; now I only want to watch to find out how the Hawkins kids will bring down the big bad Vecna (which they inevitably will). All the nostalgic quirks and sub-plots that once made Stranger Things so fun will now feel like unnecessary distractions from what we’ve waited three years for: the final battle.
The beauty of streaming is that it isn’t beholden to any rigid scheduling issues. That’s why we’re already five series into the excellent Slow Horses, the spy drama that only began in 2022 (coincidentally, also the last time there was a new series of Stranger Things). Our on-demand culture – food delivery, taxis, even dating – arguably started with the dawn of the streaming era, so it makes sense that we would be impatient when we’re made to wait for something we would otherwise (i.e. on traditional broadcast TV) expect on an annual basis.
Still, there is a chance that Stranger Things will make the wait worth it. That it will be so dazzling and bold that the past three years without Eleven and the gang will be easily forgiven and forgotten. Ironically, only time will tell.
‘Stranger Things’ series five will stream on Netflix on Thursday
