SPOILERS BELOW!
The last season of the hit show Stranger Things just came out, and it has mixed reviews, with many criticizing the ending. Stranger Things is a 12-award-winning TV series, the first season of which aired in 2017, and has many fans.
To begin, the Duffer brothers had 3 years to make a good final season, and it still felt rushed. I think that they should have shown the revelation of the upside-down being a wormhole in season 3 or 4, because it felt like they were trying to explain everything in 8 episodes and just changed everything we knew. And yet, there were still plot holes. For example, why did Henry Creel’s blood give the experiment kids powers? What happened to Vicky? Who was Dr. Kay, and why wasn’t she introduced earlier? What was the significance of November 6th?
Another flaw in the season was Vecna was supposedly a great big bad guy for 2 seasons and was a mastermind, yet they killed him in just an hour? Only half of the episode actually ended the plot; the rest was an epilogue. I believe that they could’ve made episode 8 all about the final battle, then have an extra episode for the epilogue.
Furthermore, Steve and Jonathan only taking/fighting about Nancy all season was out of character. It feels like they watered their characters. Speaking of Nancy, during the scene of Joyce finishing off Vecna, the character’s personal injustices caused by Vecna are shown. Nancy, though, her great injustice was that her friend was taken. Nancy has had so many things done to her personally and to the things around her.
Additionally, another problem with Season 5 is Vecna and Will’s relationship. Will was abused for years, and his childhood was taken away by Vecna, yet when he figured out that Vecna was a person who got shot in the hand, he just forgave him? Will deserved a better ending, one that was really about him as a character. It would have been so full circle for Will to help Eleven defeat Vecna, for it seemed that Will did not do much in the final battle.
On the other hand, the final season did tie up most of the characters nicely, such as Lucas and Max. It was sweet to see Lucas staying with Max through her coma and struggles, especially after the rift between them at the beginning of season 4. It was fulfilling to see Joyce and Hopper get a happy ending together and relocate to somewhere safer after recovering from everything they had gone through.
Also, Will getting powers like Eleven made so much sense and really helped round him out as a character. It was interesting to see how Joyce responded to her son getting powers and not being sheltered as much. It really showed the many parts of their character. Joyce is a bit of a helicopter mom, but has great reason to be with how much her children have been through. Will was a bit of an enigma when it came to what happened to him and his ability to sense Vecna, so showing that through Will helping save other children was so satisfying.
When addressing his feelings about season five, Orion Sanders stated, “It was good. Everyone hates it too much. Just because it wasn’t perfect doesn’t mean it wasn’t good.” This is a completely reasonable take on the season; one can like something without it being perfect. “I didn’t think it was as good as the other seasons. I think the writers could’ve done better,” responded Rowen Smith after being asked for her opinion. This opinion is also a perfect show of the other side of reasoning for why someone might not like the final season.
Overall, the final season had good and bad parts that changed the show for the better or worse.
