The first four episodes of “Stranger Things” fifth season, including “The Crawl,” “The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler,” “The Turnbow Trap” and “Sorcerer,” premiered late at night on Nov. 26. The first three episodes each exceed an hour running time, allowing viewers, like myself, to immerse ourselves in the world of Hawkins, Indiana and the start of the holiday season.

Back in 2016, I sat down with my sister and dad as the blank TV illuminated with the infamous red Netflix logo. I ran to shut the blinds, turn off the lights and settle into my couch to watch a new show. The AC blasted throughout the house in the July heat as the very first episode of “Stranger Things” began. 

I was hooked. The show started with a group of four nerds in the 1980s played by Finn Wolfhard as Mike, Noah Schnapp as Will, Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas, and Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin immersed in a game of Dungeons and Dragons. Eight-year-old me, and almost 41 million other households, became obsessed with this story, consumed by the game of Dungeons and Dragons. 

Growing up with these characters, I felt attached to each of their personalities and quirks. I felt relief as Will escaped the alternate dimension known as the Upside Down in season one with the help of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), and stood at the edge of my seat as the “main” friend group took me, my sister, and my dad on intrepid adventures around Hawkins. The first four seasons of this show further developed the cast by raking in more characters like Robin (played by Maya Hawke), Steve Harrington (Joe Keery), and my personal favorite, Murray Bauman (Brett Gelman), to name a few.

After the fourth season, we watch the hospitalization of the season two addition to the show, Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), plus the reunification of Hopper (David Harbor) and Joyce (Wynona Ryder) to the rest of the group as they prepare to face a literal torn Hawkins. We last see the group staggered on a randomly placed hill facing the carnage Vecna, telepathic sociopath played by Jamie Bower, created on the streets of the small Indiana town. 

So, just as the show’s directors intended, on Thanksgiving I snatched the remote and sat down with my entire family to start the first episode of the final season of the show that I have grown up with.

The show’s first episode in the new season, “The Crawl,” thrusts us into action during the first few minutes. We learn the group planned and carried out a “crawl,” which if you were just as confused as I was to what that could possibly mean, is the group’s attempt at piggybacking the military into the Upside Down to find and capture Vecna.

The first episode cracked a few good jokes, but honestly I felt it wasn’t up to a “Stranger Things” level of greatness. It lacked the slow lead-up to action, which is a highlighting feature of the show. The only saving grace of the first episode is the song choice for their crawl, “Upside Down” by Diana Ross. The song perfectly blends with the teamwork and coordination of their plan, even though it fell through. The end of the episode blends another great 80’s song, “Fernando” by ABBA, with the violent capturing of Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) by a monster known as a “Demogorgon.”

In the second episode, “The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler,” the season really starts picking up. As the title indicates, the episode follows Holly Wheeler in a seemingly dream world—only to find an old friend who informs her that this ‘world’ is not as it seems, and her new ally has a plan to break them out.

The third episode is one of my favorites, as the group engages in forced sedation and kidnapping of an innocent family to save ‘Dipsh*t Derek’ (Jake Connelly). The episode provides the bulk of the comedic relief in this first volume of Season 5, which slows the impact of the  deeply emotional story that has been developing. Personally, I started out despising this annoying kid who everyone in the group also hates; however, as the volume progressed, so did my attitude toward Derek. I started to enjoy the lighthearted nature of the character in contrast with the grave reality of Hawkins’ fate. 

The final episode in the volume is mostly about Will, as the title “Sorcerer” suggests; yet, these 83 minutes also reveal a new “delightful” character, another foiled plan, and the sheer power Vecna possesses. Another twist here and there, and the episode surpasses perfection—it is a masterpiece. 

Besides the on-point music selection and the outstanding start of an ending to the once “never-ending story,” the massive 400 million dollar endowment is acknowledged through the peak cinematography the show captures, especially during the last episode when the camera makes the audience feel like they are traversing through the attack on the military. 

Overall, the first volume immediately throws the audience into the story, plagued with laughs and tears, and prepares viewers for the ending to the best TV series of all time. 

As “Stranger Things” comes to an end, and adulthood nears, I am thankful for the holiday season to allow me to watch with my sister and dad, a full circle to wrap up my favorite show. As I watch these last few episodes on Dec. 25 and 31, I am back to where I started: stuck on my couch, blinds shut during this midwest winter tundra, my eyes transfixed on this show.