Stranger Things (TV Series) Chapter Five: The Nina Project (2022) User Reviews

The return

[mattrabbi · 9/10 · 29 May 2022]

The main storyline this episode is Eleven's, where we believe she is going to train in order to regain her powers in a safe environment. But then, plot twist, we get the reveal that Dr Brenner (Papa) is in fact still alive. It was alluded to in season 2 that he may have in fact survived the demogorgon attack in season 1, and we finally learn the truth here. Eleven goes through traumatic flashbacks, and what is overall a quite harsh method to regain her powers. However, as we see near the end of the episode, it seems to be working.

Another highlight of the episode is Hopper's incredible monologue, where we learn more about his mental state and a bit more on his backstory.

The creel house investigation provided some great character moments, and includes a callback from season 1 which I really enjoyed, where the gang has to follow the flickering of lights to follow the creature in the upside down.

Overall great stuff!

Nostalgia done well

[snoozejonc · 8/10 · 8 July 2022]

The Hawkins crew make a discovery, whilst Eleven starts a tough journey back to regaining her powers.

This is another strong episode with intense moments, decent humour, and more great tributes to the era.

The main focus are the events in Hawkins and the plight of Eleven. Both plots are portrayed with brilliant visual storytelling. The cinematography, lighting and editing are top drawer.

The banter between Gaten Matarazzo and Joe Keery is a highlight. Plus it's great to see Millie Bobby Brown after her absence from the previous chapter and she is excellent as always.

There is a big Stephen King tribute in all of the above, with books like 'It' and 'Firestarter' influencing the writing. Also, the 'Nightmare on Elm Street' homage continues to work well.

I also enjoyed the humour of Joyce, Murray and Yuri with their aerial high jinks. Brett Gelman is on great form in these scenes and it is quite fun.

Some aspects scenes involving Hopper at the moment feel a bit forced. David Harbour delivers his monologue well, but from a writing perspective it comes across as a slightly awkward exposition dump to me.

Not As Good As The Last Episode, But Good Enough

[spasek · 7/10 · 7 June 2022]

We finally get back to Eleven, and find that things are not entirely as they appear to be. Strange to find a doorway out in the middle of nowhere instead of embedded in a hillside or someplace a bit more discreet. The trouble is that with a 78-minute episode, we didn't get nearly enough of Eleven, especially considering that she wasn't even in the last episode.

We see the return of Matthew Modine as Dr. Brenner. I'm still waiting to hear how he survived from Season 1. Of course, we find ourselves questioning Brenner's true motives as he pushes Eleven with the hopes of helping her regain her abilities.

Meanwhile, we've got Nancy, Robin, and the gang finding Victor Creel's mansion. I still find myself laughing at the play on names here with Victor Creel--Victor Creed. Any comic book person will know who that is. Pretty convenient that nobody even thinks to check up on Eddie.

Still, the weakest storyline is Hopper, Joyce, and Murray. Who knew you can fly a plane into Soviet airspace without it coming up on radar or being asked by any flight tower--who has all air traffic on the radar --why a plane is flying there. The dialogue and subsequent "fight" was so badly choreographed, that it was as if a couple of 4th graders came up with the idea. About as badly contrived and executed as anything I've seen.

And by the way, the absolute worst addition to the show is easily Eduardo Franco as Argyle. He's not remotely funny in the least, and this actor is absolutely horrific. And as someone who went to high school in the 80s, I never saw a single person with that ridiculous hairstyle. And I'm not liking the fact that they made Jonathan a bumbling idiot either.

For those audience members who simply want great special effects with little story, I can see why this season will still delight those kids. But as someone who rewatched Seasons 1-3 right before watching this season, you can easily see that story, character, and plot have all taken a massive swan-dive.

Also, phone booths aren't conveniently found on the side of the road in the desert in the middle of nowhere either. Any more silly gimmicks to make up for a lack of creativity and imagination?

This season has been a huge disappointment compared to the past seasons. The Duffers should have quit while they were ahead.

