Stranger Things fans have been waiting three years for the grand finale of the beloved Netflix series, and now it is finally upon us. The first four episodes of Stranger Things Season 5 are now on Netflix, with another batch of episodes coming on December 25 and the series finale set to air on December 31. I’m taking my time and watching one episode a day instead of binge-watching, and after having seen the first episode, I am anxious that the rest of the season may be a disappointment.
This article will have some SPOILERS for Stranger Things Seaosn 5 Episode 1
Stranger Things Season 5 starts off with a flashback sequence of Will Byers in the Upside-Down during the events of Season 1. At around the 50-second mark, we get a close-up of Will, and it becomes clear that Netflix attempted to digitally de-age the character. The result is a a creepy uncanny valley effect that gives off serious Polar Express vibes. The CGI or whatever they used to de-age Will simply looks bad, and not like how the character actually looked in Season 1 of the show.
Here’s How Netflix Is Splitting Up Stranger Things Season 5’s Episodes For Its Three-Part Release
Netflix has shared the episode count for the last season of Stranger Things, which will pit Eleven and her friends against Vecna for the final time.
The first scene of the show is effectively a CGI cartoon of Will climbing a huge tree to get away from the Demorgon, unrealistically jumping to the next tree over and then plummeting down to what should be his death, only to wind up captured by Vecna. Maybe there’s something super important in this opening scene that demanded we see this ugly flashback, but I feel like the episode would have been much better without Creepy CGI Will. Nothing takes me out of a movie or TV show more than obviously fake CGI, so Stranger Things Season 5 left me with a bad first impression, to say the least.
Stranger Things Season 5 Will compared to Season 1 Will.
The opening Will scene is awful, but it’s not the only weak point of Stranger Things Season 5’s first episode. The high school bully scene where Dustin is getting pushed around was Disney Channel levels of cringe that had me wanting to crawl out of my skin. Other scenes are weighed down by lame expository dialogue where characters explain things to each other that they should all already know simply for the benefit of the audience.
There’s a scene where Hopper and Joy are talking about why the one-time cop doesn’t want to bring Eleven with him during his expeditions to the Upside Down, and another where the characters explain what the “crawl” is, even though they have all been doing it for quite a while already. This kind of dialogue makes the story easier to follow, sure, but it also makes everything seem fake and takes me out of the action almost as much as the opening scene’s distracting CGI.
Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 1 Isn’t All Bad
I was disappointed with the first episode’s dialogue and the Polar Express Will Byers jump scare, but that’s not to say there aren’t elements that I enjoyed. A conversation between Mike and his little sister Holly is a high point, and I’m intrigued to see how the mysteries established in this first episode unravel. I’ll definitely be tuning in for the whole season, but I do wish that the distracting and bad de-aging effect in the opening scene was scrapped.
- Release Date
-
2016 – 2025-00-00
- Network
-
Netflix
- Showrunner
-
Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer
- Directors
-
Matt Duffer, Ross Duffer, Andrew Stanton, Frank Darabont, Nimród Antal, Uta Briesewitz
- Writers
-
Kate Trefry, Jessie Nickson-Lopez, Jessica Mecklenburg, Alison Tatlock
-
Millie Bobby Brown
Jane ‘Eleven’ Hopper
-
Finn Wolfhard
Mike Wheeler
