First off, Happy New Year! 🎉🎊🎇🎈🥳  I hope 2026 brings y’all a lot of joy and happiness.

If you’re like me, you spent your New Year’s Eve watching the 2 hr. series finale of Stranger Things.  My mother and I already viewed Vol. 1 of season five on Thanksgiving, and we watched Vo1. 2 Christmas night.  After watching Vol 3. before the big ball dropped we had…thoughts.  Enough thoughts to serve as another break in my writing slump and to bless y’all with more of my wit and commentary. 

I was just going to review the series finale, but seeing as the entire final season of Stranger Things has sparked some serious debate and criticism, I’ve decided to critique season five in its entirety.  I’ll separate it volume by volume, because they have points that I want to discuss, and I don’t want to leave anything out.  Now, let’s do this!

***WARNING!!  THE FOLLOWING CONTENT HAS SPOILERS FOR SEASON FIVE AS WELL AS PREVIOUS SEASONS OF STRANGER THINGS.  IF YOU’VE NEVER SEEN THE SERIES, OR IF YOU’VE ONLY WATCHED A SMALL BIT OF IT, STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING AND WATCH THE SHOW.  AGAIN, THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS.  YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.***

Vol. 1 

In the first half of the season, we return to Hawkins in Nov. 1987.  It’s been a year—or so they claim—since we last saw our heroes, who are now sophomores in high school (keep that in mind), and since those gates to the Upside Down opened, the military has occupied the little town of Hawkins and quarantined it, plus, they’re hunting Eleven.  To add insult to injury, while the gang sneaks into the Upside Down to search for Vecna, they learn that the monster has his sights on young Holly Wheeler, Nancy and Mike’s baby sister.  He also wants to possess some other children Holly’s age for a dastardly plan…to bring his world to Earth.

The first half started out strong.  We learn that Vecna has been abducting children like Will, Holly, and this season’s new character, Derek, to use them as “vessels” to bring his world to Earth.  Holly never had much to do in previous seasons, as she was between the ages of 4-7, but now that she’s about 9 or 10, there’s a lot of focus on her.  Some would say that’s there’s a little bit too much attention toward her.  Either way though, Nell Fisher (the actress that portrays Holly) knocked it out of the park.

I also liked seeing another side of Dustin that we’re not used to.  Dustin is usually the brainiac of the group that additionally brings comic relief.  This go around, he’s hurt, angry, and reeling over Eddie’s death, making him the target of those beef-headed jocks.  Also, my girl Erica returned, and whenever she’s on screen, she eats.  The “Eat Your Damn Pie” scene had me rollin’.

It was interesting seeing Will and Robin become closer.  As I’m sure you’re aware, both Will and Robin are both gay, and at this point, Will is still closeted, whereas Robin is a bit more open (just a bit).  Once Will learns about Robin’s relationship with candy striper/Molly Ringwald lookalike Vickie, they begin to bond, and it’s Robin who advises Will to be fully himself.  This will be important in more ways than one later in the show.

Derek was a great addition to the cast.  I’ve always loved how Stranger Things introduces us to a new member of the overall group every season.  At first I didn’t really care for Derek.  He was a rude, foul-mouthed, disrespectful little bastard.  However, as the show continues, we see that Derek is really smart and resourceful, and he has some killer lines/scenes!

I only had three real issues with Vol. 1.  The first was the inconsistency with damaging the demogorgons.  There’s scenes where bullets have zero damage on the creatures, and fire can hurt them, but not really kill them.  Then there’s the scene where Mrs. Wheeler goes ham on a demogorgon with a broken wine bottle.  She doesn’t kill the demo, and the bottle does very little damage, but that’s just it…the broken bottle appear to hurt the demo, whereas doggone bullets from assault rifles don’t do shit!  Huh?

The second was that these kids are clearly young adults at this point, and I don’t mean teenage young adults.  I’m talking about fresh out of college, paying their own rent/mortgage, and discussing financial profiles type young adults.  Hell, Millie Bobbie Brown is married with a child!  There’s no way in God’s green Earth or His blue heaven that only four years have passed since we were first introduced to the gang.  They don’t look anything like 15-16 yr. olds.

Third, is the situation with Derek’s family.  In an attempt to protect Derek from Vecna, the gang tries to hide him and his family by drugging them and keeping them in a barn.  Derek wakes up early and soon learns what’s really happening, but Derek’s family…we never see or hear from them—or about them—again.  I assume they’re still tied up in the barn knocked out, just like Huell is still sitting at the “safe house” waiting for Hank to spring him (don’t know what I mean?  Watch Breaking Bad).  That’s it, though.  The rest of the first half was solid.

What really brought home Vol. 1 was the final scene in episode four.  Throughout the first half, we noticed that Will seemed to be in sync with Vecna’s thoughts as well as those of the demogorgons.  Well, Vol. 1 ends with separate members of the group trying to save the kids from Vecna, but the demogorgons overpower them, and it looks like they’re about to be slaughtered.  However, before the demos can do their damage, Will overcomes his fears and taps into his power, breaking the demogorgons apart just as Vecna did with Chrissy and Max, upon other children.  Man, that scene was great.  It left me hungry for more, but sadly, the seconds weren’t as good. 

