Stranger Things Review: Season 5A Delivers Exactly What You Came For

If you're among the Netflix subscribers burning through the first four episodes of the final "Stranger Things" season this holiday weekend, then you aren't new to the series. Whether you've watched the sci-fi drama since its 2016 debut, or caught up during the show's many long hiatuses, your Thanksgiving binge of Season 5A means you know "Stranger Things," you like "Stranger Things," and you want these final episodes to be worth the three-year-plus wait.

I'm pleased to say, then, that they are.

Now, I can't speak to whether "Stranger Things" will deliver a satisfying ending, when all is said and done. Only four Season 5 installments, out of eight, dropped Wednesday night (I've seen all four); three more are coming on Christmas Day, followed by the series finale on New Year's Eve. So, it's still anyone's guess as to how the Netflix phenomenon will conclude, and whether fans will be fulfilled. But this initial quartet of episodes, at least, is a compelling, payoff-filled, often-cinematic batch that gets the show's swan song off to a strong start.

Season 5 picks up a while after the events of the Season 4 finale, with Hawkins having (more or less) recovered from Vecna's (Jamie Campbell Bower) attempt to turn it into the Upside Down. But the town is now under military quarantine, Max (Sadie Sink) is still in a coma after Vecna got his claws in her, and Will (Noah Schnapp) still has a connection to the Upside Down and Vecna that indicates the safety of Hawkins — and the safety of the young children who live there — will be short-lived.

The strength of these new "Stranger Things" episodes lies in their brisk pacing — a storytelling tool that's been increasingly wasted in the streaming era, with viewers often needing to stick out four, five, even six episodes of a series before they get any answers about what's really happening or where the show is headed. Impressively, "Stranger Things" — which has movie-length runtimes to play with this season — resists the urge to spin its wheels or keep its mysteries unsolved until Parts 2 and 3 arrive.

Rather, there's no time for the show to waste, and it knows so. There's a real sense of urgency underscoring all of the characters' choices, and viewers who stuck out the show's three-year hiatus are rewarded with real and meaningful answers that enrich the show's mythology. When Netflix released the first five minutes of Season 5 earlier this month, the show re-established Will as the centerpiece of this sprawling story, and these four episodes build to a Will-centric crescendo that's among the series' most "Wow, this is good TV!" moments.

Of course, the season isn't perfect. Though "Stranger Things" has always brought a little humor to its increasingly dark story, the jokey asides and bickering matches between characters start to wear thin here, a seemingly forced attempt to bring levity to situations that just don't warrant any. (That said, Eleven and Hopper's dynamic is as enjoyable as ever — the kind of lovingly sarcastic relationship that the show tries too often to replicate elsewhere.)

There are also some dangling interpersonal threads that need tying up in this final season, and those, too, start to feel weirdly inconsequential as Vecna's threat looms larger and larger. Yeah, in theory, viewers need resolution to the Jonathan/Nancy/Steve love triangle, but it's one of a few subplots here that feel tacked on when the fate of Hawkins hangs in the balance.

Still, all told, "Stranger Things" manages admirable consistency in Season 5A, even after a near-comical amount of time off the air. Whether you're here for the high-budget effects sequences, Erica Sinclair's signature snark, or a few more "Running Up That Hill" needle drops, the show will likely check off every box on your Season 5 wishlist — for now, at least.

THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: Though it sometimes clings a little too tightly to sensibilities of seasons past, "Stranger Things" Season 5A is a rewarding, tightly paced showing that's worth the extra-long wait.