Following early anticipation and high expectations, Stranger Things Season 5 has premiered to largely positive critical reception, earning strong scores on Rotten Tomatoes. The final chapter of the Netflix sci-fi phenomenon appears to be resonating with longtime fans and critics alike, as the Duffer Brothers steer the story toward its much-anticipated conclusion.
Stranger Things Season 5 reviews are finally in
The critics have reviewed Season 5 of Stranger Things. Jen Chaney (TV Guide) called it “great at the most important and rare skill it possesses: the ability to appeal to audiences across the age spectrum” and rated it 9.0/10.
Lili Loofbourow (Washington Post) stated, “Most shows would lose themselves under all that cultural baggage, but ‘Stranger Things’ (mostly) didn’t.” Vicky Jessop (London Evening Standard) described it as “classic 80s adventure fare… I gulped it down — more please,” with a 4/5 score.
Laura Martin (BBC.com) said, “No Stranger Things fan is going away disappointed from these episodes,” giving it a 4/5. Ed Power (Daily Telegraph UK) called the show “top-rank comfort viewing” and noted “the signs are promising that it will go one better than Game of Thrones.”
Ed Potton (The Times UK) gave it 4/5, stating, “This is richly entertaining stuff with proper jeopardy and bags of emotion.” Bob Strauss (TheWrap) highlighted the show’s “simplicity” that allows “rich behavioral, cultural and mythically unnerving elements” to stand out.
However, not all reviews were positive. Sam Adams (Slate) gave a rotten score, writing, “It’s not just Hawkins that feels cut off from the world. It’s Stranger Things itself, a show now sealed in an airless, impenetrable bubble.”
Ben Travers (IndieWire) rated it a C+, stating that first volume suffers “from execution.” Roxana Hadadi (Vulture) criticized the season as being “less scary and less singular at a point when it should be reaching its Mount Doom–like peak.”
How Stranger Things Season 5’s Rotten Tomatoes score compares to past seasons
Season 5 of Stranger Things currently holds an 85% score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer from 47 reviews. This is lower than previous seasons: Season 1 scored 97%, Season 2 scored 94%, and Seasons 3 and 4 both scored 89%.
The current 85% score is still Certified Fresh. The official Critics Consensus states, “Stranger Things plays its cards just right in Season 5, solidifying its pop culture classic status with genuinely captivating genre fare.” As only 47 reviews are in so far, the overall average could still rise as more critic reviews are added.
Originally reported by Anubhav Chaudhry on SuperHeroHype.
