According to Variety, the creators of Netflix’s Stranger Things, Matt (Hidden, Wayward Pines) and Ross Duffer (We All Fall Down, The Grounded), did not expect that the fifth and final season of the series would receive review bombing. The second part of the final season aired on Netflix on Christmas Day and it was not met with the best reviews.
As per Variety, the second part included three new episodes to the final season that brought down the season’s Rotten Tomatoes score down to 56%. This is considered the lowest score in the series for season, with the fourth season score at 89%, third season at 86%, second season at 90% and first season at 96%. *Spoiler ahead* The seventh episode to air in the final season, titled “The Bridge,” is the lowest-rated episode in the series with a score of 5.6 out of 10 and 96,000 reviews. This is the episode in which Noah Schnapp‘s (Hubie Halloween, Waiting for Anya) character Will comes out as gay to the rest of his friends before they begin their fight with Vecna.
“The coming out scene is something we’ve been building to for nine years now. It was a really important scene for us, and a really important scene for Noah — not just from a thematic point of view, but also a narrative point of view,” Ross Duffer tells Variety. “This show has always been about our characters overcoming evil, and in order to overcome this evil, Vecna, in so many ways, represents all the dark thoughts and the evil of society. And for our characters to overcome that, it really becomes about embracing themselves, and then also embracing one another and coming together.”
According to Variety, the scene in the episode is described as follows: “the final step in Will’s journey, and Will is, in so many ways, the key to defeating Vecna,” adds Matt Duffer. “Volume 1 is really about self-acceptance, right? I mean, that’s sort of step one. And then step two is Will is talking to Robin — it’s something that he wants to do. He’s trying to figure out how to come out, and he knows that he needs to do that, and that that’s the final step for him. And he finds the courage to be able to do it. And it’s really the ultimate fuck you to Vecna. That was the intention.”
As per Variety, the creators didn’t change their mind on the episode even after it being torn apart online. “We’re proud of the episode, and we’re proud of the scene, and proud of Noah, who gave a really brave, very vulnerable performance,” says Ross. “The scene was extremely important for Schnapp”, Matt says, and the three of them have stayed close amid the mixed reviews.
All seasons of Stranger Things are available to stream on Netflix.