⚡️Stranger Things – Season 5 Part 3 (2026)⚡️

Ten years later, and it all comes back to the basement.

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Let’s start by showing y’all the trailers shall we? 🎬

Before I get into anything else, yes, this was played in theaters. Me and my two friends, my friend’s mother, and my cousin all went to see this finale in theaters. Over 3,500 theaters. This was a one-time, once-in-a-lifetime event, and honestly? That already set the tone. This didn’t feel like just another episode. This felt like an ending.

The trailers promised the final showdown, the Upside Down colliding with the real world, and Vecna’s plan finally going into motion. What they didn’t show was just how emotional this would get, and how much of this finale was about moving on.


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Non-Spoiler Plot Overview 🧭

So I’m saddened to say I told y’all, this finale episode didn’t fix all the issues I had with this season, in fact it highlighted the flaws even more.

Part 3 picks up exactly where Part 2 left off, with the gang in the Upside Down and Dr. Kay and her men trying to figure out how they drove straight through their barricade. We learn there was sabotage, carried out by Lucas’ sister and Mr. Clarke, who are waiting in a clock tower.

Vecna’s plan finally moves into motion. The kids he kidnapped are put into a trance, the chimes of the clock go off, and we see the Upside Down in the sky coming down onto Earth. That’s just the opening.

From there, the story splits into groups. Hopper, Eleven (Jane), Kali, and Murray head to an old science lab in the Upside Down so Jane can locate Vecna and save the kids. Steve, Jonathan, Nancy, Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin head toward Vecna’s dominion by climbing a massive tower. Max, in a wheelchair, stays behind in the real world with her nurse Vickie at the radio station.

What follows is the final confrontation, the end of Vecna and the Mind Flayer, and then something Stranger Things has never really done before: it slows down, lets the dust settle, and shows us what moving forward actually looks like.

Btw I do l9ve how each 3 posters tell its own story.

Poster 1, is od earth with Vecna barley visible in the sky.

Poster 2, is of the upside down with Vecna fully viable.

Poster 3, is of Vecna’s dominion, so all 3 posters are each dimension. Brilliant, and part 2 is where we found out the Upside Down is a wormhole.


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Character Rundown 🎭

Everyone feels like real people here, not actors playing characters.

Hopper feels like Hopper again, right down to his Season 1 look by the end. Joyce is Joyce. Steve finally feels like he’s grown into who he was always meant to be. Robin, Nancy, Jonathan, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Mike, Max — they all feel like people who survived something together. But I still got to point this out we got to many characters.

Eleven is the emotional core of this episode. Whether you believe she survived or not is left up to interpretation, and honestly, I’m fine with that.

Vecna, or Henry Creel, finally gets fully explored, not just as a villain, but as someone who was used, broken, and then chose what he became.

Oh and we have dr. Kay, except this finale barley remembers shes a character.

Hey wanna hear a funny fact? So the actor who plays Derek? Yeah he had to keep this role a secret for a year before filming started, so he wasnt allowed to tell anyone. Not even his close friends or family or school, so he told everyone that and I kid you not.

That he landed the role in a mayonnaise documentary, yes a mayonnaise documentary. The fuck? And everyone just bought into that like if oh yeah thats checks out, huh? What part of that checks our exactly? A mayonnaise documentary? Plus a child being hired for it? Yeah something here doesn’t make sense but everyone said yep that checks out.

Ok thats funny and I cant tell if this is the cleverest lie, or a dumb lie? But y’all pick.


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Pacing / Episode Flow ⏱️

This episode is two hours and eight minutes long, and a lot happens.

The only real pacing issue is that Vecna and the Mind Flayer die about halfway through the episode. Emotionally, the finale works, but structurally, it does feel early. After that, the episode becomes about consequences, grief, graduation, and moving on.

It’s a choice, and while it works emotionally, it does leave you thinking, “Wait, that’s it?” when the big bad goes down.


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Pros ✅

The emotional payoff absolutely lands.

Ending the show where it started, with the gang in Mike’s basement playing Dungeons & Dragons, is perfect. Graduation hits hard. Hopper’s talk with Mike about moving forward is one of the best scenes in the series. Dustin’s Hellfire speech is cathartic. The ending montage in the credits with drawings from past seasons is devastating in the best way.

