Stranger Things Season 5 Teaser Review

The long awaited finale of Stranger Things has almost arrived. Netflix recently dropped a 2 and a half minute teaser trailer for the season. It depicts many events to come in fast-moving shots, and I’ll be breaking down what’s happening.

This teaser does contain spoilers from season 4’s events, so if you’re not caught up, watch it first!

The Teaser

We’re introduced to Steve first, and throughout the teaser, he seems to be in a radio shop, increasing the decibels. While we don’t really know why he’s doing it yet, it stands to reason he’s doing it to attract some enemies. Perhaps Vecna himself or demogorgons and using himself as bait. Everyone leaves him behind and they’re doing some sort of controlled burn with a countdown. I’m definitely very curious what this plan could possibly be. 

We get other shots in the beginning. Around the 47 second mark, we see Eddie Munson’s grave that Dustin visits. His name was never cleared from the Chrissy incident, so it’s vandalized with the words “Burn in Hell.” A sad ending for Eddie, but I had seen some fan theories that perhaps he could potentially come back in another form since he died in the Upside-Down. I’m not going to hold my breath on that though. 

Right after, we get a shot of Lucas crying next to Max in the hospital. We hardly get any sign of life from her beyond her coma in this teaser, so I wonder what’s going to happen to Max. After what she’s been through the previous two seasons, it would be a shame for her to die now. 

The military still seems to be heavily involved with everything Upside-Down as well. There’s helicopters and trucks mobilizing, as well as people attempting to burn the portal in Hawkins. We do know so far that this final season takes place where it all began: Hawkins. We also know season 4 took place in the spring of 1986, and season 5 features a time skip to fall of 1987. The Duffer Brothers have confirmed part of the reason is the actors’ growing up, but I’m sure there will be lore reasons. 

The last minute of the teaser features a lot of quick shots. Johnathan and Nancy look like they’re having an emotional conversation. El is putting on a bandana and prepared to do something. Demogorgons in the hospital and Lucas is protecting Max in her state the best he can. Nancy crying in a bathroom alone. Hopper and El working together so El can do what she needs to with her powers. Lots and lots of important moments. 

The teaser ends with Steve’s decibels reaching 100 and Vecna says “Found you.” I only assume he’s referring to El in this moment as she realistically can be the only one who can defeat him. However, we do see in a shot that Will still feels his presence on his neck. I wonder if WIll will also be important this season. It would be a great moment for him if he can aid in defeating Vecna and the Upside-Down. He was the first victim to it back in the first season and ultimately came out of it. 

I also like that it seems everyone in the cast is back together to defeat Vecna and the Upside-Down once and for all. In season 4, things felt off at times with everyone scattered across multiple states, so some characters never interacted at all or until the very end. It’s fitting that everyone will come together to plan what to do. Perhaps this big plan we see them doing is what they came up with at the end. 

In true Netflix fashion, this season is dropping in three parts. Volume 1, which contains episodes 1-4 on November 26th. Volume 2 is episodes 5-7 dropping on December 25th, and the finale on New Years Eve, December 31st. Truthfully, as someone who doesn’t do huge celebrations on those holidays, I actually don’t mind this format. I’ll be looking forward to viewing the finale of Stranger Things on top of being with my loved ones this holiday season.