6/10
Stranger Things wrapped up its five-season run after 10 years with an underwhelming finale. Reaching a wide audience with its ’80s jokes and teenage characters, the show became one of the most popular series of the past few decades.
The first seven episodes of the 5th season were released in two volumes, with the first four episodes released on Nov. 26 and the next three on Dec. 25. Captivating the audience by bringing back fan favorites and turning the show into a whole new direction—focusing on the classic science, horror, and adventure aspects—the show’s early episodes were complete successes. The series’ finale was released on New Year’s Eve.
Each episode is action-packed, bringing new obstacles and perspectives. Episode two depicts Holly Wheeler (Nell Fischer) being taken into the Upside Down. Episode six covers Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) and Holly’s escape from Camazotz, with back-to-back battles and high energy music that creates an apprehensive tone. The finale, however, failed to keep up this energy and anticipation.
Character development is a major strength of the season, but the show also excels at building anticipation and cliffhangers, leaving the audience always waiting for the next episode. Many characters show growth, including Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) choosing herself instead of one of the guys, Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) revealing his sexuality, and Kali Prasad (Linnea Berthelsen) realizing that she and Eleven (Milly Bobby Brown) don’t have to sacrifice themselves, and can instead fight for their freedom.
The fifth season introduces new characters and a new central concept, referencing classic works of literature such as A Wrinkle in Time. The show cleverly hides easter eggs in each episode, ultimately ending with the discovery of another world, coined the Abyss or Dimension X, and knowledge about the true nature of the Upside Down.
Easter eggs include the Tesseract, a toy from A Wrinkle in Time, that we are first introduced to by Holly and her class. This model later shows up when the team explains how the Upside Down, Abyss, and real world were all connected. Easter eggs such as this are a fun addition to the show and add a little extra hint to look out for.
The finale wraps up the legendary journey with heroic battles, declarations of love, ponderings on loss, and long goodbyes for everyone. It also features a “Purple Rain” needle drop, the team’s saving the world soundtrack. The song symbolizes grief, transformation, and finding love amongst chaos, capturing the moment of Eleven’s death perfectly.
However, the finale lacked a decisive or conclusive ending, making it so unsatisfying that it left fans creating the conformity gate theory in hopes that another episode would resolve the story.
The fifth season continues following the journey of Eleven, a mysterious superhuman with connections to parallel dimensions. Her usual crew is back too. Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), Max Mayfield, and Will Byers are kids who continue their heart wrenching journey despite all the odds.
The final season really keys in on emotion and nostalgia, letting its characters find their way back together towards the climax, despite each of their individual struggles early on. Most of the crew started off in a military occupied Hawkins and planned ‘crawls’ to look for Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) who mysteriously disappeared. While Eleven trains her powers, the other teens help save kids targeted by Vecna. Will discovers his own powers and Max escapes just in time for Dustin to learn that everything they knew about the Upside Down was false. Yet again, our heroes must work together to save their hometown, Hawkins (and this time the entire world) from being taken over by the mysterious Vecna.
Overall, the acting is a strong suit for many and was accentuated by elaborate costumes, prosthetics, and sets. However, actors like Brown, Schnapp, and Wolfhard have received backlash for their underwhelming performances, especially compared to their previous performances.
Actors such as Sink and Campbell excel at convincingly delivering a script that is about as exciting as a brick wall. They capture complicated emotions flawlessly, filling each scene with life despite the content being dry. Sink’s acting is outstanding, especially in her scenes with Fischer. The newly introduced duo works together seamlessly, creating a vital and genuine friendship. Max’s character experiences major developments as she becomes vastly more confident and mature in season five, especially as an ‘older sister’ figure for Holly. Sink is a major highlight of the show. Her acting is stunning and authentic to the emotions she portrays. Her signature sarcasm perfectly complements Holly’s optimism and tenacity.
Throughout the season, there are multiple episodes where Sink solely furthers the plot and captures the fans’ interest, propelling her to become one of the most loved characters in the show. Her perilous journey finally culminates in her iconic escape from Camazotz. Maybe that’s why she’s walking so slowly to the gate, her legs hurt from carrying the whole season.
Milly Bobby Brown exerts poise and confidence as Eleven. Other than her distracting lip filler, mousy-looking wigs, and hideous costumes, her acting is completely adequate. Her costume looks like a leftover 1980s wetsuit that never sold. Her role is not well written, and a lot of her dialogue feels unnecessary or meaningless, but nevertheless, she persists as a prominent and respected figure in the show.
