Up to Eleven, or Some Comments on 'Stranger Things 5', Volume 1

I was planning to watch one episode of this a day, skipping Friday when I was in the office, finishing this on Monday. So, yeah... that didn't happen. I got this done on Saturday morning and managed to avoid any major spoilers. Well, except one.

I plan to do a fuller review once the final part has dropped on New Year's Day.

So anyway, here are eleven comments on Volume 1. Spoilers naturally.

1. Netflix have thrown a tonne of money at this final season. More than one in fact considering that $100m in hundred-dollar bills weighs a metric tonne and I've seen a report that they spent four times that amount.
2. Also, they're clearly going for more Emmys here. Stunt Coordination and Stunt Performance for example, with a one-taker in "Sorceror" that knocks the one in "Dear Billy" into a wizard hat.
3. The Party operates as a very well oiled machine... even if it doesn't half squabble sometimes. When the chips are down, they function brilliantly.
4. Eleven might be wearing one of the most ridiculous outfits around, but she is not someone you want to get on the wrong side of. Even with the "kryptonite" one, she's a warrior for the ages.
5. Speaking of warriors, Karen Wheeler taking on a Demogorgon with a broken bottle while tipsy - and living to tell the tale - is up there with Ace having a go at a Dalek with a baseball bat. "Karen, with her wine," indeed.
6. Nancy Wheeler's briefing scene was kind of hot. She's smart, she takes no nonsense and she's one great shot.
7. Good call leaving Max out of the trailers, the poster and the BTS stuff. Unfortunately, the new LEGO set leaked, revealing her outfit. But when she turns up at the end of "The Turnbow Trap", it's nice to see her again. She's got what the Americans call moxie, that's for sure.
8. Robin is screaming autistic spectrum, not that there's anything wrong with that.
9. Murray is a character best in small doses. His smuggling expertise gets him out of the way for much of the time, because he manages to rub everyone up the wrong way. I bet he's divorced. 
10. Nice homage to The Great Escape - a movie far better known among Brits than Americans. Including having 73 kids of the relevant age, which was the same number who actually escaped.
11. There were many things I wasn't expecting, but Will doing the Vecna Party Trick on Demogorgons tops the lot.

So we've got another four episodes to go and not everything from the trailer has turned up. We're still yet to see Nancy firing an M16 for one thing.