It's hard to believe, but last night the final episode ever of Stranger Things dropped on Netflix. Over the course of five seasons spanning nearly a decade, viewers watched on the edge of their seat as the creatures and mysteries of the Upside Down spilled over into the rural town of Hawkins, Indiana, drawing a beloved group of characters into a 1980s-infused sci-fi horror adventure that will go down as one of the best genre TV shows of the modern age. Whether you loved Stranger Things 5 or turned on it at the 11th hour, it's hard to deny the impact of the series on pop culture.
That said, not every season of Stranger Things rose to the same heights. Yes, they all had their showstopper moments, their heartwrenching character drama scenes, and their mind-blowing twists, but some seasons managed to use them to greater effect than others. Now that we have the full view of the series, it's time to look back on each season of Stranger Things and reflect on their ups and downs as we rank them from the weakest season to the strongest.
5. Stranger Things season 3
Tonally, Stranger Things 3 was the summer blockbuster season, and it absolutely lived up to that conceit. It's brighter and more fun than any other season of the show, as the kids take to the newly opened Hawkins Mall and revel in all the 80s-fueled nostalgia that entails. It's right in that sweet spot where the younger cast members are getting older but not quite young adults, and it makes the most of it.
The main drawback of season 3 is just how wonky it gets. This season leaned so hard into its comedic elements that it at times made the characters almost feel more like caricatures of themselves than real people (looking at you, Hawaiian shirt Hopper). When it worked, it was a blast; when it didn't, it made the show feel much looser and more absurd than the previous two seasons. That was especially interesting considering the fact that season 3 had one of the goriest villains of the entire series in the flesh monster version of the Mind Flayer.
Another interesting aspect to Stranger Things 3 is that it feels almost like a bridge between the more contained style of the first two seasons, and the epic movie-quality scope of the final two. The show found a new footing and direction here, for better (its massive finale was the first super-sized episode the show ever did) and worse (Hopper's death fake out set a precedent of refusing to kill off important characters that persisted right to the end). Throw in a kind of random plotline about Russian spies setting up a secret base under the mall that never really went much of anywhere in the long term, and it makes for a unique if disjointed part of the show.
4. Stranger Things season 5
The final season of Stranger Things had some of the highest highs of the entire series, such as the incredible series finale and Will Byers' ascension to becoming a sorcerer. But the overall thrust of the season was weaker than many of its predecessors. While I'm tempted to give it a pass based on the strength of the final episode alone, we have to look at the wider picture of the season, and that picture had an unfortunate amount of flaws.
A lot of this comes down to trying to tie every little thing up before the end, and the feeling that Stranger Things was so deep into its own lore that it forgot to make each step of the final journey compelling. Some characters received ample screentime this season, such as Will, Max, Dustin, and Holly Wheeler, while others such as Steve Harrington, Mike, and Joyce Byers felt wildly underserved considering it was the last time we'll ever see them on screen. Stranger Things had so much work to do to cap off every character's story while simultaneously delving into some of its most complicated twists yet regarding the Upside Down, and at the end of it all it just felt surprisingly underwhelming, minus the few truly exceptional moments.
I chalk a big part of that up to the lack of tension. Despite the fact that this is the final season and Vecna is about to enact his ultimate plan to merge Hawkins with the Abyss, I was never truly that worried about the fate of the world or the characters in season 5 until a few key points in its finale. That was a massive contrast with the previous season, where I watched the Hawkins gang prepare to take on Vecna in the penultimate episode with my heart in my throat. Despite delivering a satisfying ending, Stranger Things 5 felt shockingly toothless throughout, which is never what you want to say about the final season of a sci-fi horror series.
3. Stranger Things season 2
Stranger Things 2 is the season I always expect to not like as much, but end up appreciating more on every rewatch. This season is where the Duffer Brothers really started expanding the lore of the series by introducing the Mind Flayer and Eleven's sister, Eight. With its much darker tone and stellar performances from many of its cast members — especially Noah Schnapp, who completely crushes Will's possession storyline, and newcomer Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield — Stranger Things 2 has aged like a fine wine.
The tone I mentioned really does a lot of heavy lifting for Stranger Things 2, which lovingly wears influences like Aliens and The Exorcist on its sleeve. If Stranger Things 5 had lower stakes, Stranger Things 2 felt like the exact opposite, thanks to the danger lurking around every corner in the tunnels beneath Hawkins and the shocker death of Joyce's new boyfriend, Bob Newby.