This feels like a goodbye that understands time.


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Cons ❌

It does end very book-by-the-book. Everyone survives, unless you believe Eleven didn’t, and the Duffers said there would be deaths this season.

The military gets away with what they did, and the gang also gets away with killing military personnel. That’s messy.

No Demogorgons, no Demo Dogs, no Demo Bats in Part 3. It’s noticeable. It’s like, so uh did they go on strike or something?

Some plot threads dont get answered, mainly such as what happend to the government after this? Why was Kay aloud to get away with any this?

Also I read somewhere that the Duffer Brothers said they didn’t want to scar the audience, uh huh, since when?

Well, guess Barb, Bob, Eddie and Alexei just don’t count?

Also let’s call it out for what this is, they dont want any main character dead so we won’t do that, sighhhhh. Also it really feels like they think the audience are to soft and will get offended if they do one specific thing.

Say what you will about Game Of Thrones Season 8, but at least that show wasnt afraid of scarring the audience, season i did tske risks (even if those risks sucked) but still risks nonetheless.

While this show says, risks? No no no were too terrified to do that, so we’re not gonna do that, so everyone is happy? The end, uh huh.

Its baffling to me how the first 4 seasons felt brutal, while this season? It’s almost like they said nah were good.

Also last issue but I take a issue with them killing Vecna and the Mind Flayer within the first hour out of a 2 hour and 8 min episode, then have the remaining hour or so be the prologue!

Also last thing im getting sick and tired of this military trope of the whole military wanting to get ahold of (insert demon threat here) to use them as a weapon again idk Russia, we already went down this road with IT Welcome To Derry. It didn’t work there either, so can we let this trope lay to rest plz!?

But I do find it funny that fans hated this season so much that they are demanding for a season 6, well I cant say ive ever seen that before. Something so bad or mid that gets fans to demand more of it! What!? What kinds backwards reality are we living in?

My friend brought up an interesting thought and I agree with him.

This show has put these kids through hell:
Will was kidnapped, possessed, and violated (physically and psychologically)
Eleven was raised in a lab, tortured, hunted, and forced to kill
Max was emotionally destroyed, then clinically died, had every bone in her body snap, was blind, heart-stopped, and resuscitated
Lucas watched the love of his life die in his arms
Dustin watched Eddie bleed out, blamed himself, and carried survivor’s guilt
Hawkins was invaded by hell, repeatedly
And yet… by the end?
🎓 Graduation
🍻 Beers on rooftops
🎲 D&D in the basement
🎉 Smiles, jokes, nostalgia
I’m not saying they should all be miserable forever — but this level of emotional normalcy is wildly unrealistic, even for TV. Let this sit with y’all for a while.

Also the fact that Matt Duffer had this to say after thr final aired,

“I regret doing these press conferences, like I wasn’t in a good mind space. I was gettinf over the flu, plz give me some slack for the answers”

Uh huh, give you slack? So uh whats your excuse for the 3 years of writing this script? If ur feeling better now, then why dont you give us better answers!? Sigh give me slack? Ger the fuck out of here.

Also turns out they hand waved past their screenwriters opinions, they brought up good points but they hand waved them, uh huh so this is a case of nor giving a shit anymore.

Oh oh but theres just so many other misused that the Duffers have admited especially in a documentary of all places, one the Duffers in the documentary said “i didn’t read all the way through episode 8 but were beginning filming” excuse me!? Bare fucking minimum as a director! But noooooo guess just too tired to read the script that their filming, jeepers so uh yeah if it wasnt clear this sesson is not terrible but it also aint great either.

Oh and foes Vecna’s plan still make any sense? No, I still dont know how we went from Season 4 where his plan was to kill 12 people, and then in season 5 kidnap 12 kids.

Is there some thematic reasoning behind this? No, I dont think the Duffer Brothers thought that far, also to anyone who says they planned all this out when writing idk season 2.

Oh just keep reading you will find out very quickly this was never planned, rhey arent as smart as y’all give them credit for.

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Final Thoughts 💭

Ten years ago, this show started with kids playing D&D in a basement. Now it ends there.

This finale isn’t perfect, but it earns its emotions. It understands growing up, drifting apart, and how friendships don’t always end in fights — sometimes they end in time.

