Stranger Things is suffering from review bombing after its latest Season 5 episode met with lower audience scores than the Netflix series has typically seen. But some fans are striking back with 5-star reviews in a bid to reverse the trend.
Warning! Spoilers for Stranger Things Season 5 follow:
While the fifth and final season of Stranger Things has sparked complaints from some fans about the exposition-heavy writing, the varying quality of the actor’s performances, and the plot armor some of their characters seemingly enjoy, Episode 7, called ‘The Bridge,’ has become the focal point of a vociferous debate that has spilled over into review aggregate websites.
Will Byers’ coming out scene appears to have fueled the review bombing. In it, Will, played by Noah Schnapp, issues a lengthy monologue in which he tells a gathering of characters that he “doesn’t like girls.” The scene, which takes place as supervillain Vecna applies the finishing touches to his masterplan for world domination, ends with an emotional Will comforted by his friends.
Season 5 has a 56% rating on Rotten Tomatoes’ Popcornmeter, which means 56% of users rated the season 3.5 stars or higher. That’s the lowest by some distance of all the seasons so far on the website. Meanwhile, Episode 7 specifically currently has a 5.4 user review rating on IMDb, with the majority of user reviews rated either 1/10 or 10/10.
One of the 1/10 IMDb user reviews declared Will’s coming out scene as “the worst thing I’ve ever witnessed in film history and that’s saying something, because I’ve adored god-awful movies and shows.” “Worst episode ever,” complained another viewer. “Stranger Things seriously disappointed me with how it handled Will’s storyline and it honestly made me angry. After seasons of careful buildup, emotional trauma, and quiet character development, the show suddenly made Will explain his feelings in a way that felt forced and unnecessary, like the writers stopped trusting the audience to understand subtle storytelling. Instead of exploring his deep pain from being possessed, ignored, and emotionally left behind, they reduced his entire arc to one blunt moment and moved on as if nothing else about him mattered. It felt lazy, rushed, and poorly written, more like a checklist decision than real character growth. Will deserved a thoughtful, meaningful storyline, not something that stripped away his depth and turned years of buildup into a shallow and frustrating reveal.”
Stranger Things is now the setting of a review bomb battle, which is playing out across aggregation websites as groups of fans attempting to combat those 1/10 and 1-star reviews with super positive reviews of their own.
“Don’t believe the review bombers,” reads one 10/10 user review on IMDb. “There are many who will say that the coming out scene was unnecessary, but when have the Duffer Brothers ever put something in that won’t be followed up on? It will come up in the finale, TRUST. Not only did they spell out why Will needed to come out, they gave his moment the gravity it deserved. The fact that so many are angry about that (and done call it unrealistic about a show full of monsters and other worlds) really makes me wonder about the fan base of this show.”
“Great show. For the nerds,” reads one 5-star review on Rotten Tomatoes. “For those who can manage their expectations and enjoy the world of Stranger Things. Two or three scenes that could have been paced or placed better does not undo the entire series. People need to chill and stop expecting perfection.”
From another 5-star review: “If you put your phone down and actually watch and listen — you would like 90% of episodes (it still has some problems but they are not that deep) The whole story is literally described for the audience to understand (and they still complain about it though they don’t get the easiest hints there without it). Don’t read reviews, don’t rely on it — just watch (really watch) and make up your own mind.”
And another response to the review bombing in the form of a 5-star review: “People are review bombing this for no reason other than they can’t handle character development and character arcs without gory slaughter. If you want to watch GOT, go watch GOT. Season 5 has wrapped up so many stories beautifully and we have learned so much about the upside down with great action and emotional scenes. The acting is incredible, especially from Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, and Gaten Matarazzo.”
Meanwhile, some have suggested the review bombing prompted by Will’s coming out scene is about homophobia, not the quality of the writing or acting. And, following that, some critics say they shouldn’t be immediately accused of homophobia for simply having problems with the writing of Season 5 and Noah’s coming out scene.
Despite the review bombing, Stranger Things Season 5 has enjoyed huge interest so far. Seasons 1-4 have garnered more than 1.2 billion views on Netflix to date, and in just four weeks, Season 5 Vol. 1 reached 102.6 million views globally.
The season finale is set for 5pm PT on New Year’s Eve, and will wrap up the decade-long series with a 2-hour episode streamed on Netflix and shown in theaters. The Duffer Brothers have told fans not to expect a Game of Thrones-style bloodbath, even as there are big questions over who might die in the final episode.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
