Last week, the first four episodes of the fifth and final season debuted with 59.6 million views in their first five days of streaming. Though viewership decreased to 23.6 million views, 'Stranger Things' remained the most-watched TV title for December 1–7.
Additionally, all four previous seasons made the Netflix Top 10 for the third week in a row, with their combined total hitting 26.2 million views — up one million from the week before, indicating that Season 5 might not just be bringing back fans to rewatch the whole thing, but also introducing newcomers to the franchise.
Also, Netflix is said to be working on giving Stranger Things its very own video games.
Earlier this year, Variety had the chance to talk with Alain Tascan, the chief of Netflix's three-year-old gaming division, at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, and he revealed they're exploring the worlds of their biggest shows in a playable medium. Among the considerations are Bridgerton, One Piece, and Stranger Things.
"If I was in the world of 'Harry Potter,' I don't want to be Harry Potter. I'm myself and I’m going to choose a different house and I'm going to do different spells and I want to tell my own story," the exec said. "So we have to find worlds that are very attractive for people to be in and to tell their own stories."
Volume I has already received a bit of criticism. Some viewers of the long-running supernatural coming-of-age drama feel that the show's writing has taken a dive, and pop culture writer Kenneth Shepard tends to agree.
"Some folks attribute the awkwardness of these scenes to the actors' performances, but others point out that it's not just the self-serious delivery that's the problem; it's that it's mixed with dialogue so straightforward that it reads like a mandated plot summary for those who haven’t been paying attention," he wrote.
Some viewers also mentioned an "uptick in obnoxious quip-driven writing," but as Shepard pointed out, teenagers might believably say cheesy stuff like the kids do in 'Stranger Things,' so that's more of an ongoing debate.
In January, N+1 ran a story that detailed initiatives within Netflix, which told creatives to essentially treat the service's original programming as if viewers are going to be on their phones scrolling through social media as they watch it.
This means dialogue is dumbed down so that everyone can follow what's going on, even if the show doesn't have their undivided attention. Could explain why some lines feel so on-the-nose.
But if we take a broader look, Volume I of Season 5 has been received overwhelmingly positively, with 84% on the Tomatometer.
"Once, this was a show about kids in a very ordinary small town, dealing with school while also battling the supernatural. But in the final season, ... all of that subtext is gone. The town of Hawkins has been split open, literally and symbolically," critic Lisa Weidenfeld wrote in the Boston Globe.
"Sure, the kids are still going to school (kind of) and dealing with bullies, but ... everyone's engaged in guerrilla war to figure out what's going on in the Upside Down," Weidenfeld said.
"There are exciting action sequences in these episodes. The kids, plus Hopper ... and Joyce, come up with some really clever coordinated plans to strike back at the Big Bad. Though they also serve to remind you how far these kids are from a gang of misfits playing board games."
