Is Stranger Things OK for my kid?

Rated TV-MA. All 42 episodes across 5 seasons, scored scene by scene.

The shape of each season

One number for a whole show would hide what matters. The gentlest episode here scores 20 and the hardest 96, so what counts is where the spikes are.

Season	Hardest episode	Median	Skips
Season 1 8 episodes	57 BOLD hardest: episode 1	44.4	2
Season 2 9 episodes	67 BOLD hardest: episode 8	41.5	2
Season 3 8 episodes	55 BOLD hardest: episode 6	48.8	6
Season 4 9 episodes	96 STRONG hardest: episode 6	57.1	7
Season 5 8 episodes	74 BOLD hardest: episode 4	53.8	1

Every episode

Episode	ScoutScore	Flags	Worth skipping or muting
S1E1 Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers	57 BOLD	1 skip, 1 mute	5m mute Will pursued by the creature 39m skip Benny shot - government agents
S1E2 Chapter Two: The Weirdo on Maple Street	35 MILD	1 skip, 2 mutes	45m mute Joyce receives a terrifying phone call from Will 47m mute Joyce's walls come alive - supernatural horror in the house 51m skip Barb is taken by the creature at the pool
S1E3 Chapter Three: Holly, Jolly	46 MILD	0 skips, 5 mutes	0m mute Barb attacked in the Upside Down 33m mute Eleven's flashback: lab trauma and neck snap 37m mute Nancy searches for Barb in the Upside Down
S1E4 Chapter Four: The Body	35 MILD	0 skips, 1 mute	27m mute Shepard encounters the monster in the dark dimension
S1E5 Chapter Five: The Flea and the Acrobat	44 MILD	0 skips, 2 mutes	42m mute Eleven senses the Upside Down - creature audio 49m mute Nancy pulled into the Upside Down
S1E6 Chapter Six: The Monster	43 MILD	0 skips, 1 mute	31m mute Jonathan and Steve fistfight; police arrive
S1E7 Chapter Seven: The Bathtub	20 MILD	0 skips, 1 mute	31m mute Eleven enters the Upside Down - sensory deprivation sequence
S1E8 Chapter Eight: The Upside Down	49 MILD	0 skips, 6 mutes	2m mute Hopper interrogated with electric shocks 13m mute Demogorgon attacks the house 19m mute Monster battle and fire trap
S2E1 Chapter One: MADMAX	28 MILD	0 skips, 0 mutes	nothing flagged to skip or mute
S2E2 Chapter Two: Trick or Treat, Freak	39 MILD	0 skips, 2 mutes	25m mute Billy nearly runs over the boys with his car 42m mute Drunk Nancy lashes out at Steve
S2E3 Chapter Three: The Pollywog	28 MILD	0 skips, 1 mute	45m mute Will confronts the Shadow Monster - episode climax
S2E4 Chapter Four: Will the Wise	42 MILD	0 skips, 1 mute	40m mute Dart molts into a Demogorgon; Hopper's tunnel discovery
S2E5 Chapter Five: Dig Dug	49 MILD	0 skips, 4 mutes	35m mute Hopper overpowered by the vine creature 46m mute Eleven's vision of her mother's traumatic memory 51m mute Joyce and Bob descend into the tunnels to rescue Hopper
S2E6 Chapter Six: The Spy	42 MILD	1 skip, 2 mutes	22m mute Lab experiment causes Will shared pain with the Shadow Monster 40m mute Demodogs attack the group at the junkyard 46m skip Will's trap kills the soldiers in the tunnels
S2E7 Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister	32 MILD	0 skips, 2 mutes	23m mute Gang robs a convenience store; gun threat 26m mute Gang confronts Ray; Eleven nearly helps kill him
S2E8 Chapter Eight: The Mind Flayer	67 BOLD	1 skip, 3 mutes	0m mute Lab under siege - Demo-dogs breach the facility 6m mute Neil confronts and physically strikes Billy 17m skip Bob's death - attacked by Demo-dogs escaping the lab
S2E9 Chapter Nine: The Gate	42 MILD	0 skips, 3 mutes	19m mute Billy attacks Steve and the kids 26m mute Will's exorcism and tunnel escape 39m mute Eleven closes the gate
S3E1 Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?	49 MILD	0 skips, 1 mute	46m mute Billy attacked by unseen creature
S3E2 Chapter Two: The Mall Rats	45 MILD	1 skip, 4 mutes	0m mute Billy possessed and hunted 15m mute Billy's possession hallucination at the pool 45m skip Billy lures and delivers victim to the creature
S3E3 Chapter Three: The Case of the Missing Lifeguard	35 MILD	0 skips, 3 mutes	24m mute El's vision of Heather - screaming and distress 38m mute Mrs. Driscoll eating fertilizer - monstrous behavior 46m mute Heather and Billy subdue her parents
S3E4 Chapter Four: The Sauna Test	50 MILD	0 skips, 4 mutes	0m mute Cold open: Billy's abduction, parents trapped 16m mute Hopper coerces Mayor Larry with threats and violence 42m mute Billy breaks down then turns monstrous in the sauna
S3E5 Chapter Five: The Flayed	29 MILD	1 skip, 4 mutes	4m mute Hopper and Joyce ambushed, shoot-out and car escape 30m mute Grigori intimidates and threatens a gas station clerk 47m skip Flayed men dissolve into horrifying creature
S3E6 Chapter Six: E Pluribus Unum	55 BOLD	1 skip, 4 mutes	2m mute Monster attack on Nancy and Jonathan 17m mute Steve interrogated and beaten by Russian soldiers 52m skip Mind Flayer speaks through Billy and threatens Eleven
