On Nov. 26 at 7 p.m., the beginning of the much anticipated conclusion of “Stranger Things” began. After 10 years, the final season of the show that many of us early 2000s babies grew up on is coming to an end. With this finale comes many emotions — from nostalgia to anger — but before the tears start flowing, let’s talk about the emotional weight of the new season.
For the sake of all fans who haven’t watched volume one of “Stranger Things” season five already, I ask you to leave now. Go enjoy the show to its fullest, and then come back and read this review after. I promise it will make it all the better to read, and this show deserves your first impressions. Just to be very clear, this is your explicit spoiler warning for volume one of season five of “Stranger Things.”
When we last saw our “Stranger Things” crew, Hawkins had just been split in two because Vecna opened gates to the Upside Down, Max was in a coma, and Will felt the presence of Vecna again. All seemed to be lost, but when we are brought into season five, their lives seemed undisturbed. The holes that were opened to the Upside Down are sealed by metal, and the town is able to move on like nothing happened. Well, as much as they can do that while being constant military surveillance and quarantined in the town. This combination means that our four main boys, Dustin, Mike, Will, and Lucas, are finally back together as a full group — something that hasn’t happened since season one. We learn that they have been doing “crawls,” where Hopper goes into the Upside Down to see if he can find Vecna.
After one of these missions goes horribly wrong, and Mike’s little sister Holly gets taken by a Demogorgon, the group has to split up. Eleven goes to find Holly in the Upside Down and along the way runs into Hopper. While this is happening the rest of the squad attempts to find Holly and Hopper from Hawkins. They do this by trapping and putting a tracker on the Demogorgon that took Holly. While attempting to find Holly, Will finds out that he can see through the eyes of the Demogorgons, opening up a new reality to him. However, this isn’t the only new reality he is opened up to.
A prominent theme of this season is Will accepting himself, especially his queer identity. His acceptance begins when he sees Robin kissing her girlfriend. This opens up new ideas for him, and he realizes that maybe his romantic feelings for his best friend Mike can be a reality. Through conversations with Robin, he gains more confidence until it all culminates into one moment at the end of the first volume.
The whole group is attacked by Demogorgons, and at the last moment, when everyone is about to die, it is revealed that Will has powers in the form of telekinesis similar to the abilities of another main character, Eleven. This was a moment many fans have been waiting a decade for: Will — the boy who was kidnapped in the first episode of the show by creatures of the upside down — finally holding his own and being as powerful as fans have always known he could be. But this reveal was not just a win for Will defenders, it was also a win for the LGBTQ+ community. This is because Will gaining his powers was very much connected to him accepting who he was as a person and, therefore, his sexuality.
Since the beginning of the show, Will has been the outcast who everyone called “fairy” in the first season because of his possible queer identity. In season four there were hints of Will being gay, shown through him coming out to his brother in unspoken terms. It wasn’t until season five when, through conversations with Robin, Will was allowed to outwardly talk about his feelings. This leads to Robin giving a moving speech where she says, “I was looking for answers in somebody else. But, I had all the answers. I just needed to stop being so damn scared.”
Her monologue — which speaks on the experience of being a queer teenager and trying to figure out who you are while not losing yourself — was given over a montage of family videos from Will’s childhood. In the end, Will gaining his powers is all about loving who he truly is, and the way he accepts this is through memories of his life in relation to his family, sexuality, and self. In Robin and Will’s case, this means loving their queerness and accepting themselves, even when reality wishes to destroy them.
“Stranger Things” is currently one of the most popular shows in the world, and for it to allow a queer character to be in the spotlight and have his powers revealed to him through his own self acceptance is life changing. There is definitely a kid somewhere who saw this scene and knew they would be okay. For that, I will thank the creators of “Stranger Things,” the Duffer Brothers, forever.
In all, I am excited to see where the next volumes take this final season of the show. There are a lot of possible endings, and hopefully all of the characters survive to see their happy endings.