I walked out of the theater emotional, not because of the monsters, but because this part of my life is over.

Also it’s funny, even though part 3 absolutely plays things safely, I still found myself enjoying this episode like a lot, even though its flawed. And make no mistake this finale is beyond flawed, I will be getting into rants.

I feel if this season didnt waste its time for 7 episodes then rush the finale, we could have had a tighter/better climax, but at last what do we get? 2 bad parts and a passable climax. Does that sound like high praises? Because it sure as heck aint.

I think the final thing (haaaaaaa) I’ll say is this, they played this way too safe, and let’s be honest thats gonna do more damage to this IP down the line. Lets say if for instance someone gave this season a 10/10 and said this is amazing, but then years later come back ans rewatch it they will instantly sober up and say the fuck? Why did I give this a 10/10?

So yeah, heres a piece of advice to future directors and creators, don’t hesitate to take risks. Otherwise you end up with the most basic by the numbers content that just get blurred into a pile with other content like it.

Also now after watching all of season 5, I got to be honest. Im disappointed in this season, this doesn’t come close to Game Of Thrones Season 8, but uh this gets pretty close.

Also heres a weird news fact, fans hated this season so much that they started theorizing and are convinced a secret episode is airing. Uh huh, let this sink in, the season 5 script was such a mess that fans started trying finding any details in behind the scenes conversations, and tweets. Plus creating a web of connections that I can bet y’all the Duffer Brothers never considered before.

And now are genuinely sure a episode 9 is airing, sighhh and y’all wonder why I left behind fandoms? I dont associate myself as of these people.

But I will give them credit, these fans have written a better script then either the 2 Duffer Brothers on a 408 million dollar budget, seriously though what’s going on? Duffers y’all use to be great now y’all kinda fumbled over the finish line!

Let me also list different people’s theories

Vecna has taken over our minds, were all tied into the hivmind! I mean matrix! It’s a simulation! (Hahahaha!)

This season was made bad on purpose to lead us to a secret episode 9 that will fix everything.

Because a couple of characters in the final episode has similar hair to Henry, that must mean Vecna won! Gasp! (Sighhh)

The way their campaign books line up, the words say X a Lie. Gasp! X a Lie!? And hair thats similar!? Im convinced, y’all broke open my mind and made me realize. Jeepers get a life people.

Also because people are wearing glasses jusr like Henry in season final at the graduation, must mean it’s in Vecna’s mind! Its all an illusion!

Oh and my favorite, because the gowns are orange just like prisoner suits! It’s all a hoax people don’t y’all get it!?

Oh and then this mess of s theory

Dice added up to 43, 43 days since release to January 7th (which was said back when part 1 aired!), during the course of the series, 42 episodes of stranger things were released over 5 seasons. So 43 episodes to be! Trailer by Netflix hinted on January 7th! What does Netflix tweet say? What next? January 7th (uhhhhh).

Will was lost 7 days, so January 7th! So yeah it all adds up so do the math, jeepers I think my brain just hurt saying that

All because the Duffer Brothers haven’t said anything (well yeah! They are just sitting there eying each other thinking idk what the fuck they’re talking about, we just heard about this 5 min ago!).

Also there’s fans who are believing this season 5 wasnt a season, but in fact one giant advertisement for the real season 5, uh huh. Ok can we move on from this before I start losing my sanity.

I will say this though, ive never seen people say an IP sucks then demand more episodes. Excuse me? Oh this season sucked, but plz five us more. Huh!? What!? What sorta backwards reality are we living in?

To quote Adam Savage From Mythbusters, “I reject your reality and substitute my own.” thats literally what the fans are doing.

Also y’all cannot convince me the Duffer Brothers had any of this show planned out (I know i said this already, but) it’s because ever since they’ve been doinf interviews after the show ended, they’ve been contradicting themselves multiple times.

Congratulations, you have played yourself. And apparently fans who are coping just think the Duffers are playing 4D chess, hahahahahahahah! Get F’d!

So am I disappointed with this season? Yes, but was i disappointed with this finale episode? Surprisingly no, but that comes with some big asterisks, because by no means is this final flawless. So take that as you will, but I can safely say I’m just done, at this point its like if their gonna end this without caring then so am I.