Yes, Stranger Things 2 has arguably one of the most divisive episodes of the entire series, where Eleven goes off to find Eight in Chicago. But in my opinion that episode has also gotten better in the long run, as the Duffers made a conscious effort to bring Eight's story back around in season 5. It was done with a purpose, and unlike the Russia storyline, which has more or less been dropped, the children scarred by Dr. Brenner's experiments in Hawkins Lab remained a focal point of the series. To top it all off, Stranger Things 2 had an epic finale, where Steve Harrington takes a group of the kids into the tunnels while Eleven seals the rift beneath Hawkins, at the same time as Will's family exorcises the Mind Flayer possession holding him hostage. It's good stuff!
2. Stranger Things season 4
As with seasons 5 and 3, you can really split hairs when it comes to ranking season 2 against season 4. Both are exceptional, but for my money, season 4 edges ahead because of its massive scope, insanely iconic episodes, fantastic introduction of Vecna as the show's big bad, and memorable characters like Eddie Munson and Max getting a firm focus. Stranger Things 4 is the season where the series really swung for the fences, and while it could get a bit bloated at times thanks to the longest runtimes of the entire show, it largely succeeded.
After the more bombastic third season, Stranger Things 4 leaned back onto its horror roots with the slow reveal of Vecna's backstory and why he's hunting teenagers across Hawkins. He recalls classic 1980s horror villains like Freddy Kreuger, attacking people in their own minds and proving that no matter how they try to run, they can never escape his clutches. Jamie Campbell Bower delivered a career-best performance as the villain, between his scenes as the mutated man who survived for years in the Abyss and the Upside Down, and the Hawkins Lab flashbacks where he played the unassuming orderly known as One a.k.a. Henry Creel. The overarching story of Vecna in season 4 contains some of the show's best twists, and they were executed perfectly.
The main drawback to season 4 is how spread out the characters are. While the Hawkins and Eleven storylines fire on all cylinders, Hopper's Russian imprisonment is the blackest sheep of any Stranger Things plotline, and the California road trip is also a bit of an odd outing. Stranger Things 4 is the first time it really felt like the show had so many characters that it didn't quite know what to do with them all, with the likes of Jonathan and Will Byers largely taking a back seat. So while it is an incredible season of television, it still has its flaws.
Ultimately though, when Stranger Things 4 is good, it's really good. The finale in particular is on par with most good sci-fi horror movies, with an extended runtime to match. Many of the most important episodes in the entire show's run come from this season, and it'll stand as a pinnacle of the series for years to come.
1. Stranger Things season 1
Perhaps it's a little cliché to put the first season of an iconic show down as the best season, but even after how far Stranger Things has come, it still rings true. Netflix's sci-fi series was originally envisioned as an anthology show, which would feature different time periods and characters each season. It was only after season 1 was a massive hit that the streamers pushed the Duffer Brothers to keep running with the story of Hawkins and the Upside Down — a decision which has borne out to be a very good one.
But there's still something about that first season which remains special and stands completely alone as a full story. The tale of a group of young kids whose friend goes missing, sending them on a supernatural investigation with the help of a near-mute young girl with superpowers who escaped from the nearby laboratory, is simple yet exceedingly effective. Back in show's first season, Stranger Things was more interested in laying out intriguing mysteries it never intended to fully answer than it was in developing lore so deep you need an encyclopedia to keep track of it all. That lent this initial outing a layer of mystery that worked so well in tandem with its charming cast of characters, nearly all of whom immediately resonated with viewers — even the characters the creators didn't expect to.
The initial run of Stranger Things also benefited from something the other seasons lacked: stricter limitations that bolstered its creativity. While later seasons had the sort of gargantuan budgets most shows can only dream of, Netflix only invested a relatively modest $48 million for the entire first season. That may sounds like a ton of money, and it is, but it's still less than a single episode of season 5 cost to produce. This meant that the production had to be much more careful about when and how to employ special effects, keeping its runtimes reasonable so that the cost didn't balloon, and so on. There's a reason that Demogorgon is mainly played by a guy in a suit in season 1!
The aesthetic, tone, and razor sharp storytelling of Stranger Things season 1 remain unrivaled in the series, even as its plotlines and character dynamics have grown in the telling.
All five seasons of Stranger Things are available to stream now on Netflix. With the series complete, it's a perfect time for a rewatch, so you can decide your own season rankings for yourself!