Stranger Things Season 5 premiere review: A brutal goodbye to childhood as the final war begins

*Spoilers ahead*

After what feels like an eternity, we’re finally back in Hawkins—a town that’s somehow even more claustrophobic than we remember. The place is under quarantine, tensions are razor-sharp, and the chaos is already brewing in the first few scenes as the Byers and the Wheelers attempt to coexist under one roof. Ted Wheeler would love nothing more than to throw everyone out just for a moment of silence, but obviously, that’s not happening. (He could check on his daughter first)

There’s more to life than breakfast squabbles. Vecna is still out there, and nobody has the faintest idea where he’s hiding. Stakeouts are being planned like a small-town FBI operation. Will is back to feeling that eerie, crawling sensation under his skin. Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is training like her life depends on it—because it probably does. Jonathan and Steve Harrington are competing for Nancy’s attention (yes, even if it requires scaling a tower of electrical poles). Max remains comatose. And Mike’s little sister Holly… yeah, she might just be in danger, despite Mike’s reassurances that ‘monsters aren’t real’.

The first episode of Stranger Things Season 5 sets the tone immediately: unpredictable, nerve-twisting, and emotionally brutal. There’s the morbid sense of finality and Mike’s cheerful vision of peaceful lands as he relates to Eleven, is a bit disconcerting: Somebody is going to die, Duffer’s words are echoing in our heads.

 Grief is its own villain now, clawing at Dustin as he still reels from losing his best friend, Eddie Munson. The show is slowly returning to the early seasons, as the first five minutes promise, where Will is trapped in the Upside Down and a sinister Vecna promises that they have something ‘beautiful’ in mind.

There’s much more to come, of course. But watching the show now feels steeped in nostalgia—you can’t help noticing how grown-up the kids are, and you almost long for the fresh innocence that once anchored Stranger Things: the geeked-out excitement over D&D campaigns, awkward first crushes, and that unshakeable bond of friendship that never felt like forced exposition.

The Nancy-Steve-Jonathan triangle, however, feels a bit tired at this point. As one fan put it perfectly: wrap it up, please. We know it’s about to ignite shipping wars all over again.

Still, despite the occasional stilted beat, Season 5 kicks off with undeniable force. Here’s hoping it keeps pulsing with the storytelling power that made us fall in love with Hawkins in the first place.