Also I am equally as disappointed because I grew up with this show when it first aired back in 2016, now come a decade later and they kinda half assed fhe ending. Because reasons, and now ever since the final been our they’ve been dojnf damage control, but if you ask me that ship has already sailed, every answer they give just makes things worse, so im gonna give my advice and say plz for the love of your community plz stop talking!


—

Rating ⭐

Part 3: 8/10
Season 5 Overall: 6.5/10

Parts 1 and 2 were a 6/10. Messy, monologue-heavy, uneven.
Part 3 stuck the landing when it mattered most.


—also

⚠️ Spoiler Warning ⚠️

Everything below this point contains full, detailed spoilers for the Stranger Things Season 5 finale.


—

Spoilers 🩸

We open exactly where Part 2 ended. The gang is already inside the Upside Down, having driven straight through the military barricade. Dr. Kay and her men are stunned, trying to figure out how that was even possible. It’s revealed almost immediately that there was sabotage. Lucas’ sister and Mr. Clarke are responsible, waiting inside a clock tower.

Vecna’s plan finally begins. The kids he kidnapped are snapped back into trances, their necks bent into place as the clock chimes begin. The Upside Down appears in the sky and starts descending toward Earth. The worlds are literally colliding, and that’s just the opening. Holy crap.

Also question what is even Vecna’s plan anymore? In season 4 it was to tear open the Upside Down into Hawkins, but in season 5 its nah I want to collide Dimension X, The Upside Down and Earth together cus.

The group splits.

Group A is Hopper, Eleven (Jane), Kali, and Murray. They head to an old science lab in the Upside Down that contains a water tank. The plan is for Jane to enter the tank so she can locate Vecna, save the kids, and end everything once and for all. Hopper promises her that if anything goes wrong, he will pull her out and knock on the tank three times.

Group B is Steve, Jonathan, Nancy, Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin. Their plan is to climb a massive tower to reach Vecna’s dominion above them. Max, still in a wheelchair, stays behind in the real world with her nurse Vickie at the radio station.

Jane and Kali enter Max’s mind and recruit her. While Vickie sneaks off to grab food out of stress, the military arrives at the radio station. Vickie hides Max behind a secret wall just in time.

Also the military with dr. Kay show up to the radio station, wow the only smart thing the military has done. Idk yeah let’s go to the radio station ehere a group of kids been ssying negative things about us? Yeah we mifht find our culprits there.

Well no shit, why not come up with that plan earlier!? Ughhhh anyways.

Inside Vecna’s mind, Jane, Kali, and Max travel through Henry’s childhood memories, including his time at school. Meanwhile, Group B radios Hopper and warns him that Vecna’s dominion is collapsing and the crack they’re trying to reach isn’t lining up with the tower. The structure begins to collapse. Steve falls but Jonathan saves him at the last second.

Vecna lifts Eleven and tries to get information out of her about where the kids are. Kali and the kids hide behind an invisible barrier. Mr. Whatsit threatens Eleven and turns his arm into Vecna’s arm. Henry realizes that Eleven and Kali plan to stay behind in the Upside Down once it explodes so no more test subjects are created.

The kids and Max run, leaving Eleven and Kali behind. Kali stabs Henry, but he vanishes.

The Mind Flayer awakens. Vecna’s base is revealed to be the Mind Flayer itself. The creature rises, unfolding like something uncoiling, larger and scarier than ever.

Group B reaches Vecna’s domain and finds it empty. No enemies. No vines. The sky is yellow instead of red. The Upside Down feels wrong. They run through a cave to escape as the tower collapses.

Meanwhile, Vecna visits Hopper. He fogs the room and shows Hopper a vision of Jane and Kali talking about staying behind. Hopper panics and shoots — accidentally hitting the water tank. He sees Jane full of bullet holes and breaks the tank, only to realize it was a trick. The military arrives, forcing Hopper, Jane, Kali, and Jane to flee.

The military deploys a helicopter with sonic weapons to disarm Eleven and Kali. Hopper grabs Eleven and runs, but goes back for Kali when she’s cornered. The military right-hand man threatens to kill Kali if Hopper doesn’t reveal where Eleven is. Hopper refuses.

Yes finally, I mean, oh no.

