If it wasn’t obvious by the title, this article contains spoilers for “Stranger Things.”
Despite the fact that there are only five seasons, I’ve been watching “Stranger Things” since I was 11 years old. After nine long years, we finally got to see the ending to one of the most popular TV shows in Netflix history. Unfortunately, that ending did not live up to the expectations of most fans. Some fans even went as far as to speculate that there was a secret ninth episode, because there was no way they could just end it like that, right?
But there was never a secret episode, because there never needed to be. The ending of “Stranger Things” was good enough. At this point, I’ll reiterate my spoiler warning. DO NOT READ PAST HERE IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED “STRANGER THINGS” SEASON 5 YET. The characters defeat the Mind Flayer and, with one notable exception, return to Hawkins and resume their normal lives. The kids graduate from high school. The older characters head off to college, with the exception of Steve, who becomes a middle school baseball coach. Hopper returns to his role as police chief and gets engaged to Joyce. Everyone got their happy ending—except for (maybe) Eleven.
After the Mind Flayer is defeated, the characters destroy the Upside Down, forever ending the connection between Earth and the Abyss. Eleven chose to stay in the Upside Down while it collapsed, killing herself to escape from the military, which wants to experiment on her to recreate her powers in other children. However, Mike suspects that the Eleven that we all saw die was just an illusion, and that she really escaped to somewhere with three waterfalls to live a happy life of her own. The evidence that he presents is strong, as is the evidence that she really died—but either way, the ending makes sense. In order for the characters to return to their normal lives, Eleven—who opened the portal to the Upside Down in the first place, setting the whole story into motion—could not be with them. If she were, they would have spent the next several years hiding from the military, not returning to school, and moving on. There was no realistic ending where Eleven lived a normal life with the rest of the group.
Even accepting that Eleven cannot live with the group, there is still the ambiguity regarding whether or not she is still alive. We are left wondering whether Mike’s story is right or if it’s just his way of moving forward, as Hopper encouraged him to do. If Eleven were still alive, she could not safely return to Hawkins while still avoiding the military, so she could not tell Mike or anyone else in person. By having Mike figure it out, viewers see the same clues that he sees, giving an astute observer the chance to figure it out themselves. The scene where Mike reveals his theory to the rest of the group is emotional and moving in a way that a true reveal about Eleven’s fate couldn’t possibly be. While viewers may have wished that the Duffer Brothers gave a definitive answer one way or another, the way that Mike told the others leaves us wondering—and by extension, still talking about “Stranger Things” months after its conclusion.
Another complaint people have about the ending is that they were able to kill the Mind Flayer, which had returned to a physical form with the help of Vecna. However, this was actually the best ending. We need to remember that “Stranger Things” is based on two things: ’80s nostalgia and Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). “Stranger Things” didn’t just take place in the ’80s; it ended like an ’80s movie would have. In essentially every movie from that time, the bad guy is defeated, whether it’s the Soviets or aliens or Darth Vader or a mobster. They aren’t cut off from the world, free to do what they want as long as it doesn’t affect the characters; they are killed or arrested, and the characters couldn’t arrest the Mind Flayer. Even when the bad guy was the Soviets, the movie would usually end with whatever general or colonel was the “main” enemy being captured or killed. Killing the Mind Flayer was a simple resolution to a complex plot, but that’s exactly what we should have expected from a series based on the 1980s.
“Stranger Things” was also based on D&D. All of the antagonists, whether it’s the Demogorgon, the Mind Flayer, or Vecna, were adapted from D&D monsters. As a D&D game goes on, the characters encounter progressively more powerful monsters. The Mind Flayer, despite its central role in the plot of “Stranger Things,” is a relatively weak enemy. This makes sense, as it is the main antagonist of seasons 2 and 3, with Vecna replacing it as the main antagonist for season 4. Although it reappears in season 5, it has taken a physical form. Although none of the characters mention it, this form is based on yet another D&D monster: the tarrasque. The tarrasque is the most powerful monster in the game, much more fitting for a final battle than a relatively weak Mind Flayer. And, just like with ’80s movies, D&D campaigns end when the final boss is defeated, making it necessary for the group to kill it rather than just trap it in the abyss. Plus, having the Mind Flayer take a physical form made for a much more interesting battle than if they were fighting the Mind Flayer as we saw in seasons 2 and 3, which was beatable by simply raising the temperature.
Another common complaint with the battle was that it was too quick. However, the battle scene lasted for just under 20 minutes. While this felt like it was pretty quick for the group to actually defeat the final boss, it was actually a good amount of time. The shark in “Jaws” only had five minutes of screen time, so the battle scene in the “Stranger Things” finale was relatively long by the standards of the time period it was trying to emulate. If it had lasted any longer, the scene would have started to drag on. After all, isn’t it more interesting to see the characters interact than to see Steve and Dustin stabbing and Nancy shooting at the same monster for an extended period of time? In spite of the run time of its episodes, “Stranger Things” is still a TV show. If it had normal-length episodes, a 20-minute battle scene would have been half of an episode. So although it felt fast, it was actually the perfect amount of time for what it was trying to do.
Another criticism of the ending was that it was too predictable. In my view, however, this is not necessarily a negative. A predictable ending is a plausible ending, where the buildup to the finale actually has a meaningful impact on the events that occur during the episode. In “Stranger Things,” the buildup actually matters. When Dustin discovers that the Upside Down is actually a wormhole, it makes sense. All the way back in season 1, we see the students learning about wormholes in a middle school physics class, despite the fact that wormholes are a complex concept of theoretical physics, much more advanced than anything that would actually be taught in middle school. When Will draws the Mind Flayer in the barn, it looks identical to the wormhole Mr. Clarke had on the chalkboard. So, although the Upside Down being a wormhole was completely predictable, it was set up in a way that made sense. If the Upside Down were revealed to be something else, like a simulation or a different planet, it would have been a terrible reveal, despite the fact that it wasn’t as predictable as the wormhole revelation.
People also complain that not enough characters died during the final season. This complaint is ridiculous. Important characters should not be killed for the sake of killing characters; otherwise, it’s just bad writing. Character deaths should be necessary for the plot, especially main characters. Viewers get attached to characters; any well-liked character’s death is emotionally devastating to the audience. However, people have an emotional limit. Having multiple character deaths in sequence, especially in the same episode, cheapens the emotional impact of each one. If Steve or Jonathan or Nancy had died during the final battle, the scene shortly afterward where Eleven chooses to sacrifice herself when the Upside Down is destroyed would have been far less devastating. When the characters went from celebrating their escape to realizing that their close friend was about to die, it changed the mood dramatically, giving the scene a much larger impact on the feelings of the audience. If the viewers and the characters were already devastated by the loss of several members of the group during the final battle, watching Eleven’s death would not have had the same impact.
The “Stranger Things” finale was good. It wasn’t great; it wasn’t a masterpiece; it was just good enough. Fans may have been expecting some cinematic masterpiece, but those are really rare. For every show with an ending like “Breaking Bad,” there are 10 like “How I Met Your Mother” or “Game of Thrones,” where the ending is so bad that it ruins the perception of the entire TV show. The “Stranger Things” finale may not have been flawless, but it did what it had to do: wrapped up the story in a way that made sense and fit in with the rest of the plot. How much more can we really ask for from a finale?
