*Warning: This post contains major spoilers for the 5th and final season of Stranger Things*

After ten years and five seasons, Stranger Things has premiered on Netflix for the last time. Fans of the show had been waiting long and hard for the show’s anticipated 5th season, which took nearly three years to arrive on the screen. After so much buildup, Stranger Things season 5 was released in 3 volumes in 2025. Four episodes on Thanksgiving, three episodes on Christmas day, and the shows finale on New Year’s Eve—culminating ten years worth of sci-fi fantasy, D&D, and bowl cuts into eight over-an-hour-long episodes.

In each season of Stranger Things, audiences have seen characters face villains that cross dimensions and time to enter Hawkins, Indiana. Now, in season 5, it’s time for one last battle.

**Let this author acknowledge that this article is a personal review on season 5 and the finale of Stranger Things. These are just my opinions on what I thought worked and what I thought could have been better!**

INTERCONNECTED WEBS

Okay! So, let’s get into this. Season 5 of Stranger Things was full of things I liked, and some things I didn’t. What I want to focus on first, however, is the fact that for a show that ran for 10 years, with the same cast, crew, and directors, the finale of the show was, overall and in my opinion, good. The feat it takes to build something so popular, on such a massive scale, and to finish it up without an entire fanbase pulling their hair out (I’m looking at you, Game of Thrones), is impressive and near-impossible these days. I’m not saying every fan of Stranger Things liked or even enjoyed season 5 or the finale itself, but personally, I’m alright with this being the conclusion. As I mentioned, later, I’ll get into what I think could have been differently, and the plot lines I honestly would have preferred, but for the most part, I would give the finale a 6.5 out of 10, which means it passes the benchmark.

Let me start with the pairings this season. In season four, I was really frustrated with how many different storylines were coexisting throughout at the same time. When TV shows and movies try to pull off multiple dynamics and groups of characters trying to accomplish different goals, it can go one of two ways. First, those storylines can all add up to be one satisfying moment of communication and something thats unifying between every plot line. This way, audiences get insight into different inner workings of main characters—I like to compare this to a ‘whodunnit’ mystery, like Knives Out. Watching something like a mystery works with different storylines and arcs, because audiences get see different perspectives, partnerships, and outcomes.

The second method and result of inputting multiple storylines in one story is just a grand old mess. It’s a huge risk, honestly, trying to pair different characters together with the hopes of making it clear that several different goals need to be accomplished. The problem with doing this is that if audiences aren’t interested in even one storyline, it makes the experience of watching frustrating. Then, you’re left just waiting an entire season for the moment each storyline comes together instead of anticipating that moment. And when you’re watching hour long episodes, there is a huge different between waiting and anticipating. This, to me, is what happened in season 4 of Stranger Things.

All of this to say, I think this season (season 5) actually accomplished the multiple plot line route, for once. While we saw some similar duos as previous seasons, like El and Hopper, or Steve and Dustin, the storylines stayed connected and overall consistent throughout the volumes. I wasn’t left waiting for the group to get back together like I was before; I was able to be patient this time and let the storylines connect when they did. To me, that’s a good sign that the goals, pairings, and characters were able to line up

VOLUME ONE WAS THE BEST VOLUME

Volume one was so good! That really kickstarted my binge watching and re-introduction of why I liked Stranger Things. It’s been so long since season 4 was released that I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy watching the show again. In all honestly, I basically forgot what it was like to be invested in these characters, simply because I haven’t interacted with any Stranger Things media since watching season 4. After watching episode one, though, I was pretty much hooked!

What Vol. 1 brought to the table (that the finale was missing) was the shock factor. Going after Holly and Mrs. & Mr. Wheeler was something I just didn’t see coming! (I’ll also mention here that I went into watching season 5 without seeing any trailers, promo, or interviews that may have been released). I really liked seeing that Vecna had new goals, and we had to discover the motivations.

Wondering why Henry was interested in little Holly Wheeler, and wow, watching Mrs. Wheeler do everything in her power to save Holly—I was hands-over-my-mouth, jaw dropped. That was incredible! It really felt like the one cliffhanger this season provided, because as a viewer I had no clue if Mr. & Mrs. Wheeler were going to survive this very direct attack. Mrs. Wheeler, played by Cara Buono, was so good this season. She was such a badass, fighting demogorgons left and right—truly, one of my favorite characters this season.

Vol. 1 finally reveals Will getting powers! I was super into this. For so long this show has been building up the question of how deep Will’s connection to the upside down is. These first 4 episodes of the season do a pretty good job of showing audiences just how that connection came to be, and just what exactly are his powers. Will having the same abilities as Vecna does makes sense—he’s basically like a Harry Potter horcrux. Episode 4, in particular, was so fun to watch, and not just because of Will getting his powers. Seeing the team in Hawkins work together with Derek to save the kids was great! I really enjoyed that episode, and of course, the ending was pretty epic. In my book, episode 4 was the best episode of season 5.

