With the second Volume of Stranger Things season five released on Christmas Day the series has been given some backlash, specifically the seventh episode. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the second batch of episodes was given a 57 percent score when it came to the audience where Vol. 1 had an average 86 percent score with the audience on average. Spoiler warning for anyone who has not seen the second volume.
There are many reasons as to why audiences decided to turn on the series. The Hollywood Reporter mentions, in the seventh episode titled “The Bridge,” the character Will Byers played by Noah Schnapp (The Tutor, Hubie Halloween), had decided to come out to his friends and family during the penultimate episode leading to the finale of the series. This moment came during the final preparation for facing Vecna. Many viewers went to social media to voice their opinions about the scene. One X user posted this statement, “The forcing of everyone into a room to sit and be quiet then listen to every awkward word that came out of Will’s mouth when most already knew and didn’t give a f–k because they are trying to save the world.” Whereas other viewers went to social media to defend the scene like this one fan’s statement on X, “‘As a gay person who came out in front of 20 classmates in the 2000s, I felt deeply seen by Will’s confession — sharing his truth with the people he calls family,’ wrote one fan on X. ‘If it was hard in 2003, I can’t imagine doing it in the ’80s, when being gay or lesbian meant surviving a witch hunt.'”
However, Will’s coming out moment isn’t the only part of the season that has the fanbase split down the middle. Some viewers of the show also made a note about the writing when it came to season and that the pacing felt off. According to The Hollywood Reporter, one fan on X had this to say when it came to the writing, “‘Some of the worst writing I’ve ever seen on a major TV show,’ wrote one fan on X. ‘Every single scene in season 5 is exposition.’” Fans gripped that the writing of the season wasn’t as strong as the previous seasons where characters doing too much overlapping exposition and bickering amid thick layers of special effects.
In other news the final episode will premiere on December 31, 2025, along with with select movie theaters on the same day and January 1, 2026.