Underrated

[guyberrick · 10/10 · 14 June 2022]

I was shocked after watching this episode to see the rating as one of the lower ones this season, because I really loved this episode. The ambiance in the scenes where Eleven is brought to the underground base is perfectly ominous, and the scenes where she is brought into her memories are brilliantly directed and filmed. I even jumped out of my seat out of hype at the end of the episode when she regained her powers for a second, that part was really great.

Also, Murray is an absolute scene stealer with his karate fight in the plane. I did not expect him to do so well after his initial boost in confidence, and was pleasantly surprised. The plane crash was also a very intense scene, loved watching it. Hopper's monologue was also really touching, and sad considering everything we know about the character.

The whole "haunted house" part was also great, with a cool callback to season 1 where they're following Vecna through the lights. And the ending with the lake chase, and the basketball player getting killed was extremely intense and well done. So far this season has been exactly what I'd want out of this TV show and delivers everything with peak quality.

Epic soundtrack

[marcodenatos · 10/10 · 25 June 2022]

This episode is obviously amazing. But what stood out the most to me is the soundtrack, I'm not sure if it's all OST or what but either way the soundtrack here was particularly intense and amazing. It fit all the scenes perfectly, especially the ones involving the Nina Project.

Another great episode - this is the best season of the show so far

[namob-43673 · 8/10 · 28 May 2022]

With yet another stunningly great episode the show cement itself as the best on TV at the moment and to me this is now the best season of this show. Greatly done.

I thought that the weird location of the lab, some convenient plot lines and a couple of directorial misses reduced the score to a 8/10 but this was still excellent TV and again we are moving forward in a nice pace and the acting is solid from almost everyone.

Great TV.

Deeper Into the Dark

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 29 May 2022]

We continue the story of Eleven and the efforts to create a monster from a little girl. The rest of the story moves along with all factions dealing with Eleven's realities in some way. The jocks get a big surprise. What will happen with them now? Hopper has a huge dose of his own fragility and his fear that he may be a curse to the world.

Eleven's storyline

[calebamorgan · 10/10 · 27 May 2022]

Millie's acting has been so good at portraying this child who has not had the chance to live a normal childhood and all the anxiety and confusion thag comes with it. The trauma eleven has is so deep and heartbreaking and Millie is doing a amazing job bringing it to life.

This storyline of Eleven facing her past trauma to regain her powers and then being even stronger possibly feels eerie. It makes me worry Eleven could end up taking a darker path and becoming the ruthless monster some people want to make her out to be. It's sad, I just hope in the end she gets the happy ending she deserves.

I'm loving the Hawkins and California storylines also especially since all the characters are getting their moments to shine and the chemistry is great between them all. I love that there feels like more Nancy in this season and her reporter/detective work and Robin is even better with the crew this season especially alongside Steve and Nancy. I can't lie im enjoying the Nancy and Steve moments a lot.

Home Now

[tristan_19 · 9/10 · 28 May 2022]

Picking up right after the events of Chapter Four, The Nina Project reveals to us from the get go that Papa is still alive, as Eleven is brought to a training facility. She is put to the test and goes through a swimming experience, in which we see great sequences of El trying to understand what is going on and grasp the reality she's in.

Back in Russia, Hopper gets a fantastic monologue about his life and how, according to him, he is the curse. Mike and co are finding more clues about Nina and El's possible location. Dustin's group gets to investigate Victor's house, and the directing and lighting is excellent and freaky. Jason witnesses a tragedy, as Joyce and Murray are thrown into this surprising and exciting plane fight that'll probably end up being an iconic scene of this season.

Overall, a lot of stuff is creeping underneath, boiling up, and leading us to a possibly great Season 4 outcome. I loved the humor, as usual.

