As 2025 came to a close, so did “Stranger Things.” December 31st, Stranger Things released its final episode, clocking in at a whopping 2 hours and 8 minutes, and during that time, it gave us nonsense.
A show that prided itself on being a safe space for the outcasts and its mysterious vibe concludes in the most comfortive and uncreative manner. With a lack of stakes, alongside numerous plot holes across the season, many stories were left unanswered. Examples being: Who was the one that captured Will in season one? Why 12 victims? And what happened with Suzie and Dustin?
The entirety of the final just felt like one big incomplete story that has gone on for too long, especially in the relationship department. One of the biggest debates for the show comes from who is the better half for Nancy – Steve or Jonathan – and the show butchers it, even if the final outcome made sense. They made it seem like her entire worth relied on which boy she would pick when in reality the characters have bigger things to worry about, like the end of the world.
The same goes back to Steve and Jonathan as well, their character development has been stunted since season 3 and the Duffer Brothers refuse to adapt so they are constantly being frozen in the worst versions of themselves.
Compared to previous seasons, season 5’ story feels like a mere gust of wind, while seasons 1-4’s plotlines are a chaotic tornado – lightning in a bottle. As mentioned before there are no stakes here. Everytime we thought “this is it, my favorite character is going to die,” the show would scrap that for a tense soundtrack over a slow-mo take of a character in danger.
The season’s final battle also fails to live up to the hype of other season finales. We think “wow this is going to be epic, a tale for the ages” and yet the big bad that we have been fighting for the entirety of this show goes down in under twenty minutes. We are in the X Dimension which we all agree would be riddled with monsters of all kinds, and yet they are just gone? Mike using a flare gun with insanely accurate aim even though he has never touched a firearm in his life? Oh for sure this is all making sense.
The final battle truly relied on the use of slow motion attacks and flashbacks of our beloved characters to create a semi useful finale, but even then it falls short. It’s showcased in its most extreme form when Joyce, who has said a total of 5 lines, is the one to end Vecna.
Joyce used to be a power house in the show and they have reduced her to the eccentric mom of Will Byers, because she is written like she has completely forgotten Johnathan. The woman who was the first to know of the upside down, to figure it all out, has been knocked down to a clueless lobotimized version of herself.
A good chunk of the characters in the show are now just hollow versions of themselves. Mike Wheeler being the main example. Way back in season one and two Mike was constantly the one making plans and being there for his friends in soft gestures and meaningful sacrifices. This season we’re thankful for a moment of playful banter from the guy.
Eleven ‘Jane’ Hopper, the catalyst of the show, is dwindled down to her powers and her relationship with Mike. While yes, their relationship was important for the development of the show, it does not shine here at all. It’s stiff, uncomfortable and awkward to watch.
Will Byers’ coming out scene this season also disappointed, as the writers constantly declined help with writing, and they gave the fans nothing that has been led up to. While many fans are team ‘Byler’ (Will and Mike), there is another side that thinks Will should take time to figure out who he is. Yet the Duffers’ choice of a finale for Will’s arc is a slap in the face for all queer fans.
It’s not the representation you think it is, it’s a quick way to say you are diverse and then quickly throw it out the window. We see this with Robin to a lesser extent. She has her relationship with Vickie, which while cute has had minimal lead up, but once she has served her purpose we no longer hear from her. Robin never mentions her again and loses her signature style in the epilogue so she can look nothing like herself and it feels like we’re looking at Maya Hawke, not Robin.
The final qualms with the show come with the over abundance of characters. The Duffer’s have always been bad about adding one to many characters and now their finale suffers for it. They gave us a new gaggle of children that we have no feeling for and made them the next one’s to run the DND table, when in reality it makes no sense. We don’t know them, they hold no purpose or stakes to us. They push Erica to the side when in all seriousness she should have been running this new generation. She is the one who got into DND like her brother and friends, and she is the one who has been with us for all the seasons.
The finale by itself is okay, it’s nothing revolutionary, but it’s a fun watch. The finale, when you have dedicated a decade worth of your attention to it however, falls flat and burns. It felt like a huge slap in the face giving fans nothing but disappointment and lingering feelings of resentment.