THIS WAS PREDICTABLE. I WISH IT WAS NOT.

Ugh, okay. Here we go. It’s time to delve into the things I did not like in this finale. Killing Eleven (Jane)—lord, I wish they had not done that. To me, Eleven’s death was easily the most predictable thing that could have happened in season 5, and they chose to do it anyways. I could have told you 3 seasons ago that this would have happened, because it sadly just makes sense. It started with Jane, so it had to end with her too.

It just makes me so mad that of all possibilities, this was the winning plot we had to end up with. I know it makes sense for Jane to die with the upside down, but for god sakes, these characters live in a world where nothing makes sense, and you’re telling me that the one time the Duffer Brothers wanted a plot line to actually fit, this is what they chose? To me, this is just so Harry Potter, “Raising him like a pig for slaughter” (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). There was so many similarities to Harry Potter this season, I swear. At least in that story though, the main character lives!

I know there’s the whole other “I believe” ending where Jane apparently gets on a plane to Iceland, but c’mon. If we’re going to choose to kill a character off, just do it. It’s not that I mind ambiguous endings for the audience to interpret, because sometimes that’s exactly what a story needs. My interpretation however, is that I did not like this. What frustrates me too, is the way in which Jane’s death is depicted.

That poor girl was stuck in a scuba suit and slick-back hair, just reflecting the face of buzzcut ‘Eleven’, and not ‘Jane’. For so long, this show has shown how Eleven is trying to find and be okay with both sides of herself. Finding her own identity is one of the huge plots of season 3 and 4, and by forcing her to die looking like she did, as an experiment, just took away so much of that development. Just another experimental, sacrificial lamb.

I think I would also feel differently about Eleven’s death is it was an idea of her own volition, not Kali’s. Honestly, it upsets me that Kali’s only reason for being brought back this season was to put this idea in El’s head. That, and also to be the only possible explanation for El’s maybe-not-death. What a catch-22. Besides giving some aid with Henry with her hallucinations, that is basically all Kali did! The tough part, is that as an audience, we aren’t meant to like Kali. Having her put Jane on edge put us on edge, and from then on, none of us trusted her.

I wanted to like Kali—I thought there was going to be a redemption arc, because personally, I also was not really a fan of her character back in season 2. I was hoping for more growth and meaning with her character, but I guess they chose to do more of the same. When Kali died, I wasn’t sad (sorry! but I wasn’t). I wish I had more empathy for Kali like I do with El, but with the intentions of her character and the way she was written, I just couldn’t get there.

Of all the characters they could have killed this season, besides El, to elicit some reaction from audiences, they decided to go with Kali. The one character I actually did not mind dying . . . because I also saw it coming. Damn.

MORE ON THIS . . .

Yeah, I still have more thoughts on Jane’s sacrifice. Before she died, Jane visited Mike in the void for one last time. This was . . . just okay to me. Don’t get me wrong, her death accompanied by Price’s “Purple Rain” brought some tears to me eyes (but also, who doesn’t cry listening to “Purple Rain”?). It’s more that I wish there were more moments shown between Jane and the other characters, rather then just Mike. I like those two together, I do, but to be honest, at the start of the season I was truly unsure if they were still a couple.

Mike and El have very few scenes together in season 5—I feel like I could count them on my hand. The longest conversation the two have this season is literally when El is dying. Her choosing to talk to Mike in the void would have been more meaningful if they had more time together these season, to build that relationship back up and remind viewers how special it was. Eleven was best friends and family with all of those characters, and I wanted to see more of that.

THE EVIL ROCK

Alright, so what the hell was up with that evil space race Henry finds in the cave? The only reason they put that scene in the finale had to be because it’s supposed to be the link to a spinoff, right? That’s the only thing I can think of, because that scene was certainly never explained! Was Henry evil before he found that man in the cave, or was it that encounter that made him evil? Was his fight-or-flight really just to bash that mans head in until it literally caved? So many questions about that scene, and no answers.

I was pretty disappointed in Henry’s storyline this season. Let me say, though, that Jamie Campbell Bower (Vecna’s actor) was phenomenal. He did amazing with the material given to him—the emotions and humanity he gave to Henry Creel was stunning. In season 4 of Stranger Things, there is so much buildup to Henry. His connection to Eleven and Papa, his powers, and him becoming Vecna. In season 5, however, it felt like so many things were left unsaid.

There is a whole play about Henry called Stranger Things: The First Shadow that is currently playing and tells all the backstory about Henry’s life and his motivations—it explains the transformation of Henry to Vecna. This play was made specifically to be a prequel, and yet in the show, none of that is revisited! It frustrates me beyond belief when certain medias, like TV shows, movies, or books, choose to release a spinoff or a continuation of the story that is only available in a limited way, and not for everyone. Here is my best way to explain it:

When Marvel started making TV shows exclusively available on Disney+, I was so mad. I don’t have Disney+, and did not really plan on including that in my monthly budget, so I did not have access to those shows. Then, Marvel started making movies that required audiences to have watched those shows for certain elements of the plot to make sense. Ugh, I hate that! A movie theatre is available to everyone—people can all catch up on movies when they are released in a movie theatre. I would need to pay a membership to watch a TV show, so I can then fully understand the plot of a movie I’m also paying to watch in a theatre . . . it’s ridiculous.