S3E7 Chapter Seven: The Bite	44 MILD	1 skip, 3 mutes	8m mute Mind Flayer attacks the house - extended creature assault 41m skip Alexei is shot and killed by a Russian assassin 44m mute Hopper and Joyce fight Russian operatives at the carnival
S3E8 Chapter Eight: The Battle of Starcourt	51 BOLD	2 skips, 5 mutes	0m mute Eleven's wound extraction - painful and graphic 45m skip Gate closes - Billy dies, Hopper disappears, creature destroyed 72m skip Post-credits: Soviet prison reveals Demogorgon
S4E1 Chapter One: The Hellfire Club	62 BOLD	2 skips, 2 mutes	6m skip Hawkins Lab massacre - opening sequence 32m mute Chrissy's hallucination in the bathroom 68m skip Vecna kills Chrissy - climax
S4E2 Chapter Two: Vecna's Curse	50 MILD	1 skip, 8 mutes	4m mute Chrissy's body discovered 20m mute Hopper interrogated in Russian prison 69m skip Fred taken by Vecna - creature attack
S4E3 Chapter Three: The Monster and the Superhero	41 MILD	0 skips, 2 mutes	29m mute Jason's group physically intimidates Eddie's bandmate 35m mute Hopper forced to take repeated blows
S4E4 Chapter Four: Dear Billy	69 BOLD	0 skips, 5 mutes	27m mute Hopper's prison escape attempt 40m mute Armed agents attack the Byers house 51m mute Victor Creel recounts the demon's attack on his family
S4E5 Chapter Five: The Nina Project	47 MILD	0 skips, 5 mutes	7m mute Eleven confronts Brenner at the Nina facility 28m mute Hopper's confession: Agent Orange, dead daughter, addiction 57m mute Eleven goes into cardiac arrest inside the Nina simulation
S4E6 Chapter Six: The Dive	96 STRONG	2 skips, 2 mutes	3m mute Agent interrogates Wallace under duress 58m skip Flashback: Eleven bullied and threatened by lab children 68m skip Steve attacked by creatures in the Upside Down
S4E7 Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab	57 BOLD	1 skip, 8 mutes	0m mute Bat creature attack in the Upside Down 22m mute Brenner punishes child with electric shock collar 90m skip Eleven battles One - massacre revealed, Vecna banished
S4E8 Chapter Eight: Papa	47 MILD	0 skips, 7 mutes	0m mute Vecna's vision traps Nancy 5m mute Demogorgon loose in Soviet prison 11m mute Eleven's near-death resuscitation and sensory tank
S4E9 Chapter Nine: The Piggyback	75 BOLD	1 skip, 11 mutes	42m mute Max confesses death wishes and survivor guilt 52m mute Massacre inside the Russian prison 88m skip Simultaneous climax - Vecna attacks Max, Eddie dies, monsters battle in Russia
S5E1 Chapter One: The Crawl	40 MILD	0 skips, 4 mutes	0m mute Will hunted by the Demogorgon 45m mute Jocks attack Dustin - violent confrontation 60m mute Demogorgon attacks military convoy
S5E2 Episode #5.2	68 BOLD	0 skips, 3 mutes	0m mute Demogorgon attacks the Wheeler home 3m mute Wheeler parents attacked, Holly dragged into the Upside Down 44m mute Something stalks Will and Robin in the Upside Down
S5E3 Chapter Three: The Turnbow Trap	42 MILD	0 skips, 3 mutes	12m mute Military firefight and Eleven's psychic pain 37m mute Interrogation of captured soldier and Vecna revelation 56m mute Demogorgon attack and tracker deployment
S5E4 Chapter Four: Sorcerer	74 BOLD	1 skip, 7 mutes	2m mute Demogorgon attacks the barn 23m mute Max describes being trapped in Vecna's mind-prison 61m skip Hopper's apparent death and Eleven's devastation
S5E5 Chapter Five: Shock Jock	54 BOLD	0 skips, 5 mutes	29m mute Kali recounts captivity, blood harvesting, and torture 44m mute Kali reveals pregnant women used in secret experiments 47m mute Henry threatens to kill a child's entire family
S5E6 Chapter Six: Escape from Camazotz	47 MILD	0 skips, 5 mutes	8m mute Vecna threatens to kill a child 13m mute Vecna torments Will 55m mute Demo-dogs attack the hospital
S5E7 Episode #5.7	62 BOLD	0 skips, 2 mutes	3m mute Holly trapped and pursued by Vecna 21m mute Holly recaptured by Vecna
S5E8 Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up	49 MILD	0 skips, 7 mutes	33m mute Vecna taunts Hopper - suicide/self-sacrifice threat 36m mute Hopper persuades Eleven not to sacrifice herself 48m mute Kali captured and shot - hostage standoff

Scored from subtitles, scene by scene, the same way the movie catalogue is. Nobody has watched these episodes to confirm the timings, so treat the marks as a guide rather than a stopwatch.

Is Stranger Things OK for my kid?

Stranger Things is rated TV-MA, and the intensity is not evenly spread. Across 42 episodes the gentlest scores 20 and the hardest scores 96, which is the difference between a mild evening and one worth planning around. Read the season table before deciding, not the rating.

Which episodes are the hardest?

Season 4, episode 6 scores highest at 96. Every season's peak episode is listed above so you can see where the spikes fall.

Does FilmScout cover TV shows?

Not yet. This guide is a test. If enough parents say they want TV, it gets built.