Warning: This review contains major spoilers for the Stranger Things series finale!After 42 episodes over the course of nine years, Stranger Things has come to an end on Netflix. Since its debut in 2016, the Duffer Brothers’ sci-fi series instantly cemented itself as a pop culture sensation, only growing more popular as time went on. That loyal fan following also came with very high expectations for the fifth and final season. While Stranger Things‘ ending was satisfying in some respects, the finale didn’t take big enough risks.
Stranger Things season 5, Volume 2, set up the Party’s ambitious mission to kill Vecna and stop his plan to merge the two worlds. The series finale jumped right into the mission, and though there were challenges along the way, Eleven and the group defeated Vecna, stopped the Mind Flayer, and got the kids back to Hawkins before the destruction of the Upside Down.
There’s no doubt that Stranger Things‘ finale featured major story reveals, especially when it came to the epilogue sequence set 18 months after defeating Vecna. The time jump allowed the series to give fans insight into the fates of the major characters, but it also kept Eleven’s fate ambiguous, which is my biggest gripe with the series finale.
Stranger Things’ Series Finale Doesn’t Commit To Killing Off Major Characters (Except Vecna)
The stakes couldn’t be higher throughout Stranger Things season 5. Vecna wasn’t just planning to take over Hawkins; he was attempting to reshape the entire world. With all the dangers the Party faced in the series finale – Vecna, a collapsing Upside Down, the Mind Flayer, the military – the Duffer Brothers avoided killing off any of the most prominent characters.
Kali was killed in the Upside Down, though I’m not sure if she could be considered a major character death. Even when Stranger Things‘ series finale seemingly killed off Eleven, it didn’t take long for the show to backtrack on her fate. Instead, the Duffer Brothers purposely kept Eleven’s fate ambiguous through Mike’s Mage story, suggesting that she escaped Hawkins alive with the help of Kali.
The show also knew what it was doing by nearly killing off Steve on the radio tower, only to have him rescued by Jonathan. Season 5 certainly had its fair share of near-deaths, but it didn’t feature a permanent death at the gut-punch level, like the series accomplished with Eddie’s death in season 4. While it’s terribly sad to lose core characters, it feels necessary for a show like this to pay off the high stakes.
Vecna’s death was a long time coming, but even that didn’t seem fully earned in the moment. His defeat felt too easy for Eleven and Will, considering how much the Party endured leading up to the final faceoff. The show also conveniently left out Demogorgons, Demodogs, and Demobats, allowing the Party to go full throttle on Vecna and the Mind Flayer without distractions. Henry’s power origin story in the cave would’ve also hit harder if Stranger Things: The First Shadow hadn’t already revealed that major detail.
The Stranger Things Series Finale’s Best Moments Go Back To Basics
It all started with the disappearance of a young boy and the threat of a humanoid monster in a small Indiana town. Fast-forward nearly a decade, and Stranger Things has its characters calling themselves “interdimensional space travelers” and fighting kaiju-sized threats. And yet, the most impactful moments in Stranger Things‘ series finale weren’t the blockbuster-level sequences; they were the small, personal interactions.
Stranger Things was always at its best when it balanced character-driven stories with its supernatural elements. However, Stranger Things season 5 lost a lot of the smaller-scale character interactions since the story’s scope grew too large. Some of the finale’s best scenes recaptured those brief yet impactful character interactions, such as Nancy’s refusal to give Mike a real gun or when Eleven gave Sara’s bracelet back to Hopper.
Thankfully, the epilogue time jump gave Stranger Things the opportunity to showcase more of the light-hearted and grounded moments that were more prevalent in past seasons. Granted, it was a bit too late to try to balance the story after having just watched the Party fight villains on another planet.
Stranger Things’ Epilogue Is Mostly Satisfying, But A Bit Too Predictable
Speaking of the epilogue, it was fulfilling to learn the fates of the main Stranger Things‘ characters, even if Eleven’s was left open-ended. With series finales, it’s often evident when character emotions are actually the actors’ own emotions spilling out. This seemed to be the case with the tears during the sequence featuring Steve, Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan, and again with Mike and the Party in the basement.
Despite the satisfaction that came with learning what happened to the Hawkins crew, it came with a sense of predictability. Maybe that stemmed from going the safe route, but there weren’t many surprises in the epilogue aside from Eleven’s possible survival. There was sadness mixed with the hopefulness of the characters, though it still felt like the epilogue was missing something.
Winona Ryder Deserved Better In Stranger Things’ Final Season
Maybe the element missing from the finale, and Stranger Things season 5 as a whole, was Winona Ryder’s Joyce Byers. Once a leading figure of the series, Stranger Things season 5 frustratingly pushed Joyce to the sidelines, making it clear that the show had no idea what to do with the character. She basically followed Will around, limiting her to an overprotective mother.
Joyce got a big moment when she cut off Vecna’s head, but leading up to that point, there was no reason for her to be in the Abyss with the others. Despite the fact that Joyce knew Henry from high school, they never acknowledged their past, making for a major plot hole when looking deeper into the lore.
Following Will’s coming out scene in Stranger Things season 5, Volume 2, Joyce didn’t even have a classic heart-to-heart with her youngest son. In fact, Joyce didn’t share any meaningful moments with her sons in the epilogue, even though their family bond served as a foundation of the show when it first debuted.
We might continue to dissect the Stranger Things series finale well after its release, for the good and the bad. Still, the overall success of the series can’t be denied, no matter the reception of the show’s final season. The Duffer Brothers’ Netflix series was something special, even if the story didn’t always go the way we had hoped.