Murray saves them by tying a bomb to his belt and throwing it into the helicopter, blowing it up. Eleven then snaps the soldiers’ necks and forces the right-hand man to shoot himself.

Kali is shot. She’s dying. Eleven tells Hopper to grab medication, but Kali tells Eleven she won’t make it and that her story was always supposed to end here. Kali dies.

Well, she really came back and did nothing, how did y’all feel about her? I srill don’t like her and yes I gave her a second chance. RIP Kali, you will not be missed.

Back in the Upside Down, Henry enters a cave and is overwhelmed by traumatic memories. Will stays behind with his mom because he is sensing Vecna and now shares his pain. Whatever Vecna feels, Will feels.

We finally learn Henry’s true origin. As a boy scout, he fell into a mine and encountered a scientist holding a gun and a briefcase. Inside the briefcase is a rock with glowing orange cracks. The Mind Flayer existed, but without a form. It showed Henry visions and implanted the idea of its shape into his mind. Henry gave it its form. The scientist warns him that it will control him if he doesn’t control it. Henry kills the scientist, bursting his eyes from their sockets.

So technically yes he created the Mind Flayer but also he didn’t, its a soft retcon but a retcin that works. Because he still formed it the shape.

But also this leads to a point i wanna bring up, so basically the reason Henry was mortified of a cave is because the Mind Flayer made him scared. Really, thats it? Doesn’t this seem a bit rushed?

This leads to the most important dialogue in the episode:

Will: It was never you.
Henry: Leave me alone.
Will: That’s why the Mind Flayer didn’t want you in the cave, it didn’t want you to remember.
Henry: (sobbing) I said leave me alone.
Will: You were just a kid, a kid like me. And he used you, it used you to bring it here. You’re just like me Henry, a vessel. But you can resist it, help us fight it, don’t let it win Henry please don’t let it win.
Henry: (sobs) no, it showed me the truth, it showed me that this world is broken, that man is broken.
Will: Don’t listen to it Henry, it’s controlling you right now!
Henry: It has never controlled me, and I never controlled it, don’t you see William? I could have resisted it, but I chose to join it. It needs… me, and I need it. We… are… one.

Someone give Jamie Campbell Bower a Emmy. The guy deserves it, he played Gellert Grindelwald in Harry Potter, and now he played Henry Creel. 2 great one screen present villains, the guy oozes charisma.

Also, holy crap, so yeah Vecna is too far gone, also to me this is how u expand on a villian without retconning him.

But I will say this though I do have a issue here, him saying I could have resisted, but I didn’t. Uhhhhhhh Duffers, are y’all paying attention to what y’all filmed? Because in the back flash scene 2 min prior we see the Mind Flayer possess a young Henry Bower and made him kill the scientist guy, what do you mean he could have resisted? Get the fuck out of here with that.

I mean on one hand I do like this little piece of info we learn about him, but on the other I still would have preferred if he was just a cold hearted sociopath like we saw in season 4. Not every villian needs a redemption arc, I mean what about Voldemort? He never needed or got a redemption arc, huh I’m brining up Harry Potter a lot. I wonder why? Hmmmmmm.

Id put him in the category of A tragic antagonist who understands what he is… and chooses it anyway.

Also the Mind Flayer? Yeah its back, Vecna’s base is the Mind Flayer whos Upside Down on its back like a dead spider, gross.

The final battle begins. The gang lures the Mind Flayer into the mountains. Nancy uses herself as bait. Eleven arrives, tears open the Mind Flayer’s chest, and jumps inside to face Vecna directly. Will breaks into Henry’s mind, snaps his tendril arm off, and Eleven impales him. The Mind Flayer collapses and dies.

Right so I got a question that I don’t think the Duffer Brothers asked themselves, why on earth does the Mind Flayer have a sandy floor ground in irs stomach? No really plz try making sense of that, it just makes it look like a cheap backstage prop that they had access to.

Now one thought process i was thinking during this fight scene, why does this feel like a marvel esc battle? Its strange seeinf the group attacking weak spots on this creature like hes a video game boss, but with the MCU fighting techniques. So your left thinking, ok this was definitely a decision, how you feel about that is completely up to y’all, for me? I am mixed.