I am the curse

[dannylee-78082 · 7/10 · 1 June 2022]

1. El gets sedated 2. Flashlights pop 3. Patrick goes brr

What a surprise to see Brenner again. Master of gaslighting for sure. A really complicated relationship between him and El. A bit of Stockholm Syndrome going here. Not sure if El is just playing along at this point because there are no other options but it sure is distressing to address him as "Papa" after she's experienced having a somewhat of a better father figure (Hopper). Speaking of Hopper, what a great monologue from him. He felt a little detatched from his emotions when he was going through it and lamost seemed like he was not "acting" well. But the truth is, it's probably a good depiction of reality unlike his feet. At his state, I feel like I would speak like him.

Chrissy's boyfriend and his friends going to Reefer Rick's house is crazy irrational... Why would you walk into a known drug supplier's house to invade? I understand their whole purpose is to find Eddie but there's gotta be a limit to their stupidity. Also was not a fan of the plane scene. It was a little too much to the point it didn't feel like much of a comic relief.

We see that Vecna is connected to Victor's house so he probably has a back story too. There is a theory that the man we see in El's memory is Vecna but that doesn't sound very likely. Timeline doesn't really work. But I love the entire NINA sequence. Very eerie and well done. Sound effects/music have been popping off this season. Love the whole Victor's house sequence. Very well done. The mystery element of figuring out who or what Vecna is really added to this episode.

Love this episode! Strong follow up to the previous banger!

They Just Can't Do Anything Wrong

[TRIDENT1745 · 10/10 · 28 May 2022]

Wow. Another excellent episode. I'm so invested in every single storyline, and with Millie carrying the entire Eleven/Hawkins lab storyline, she just can't stop impressing. Her talent grows episode by episode, and just when you say it can't get any better, she just takes it up a notch.

If this isn't a Emmy worthy performance, I honestly don't know what is.

S4 is good but the cast is seems buffonish.

[LordCommandar · 6/10 · 28 June 2022]

S4 is good but outside of Hopper and Matthew Modine, the cast comes off extremley buffonish. Just way too much nonsensical banter especially from the kids and it's really irks my nerve. Argyle is the most annoying out them all. Why was he even cast? You would think that after three seasons and all of their paranormal activities experiences they've been through,they would be more mature, seasoned and focused to solve these mysteries and way less immature so at times they become unbearable to watch.

Nothing makes sense

[bemois · 2/10 · 1 June 2022]

Hey let's talk about our feelings and make jokes after we just buried a guy.

Even worse, Max managed to draw the exact things she saw all from the same angel and perspective so they can glue everything together? Even DaVinci will need more time to remember how this looked like. I'm trying not to take this seriously as at the end it's a show about monsters but can't keep up with all the overhyped reviews.

Show's getting really good

[Mesina02 · 8/10 · 11 July 2022]

Officially halfway through the season and things are getting good. Something that I like about this season is that each episode slowly builds up to the end. Along with that you get exhilarating moments that is constant throughout every episode.

This episode is no different. It gets closer to the epic finale but it also is entertaining by itself. Unpopular opinion but the Russia scenes in this episode were the best parts in The Nina Project. I was waiting for a while for this plot line to do something and when it finally did, it was a breath of fresh air.

Overall season 4 is doing pretty good so far. Let's hope it stays like this.

Very compelling TV

[ader-94847 · 10/10 · 11 July 2022]

Say what you want about this season - but it is incredibly compelling TV. It is like many different genres in the same show. I personally think the creativity this year is the best one of the series. I hope they can close it out as well as they opened it up.

Another fantastic episode

[raj-bhullar · 9/10 · 28 May 2022]

Absolutely loved the action and humor in the plane. Eleven finally used her power. Looks like it just keeps getting better and better every episode. The quality is consistent throughout the season so far. I have watched many tv shows and not many remain this consistent in quality throughout the season. That is some achievement in writing and direction by the Duffer brothers. They are not duffer at all lol. 9.5/10.

Another Great Episode

[bpranavabala · 9/10 · 1 June 2022]

This episode focuses on Creel House Investigation by our Hawkins Gang and Eleven is somewhat able to bring back her powers. Murray and Joyce fly with Yuri. Fascinating episode again, really expected Matthew Modine back and I am so ready for the next episode.