Vol. 2

This brings us to Vol. 2.  Now that Will has learned of his new power, he’s going to try to tap into the hive mind to kill Vecna and bring the kids back home.  However, Will’s plan doesn’t really work, as he still has some fears to overcome.  Also, Dustin learns that the Upside Down isn’t an alternate dimension of Hawkins, but a wormhole that connects Hawkins and the Abyss, which is where Vecna resides.  Max and Holly, who are trapped in Vecna’s mind prison, try their best to get out, but only Max makes it through.  The second portion ends with Vecna carrying out his plan to have Holly and her friends bring the Abyss to Hawkins.

After having my world blown by Vol. 1, Vol. 2 felt like filler.  I mean, there were some good moments, like Dustin and Steve finally making up, and Will’s coming out scene (more on that later), but the rest was just a bit…ho hum.

This happened during season four, too.  The first half was superb, but the second half was mid.  There’s something about those breaks in the middle of the season.  Either the writing is lacking, or the show just loses its momentum.  Or maybe it’s a little bit of both.

Again, there’s inconsistencies on how the demogorgons—or in this case, the demo dogs—can be killed.  This go around, Mrs. Wheeler was able to take them out with an explosion.  But previously, fire would only hurt the demogorgons but not kill them.  Is it just different with demo dogs? 

Also, Jonathan and Nancy broke up.  I always loved them as a couple.  At least they didn’t have her get back with Steve.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Steve, but he and Nancy’s time is over.  Also, I hate that they don’t really give Jonathan anything to really do anymore.  Up until that point of the season, this was the most active we’ve seen him, and what was his character active with?  A breakup.  Also, I can see why folks were confused over Jonathan and Nancy’s breakup scene.  Some folks thought they were strengthening their relationship by being honest; some felt that although Nancy and Jonathan both agreed that marriage wasn’t in the cards for them, they would still stay together, and some knew it was a breakup scene because they read where the Duffer Brothers confirmed it as such.  I just feel like that scene could’ve been handled a little better.

Another thing…am I the only one that feels like the whole “wormhole” theory was shoehorned in the storyline?  I don’t know…I never really bought it.  Maybe I just liked it better when the Upside Down was an alternate universe with no real explanation of how it came to be.  Now we learn it’s a wormhole that Dr. Brenner created to try to find Henry/Vecna.  Y’all let me know how you feel about that plot point.

I was glad that Max finally escaped Vecna’s mind prison and woke up in the real world to rejoin Lucas and her buddies.  However, I have to agree with the overall public…she and Holly spent way too much time talking before trying to escape.  I mean, y’all see those exit bubbles!  Go while you still can!  Even my mom was like, “Man, I’d be running to those clouds!”  I get why Max explained to Holly that she must find her own way of escape to get to her body, but did it really have to take so much time?

The last thing that I noticed even more this go around is the plot armor.  Now, plot armor normally doesn’t bother me too much, because I hate to see my favorite characters die in books, movies, and TV shows, but this season was making it really obvious.  Even in Vol. 1, I noticed how Vecna and/or the demos would take out nameless characters without a second glance, but a main character would walk away with an injury, if that.  In Vol. 2, we saw what happened to those soldiers that tampered with the exotic matter holding the Upside Down together.  The walls melted, and when they hardened, they trapped the soldiers with it, causing them to die of either starvation or thirst.  When Jonathan and Nancy messed with the exotic matter, they came close to going to the upper room, but miraculously, the walls stopped melting and hardened—while Jonathan and Nancy were sitting on a table, of course—and the risk of drowning or being a part of the building for life was avoided.  Again, I like that they survived, but the plot armor is glaringly obvious at this point.

One thing that moved me was Will’s coming out scene, which has audiences torn.  Me personally, I found it touching and even cried a little while watching it.  For most people, it was drawn out, awkward, and unnecessary.  I get both sides.  It took Will a hot minute to get to the point, he stuttered a lot, and seeing as children were kidnapped and being used to destroy Earth, Will coming to terms with his sexuality is on the bottom of the totem pole.  I understand why people feel that way, but I still enjoyed the scene. 

I felt like it’s only natural that Will stuttered and took a while to get to the point, because let’s face it, coming out to your friends and family can’t be easy.  Plus, he was coming out to his friends and family in the late ‘80s!  Folks definitely weren’t that understanding about gay people in those days.  Speaking of which, that’s another thing folks hated; when Will came out, all his friends and family let him know that they’d accept him for who he is, and they had no problem with his sexuality.  If something like this happened in real life, in that decade, he’d probably have a totally different reaction.  I get why folks were put off by the gang’s unanimous understanding.

