Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 7 Sparks Review Bomb Battle as Fans Combat Backlash to Hotly-Debated Scene

One of the 1/10 IMDb user reviews declared Will’s coming out scene as “the worst thing I’ve ever witnessed in film history and that’s saying something, because I’ve adored god-awful movies and shows.” “Worst episode ever,” complained another viewer. “Stranger Things seriously disappointed me with how it handled Will’s storyline and it honestly made me angry. After seasons of careful buildup, emotional trauma, and quiet character development, the show suddenly made Will explain his feelings in a way that felt forced and unnecessary, like the writers stopped trusting the audience to understand subtle storytelling. Instead of exploring his deep pain from being possessed, ignored, and emotionally left behind, they reduced his entire arc to one blunt moment and moved on as if nothing else about him mattered. It felt lazy, rushed, and poorly written, more like a checklist decision than real character growth. Will deserved a thoughtful, meaningful storyline, not something that stripped away his depth and turned years of buildup into a shallow and frustrating reveal.”

Stranger Things is now the setting of a review bomb battle, which is playing out across aggregation websites as groups of fans attempting to combat those 1/10 and 1-star reviews with super positive reviews of their own.

“Don’t believe the review bombers,” reads one 10/10 user review on IMDb. “There are many who will say that the coming out scene was unnecessary, but when have the Duffer Brothers ever put something in that won’t be followed up on? It will come up in the finale, TRUST. Not only did they spell out why Will needed to come out, they gave his moment the gravity it deserved. The fact that so many are angry about that (and done call it unrealistic about a show full of monsters and other worlds) really makes me wonder about the fan base of this show.”

“Great show. For the nerds,” reads one 5-star review on Rotten Tomatoes. “For those who can manage their expectations and enjoy the world of Stranger Things. Two or three scenes that could have been paced or placed better does not undo the entire series. People need to chill and stop expecting perfection.”

From another 5-star review: “If you put your phone down and actually watch and listen — you would like 90% of episodes (it still has some problems but they are not that deep) The whole story is literally described for the audience to understand (and they still complain about it though they don’t get the easiest hints there without it). Don’t read reviews, don’t rely on it — just watch (really watch) and make up your own mind.”

And another response to the review bombing in the form of a 5-star review: “People are review bombing this for no reason other than they can’t handle character development and character arcs without gory slaughter. If you want to watch GOT, go watch GOT. Season 5 has wrapped up so many stories beautifully and we have learned so much about the upside down with great action and emotional scenes. The acting is incredible, especially from Caleb McLaughlin, Sadie Sink, and Gaten Matarazzo.”

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