The fifth and final season of popular Netflix show Stranger Things has been buzzing ever since its release on Thanksgiving, and has led to many discussions and theories being shared between fans. With the season being split up and released at different points, the final episode of the show was released on New Year’s Eve, December 31st. The show, being well-known for its mystery and supernatural horror, has been well-received throughout its entirety. This season, however, has received criticism and mixed reviews from fans, and thus leading to a divide in the season finale.
The show takes place in Hawkins, Indiana in the 1980s, and all started when a little boy named Will goes missing. The reason for his disappearance is because of an unearthly monster from another dimension. After a gate opened in a secret government lab connecting the real world to the “Upside Down,” multiple entities and monsters came from the alternate dimension and have caused mayhem and destruction in the small town. For all five seasons, a group of kids and an escaped lab experiment with superpowers have battled this evil. The main villain in the most recent season is Vecna, who plans to reshape the world by using kids as vessels and combining the real world with another.
Volume 1 of season five was released on Thanksgiving, which included the first four episodes. These were generally well received, with fans enjoying the suspense and high stakes. The biggest moment came in episode four, where it was revealed that Will has powers. The whole episode is heavily praised, with great action and the intense battle between the military and Vecna, who made his season debut. Jackson Gonzalez, a Senior at BASH, said, “The beginning of the season was awesome. I thought
Will and Derek were amazing.”
Volume two wasn’t as well received as volume one, but there were still some heavily emotional moments that touched fans. Steve and Dustin hugging after arguing the whole season was one of the biggest moments of the season, along with Nancy and Jonathan’s “unproposal,” Max finally waking up from her coma, and Will coming out. The latter was mixed, with generally being supported by fans, but others, not so much. They felt that it didn’t make much sense for Will to come out in front of the whole crew, and also didn’t like how Will mainly came out because of Vecna and his visions, rather than feeling the need to come out himself.
All of this leads up to the finale, where the biggest divide occurs between fans. Some positives from the finale include all of the characters having a happy ending and defeating Vecna, and a feel good moment for all characters. Sean Keeney, a Senior at BASH, said, “I liked how nobody died, and that they wrapped up everyone’s story. I really liked how the older characters had their moment on the roof and said that they wouldn’t break away.” Some viewers enjoyed the fact that nobody died, however, others say the ending was very anticlimactic according to many fans, and they believe that there should’ve been more deaths. Jackson Gonzalez said, “I thought the ending was terrible. I feel like the whole thing was anticlimactic, and we needed a whole lot more.” The biggest complaint with the finale is the fact that the battle against Vecna was not nearly as long as people thought, and it seemed somewhat easy taking him down. With all of the buildup, Vecna seemed to be a legimate threat, and an intense battle between the two sides for control of the world seemed imminent. However, the battle only lasted about five minutes, and left a sour taste in the mouth of fans. The ending episode had a pretty low rating, with a 7.7 on IMDB, which is fairly low compared to other episodes in the series.
Yes, the season isn’t perfect, and seems like the worst season in the whole franchise. Despite the negative outbursts, the season still put up good numbers, and a majority of fans are just sad to see the show come to a close. Everyone can come up with their own ideas as to what needed to be changed, and what could’ve made the finale even more special. But, after a couple of months go by, the anger towards the show should dissipate, and fans will remember the great memories and highlights of one of the greatest shows on Netflix, maybe even in history.
