Stranger Things Season 5 Shouldn’t Have Been Split Into Three Volumes

Stranger Things Volume 2 is here, and it was a disappointing return to form for Hawkins and the Upside Down. We’re fast approaching the ending, yet the pacing and editing is so jarring that the story often feels stuck in place or moving too slowly, considering we’re now at the end. It’s time to say it clearly. Breaking this season into three parts was a huge mistake.

If you’re like me, you’ve read all the episodes and now there’s one more week left to wait for the finale. However, unlike the first four episodes, I’m nowhere near as hyped. Instead, I’m confused, a little confused, and frankly exhausted by what I’ve seen so far. I can’t shake the fear that we are heading towards another game of Thrones Season 8 Scenario. I hope not, but the thought refuses to leave my mind now. While this isn’t a full review, I do want to express my disappointment, so take it as that: a long list of thoughts as we wait for the finale.

The main issue is the pacing, especially in Volume 2, which should have increased the tension heading into the final two hours. Yep, we only have a little over two hours left to get everything sorted, which is really worrying. Instead of growth, we get constant repetition of familiar ground, plenty of laugh-out-loud moments where you’re laughing at the show rather than at the show, and a series of questionable writing decisions.

There is no dearth of disappointments. Eleven is sidelined for much of the first half, the adults, especially Joyce and Hopper, feel largely numb, and the show continues to indulge in relationship drama while the literal end of the world looms. Much of it seems half-baked. Ultimately, it comes down to scope. Given how much ground the story needs to cover, eight episodes doesn’t feel like enough, especially with the additional plotlines introduced by the Duffers, including Kali and Dr. K continuing Brenner’s experiments (which should be a big deal but given so little time), all while juggling a huge cast. There’s no room for the plot or characters to breathe, and this problem returns in the season 4 cliffhanger.

Will’s coming out scene has been the most controversial moment so far.

Saving it for the end and presenting it as the finale of Volume 2 felt counterproductive and jarring. What could have been a sad, intimate moment when Will reveals his most private truth to those closest to him, is instead revealed to everyone. The reasoning behind that choice is unclear. Yes, it’s reassuring to see immediate acceptance, but the stakes are never fully understood. Vecna ​​knows everything about Will, so he has to come out. But why, exactly? Was Vecna ​​going to expose him to his friends as a threat? Even for a show set in the 1980s, this doesn’t feel like a particularly compelling or credible plot device. This moment raises more questions than it answers.

Beyond the narrative issues, the editing itself feels weak throughout this volume. Sometimes it feels like I’m watching her Looping GIF where a truck is about to hit a post but never hits,

More than once, I found myself rolling my eyes when the characters were getting close to a revelation or decisive action, only for the show to cut off and reset to another story. This constant thread-jumping, plus how often we see the same information again, makes the season feel stagnant. That frustration is especially evident in the mind of Vecna, where we’re repeatedly surrounded by familiar ideas, only to be pushed away just as some revelation, such as the near-revelation of Henry Creel’s full origins, is about to land.

Since the Season 4 finale, the show has struggled to even convey whether there is any real-time pressure on the apocalypse. The lack of urgency is most evident in the final part of Henry’s mindless escape with Max and Holly in the red hellscape. We’re cut away from important backstory revelations mere seconds ago, only to return to the extended emotional display while their escape routes wait patiently. The stress and compulsion of time is gone. Henry’s entire strategy involved taking out his enemies, so surely Max would understand the urgency here.

Not surprisingly, these disappointments have spread across social media, with some of the new episodes already ranking among the lowest rated episodes in the show’s history on IMDb.

That said, there’s still a lot to like. Quieter, character-focused moments remain the show’s strongest asset. Max and Lucas’ reunion is one of the highlights of the season so far. Murray remains reliably hilarious, especially in the scenes teasing Mr. Scott Clark, who tangles with the school librarian before disappearing entirely in the final episode. Dustin has been consistently excellent this season, and his scenes with Steve and dealing with the consequences of Eddie’s sacrifice are very well done.

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Was the three-part split strategy for Season 5 a mistake?

Some of these pacing issues are almost certainly a byproduct of the split-season release. If we had the context of the final episode the reaction today would likely have been very different. Despite clearly being positioned as one, it didn’t play like a final chapter or even a traditional mid-season finale.

It’s worth noting that while Stranger Things’ release plans have changed repeatedly, the season was long expected to be split into two parts. We also reported earlier this year that Netflix was eyeing an October and November release window. Further leaks and internal documents sent to third-party trading partners support that plan.

The Duffers have confirmed this It was Netflix’s idea to separate the finaleWhich ultimately led to the theatrical release being scheduled for January 1. In an earlier interview with SFX, he also said that the season was originally designed as a two-part story from the beginning.

The move to split it into three appears to have come late in the process, and it shows. The pace feels slow, and the lack of a meaningful cliffhanger pales in comparison to episode four’s almost perfect ending. If you were going to do a three-parter, it should have been designed right from the start and mimicked Cobra Kai, which was set over 15 episodes and given everyone the satisfying fan service and conclusion we deserved.

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These are my thoughts on Season 5, Volume 2. If I’m lucky, I’ll happily eat my words next week.