Those who have not watched earlier seasons of Stranger Things would be baffled by it, but then the finale is meant for fans who understand the themes and remember its mythology, observes Deepa Gahlot.
Stranger Things is coming to an end, and at the right time.
The analog in digital world appeal of the show is wearing thin, and in these days of diminishing attention spans and shorter memories, the show holding the attention of its target group of young viewers for a decade is quite an achievement.
Created by the Duffer Brothers, the first series premiered in 2016.
Its mix of horror, sci-fi, family drama and anti-establishment stance (the monsters are running amuck, but the bad guys are the government) made it a big hit.
Stranger Things was set in the 1980s, in fictional small town of Hawkins, where horror is unleashed when a young girl with psychokinetic powers, opens a gateway between Earth and a hostile alternate dimension known as the Upside Down at a secret human experimentation facility in the town.
What worked for older viewers was 1980s nostalgia -- the fashion, big hairdos and music.
Stephen King, Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter were the obvious inspirations, and the many conspiracy theories floated by sci-fi fiction and cinema post the Cold War period, gave the mayhem portrayed in the series added meaning.
Also, ordinary kids and their parents fought the monsters, which made for unlikely and endearing heroes.
The high production values and frenetic pacing also helped.
Matt and Ross Duffer have retained the nostalgia in the final season, but concentrated more on a bleak, horror-first apocalyptic narrative.
The result is spectacular, if not always engaging.
Season 5 picks up in the fall of 1987, the fallout from Vecna's psychic assault at the end of Season 4, having split Hawkins apart.
The military has quarantined the town, and the innocence of the fast growing but still fresh-faced cast is replaced by a sense of siege, and a do-or-die courage.
The focus of the heroes who are reunited, is to find and kill the villainous Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
The disparate story threads of Season 4 are woven together: Hopper (David Harbour) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) must find a way back into the Upside Down, the older teens (Nancy, Steve, Jonathan, and Robin) become the covert strategy team, and the kids (Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will) are once again taking on the emotional burden.
The first episode, The Crawl, revisits the foundational trauma of the series -- Will Byers' (Noah Schnapp) original disappearance -- before propelling the story forward.
A significant plot engine of Volume 1 of the series, is the group's 'crawls', planned, calculated, clandestine missions into the Upside Down to map Vecna's lair.
This returns an element of the series' original investigative spirit, but under a much heavier, more dangerous cloud.
The action set-pieces have a blow-it-up quality.
Episode 4, Sorcerer, features an intricately choreographed one-shot sequence, and it's a visual marvel.
Despite the unrelenting momentum, the show takes small breathers to fit in romance and heartbreak.
It does lack humour though, in the midst of almost suffocating doom.
The key messages of friendship, loyalty and family unity are maintained, which had given earlier episodes of the effects-laden show its human core.
Stranger Things had to end because the kids are grown up and adolescent pangs will have to be replaced by adult hassles, if it goes on.
Those who have not watched earlier seasons of the franchise would be baffled by it, but then the finale is meant for fans who understand the themes and remember its mythology.
Stranger Things 5 streams on Netflix.
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