For the last ten years, fans of the Netflix original series “Stranger Things” have grown up watching beloved characters navigate The Upside Down, form friendships and solve mysteries, all while battling monsters like Demogorgons and the Mind Flayer.
At 8 p.m. EST on Dec. 31, the show’s final episode dropped, forever closing the gate on the series that has captured the hearts of millions since its debut in 2016. The show cultivated a dedicated fanbase who entered the finale with expectations at an all-time high.
“It is the end of one of the biggest Netflix shows of all time,” said sophomore Lucas Klein of Marlboro. “Obviously, there’s going to be a lot of excitement and diverging opinions about it.”
Matt and Ross Duffer, the directors of the show, fed into the anticipation by keeping details about the season secret. The Duffer Brothers released the season in three volumes, creating cliffhangers that sparked immediate public debate. Sophomore Sarah Furlong of Howell had some problems with the way the episodes were released.
“You had to wait over a month for the finale,” Furlong said. “It gave people too much time to speculate and make up how the show was going to end.
The long-awaited two-hour finale ultimately failed to meet the expectations of many fans. Most speculations, like character deaths, were proven wrong as the finale was described as underwhelming or disappointing.
“Some of the writing was sloppy,” said Klein. “Which ruined it for me, because I’ve been a fan of the show for over five years now.”
In the episode, the group takes an expedition to a newly discovered dimension, labeled The Abyss, and defeats Vecna, the show’s main antagonist. The entirety of the battle with Vecna lasted around five minutes, which some fans described as anticlimactic.
“I think the battle with Vecna was a little short,” Furlong said. “And it was interesting how no one got injured from that.
The finale had fans split, with some feeling the ending was rushed, and others who believed it was the perfect sendoff. Junior Sofie Grodman of Seabright was a part of those few.
“I thought the fight scene was great,” Grodman said. “Usually they’re not fighting Vecna in his home area, and I think the fire and the axe were what needed to happen.”
One of the most talked-about moments from Season 5 was the show’s 40-minute-long epilogue, which received widespread acclaim across the entire fanbase.
“I think that the epilogue worked really well,” Klein said. “It was the perfect ending for the characters.”
While the final season sparked strong reactions online, between crazy fan theories and beloved character ships, “Stranger Things” Season 5 succeeded in creating an emotional sendoff to a legendary series.
