Stranger Things: Back in Action
New season, more viewers. This review covers why Stranger Things got back on track after Season 5 popped out on Netflix.
Have you ever gone to your friend’s house and they always say, “did you finish the new Stranger Things season?” Stranger Things season 5 came out during the holidays in 2025–2026. If you haven’t watched it yet, I would totally recommend it. After season 5 was released, Stranger Things was swarmed with around 1.2 billion views throughout the episodes.
The first thing you notice about Stranger Things is the spooky music and the cool ’80s clothes. The show starts in a small town called Hawkins in 1983. At first, it looks like a normal story about these random kids on bikes, but it is actually about a lot more than that. It is a show about scary monsters, but more importantly, it is about how friendship can help you beat anything. There are many lessons along the way, and it’s just so hard not to keep watching.
One of the most fan favorite things is that it takes place in the 1980s. There are no cell phones or internet, so Mike, Dustin, and Lucas have to use walkie-talkies to talk to each other. They spend their time playing Dungeons & Dragons and riding their bikes everywhere. This makes the show feel like an adventure. Because they don’t have adults helping them all the time, the kids have to be more brave when things get weird.
Speaking of the characters in Stranger Things, we can’t forget to talk about how much the actors get paid. I bet you’re wondering right now, “They probably get a decent amount of money.” But you will be surprised. The main character, Eleven, or Millie Bobby Brown gets a whopping 1.25 MILLION dollars per episode in season 5. And another actor I want to mention is Jim Hopper, Eleven’s “dad” who took her in when she was young. David Harbour, who plays Hopper, gets paid 1.2 million dollars per episode in season 5. In seasons before, he was paid an average of $250,000 per episode.
Next, I want to bring up the name of the show. The title “Stranger Things” has a lot of meaning and growth. The title shows that in the town of Hawkins, things are not just weird. They are getting stranger every day. It lets us know that we should expect the unexpected, like monsters from other worlds or girls with mind powers.
Personally, my favorite thing about Stranger Things is that it always leaves you on a cliffhanger and it always makes you want to watch more. I remember on Christmas day, I was counting down the seconds when the episodes for season 5 would be released. It was so thrilling and exciting. When you go to school and everyone is talking about Stranger Things, I will give you some topics so you can for real be on track. The most fan favorite episode is on season 4, episode 7. This episode is when Stranger Things reveals Vecna’s origin. Vecna is the “Bad Guy” of the movie. He is played by Jamie Campbell Bower, an American actor, singer, and musician.
The reason why season 5 brought Stranger Things back to number one on Netflix is because it was the finale. And it is the characters’ last chance to destroy Vecna before he takes control of the whole world. And people also found the ending interesting. In “Stranger Things Season 5, The Finale – Review,” Rahul Memon states, “in the end, stranger things did what it always did best. It reminded us why we stayed. Not for the monsters or the lore, but for the people. For the feeling of growing up together. For the simple comfort of familiar faces standing side by side one last time.”
Even though Stranger Things has officially ended, the fun hasn’t. I love watching the first seasons again, just reminding myself how much the characters grow throughout the seasons.
