The season finale of the Duffer Brothers’ beloved Stranger Things was always going to be difficult to pull off. Even as the show’s momentum waned in the last few years, huge numbers of early fans – myself included – stuck around and patiently waited for some kind of payoff. Netflix was clearly aware of this burden: an eye-watering budget of around $400 million (compared to just $48 million in season one) provides more than enough evidence to show just how much pressure was riding on its conclusion. But, having finally reached the end, I must say that it is disappointing to see that volume five had also been given over to the two money-eating yetis that have been walking around in the Duffer Brothers’ skinsuits since their artistic deaths in 2019.

Nevertheless, because I will at least try to make this is a fair trial, I will first lay down the evidence in Stranger Things’ defence. First off, high praise goes to the creators of this season’s sets and the digital special effects. The upside-down (the eerie parallel reality that the characters explore) was genuinely very impressive and built effectively on what had been shown in previous seasons. This was further supported by the advanced costume designs for primary antagonist Vecna, as well as the monstrous Mind Flayer, who were both appropriately chilling. There were also some commendable performances. Noah Schnapp (Will) and Jamie Campbell-Bower (Vecna) specifically shined during the season’s more intense scenes, delivering their performances with suitable and convincing zeal. Generally, I would argue that the season was at its most successful during the more epic and flashy moments: explosions, gunfire and the intense channelling of telekinetic force through one’s fingertips are always entertaining to watch.

“The problems with the new season felt further symptomatic of a much larger sickness”

But a lot also went quite badly wrong. The first four episodes, released at the end of November, were hopeful and promised intense action. During the waiting period between the shows’ release dates, I even reconciled myself to the possibility of an end which was dramatically impressive and satisfying, if emotionally vapid. And yet, the next three episodes (released early on boxing day) spent around three and a half hours doing close to nothing. The eventual ‘reveal’ of the mind flayer’s puppeteering felt obvious from the beginning and the final battle scene was completely rushed. For some reason, a huge 45 minutes of the finale was dedicated to its epilogue, completely detracting from the (already limping) tension of the episode. This strange editorial decision is indicative of the confused and inconsistent pacing throughout the series. A new documentary released on the series’ making revealed that the script for the last episode had still not been finalised even during its filming, and online commentators have speculated that up to two hours of film may have been removed from the final cut. The fact that this shows in the final cut really reveals how rough around the edges the entire thing felt.

The problems with the new season felt further symptomatic of a much larger sickness that has gripped the plummeting trajectory of Stranger Things since the second season. The show has gone from a genuinely tense series that used to investigate themes of nostalgia, maturity, grief, all tied together in the neat bow of sci-fi horror, to a loud, obnoxious and ridiculous caricature of unconvincing teenagers stumbling through an entirely boundless and detached plot. Perhaps the most obvious example of the weakening standards, can be seen in the already-infamous coming out of Will Byers. He commences the moment of emotional intensity by stating that he likes pop rocks with Coke, and concludes with a slushy group hug, in which each friend individually comes forward to profess their support for him like they’re Spartacus. In this scene specifically, but also across the whole of volume five, the dialogue is cringeworthy and unnatural, producing scenes which come off more as a piece of children’s theatre rather than a group of people earnestly talking to one another. While I think that Noah Schnapp actually does quite a good job, even Serena Williams couldn’t play tennis with a racket made of wet clay.

The Duffer brothers’ frenzied desire to introduce loads of unnecessary new characters and plotlines also meant that details were slipping, and the more engaging qualities of the show were completely sidelined. For one, all logic seems to have fallen into the deep chasm. For example, Holly (Mike’s younger sister) is three years old at the show’s beginning, and 11 during its final series, despite only four years having passed. This was a relatively inconsequential slip, but one that a show with so much money really should not be making. Secondly, Holly and Derek (a new breakout character is volume five) hogged much of the screen time this season, snatching it from the palms of the many existing and beloved characters without much foreshadowing or explanation.

“A loud, obnoxious and ridiculous caricature of unconvincing teenagers stumbling through an entirely boundless and detached plot”

To summarise, the final season of Stranger Things was an achievement of CGI above anything else. Everything from its absurd reliance on stiff-looking wigs and unconvincing ’80s costumes to its obvious and ugly ‘Netflix filter’ (a spiritlessly shiny look which has cast its depressing sheen over many similar shows) made it completely excessive and denuded of any substance. The novelty, honesty and charm developed in the first two seasons has been exchanged for TV more focused on online clipping and social media attention. Although there was no reasonably high-quality way to finish a series which has already been largely hollowed out, this is still an irritating and disappointing end to something that had so much potential.