Bower is another actor who steals the show. His character is portrayed as vicious, ever-powerful, and highly destructive. Bower’s facial expressions and line delivery are impeccable, truly encompassing the horrifying character Vecna is. The scene where Vecna finally enters the mining cave is emotionally charged and perfectly executed by Bower. Vecna’s physical and emotional pain is nearly palpable, the sign of an exceptional actor.
Throughout all the intense action, Erica Sinclair (Priah Ferguson) and Derek Turnbow (Jake Connelly) provide much-needed comedic relief. Ferguson delivers her lines seamlessly with her signature attitude and intelligence. Even though her role in the finale itself is minimal, she still manages to steal her scenes with petulant humor. On the other hand, Derek begins the season as a bully before completely transforming into a fan favorite. Connelly’s impeccable acting and incredible manner of delivering hilarious insults propel him to the title of one of the funniest characters in the show.
Robin Buckley (Maya Hawke) and Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) gave standout performances yet again. The fifth season further explores Robin’s quirky and genuine character traits, but adds in some emotional depth. Robin plays a huge role in Will’s discovery of his powers and sexuality, and helps him build the confidence to come out to his friends in a touching montage at the end of the season’s fourth episode. Hawke portrays Robin with humor, heart, and Robin’s signature, lovable rambling.
Steve does not disappoint in the finale. From his nail-biting near-death experience to his acceptance of not ending up with Nancy, Keery cements Steve as one of the show’s most popular characters. He balances Steve’s caring and brave nature with his usual sarcasm and exasperation.
Steve’s ending is also deeply satisfying. Using his experience as the group’s nurturing figure, his final moments as a Little League Baseball coach are fitting. He’s coaching the ‘nuggets’ he always wanted. Steve becomes grounded in the community that he fought to protect, completing his five-season character arc from selfish jock to caring hero.
While Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and Johnathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) usually produce believable and genuine performances, their breakup scene in episode seven seems forced and confusing. Johnathan’s ‘unproposal’ is quite artificial, and the script is so ambiguous that it left fans confused about how their relationship really ended. While Nancy is definitely better off with her guns, the execution of the breakup is poor and inauthentic.
Robin, Steve, Nancy, and Johnathan are shown as a tight-knit group who will keep meeting every month, despite moving forward on separate paths in life. This newfound friendship is bewildering as Steve and Johnathan repeatedly vocalized their dislike for each other, and Robin and Johnathan have rarely interacted with each other at all. Despite these discrepancies in the script, the show still provides a well-deserved ending to each of these fan favorites.
Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Mike, the core four group of the whole show, all lack development in the finale (Will has his moments in earlier episodes, though). It’s disappointing that many of the show’s main characters don’t show any real growth in its closing moments. While the nostalgia created by them ending the show as they started it, playing Dungeons and Dragons again, is heartwarming, it’s disappointing that none of them really move on in life.
Considering the ultimate trauma the group has endured, they seem surprisingly unaffected. Mike is the only one who seems to have changed throughout the final season, and that’s only propelled by his loss of Eleven, giving his character a little more emotional depth. Eleven’s ambiguous ending sparked a heated debate, with no single interpretation satisfying everyone.
While Wolfhard is excellent in the show’s closing moments, the other three guys show no emotional or intellectual development, leaving their journeys feeling incomplete. Matarazzo’s acting during his graduation speech is a highlight, but overall, there is no continuation of any of his friends’ journeys. It’s exciting to see them reminisce, but their stories seemed to have abruptly stopped. Was there nothing after high school for any of them?
Furthermore, the final battle just doesn’t feel big enough. For a 10 year long lead up, and all of the characters’ time spent planning, training, and collecting weapons, only to culminate in a two-minute battle against an all-powerful monster, feels unsatisfying. The finale is a deeply sour moment to land on, especially for such a well crafted show.
The finale tends to nail some of the smaller details, like emotional callbacks to earlier seasons, character pairings, and astonishing acting, but it completely misses a satisfying conclusion. And what’s the point in having a finale if it’s not going to satisfyingly complete the storylines of its characters?
The Stranger Things finale doesn’t just conclude the story, it reflects a broader cultural movement that the streaming era is obsessed with nostalgia and longevity. Built on 1980s references and revisiting adolescent coming-of-age tropes, the show felt fresh because it reimagined the past.
But by the time you get to the finale, that same nostalgia feels like a burden, mirroring how many long-running series extend themselves past the emotional peak to satisfy the audience demand. In this way, the finale is less about defeating Vecna, but rather about letting go of its characters for a culture that favors reviving familiar stories instead of creating new ones.
10 years later, Stranger Things proves that growing up is hard, and writing endings is harder.