A dumb moment in a so far good season

[teigler-tamas1995 · 8/10 · 29 May 2022]

There is nothing wrong with the slower episodes like this one, however I'd like it to be more believable (okay I know I'm watching a sci-fi but still) It just wasn't easy for me to get past the dumb drawings scene with Max and Nancy, where Max apparently couldn't sleep so she just remembered and drew the exact position of the flying rocks in the upside-down that she just saw, so Nancy can form a house out of it. It was just a ridicious idea. Otherwise fine episode.

One more thing - when the random NPC who died to the big bad upside-down guy in the lake, I thought all these people got to be touched by the upside-down on charger guy, but apparenty it's not the case? Or they just didn't show because NPC character?

Things going back to the beginning of the end!

[charliehope-55381 · 8/10 · 29 May 2022]

I just deeply shock that they shaved Eleven's long hair off which it was heartbreaking but things going back to the beginning now for Jane Byers. I was shocked the way when Eleven's papa was alive, I mean, how?!

Chapter Five

[bobcobb301 · 6/10 · 12 June 2022]

It did not seem as long as the run time made you think it was, but this dragged on and on for far too long. The scenes with Eleven back where it all started were not overly compelling either.

Twists that keep on twisting

[ha77y73ad97 · 9/10 · 8 July 2022]

There are only 2 series at the moment that are currently on an upward trend after multiple series... this and The Boys. How is this series so good.

So many moment of the series i cannot be happier that this has been released. Through out this episode yet again you can tell that they have taken a massive step forward with the cast being slightly older and having the time to create such a deep and impactful series.

The twist of the episode really took me by surprise. With Dr Owens character always flipping between someone you can trust to someone who knows to much to not be manipulative! Still just a great episode that propels this so far forward.

Overall i love seeing everyone one of these episodes of the series. I have never wanted to binge this series because its so good and i want to know as much of this after each episode.

"I love Big Brother."

[bosporan · 7/10 · 27 May 2022]

Another fine episode with so many things going on to move the several plotlines forward. Sam Owens takes Eleven to meet somebody who can help her get her powers back, but at what cost?

There are a multitude of pop references in this episode, even more than usual. From Ghostbusters through Minority Report to The Prisoner and so many in-between, like a trip down memory lane.

The New Characters Don't Work, the Same Problems Don't Either

[frankelee · 1/10 · 20 June 2022]

It's bad enough that the contrived problems keeping the sundry characters from getting to the main problem even happened in the first place... Watching them fail and then have to try to solve them twice is painful. Argyle doesn't work. Indiana sheriff Hopper being stuck in a grim Soviet prison because of a supernatural portal doesn't work. Joyce has never really worked.

You wouldn't think after three seasons a show like this would have problems earning its emotional beats, but this episode and it's slow Soviet prison scenes sure show it can happen.

[8.4] EL's face that I've missed so much

[cjonesas · 8/10 · 28 May 2022]

Episode 5: An episode almost entirely dedicated to the young and present-time Eleven, beautifully and realistically brought to life by Millie Bobby Brown.

Loved every single scene at the underground lab with the charismatic Matthew Modine having such a presence and calm composure that I was keeping repeating 'Papa' after Eleven.

Needless to say that I would have loved 70 minutes of the runtime passed at the lab!

When El screamed out of sheer power, it was like a dam was broken in my mind unleashing my own telekinetic powers...

Nice episode

[funnycommentor · 9/10 · 18 July 2022]

Well, that episode was less intense than the previous episode. The plot was nice, it was mainly about Eleven. Of course, Vecna continues killing teenagers, in a really gruesome way. In my opinion, Hopper's storyline is probably my least favorite part of season 4.. Actually, his storyline is kinda boring and unnecessary. Millie's acting on that episode was amazing, so emotional and very intense. By the way, I really like the "new" gang (Dustin, Steve, Robin, Max, Lucas and Nancy). Jonathan, Mike, Will and Jonathan's friend didn't had much screening time. Last but not least, Eddie he's such an underrated character.