'Stranger Things' 5 Vol. 2: The Nostalgia is Dead

Courtesy of Netflix

Volume 2 of the last season of Stranger Things dropped on Christmas. After the surprising and awesome finale of volume 1, volume 2 is hoping to continue the show's momentum in its final season. But, volume 2 doesn't do that. It derails the show's momentum and leaves fans bored for the show's finale. What does it get so wrong? Let's check it out.

First, the nostalgia of Stranger Things is dying if not dead already. Every episode follows the same formula. If you watched one, you watched them all. It's basically the group needs to come up with another plan, they sit together while the music plays, and they hatch a new plan. At this point it is formulaic and boring.

Next, the show is suffering from relationships not progressing. What happened to Eleven this season? It seems like she is being relegated to a side character on the show. It doesn't feel like her story matters at all and with the edition of her sister Kali, her arc is changing for the worst. The relationships Eleven built throughout the whole series have been destroyed. She basically only has a relationship with Hopper and Mike on some days. What happened to her being friends with Dustin and Lucas? It seems like she has taking a backseat for other characters, one of them being Holly. Holly has taken so much screen time this season, it's mind boggling. Holly being propelled to a main character in the last season is a decision that shouldn't have been made. If they wanted to tell a story with Holly, she should have been in more scenes in the past seasons instead of being a background character that no one cared about.

Another misstep this season is the special effects. In past seasons, the upside down looked different. It was more creepy and haunting. This season it looks like anyone can go there without any consequences happening to them. Even when Max is trying to come back to life, it looks different. I couldn't help but notice how bad the CGI is this season. When you notice that, it takes you out of the show completely.

The relationships on the show are just not there anymore. With everyone going separate ways, there's no magic for those relationships to flourish. Even the main boys don't seem close anymore. Also, the acting in this show has gotten worse. It's a shame to say but most of the actors were better in the first season. There are also certain scenes in this volume that don't need to be in there at all and they don't move the story forward. It's a shame because this was once a great show with great characters but now it seems like the nostalgia act is wearing off.

With that being said, if the finale delivers then it will make up some of the atrocities of the season. The finale will be over 2 hours long and with that runtime, they have a chance to make it a special finale. If they do, fans will remember this last season as a success. If not, it will go down like most other great shows nowadays. For a successful finale, the show needs to kill of a main character. Vecna needs to be seen as a threat that can take out anyone and actually delivers on his actions. Too many times shows are afraid to kill off a character due to fan backlash, but since it is ending, the show needs to take that risk in the final episode. This will lead to a successful end to Stranger Things.

What do you think of Stranger Things 5 Volume 2? Leave your opinion in the comments below.