The fifth and final season of Stranger Things is scheduled to release on Thursday, Nov. 26. The show will aim to close out some of the best TV in a generation. As such, it will be under pressure to go out strong. There will be millions of fans waiting to press play on Netflix once they become available at 8 pm Eastern.
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The Duffer Brothers have recommended a four-episode list that fans should re-watch before embarking on the journey of the final season. The hope is that it elevates the watching experience for the final season.
Those episodes are as follows:
- Season 2 episode four: "Will the Wise."
- Season 2 episode six: "The Spy."
- Season 4 episode seven: "The Massacre at Hawkins Lab."
- Season 4 episode nine: "The Piggyback."
The recommendation came during an interview between the Duffer Brothers and The Hollywood Reporter.
"Season two is when we really started to build out the mythology and started to dive into everything, and how this was going to be an ongoing [series]. That's where we started to really plant the seeds for the mythology, and I think probably that's why that is as relevant as it is," Matt Duffer said. "Season four is also highly relevant — 'Massacre at Hawkins Lab' is a good one."
Re-watching those key episodes should ensure you get the best viewing experience of the story to come. Of course, it's unclear why those specific episodes are necessary, but watching them back might provide some clues in terms of what to expect.
The Duffer Brothers Aim To Bring Stranger Things Back Full Circle
During the same interview, the Duffer Brothers explained how the final season's aim is to bring the show full circle, allowing for a complete ending to the storyline.
"If you're going to rewatch anything, I would definitely rewatch those early seasons because it really is about tying [everything] back to seasons one and two," Ross Duffer said. "[Those] are the seasons we referenced the most, because we really wanted this to be circular and to come full circle. There are a lot of mysteries we set up and then intentionally did not answer in those early seasons."
Closing out a show is never an easy task. Many creators have tried and failed, leading to a wave of fan criticism and pushback. Therefore, the Duffer Brothers must hope they've threaded the needle. After all, Stranger Things has become a global phenomenon. And with that level of popularity, appeasing everyone will be near impossible.