When I found put that this play about Henry Creel existed, I was super excited to see how it would reflect in season 5. Yet, none of it is there. Joyce is the one that kills Vecna, and she knew who Henry was—they were in high school together. This is something we learn in the play, and as she cuts Henry’s head off, you would think there might be some slight recognition, but if there was, it just was not acknowledged. Details like that, I think, would have really upped the meaningful choices in this season, like having Joyce be the one to kill Henry. Or, Will recognizing that Henry was just a kid like him once, and showing us the once-was-there humanity in Vecna.

THE PLOT HOLES, THEY’RE GETTING TO ME

There are a lot of other small details and questions I think we’re missing from this season. Here’s a list of some random thoughts I had after watching the season, and the finale, twice since it was released:

  • If Will was connected to the hive mind, and felt pain when it did, how did he not die when Vecna and the Mind Flayer was killed?
  • Speaking of the Mind Flayer, was it obvious that it was the main villain all along? Because honestly, I forgot that thing even existed until it sprouted up from the Abyss.
  • Why was the military such a huge plot point this season only for it all to mean nothing in the end? We never even saw Dr. Kay again after El’s death. So much time of this season was focused on the military and government influence in Hawkins. I think it could have been explained in other ways, and given time to other characters, as opposed to the useless Dr. Kay who seriously thought El was the one kidnapping children and tearing the Earth apart.
  • There should have been more callbacks to season one music-wise. I would have loved to hear “Should I Stay or Should I Go” (The Clash) used once more in the final battle.
  • Why did Jonathan and Nancy have to break up. I get it, but at the same time, I don’t.
  • Why did the ceiling in Hawkins Lab goop up because Nancy shot some exotic matter? I thought it would just explode, truthfully. Is there some science behind the goop, or was it just a set choice?
  • More characters should have died this season, sorry! I think there needed to be more character momentum going into that final battle with Vecna. Someone dying mid-season would have been a great catalyst for that. As brutal as it sounds, even having Nancy and Jonathan die in that goop room would have been a super shocking, crazy act that would have us all on the edge of our seats. Season 5 needed way more of that—shock factor and desperation.
  • That final battle should have been wayyy longer. I know we can’t accurately make the battle last as long as one in Dungeons & Dragons would, but more than 7 minutes would have been nice.
  • I was really hoping there would be a El and Will team up against Vecna. Both of them using the powers together, side by side, to take down the things that tormented them for years. Could have been a really poetic ending.
  • I was thinking that Will would be the one to sacrifice himself and die with the upside down—mostly because I thought he would die if Vecna did. Also, I think Will sacrificing himself would have been a very astonishing full-circle moment. Like with El, this whole series started and ended with Will.
  • The Abyss? Okay, sure, whatever. I guess Vecna wants to collide worlds. But for what purpose? To entrance every person in the entire world? This sci-fi mumbo jumbo seemed a bit too fantastical, like a Marvel film, then like Hawkins, Indiana. We’re trusting teens to save the world with flare guns and magic powers? A town-wide apocalypse would have made more sense.
  • What happened to Vickie? Is she and Robin still together?
  • I wish there were more scenes with the 4-core boys of the show—Lucas, Mike, Will, and Dustin. The friendships of these four characters is a deep part of the show, and it would have been nice to see them all fighting Vecna together, or strategizing, or even just talking together before the epilogue.

OVERALL, I’M A LITTLE CONFUSED AND DISAPPOINTED, BUT I ACCEPT IT

Whew—lot’s to think about going forward. Again, all of these thoughts are just this author’s own opinions. I know some people loved the finale as is, some hated it, and others (like me) thought it was alright. Putting all of my criticisms aside, I do really enjoy watching Stranger Things. Was this season or the show’s ending perfect? No way, hardly anything ever is. Did I enjoy watching these characters grow up as I have, and complete a show that’s been going on for 10 years? Yes!

I’ll address that I clearly had a lot of issues with the finale. I just think it had a lot of potential to be better! From a writer’s perspective, there was a lot of opportunity to shock fans, push momentum towards that fight, and show meaning in each character’s choices. It’s not that the Duffer Brothers made bad choices, I just think they played it safe. And safe means predictable.

It was far from the worst finale I’ve seen, and with the exception of Eleven, I think every character got their own little nice ending. Steve with his baseball team, Lucas and Max finally getting the time they deserve, Joyce and Hopper together and happy. The epilogue was a nice touch, and great way to give us some deserved closure after investing so much time into watching Stranger Things.

Who knows, maybe I’ll watch this season again in 5 years and have a totally different opinion! Things can be strange like that . . .

Stranger Things and it’s latest (and final!) season is currently streaming on Netflix