Full spoilers follow for Stranger Things: Season 5, Vol. 1, which consists of four of Season 5's eight episodes. Vol. 1 premieres November 26 on Netflix, with the next three episodes debuting on December 25 and the series finale debuting December 31.

There’s been a lot of grousing from critics and audiences alike that it’s taken Matt and Ross Duffer nine years to bring Stranger Things, their ode to ‘80s nostalgia and sci-fi storytelling, to a close. But the thing about Stranger Things as a series is that as soon as fresh chapters drop, you remember exactly why it’s worth waiting three years and four months for new episodes. Pound for pound, the Duffers, their collaborators and their stellar cast use their time away to deliver impactful character moments, surprising mythology twists, and emotional stakes on a level that few blockbuster movies can even hope to achieve.

This is the final season of the series, which means the expectations are arguably the highest they’ve ever been for the Duffers to pay off what is essentially a battle to determine a sovereign reality: the Rightside Up (ours) or the Upside Down (Vecna’s). Aside from a clunky first episode that’s saddled with disseminating the exposition needed to get the audience up to speed, the first block of episodes does an increasingly thrilling job of laying out the stakes for our heroes and setting up the major threats, both militarily and Vecna-wise. And it culminates in a Chapter 4 climax that rivals anything the show has ever pulled off before in scale and cinematic ambition.

But to start, the Hawkins, Indiana, we return to is much changed from when it was first introduced in 1983 as an idyllic example of middle-class suburbia. In the 584 days since the events of the Season 4 finale, when Max’s (Sadie Sink) brief death tore open Vecna’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) gates to the Upside Down and his realm bled into Hawkins, the town has sort of been cosplaying what it once was. It’s now a militarized zone, quarantined from the rest of the state by barbed-wire fences and checkpoints, and filled with soldiers who monitor the breaches and the residents who didn’t flee.

Amongst those stubborn Midwestern remainers are Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) and her kids, the Wheelers, the Sinclairs, the Hendersons, Robin (Maya Hawke), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Hopper (David Harbour). Our familiar players have a shared secret purpose, operating under the radar of their fellow citizens and the military while trying to figure out what’s become of Vecna, who has essentially disappeared since Max went into her coma. Under the powerful transmission tower of the WSQK radio station, Nancy (Natalia Dyer), Steve (Joe Keery), Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Robin work to use the site’s equipment and remote location to plan covert Vecna scouting missions for Hopper into the Upside Down. All the while, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), Will (Noah Schnapp) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) continue to go to school, but assist as lookouts and field support during operations.

In general, the united allies are as purposeful and organized as they’ve ever been, with the exception of Dustin, who hasn’t been the same since the death of his buddy Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn). In the aftermath, he’s become bitter, angry and defensive of Eddie, who is still vilified by their community for his perceived demonic pursuits through the Hellfire Club. Dustin’s surly ‘tude is a welcome and realistic turn for the typically sunny character, and it forces the rest of his circle — especially Will — to take up the creative and mental slack as they try to anticipate Vecna’s quiet machinations. Matarazzo remains a cast MVP and his performance ensures that Eddie’s death matters, as his character wrestles with the pain he can’t quite process healthily. His is a standout characterization this season, along with Hawke’s energetic and witty Robin and Schnapp’s more assertive take on Will, who bristles against Joyce’s overprotectiveness and moves away from being the victim of the group.

At this point in the series, there’s also an abundance of Hawkins support characters to weave into the narrative because the town was built out to be a fully realized community. Which means the welcome returns of Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono), loud Murray (Brett Gelman) and Lucas’ salty sister Erica (Priah Ferguson). There’s also a new playable version of a more grown Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) and even her bully classmate, Derek Turnbow (Jake Connelly), who together bring back the kid vibes that have always made Stranger Things special. In general, few shows have created an ensemble net as successfully as the Duffers have in Hawkins, which means they can draw on even minor players to create unexpected jeopardy, or touchback on the show’s own mythology and history with purpose. And they do.

Aside from the threat of Vecna, Season 5 continues the secret-lab throughlines that originated with Dr. Martin Brenner’s work as revealed in the first season. There’s been a sinister baton-passing to Linda Hamilton’s Dr. Kay, and while her overall motives are unclear, it can’t be good that she’s figured out how to run a lab in the Upside Down where she hoards an abundance of nasty critters (a la Bishop in Aliens) to dissect. She’s also protecting a secret room which El and Hopper, who spend the majority of these episodes together in the Upside Down, will eventually infiltrate. Hamilton is always a positive in any cast but she’s just simmering so far.

Assessing the four episodes as a mini-season, "Chapter One: The Crawl" (written and directed by the Duffers) is the least graceful of the pack as it stuffs its 71-minute runtime with an overwhelming amount of information. There’s a lot of servicing the plot first at the expense of smaller character moments. For example, the new radio station initially functions as a way for Robin to give the audience an exposition dump, which leaves it feeling like the least organic set piece of the whole series. Let’s just say, it’s no Hawkins Lab or Starcourt Mall. Another sin of the episode is several one-note character scenarios that feel below the caliber of the cast. Steve and Jonathan’s basic bitch rivalry over Nancy’s attentions is kind of dumb, and reducing El to just an obsessed training machine, which again triggers Hopper’s worst protectionist instincts, feels like a regression of their dynamic.

However, the Duffers get their mojo back by “Chapter Two: The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler," which returns the series to its horror roots. It opens with a terrifying Demogorgon attack that evokes one of the most memorable scenes in Poltergeist and immediately puts three long-time characters in mortal jeopardy. The episode also signifies a more natural return to the show’s multiple plot structure where the Duffers are able to balance their large ensemble by clustering characters together on their own missions. One of the freshest pairings is having Will and Robin together. As he’s exploring his reactivated connection to Vecna, Robin’s independence and confidence gives him not only someone to look up to but also the only person he can talk to about his burgeoning same-sex feelings.

The legendary Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Mist) directs "Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap,” which lets him rip with period-piece elements, Commando-style action sequences in the Upside Down featuring El and Hopper, and the establishing of Holly as the unexpected focus of Vecna’s attentions. He gets to showcase the quiet menace of Bower’s Henry persona and show his prowess in working with kids. He’s also gifted with framing an excellent reveal at the end of the episode that puts wind into the sails of the whole show heading into the climactic last episode, "Chapter Four: Sorcerer.”

The Vol. 1 finale, written and directed again by the Duffers, is equal parts love letter to Madeleine L'Engle’s teen sci-fi classic A Wrinkle in Time and to ’80s action films. Sink’s Max returns to the story changed yet even more admirable in her role as protector of Holly and relentless fighter against Vecna. And then the episode shifts into action mode, with the climax especially featuring some of the brothers’ finest work on the series, rivaling prior season finales for its sheer scale and consequential reveals. It also exceeds what’s come before in Stranger Things’ depiction of graphic violence, so be warned if you’re watching with younger viewers.

There’s a lot to admire here about how the Duffers blend their converging storylines into a propulsive The Great Escape-meets-Children of Men mashup sequence. Using oners and exceptional pacing in the edit, this is an audacious closing battle that dares to cross-cut between an Upside Down jailbreak of children with a Demogorgon orgy of violence. It leaves things on a breathless note, but sets the viewer up for the last four episodes with a clearer understanding of Vecna’s plans, an unexpected realignment of how Will’s simmering connection might flip the power dynamic, and provides a path for Max’s return to the fold. There’s also a fantastic callback to Season 2 that might rectify one of the show’s more controversial story arcs. Fans will be feeling the high of the cliffhanger, while knowing there’s only a month before the story gifts audiences with a final resolution.