But i will say this, it was really cool getting to see the Mind Flayer again since its last appearance in season 3. Also I love that the creature was finally huge and a menace, capturing how threatening that creature was in scale. Now compare that to season 3 where he was shortened down, which was underwhelming.

Joyce decapitates Vecna. Nancy delivers the final blow. Finally after a decade of suffering they finally getting rid of the evil that has haunted them, Vecna u deserved this.

According to Jamie Campbell Bower, the showrunners were originally gonna havw Vecna say to Joyce “Plz don’t kill me”.

Well im glad that ended up not happening, because that been cringy.

Well I think it’s safe to say Vecna wasnt all that of an interesting or threatening villian, credit where credit is due, he did successfully open the upside down into the town of Hawkins, he did succeed in putting a kid (Max ) into a coma.

He did almost collid all 3 dimension (Dimension X, the Upside Down (which is a wormhole) and earth) together, heck he did succeed in kidnapping 12 kids, take that as you will.

But the fact that in 18 months he couldnt locate a comatose Max because reasons? 18 months? In a small town that probably only has one hospital, and the guy who can get into people’s minds somehow couldn’t find one single room number? Get the hell out of here.

Also right so he couldnt fathom in a million years that someone would come up to him on his home turf and attack him, really!? Even after they did thst to him in sesson 4 and he got burnt for the second time for it!? Oh yeah totally checks out! Ughhhh.

Also he gets his ass beat to him 2wice by Eleven, heck the second tkme he dies within only 3 min of fighting, are we sure this guy is any of a threat?

On a side note the Duffer Brothers said recently that Hopper and Joyce figured out that they went to school with Henry as a kid, off screen, so and I quote to not piss off people who didn’t watch the Broadway. If you ask me, this is completely lazy storytelling because this isnt how u write a story. Oh we promise y’all they figured it out off screen we promise.

So I take it then Joyce killing Vecna was supposed to be some big cathartic moment for her since back when she was a kid and went to school with Henry she didn’t know he was the one doing the killings? Uh huh, well the issue here is its not portrayed like that, you just have to piece it together and hope for the best.

Also hold on, if they could beat Vecna this fast. Then why did Eleven struggle to kill him in season 4? And why did the military struggle against him?

Also does anyone find it underwhelming both Vecna and the Mind Flayer get taken out in the span of 3ish min? Wow what a climatic ending. Also no seriously where’s the Demogorgons and Demodogs? Did they create a union and go on strike?

Also this scene happens in 1 hour and 8 min of the episode, we srill fot 1 more hour left. What can possibly go on for 1 more hour?

Well glad y’all asked, we see the gang drive our as Murray and hopper set the bombs to explode on a timer to music, as they drive back to rhe military base outside of the upside down, rhey get arrested and pinned against walls, of course we cant forget about the military.

The Upside Down begins collapsing. Eleven stays behind as everything is sucked into the vortex. Mike tries to run to her, but she enters his mind and tells him to help the others understand her decision. They kiss. The portal closes with Eleven still inside.

Right also remind me what was the point of Linda Hamilton being in this season? She did absolutely nothing. And what does her character get? Nothing, she just vanishes. No consequences nothing, so plz remind me again what was the point of her?

Uodate: Oh btw damage control has been funny lately, so get this the Duffer Brothers were asked what happened to drive. Kay and rhey said ans I quote my guess is she and her team dismantled.

Huhhh? Excuse me “my guess” the hell do u mean by my guess? You both wrote this season! My guess! Thats not even an answer, jeepers that just tells me they had no idea how to write a good story end for her and then they shrug their shoulders and said no one will notice, bruhhh. So yeah I wanted to update y’all on that, just found this out recently.

Oh oh and get this according to the Duffer Brothers, why there wasnt any Demogorgons or Demobats and Demodogs in the Upside Down final battle! Ais because get this.

“Mainly it’s just that Vecna was not expecting this sneak attack on his home turf. Never in a million years could he even imagine that. They’re there somewhere”

Uh huh, so let me get this straight, the guy who has the ability to see in people’s minds. Just somehow couldn’t fathom anyone coming to attack him in his home turf in Dimension X? The fuck? Thats beyond lazy.

Yeah totally checks out, the creatures were basically like take 5 everyone today’s an off day, got to get in those vacation hours paid by the union, ughhhhh! Anyways moving on.

