SPOILER ALERT for Netflix’s ‘Stranger Things’ final season!
Stranger Things is a nostalgic series that many people today grew up with, with the first episode being released in 2016 and the last being released nearly ten years later. The buildup to the final, fifth season garnered serious anticipation as eight episodes were released across the span of over a month. However, upon the release of the eighth episode, the series finale was met with reviews that were anywhere from mixed to negative, commenting on the writing, shifting focus of the story, and overwhelming plot holes that the viewers were left with.
One of the biggest debates within the Stranger Things community was the focus of the story in season 5. Many viewers went into the season expecting to see one of the two endings: development of either the characters or the Upside Down as a whole, and it could certainly be said that the new season took a deep dive into its Sci-Fi roots. Lake Park student Brayden Cervantes “I was really hoping to see more lore and development of the upside down as a whole,” Brayden Cervantes (LP ‘27 said, and claimed that he is “really happy with what we got with dimension x and the whole wormhole theory.”
Similarly, Anthony Johnson (LP ‘25) liked “how they brought back the mind flayer in physical form.”
However, many argue that in tying up the loose ends of the Upside-Down, they lost the direction of what the show started out as. Even director Matt Duffer, an interview with TheWrap titled “‘Stranger Things 5’ Finale Explained: Duffer Brothers on Eleven’s Fate, Spinoff Clues and All Those Real Tears,” stated that “Yes there’s sci-fi and adventure and there are monsters. But ultimately for us, it’s a coming of age story.”
However, Anthony didn’t see it the same.
“I think it stopped being a fun coming-of-age story and became too trapped in the monsters of the world, rather than focusing on the more subtle aspects of teenage life,” Anthony said.
Many viewers feel that the delayed character development was a result of rushed, lazy writing, which in of itself, presents a whole other set of issues. Season five introduced many new characters and plot points and as a result, “most [main] characters were forgotten about or shoved into the background,” Stella Helgeson (LP ‘27) said.
“It didn’t really feel like the writers cared about what happened, and with more and more plot points, it became so complicated to the point where most of the season was just characters explaining things.”
Instead of developing characters that the series already had, new ones were introduced and diluted the significance of the main cast. Grady Segreti (LP ‘27) thought the finale was a “let-down” and “done too quickly”, which Stella agreed with.
Additionally, it felt as if the writers simply wanted to take the “safe route” in the ending by not killing off too many characters or pursuing controversial storylines, no matter how much they would benefit the story.
“At least one main character should have died, but I think it would have been better if, realistically, multiple characters died,” Stella said “Without this, I wasn’t really worried about anything happening since I knew everyone was going to be fine.”
It was hard to get worried about characters dying because, as Segreti stated, “it lacked stakes and urgency.”
This season didn’t feel as scary as prior seasons because there simply weren’t the same consequences as prior seasons. Season four did a great job of setting up Dustin’s development by killing off Eddie, but there wasn’t much in season five that comes close to creating that same, lasting impact on a character. The choices made by the writers felt hesitant and by worrying too much about their audience’s reaction, they were unable to write a truly compelling and emotional ending.
The biggest issue regarding the new season from the vast majority of fans is the obscene amount of plot holes.
“There were too many plot holes, which made it hard to enjoy because I constantly felt like I was missing something,” Anthony said, and further begs the questions regarding the disappearance of the military, how Will survived Vecna’s beheading despite being linked to him, where certain characters such as Vickie, Suzie, and Argyle disappeared to, and so on. “It felt like they were too lazy to wrap up any of these loose ends,” Stella said.
Both expressed their disappointment on how the military simply vanishes in the epilogue, as if the characters were somehow able to evade all the deaths of soldiers they caused and government property they destroyed. By the end of the finale, all the questions the series left unanswered made the ending feel anticlimactic and rushed.
There were many different reviews of season five, ranging across the board from “pretty solid” to “by far the worst” season of the series. However, most fans can agree that though this season wasn’t necessarily horrible, it doesn’t quite hold up to the same standards as the previous seasons, or live up to the expectations of what the audience was promised.
