Season five marks the final outing for the Stranger Things gang we've grown to know and love in the last decade

The day has finally arrived for Stranger Things fans to return to Hawkins, Indiana after a break of more than three years.

In the early hours of Friday morning, four shiny, new episodes of the award-winning sci-fi drama began streaming on Netflix (with two more drops also set to wrap up the story next month), picking up the story 18 months after the events of season four.

So far, the critical reaction to these new instalments has been noticeably mixed, with a string of glowing, four-star reviews contrasted by more critical takes claiming the show’s central characters remain underdeveloped and that the new series’ bumper runtime can make things feel a little slow at times.

Here’s a selection of what critics are saying about Stranger Things season five, starting with some of its more celebratory reviews…

The Guardian (4/5)

“With each of the four episodes running on from the previous one, we have a five-hour action-comedy-horror movie, where each part of the story is luxuriously stretched.

“Episode one is all set up; episode four is a solidly thrilling 90 minutes of flame-throwing, bullet-dodging spectacle that makes good use of what looks like a virtually limitless effects budget, and which culminates in a moment that will have fans standing on their chairs and hollering joyfully.”

BBC Culture (4/5)

“No Stranger Things fan is going away disappointed from these episodes, which leave anticipation for the rest of the season at fever pitch.

“The bombastic episode four is Stranger Things at its best [...] it’s thrilling; and if it’s a precursor to how the Duffer Brothers plan to wrap up the show [...] then viewers are in for an all-time great TV ending.”

David Harbour and Millie Bobby Brown in a new episode of Stranger Things

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