Stranger Things (2016)

What earned the score

• Will Byers' Coming Out as Gay Serves as Thematic Weapon Against Vecna in Stranger Things Season 5

  In Stranger Things' final season, Will Byers comes out as gay to his friends and family in a dedicated coming-out scene, confessing his attraction to men. The narrative explicitly frames this self-acceptance as a necessary thematic catalyst — Robin encourages Will to embrace his sexuality as the source of his power, and his unconfessed identity had previously been a vulnerability exploited by Vecna. Will's coming out becomes a weapon against the forces of evil, enabling the group's final confrontation with the villain.

• Robin's Lesbian Relationship Depicted Across Episodes

  Robin shares a kiss and cuddly moment with her girlfriend Vickie in a hospital room in Season 5 Episode 1, with dialogue suggesting their relationship is sexual; later episodes show Robin discussing her same-sex relationship with Will and introducing another girlfriend, Grace, in Season 5 Episode 6.

Details

When a young boy vanishes, a small town uncovers a mystery involving secret experiments, terrifying supernatural forces, and one strange little girl.

Starring

Winona RyderDavid HarbourMillie Bobby BrownFinn WolfhardGaten Matarazzo

Genre

Action & AdventureMysterySci-Fi & Fantasy

Release Date

Jul 15, 2016

Parents Guide

• Sex Mild

  A woman is seen in a bikini in a photograph.

  A few kisses.

  A young woman is seen shirtless and wearing a bra.

  Occasionally implied male nudity. Nothing is shown.

  Male characters are sometimes shirtless.

  Kissing scenes.

  A character photographs a woman with little clothes.

  A character implies that they found another characters adult magazines.

  A male character is seen wearing underwear only.

  Some sexual dialogue about virginity.

• Violence Severe

  A teenager strangles a child, but is interrupted.

  Demodogs attack and eat people on screen and rarely off-screen. The bloody aftermath is shown.

  A man is badly beaten, mostly offscreen through sound ques, and is threatened to have his finger cut off. He is seen bloody and bruised after.

  A man is stabbed with scissors. A man's nose is broken. Their skin melts into chunks of blood.

  A character is stabbed and impaled by a monster with lots of blood and blood coming out of their mouth.

  A decaying corpse is seen being eaten by a monster.

  A character is shot in the chest and dies.

  Two men die and their bodies melt together to form a monster.

  A character has a wound on their leg with a parasite inside, and another character digs around in it with their hand to try to retrieve it.

  A character is thrown into a machine, the machine blows up.

• Profanity Moderate

  F-word is used just once, being used in the disturbing context of an possessed man yelling out "I'll f**king gut you!" to a teenage girl.

  s**t is used at least 20 times every episode.

  "Jesus" is used a swear word in most episodes at least once; "Christ" as well.

  d**k is used, b**tard is used. In season 3 to 5.

  "Son of a b**ch" is used multiple times.

  A character nicknamed Dips**t Derek.

  Lots of jokes about male and female genitelia.

• Drugs Mild

  Alcohol, cannabis, and tobacco use. A character sells and a few characters smoke weed (mostly heavily implied and a baggie seen briefly) "special K" is mentioned and characters discuss how long it takes to start working to which a character replies it depends on if you snort it (season 4)

  Joyce smokes a lot in season 1. Hopper also smokes early on in the show, but the usage is reduced gradually.

• Frightening Scenes Severe

  The monsters' appearance may frighten sensitive younger viewers. (not a show for anyone under 14)

  Several characters including children are restrained and experimented on which could be upsetting to some viewers.

  Suggested MPAA rating: PG-13 for sequences of violence, bloody images, strong language and thematic content. (Seasons 1-2)

  This show ranges from PG-13 level violence to moments of R rated levels. This show may be centered on kids but the violence and real worlds themes are shown. Blood is shown frequently.

  Seasons 1-2 are tamer, 3 steps up the on screen gore and overall darkness, and season 4 has a surprising amount of on screen child and young teen death, corpses often shown with gouged out or bloody eyes and snapped limbs. Season 5 has a few brief graphic moments (a soldiers head is crushed into mush and another is stabbed through the face with claw like tendrils in a jumpscare manner) so far but the overall tone has been lighter than season 4.

  Several beloved characters die unexpectedly; also contains a lot of flashing lights and visual and audio jumpscares.

Reviews

• ★★★★☆ 4 stars All Clear

  Solid show with no woke non reality based gender identities or xenogenders.