Also one the writers said they didnt want to add them in to the final because of Demogorgon fatigue! My god what is going on here? That be like if George Lucas said gee wee idk weve been showing too many stormtroopers so let’s get rid of them for the entire final battle in Return of the jedi, and only focus on Luke vs Vader ans Palpy, then let’s end the film LOTR style with a never-ending epilogue, you cant make this up, this is coming from paid “great” writers.

So at what point can we stop considering this season as a passable season, but instead a bad season? Because a passable season wouldn’t need this amount of PR “fixing” if you can even call these fixes.

Eighteen months later, life moves on. Graduation day arrives. Mike doesn’t want to go. Hopper finds him at the memorial and tells him there are two roads: blame yourself forever, or move forward and accept that this was Eleven’s choice.

Dustin gives a valedictorian speech and declares “Hellfire lives.”

Also he says he doesn’t even want to be a valedictorian ans why am I even wearing this. Hehehehehe good old Dustin.

On a side note I need to know something, how the hell did Max graduate on time, when she was introduced a coma for nearly 2 years? Did the school system pull a sympathy plot convenience?

Confetti fills the stage.

Right here’s some questions I have, where’s

Vickie?

Susie?

Dr. Owen?

Enzo?

Are we not gonna get closure for them? But sure, closer for everyone else is guess. Jeepers, oh well things suck I guess.

Oh wait they did answer what happened to Vickie, when the Duffer Brothers were asked they said and I quote

Whether Vickie and Robin are still together is totally up to you guys.

Really is this what y’all call good writing? This is feeling like a PR patch work, also its up to us? Cool then where’s our share of the Netflix check? Seems like ur wanting us to write your fantasy world that you both wrote.

Also this is completely unhinged but to quote what the Duffers said in the behind the scenes making of season 5 documentary, the reason they didn’t kill off anyone is because do they dont ruin the “fun” of stranger things, oh yeah “fun”.

Remember when we all thought Hopper died at the end of season 3?

Remember when we thought the villian won and all of Hawkins broke up as all hell breaks loose? And remember when we thought Max died?

Also remember when Will got kidnapped and we all thought he may have died? Which caused Joyce to spiral into delusional paranoia!?

Oh yeah that sounds fun to me! My god this is unhinged, whats wrong with the Duffers?

To lay this all out, to make it clear, so y’all understand how unhinged this all is if were goinf off their logic of thinking.

Season 1: Will is kidnapped, presumed dead, his body is literally faked. Joyce is losing her mind. Super fun! 🎉

Season 2: Will is possessed, screaming in pain, being exorcised like a demon host. So whimsical!

Season 3: Hopper “dies,” the mall explodes, Billy is brutally murdered, the Mind Flayer almost ends the world. Fun for the whole family!

Season 4: Max is clinically dead, bones snapped, eyes destroyed, Lucas sobbing over her corpse. Absolute blast!

This franchise’s entire identity was:
Kids vs cosmic horror + real consequences.

Now its just oh hey big monster fight let’s goooooooo.

Also now they recently said both them broke up, right so let me get this straight Vickie was fine with surviving with Robin through demons and hell, but for some off screen reasoning they broke up? Uh huh.

Oh in other news we also got info on what happen to Susie and Dustin, turns out they broke up. Yeah wait what? According to the Duffer Brothers, they said and I quote

“In Dustin’s yearlong unhealthy grieving process, you can imagine he probably cut out a long-distance relationship. I would like to think he did so nicely.”

Again with this “imagine” my dudes, were not here to write your script for you! If we are, then where’s our cut of the Netflix money? Will i be expecting it in the mail anytime soon? I didnt think so.

How do I simply put this, these don’t sound like explanations and more like a bunch of IOUS.

Also have y’all noticed a pattern here in these so called questions answered? If not, ill tell u. They all boil down to

“That happened… but not on screen.”
“That’s for the audience to decide.”
“They realized it later.”
“My guess is…”

This my friends aren’t called answering questions, this is what we like to call half ass statements. Anyways sorry for the rants, this review has bene going on long enough.

I’ll do y’all one better also and summarize up the core issue, they’re treating the audience’s like their dumb, consider this. Here’s all their answers summarize up

You noticed something missing?
→ “Well, it happened off-screen.”

