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The public has been alongside Hawkins’ not-so-little adventurers for nearly ten years in their battle against the animals of the Upside-down Zone. Fighting between eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Hopper (David Harbour) And the rest of the group is against the Almighty Vicna (Jamie Campbell Bower) He is at a crucial stage Fans are eagerly waiting for the story to be resolved It will appear on the 31st of this month.
With the first four episodes available now on NetflixWe review The best and worst of this first batch of chapters From last season Strange things.
One of the biggest challenges he has always faced Strange things The idea was to try to convince the audience that a group of boys and teenagers, along with a depressed sheriff, are capable of defeating powerful monsters from the outside. However, the creators of this fantasy are the brothers He died and Ross DoverThey have always succeeded in coloring a product based on pure and simple imagination with verisimilitude. In this way, the core value of this fantasy was to build a world that allowed viewers to let go of cynicism and surrender to the story that is the tagline. “Friends don’t lie.”
On this basis, the Duffers allow us to believe that these children can survive battles against monsters, demons, and all manner of creatures. In this sense, Season 5 finds the greatest characters going through adolescence, but without losing that moral compass that continues to guide them.
In Season 5, there is more maturity as the sweet friendship between the heroes, which was present in the early seasons, now gives way to some friction and wounded egos. The Duffers understand that before defeating Vecna, These characters must learn how to deal with their own feelings. This premise is not lost even in the final episodes, as the battle reaches much greater levels. This allows the viewer to always focus on the emotional commitment he maintains with the protagonists of the story. The Duffers do not betray themselves and continue to mature the interrelationships between their characters as the main narrative device.
There is no season Strange things It presented such an unfavorable initial image. Hawkins is now an isolated city crossed by a rift that connects it directly to the Upside Down. In order to contain this type of kilometre-long scar, the army intervened in the town and closed the crack with boards and more metal sheets.
But of course the military’s access is not free, and people live under constant guard, where many freedoms are restricted. On the other side, Vecna is planning a counterattack as the Demogorgons’ appearances are becoming more frequent. In this context, Eleven must remain undercover to avoid capture by the military, while planning new attack strategies with Will and the rest of her allies.
This unfavorable conflict map is the Duffers’ way of not repeating previous structures. Unlike many series that have many seasons behind them, the creative brothers here do not stop looking for ways to renew their offering, with the aim of not exhausting the viewer. Without having to clutter the story with thousands of new characters, screenwriters trust their heroes and the evolution of the same space they show in constant motion.
In the first four episodes of season five, Will (Noah Schnapp) He is a figure of great importance. The first child kidnapped by a creature from the Upside Down managed to survive that traumatic experience, although he was never able to sever the link that kept him attached to this underworld. As the seasons passed, Will began to gain intensity, and his emotional world became more complex as his status as a bridge between the Upside Down and Hawkins led him to live with physical and mental consequences. But in this final season Will becomes a real turning point.
After a touching conversation with Robin (Maya HawkeWill understands the nature of his feelings towards Mike, and this leads him to a memory that leads to a shocking transformation for the young man, who in the near future will be a key in resolving the battle against Vecna.
One of the main virtues Strange things It is the appearance of secondary characters that always leaves a mark in the hearts of fans, after participating in a few or several minutes. From Barb to Eddie, there have been many heroes who, in just a few episodes, gained remarkable popularity. Following this path, Derek (Jake Connelly) is one of the pleasant surprises of this fifth season. A disrespectful and abusive child, in context Strange things He’s become an unlikely hero and one of the greatest discoveries in these new episodes. Derek only appears for a few minutes, but he’s already one of my favorite characters in the series.
Like many stories that come to an end, Strange things He is faced with the need to tie up loose ends (which few nobles require). This is why some of the respawns can seem a bit arbitrary, or characters solve puzzles that seemed too big, in a relatively short time. It’s clear that with four episodes left, the Duffers are picking up the pace with an eye on Vecna as the big bad to defeat. Ironically, although the events seem rushed at times, some issues remain remarkably suspenseful, as in the film Bullies Who’s harassing Dustin?Gaten Matarazzo).
On the other hand, the appearance of Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton) It also seems to respond more to the need to introduce a somewhat relatable villain than to a mechanism that truly serves the plot.
On the other hand, there is a resource that the new episodes take from the kitchen and it has to do with retro continuity. In order to shed light on Will’s fate, the Duffers reveal that in the past this child was subjected to an attack by Vecna which now also affects many children. And although the Duffers left enough evidence regarding the consequences Will suffered after his kidnapping, the need to devise a new way of communicating between the victims feels like a band-aid that wasn’t really necessary.