Stranger Things season 5 is about to drop. Does anyone still care about the Netflix sci-fi series?

There are a lot of questions that need to be finally answered when the fifth season of Netflix’s hit series arrives. Stranger Things It drops next week. But perhaps the biggest of all is this: Do people still care?

This may seem like a ridiculous question to ask for a show whose most recent season remains the broadcaster’s third most-watched series of all time (equivalent to 141 million full-season views), but it’s been 3.5 years since the season ended and 9.5 years since the first season debuted. In an age of increasing options and decreasing interest, it’s a big ask to expect people to stick around to see how it all turns out.

We’re in uncharted territory here, but Netflix says people are betting big on it. To do I still care. According to industry newsletter Puck, the production cost for each of this final season’s eight episodes is around US$50 million ($70 million). Although he did not confirm this figure, chief content officer Bella Bejaria said recently: Diversity: “We want to spend as much money as possible to realize the vision of those on the page.”

This vision is the work of 41-year-old identical twins Matt and Ross, the Duffer Brothers, and has become more fleshed out over the course of five seasons while remaining true to its essence.

As has often been noted, at the core of the film is a deep nostalgia for 1980s pop culture: the music, the fashion, the ridiculous haircuts, and the (relative) innocence of the pre-digital world. And most importantly, the films of that time. Cinema, TV, direct-to-video; cars, girls, high school, stoners; fear, fear, horror. These fuel things Stranger Thingsand has won over a fan base of all ages.

For all the levity — and there’s plenty of it — the show grapples with some serious themes. He always oscillated between light and dark, but as he progressed the latter came more into focus; perhaps a reflection of the fact that kids who watched season one are now in their late teens or early 20s. It’s no different from the cast…

Loading

Duality is a recurring theme. There are good parents — Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and, with a little convincing, Jim Hopper (David Harbour) — and there are bad ones. Some are simply incompetent or uncaring (like Nancy and Mike’s father, the clueless Ted Wheeler); some are violent, like Max’s (Sadie Sink) stepfather; his cruelty clearly has a formative influence on his son Billy (Dacre Montgomery); and the scientist Dr. who insists that the young subjects participating in his experiments call him father. There’s Martin Brennan (Matthew Modine). His behavior is amoral and arrogant at best, and downright evil at worst. In both cases, this amounts to child abuse.

This duality spreads all over the world Stranger Things. Ostensibly, there’s Hawkins, a good-natured slice of Middle America where kids can hop on BMX bikes and ride around town at all hours, doors are locked at night, and the school dance is still the biggest event on the social calendar.

But underneath lies the Upside Down, a dark world where the repressed emerges in terrifying form. Guilt, anger, fear, resentment: These are the fuel of this realm, and as they develop, they threaten to break into the dappled world above.

Loading

This is a dilemma as old as time, and one that David Lynch explores so brilliantly in his work, especially Blue Velvet And Twin Peaks. Stranger Things It’s never as twisted as they are, but it pokes at it, especially in later seasons. And it draws a big influence from the concepts of Hell (and Purgatory, which is even mentioned by name in season 4), as well as parallel universes and Tolkien’s legendary universe.

Watching the series, of course, requires a great deal of willingness to suspend disbelief. Most horror movies (certainly anything dealing with the supernatural) do this. This series combines its horror with elements of science fiction, Cold War espionage, paranoid conspiracy theories, and a healthy dose of geek culture (Dungeons & Dragons role-playing games, ham radio, math, and science) in service of a story that is sometimes surprising, often improbable, but never wildly entertaining.

But his very long life has created some elements of disbelief that are harder to suspend. And none more so than the cast.

While the narrative from pilot to finale took years, key players more than doubled in age. Originally expected to be 11 or 12 years old, the children are now played by actors in their early to mid-20s. Not since Luke Perry’s forehead wrinkled like a San Fernando bug. Beverly Hills 90210 (He was 24 when he started playing a 16-year-old, 29 when the series wrapped) have we ever been faced with such an act of cognitive dissonance on screen?

Loading

Yet after spending so much time with them, we’re now invested in these characters, no matter how age-appropriate they seem. We want Nancy to find happiness, whether it’s with Jonathan or Steve. We want Steve to fulfill his heroic destiny without meeting a grisly end like poor Eddie. We want Max to succeed and Will to be saved from the hell Vecna ​​has prepared. We want Joyce and Hop to survive as a couple and for Eleven to find some peace.

But our relationship with the show isn’t just about what happens on screen; There are off-screen elements as well. And they are complex.

Millie Bobby Brown is still only 21, but she’s already taken the inevitable turn from obscurity to movie star. Enola Holmes and restarted Godzilla-Kong franchises), to the issue of exploitation (sexually explicit fake images flooded the internet shortly after she turned 18). Recently, she became a laughing stock for some for her decision to adopt a child with her husband, Jake Bongiovi, who is the son of singer Jon Bon Jovi.

Meanwhile, David Harbor was ridiculed in a whole different way when his ex-wife Lily Allen destroyed their marriage in the most public way imaginable on her album. West Side Girl.

Loading

Although he describes it as “a hybrid of autobiography and fiction” and never names Harbour, the great man makes a dent in the record as Allen makes a (very one-sided) account of their open marriage.

To add to their pain, there was also a report. Daily Mail (so far unconfirmed by other sources) Brown accused Harbor of bullying on set. True or not, it’s no wonder he didn’t do an interview (the odd red carpet chat aside) during this final season.

As exciting as all this nonsense is, it’s unlikely to hurt interest in the final season. It might actually do the opposite and increase the interest of people who never gave the series much thought.

Meanwhile, true fans will only care about one thing: Can the Duffer Brothers and everyone else involved in this landmark series make it to the end? Here’s hoping.

Are you looking forward to the final season? Stranger Things? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

Stranger Things The fifth season will be released in three parts, with the first four episodes available on Netflix starting November 27.

Find out the next TV series, streaming series and movies to add to your must-watch list. Get the Watch List delivered every Thursday.