You’re confused?
→ “It’s open to interpretation.”

You want emotional payoff?
→ “Picture it in your head.”

Im sorry just no, plz give me actual answers that aren’t y’all saying wellllll we could have wrote this but we didn’t, so I guess its up to interpretation, sighhhh fine whatever its up to interpretation.

Also Matt Duffer had this to say recently.

“I was fried, I had the flu, cut me some slack on the answers”

My tummy hurt, so I didn’t do my job well. Oh yep that makes sense, everyone you hear that? Cut him slack because he had the flu, just quick question. Did you have the flu while writing this season? Just asking.

Also did Mike ever tell Hopper his theory that Eleven might still be alive? Hey Duffers!? Are you buffering over there!?

We cut to Nancy, Jonathan and Robin and Steve drinking bear on top of a roof and talking.

Everyone moves on. Nancy and Jonathan leave Hawkins. Robin breaks down, Steve has a job as a minor sports league coach and oh yeah he teaches sex ed, which Robin says if I ever have a question about an STD you will be tbe first person to ask. And Steve response is a simple thanks you? Lolol yeah thats deserved, because idk if thats a compliment.

Also y’all are great friends? Um since when? Because this entire season Jonathan and Steve been at odds with each other, also in this episode they both say they can respect each other but they still hate each other! So when have they been “great” friends!?

And Steve promises they’ll meet every month, even though life will get in the way. I was like oh buddy aint no way you guys gonns see each other every month, but wishful thinking I guess.

Also Hopper and Joyce go out to a fancy dinner ans Hopper proposes to Joyce, also he mentioned he got a new job offering out of Hawkins and they should move out of Hawkins to be closer to the kids, awww.

Also Hopper and Joyce kill tons military people this season

Yet hes allowed to keep his job as chief

Uh huh, because thats how that works I guess.

The final scene is the gang back in Mike’s basement, playing D&D. Mike tells a story about Eleven possibly surviving — that Kali created an illusion, that Eleven escaped, crossed mountains, and found a village with two waterfalls. Whether it’s real or not is left open.

Well ok, then I want to pretend that Eleven is dead, because at the very least I get a death put of this season then.

Also I have a issue with this, they are no longer treating D&D as the inspiration but instead a thing to hide behind. We’ll in D&D you get to make your own interpretations, so do the same here with our show.

No no that’s not how that works, you wrote this and filmed it, were watching ur final product. There is no interpretation except yours.

Now i do got to be blunt, i do find it weird that the show gets kinda meta, where Max goes. Thats it? I thought your a great story teller? Wrapping this story up in a happy ending? Get it because the Duffer Brothers wrapped this series in a happy ending bow.

Ha ha ha go fuck off, also I do find it slightly bizarre that Mike basically interpreted his own story as if its. And to the Duffers saying the ending is left open to interpretation, and what does mike essentially say? Plz Will go be gay, you live ur life, go to a gay bar and meet boys.

Well I mean, good piece of advice, but I find it odd that he needs to tell Will to do this. And this not being a thought Will comes up with.

Also I guess Mike and Will shipping was never going anywhere, but to be fair he is an aloof, Will i wish you luck on your journey, hope you find another relationship thats better then Mike freaking Wheeler.

The kids put their campaign books on the shelf. Holly and her friends run downstairs to play. Mike smiles, closes the door, and we fade out.

Stranger Things ends where it began. Then we cut to the end credits which consists of drawings sketched out in a notebook, of past season events and characters. And their actors names coming up besides them. All while to the song Heroes by David Bowie.

I kid u not this got a tear or 2 out of me, its sad seeing this chapter of my life come to a close, I remember living through when Stranger Things first aired, it’s been a roller-coaster.

Yes this is very LOTR heavy coded, down to this episode had long on going prologue, but if you ask me. I’d say this ending was more interesting to me then LOTR, yeah im waiting for the hate. Anyways hope y’all enjoy today’s review and cant belive its already 2026, hope y’all have a wonderful 2026.

Btw im done with this series like done done, I dont care id they are making spinoff shows. Like get this its been confirmed were gettinf a live action prequel show showing us how that rock that Henry touched in the briefcase came to be.

Uh huh, a show about the origin of a rock? Yeah im out, I aint watching that.


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