A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Netflix TV series "Stranger Things" is almost over. Back in 2016, the sci-fi horror mystery show became a hit, heavy on 1980s nostalgia.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "STRANGER THINGS")
WINONA RYDER: (As Joyce Byers) It's Will. He's trying to talk to me through the lights. Will, are you here?
NOAH SCHNAPP: (As Will Byers) Mom.
RYDER: (As Joyce Byers) Will.
MARTÍNEZ: The finale of the fifth and final season drops tonight on Netflix and also in movie theaters. NPR critic Linda Holmes is here to take a look back. Linda, so let's talk about this final season. What'd you think? How is it?
LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: It's been pretty good. I would give it a solid B. I think, over time, the show's gotten a little crowded. They've added a lot of new characters. They've made the lore of the story more and more complicated. And I think at times, that's made it a little unfocused. But when it's good, it's still really good. And in the moments when they lean on the core relationships, it's very effective.
They can also still pull off some compelling and scary and gross monster stuff. This season has had sequences that I thought were as good as anything they've ever done. And as it comes to an end, they're sort of returning to first principles. The gang has to venture into an alternate nightmare world to kill a monster and save a bunch of kids. They're bringing the characters together, rather than having them off in groups doing their own thing, which has been kind of one problem in the last couple seasons. So it seems like they're trying to get it a little more streamlined as they bring it in for a landing, and I've been glad to see that.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, "Stranger Things" is one of Netflix's most popular shows ever. It was a new show in 2016, but when it came out in 2016, even though it was brand-new, it drew me back to my childhood. I'm a kid of the '80s.
HOLMES: Yeah. That - I mean, that's really what was key to it, right? It felt new, but it also felt very familiar. There's a lot of Steven Spielberg influence in that first season. There's a lot of Stephen King influence. There's Dungeons & Dragons. But I think what they did really well in that first season, especially, was balance a lot of really true, really scary horror with a really engaging story that was just about kids who wanted to save their friend. And I think that was the balance that kind of hooked people.
In terms of Netflix, this was one of the first shows where they really showed what they hoped to do with binge-watching, with shows that could kind of stretch out a little bit. Netflix was pretty well established already for making their own shows, but this was kind of one of their first real zeitgeist-y projects.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, kids who want to save their friend -that's totally '80s TV and movies (laughter). I mean, that's, like, every story, yeah.
HOLMES: Absolutely.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. And we got this season's episodes in two separate batches already, and the last one finally arrives tonight. I understand, though, that this is not the end of the franchise, though?
HOLMES: Well, yeah. We're kind of in a moment where nothing ever ends, or...
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
HOLMES: ...At least it feels like nothing ever ends if there's still money to be made. There is an animated show coming to Netflix in 2026 that is set between two of the existing seasons. And on top of that, the Duffer brothers, who created the show, have confirmed that they're working on a spinoff of sorts. They say that it will be new characters and a new story, rather than a continuation of some part of this story. With that said, would I be shocked to see some of these characters show up again in some future project? Absolutely not. Nothing is ever really over unless the actors get too famous to do it.
MARTÍNEZ: The hardest things a movie or TV show can do, Linda, is have a satisfying ending.
HOLMES: Absolutely so.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Linda Holmes, host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. Linda, thanks.
HOLMES: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
