Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 review: These three episodes are the emotional spine of the season, saving the physical chaos for the finale
Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 arrives at a point where spectacle is no longer enough. The show knows it has lived with its audience for nearly a decade, and these three episodes (5-7) feel designed less to surprise than to settle nerves, fill in gaps, and emotionally steady both the characters and the viewers before the final plunge. This is not the part of the season that wants to race ahead. Instead, it slows down, looks inward, and attempts to organise the emotional and narrative mess left behind by Volume 1. Whether that choice always works is another matter, but it tells you exactly what the creators are aiming for here. Credit where it’s due: the Duffer Brothers largely succeed in doing what many long-running shows fail at. Volume 2 is designed to answer questions rather than introduce shiny new mysteries, and on that front, it largely succeeds. The season’s mythology becomes clearer, timelines tighten, motivations align, and the show finally feels like it knows precisely where it’s heading. These episodes move the needle on the big “who, what, where, and when” in meaningful ways, even if they stop just short of the final click into place.
What Volume 2 does best, sometimes almost too well, is lean into reunion. Few shows understand the pleasure of bringing characters together the way Stranger Things does, and this volume is packed with those crowd-pleasing, punch-the-air moments where alliances form and plans are drawn. The Duffer Brothers know their audience intimately, and they play to that instinct with confidence. These moments work because they’re earned, built on years of shared history rather than spectacle alone. At the same time, the storytelling here is more about regrouping than escalation. Much of the plot revolves around strategy, recovery, and emotional processing. By the time Episode 7 ends, there’s an unusual feeling that both the characters and the audience are standing almost exactly where they began, aware of what’s coming, braced for it, but still waiting for the final domino to fall.
A still from Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2
Emotionally, Volume 2 carries a heavy load, perhaps too heavy. The Duffer Brothers clearly want this section to be the emotional spine of the season, saving the physical chaos for the finale. The problem is that not every moment lands with the weight it’s aiming for. After spending so many years with these characters, the expectation is not just to understand what they’re feeling, but to feel it alongside them. Too often, the writing communicates emotion clearly without fully transmitting it. There is an exception though. A sequence involving Max (Sadie Sink) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) is genuinely affecting, the kind of scene that reminds you why these performances have mattered for so long. Sink and McLaughlin bring a rawness that cuts through the narrative mechanics and briefly grounds the show in something painfully human. Unfortunately, a major emotional pivot near the end of the volume involving Will (Noah Schnapp), clearly positioned as monumental, doesn’t resonate with the same force. The intention is obvious; the impact isn’t. The show reaches for its biggest feeling yet and comes up just short.
Volume 2 also struggles with excess. With more than a dozen characters still occupying important narrative space, the show is juggling too many threads at once. The military subplot continues to linger long past its usefulness, and while the volume provides plenty of essential information, it also spends time answering questions that didn’t need answers. The pacing is tighter than Volume 1, but the season is still digesting the sheer volume of plot introduced earlier. The most frustrating detour is the expanded role of Kali. Her presence isn’t without purpose, but dedicating so much time to a character who has been largely absent for most of the series feels like a miscalculation this late in the game.
One of Volume 2’s quiet successes is Holly Wheeler. Introducing a character so late into a story this crowded is risky, but Holly emerges as a surprisingly effective emotional anchor. She doesn’t feel like a distraction or a device; instead, she adds texture to the narrative, particularly in scenes shared with Max. Nell Fisher brings an ease and sincerity that makes her presence feel justified, even necessary, at a stage where every minute counts. By the time Volume 2 closes, Stranger Things hasn’t delivered catharsis but these episodes exist to prepare the ground, emotionally and narratively, for the end. They don’t always hit as hard as they aim to, and they occasionally carry more weight than they can gracefully balance, but they also demonstrate a show deeply aware of its legacy.
Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 Director – Frank Darabont, Shawn Levy, The Duffer Brothers Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 Cast – Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Joe Keery, Sadie Sink, Noah Schnapp, Maya Hawke, Nell Fisher Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 2 Rating – 3/5