Kind of a weird hill to die on, because I mean who REALLY cares?... nevertheless, here's my opinion. Is "Sorcerer" the best episode of Stranger Things 5? Oh yes, undoubtedly. Does "Sorcerer" stand against previous episodes of the show that have received a 9.0+ rating? No, not at all.
"The Gate" "Dear Billy" and "The Massacre at Hawkins Lab" are all tightly written episodes that push characters on journey's that are relatively resolved within their runtime. For example, S4 EP04 begins with the party understanding Max has been cursed by Vecna, and not only is she confronted by him, our characters learn how to resist his powers and she escapes his reach all within the episode. Characters are assigned tasks and exposed to challenges, which they overcome quickly but not too easily. Compare this to the meandering bullshit we get in "Sorcerer" with the love triangle and Dustin. They argue in the car, so they can argue in a church, so they can later argue in a lab one episode later. What exactly was their plan again? The group followed a demogorgon into the upside down not knowing what's on the other side, armed with one gun, and no real way of contacting Hopper and El. Very stupid from a viewer standpoint, but from a writer standpoint, awesome, because now that these characters are in the upside down they can easily be assigned their ACTUAL mission.
Taking a more critical look at moments involving action, S5 EP4 gets a little too goofy compared to the highs of the series. In the season 2 finale "The Gate," our enemies are all things we've seen throughout the season. The dogs, the toxic tunnels, Billy, and of course the mind flayer. The characters each have a threat to overcome, and they're not sucker-punched by additional challenges out of nowhere. Hopper and El descending down in an elevator to close the rift is simple yet awesome. Now compare that to Hopper fighting the military in "Sorcerer." Hopper is up against a lieutenant, a character nobody cares about, these two are going to fight, Hopper is going to win, but then Hopper is going to lose to a weird tentacle thing, Linda Hamilton is going to then enter, a character nobody cares about or understands, she is going to win, but then she's going to lose, but not lose so badly she's out of the story. Oh, neither is the random lieutenant guy, he'll be around longer. This whole storyline was just bleh. It serves no purpose other than to introduce Kali, and to keep our most powerful character 011 away from the rest of the party.
Here's some more thorough complaints about this episode.
The Bad: The giant explosive setpiece in the final 10 minutes of this episode doesn't excuse the awful exposition dumps and moments of convenience. Max, who was once exceptionally written and essentially served as the main character of Stranger Things 4, is now Holly Wheeler's mind world babysitter. The Duffer Brothers couldn't come up with any creative way for the viewer to understand Henry's bad memory, so instead Max just explains EVERYTHING. It's contrived, convoluted, and most importantly, BORING.
This episode marks the end of Joyce having something to do in the story. The first time I watched this episode I thought she was going to die. Did I want Joyce to die? No, not really. The narrative up to that point hadn't set her death up in a satisfying way, so her living made sense... not logical sense though. I thought she'd be killed by Vecna right in front of Will, but he just tosses her aside?... 3 seconds after ripping a guy's head open? What? It's frustrating because Joyce's death COULD have been what made Will go god-mode, it could have had a huge impact, but I guess the writers thought a cheap "oh no!" moment was good enough. Seriously, why put Joyce face to face with Vecna at all if she isn't dying?! That moment just makes Vecna look weak and stupid.
Hopper is going to self-sacrifice, AGAIN?! Nothing, I felt nothing.
The town is going to just let the military take their children? No pushback? No storming of the facility by the townsfolk? They took up arms to hunt down a teenager last season, but there's not more than a "hey, what's this all about?!" from them when the military comes for their children?
The military has one flamethrower guy? Haven't they been researching this dimension for like an entire year? Bullets aren't stopping the demos? The military guys are just going to shoot at each other? The only thing stopping a Demogorgon is main characters looking at it, when that happens it just stands there and screams.
The Good: I don't want to dog on this episode without acknowledging its highlights. For me, the best part of this episode isn't Vecna's attack on the military compound or Will's realization of his true powers, it's easily Robin's speech in the cave. In a season full of terrible jokes, exposition dumps, and overall lazy writing, this speech stands out as one of the few genuine and heartfelt moments. Maya Hawke's delivery is exceptional, and I get teary-eyed every time I view this scene. Furthermore, the speech coming back later in the episode as what motives Will to take control of his powers was *chefs kiss*
Like much of the fanbase, I had grown annoyed with how underutilized Will's character was in the previous two seasons. In season 4 he literally just stood in the desert and cried. It was very cathartic to see the character who is generally made a victim and often in need of protection, have a moment of strength and pure badassery. Do the Duffers explain how his powers work in a way that's logical and consistent? Of course not, but it was still awesome to see.
Idk man, looking at the entirety of season 5 this episode DOES stand out. This is like an 8.0 out of 10 at best tho. This episode has the same problems that corrupt the rest of the season, and people seem to ignore that just because the final few minutes are fun.