@civwastaken

They were not at ALL surprised #fypシ #fyp #comedyskit #darkhumor #strangerthings5

♬ original sound – OfficialCIV

Again, the ‘80s were a different time, and even in the ‘90s, there were instances where gay people were harassed and killed for being who they are.  I’ll never forget what happened with Matthew Sheppard back in 1998.  As for the importance of Will deciding to come out at that moment…yeah, it was necessary in a way.  Vecna was using Will’s fear to weaken him again, and to defeat him once and for all, Will had to face it.  One big fear he had was losing everyone he loved because he was gay.  To me, the coming out scene was one of the best things about Vol. 2, that and Max reuniting with Lucas.  Everything else was just…aiight.      

Vol. 3 

During the big finale, the gang decides to kill Vecna on his home turf by sneaking into the Upside Down, allowing Vecna to bring down the Abyss just enough to reach the radio tower of WSQK, and climb through a gate to the Abyss to take him out (it makes a little more sense when it’s played out on the screen).  However, the gang realizes that Vecna isn’t the final boss…the Mind Flayer is.

What got me about the finale is that when the gang took out Vecna and the Mind Flayer, it just seemed too…easy.  They whupped both their asses with hardly a scratch, and yeah, I didn’t want anyone to die, but at the same time, I did want to see more of an evenly paced challenge. 

That brings me to the next point:  the finale felt a bit rushed.  Vol. 3 was a little over two hrs. long, but both Vecna and the Mind Flayer were defeated within the first hour, and if I’m not mistaken, the fight itself was about 20 min., if that.

After defeating Vecna and the Mind Flayer, the gang opted to destroy the Upside Down by setting a bomb on top of Hawkins Lab to destroy the exotic matter holding the wormhole together (by the way, I loved that the Purple Rain soundtrack was used to ignite the bomb!).  They got out okay, but Eleven stayed behind to sacrifice herself, knowing that the government would never let her have peace.

That’s right, El died…I think.  I say “I think,” because to be honest, the Duffers allowed El’s arc to be ambiguous.  We see her get swept up in the blast, but we also hear Mike declare that El standing in the Upside Down was just an illusion set up by her sister, Kali.  According to him, the real El escaped and settled in a small town to make a fresh start.

However, as much as it pains me, I’m inclined to believe that El indeed died, and Mike is just pretending she made it out as a coping mechanism.  Firstly, Kali was shot in the stomach before El and the others faced the Mind Flayer and Vecna, so she probably bled out before the bomb was set off.  Secondly—as someone from Twitter so eloquently pointed out—the bomb was on the roof of Hawkins Lab.  Kali was in Hawkins Lab bleeding out when the bomb went off.  Even if she did have enough strength to show that illusion of El standing in the Upside Down gate, once the bomb exploded, Kali would’ve died with it, and the illusion would have vanished immediately.  Also, as someone else from Twitter mentioned, once Kali is a certain distance away, she can’t generate an image.  The main gate to the Upside Down was a mile or two away from Hawkins Lab.  Yeah, when you put all the pieces together, either a) Eleven perished, or b) her arc did end happily, but it’s chock full of plot holes.  Y’all know how I feel about plot holes.

And while we’re on the subject of plot holes, what in the blue hell happened to all the demogorgons and demo dogs?  Y’all ain’t gonna tell me Mrs. Wheeler and the gang killed them all by the time they had to fight the final boss.  What in the blue hell happened to the military after the Upside Down was destroyed?  The gang broke God knows how many laws to sneak into that area, and they even killed a few soldiers along the way.  Did someone higher up cut them a deal?  Did they decide to just let it all go?  The latter alternative seems extremely unlikely, even for this show.  And what happened to Linda Hamilton’s character?  After Eleven possibly died, she just gave up on all her experiments?  Again, unlikely. 

The last 45 min. of the finale were touching.  Dustin’s valedictorian speech/channeling Eddie to stick it to the man was great.  I loved how the older kids (Jonathan, Nancy, Steve, and Robin) meet up and make a promise to always keep in touch no matter what, and the younger kids (Mike, Lucas, Will, Dustin, and Max) get together for one last game of D&D.  I can’t lie, I found myself crying during both those scenes, especially when Mike gave his thoughts on all his friends’ futures.  It especially pulled at my heartstrings to see the gang put their D&D binders away with tears in their eyes, and as they venture upstairs, Holly and her crew rush downstairs to pick up where they left off.  A new generation.

However, as someone on Instagram Threads pointed out, it would’ve been nice to have a nice wrap up story for Erica too, seeing as she was a big part of the show from seasons three all the way up to the finale.  Instead, the Duffers were just like, “Oh, she’s a strong black woman, so we just disregarded her, but she’ll be okay!”  Whatever. 

Final Thoughts

All in all, the final season of Stranger Things as a whole was…okay.  It had a great beginning, but toward the end, it lost something, and the series finale left me wanting.  Was it a complete dumpster fire like the final seasons of Game of Thrones and Empire?  No.  Hell, no.  The final season still gave me a lot of enjoyment, it just could’ve been better.  I know one thing…it definitely has the internet torn.  Most folks loved it, others despised it.  For me, season five wasn’t horrendous, but it is the weakest season in comparison to the others.

In spite of everything I said, I’ll always love Stranger Things, and I have to thank the Duffer Brothers for providing me and so many folks out there a great show that was full of ‘80s nostalgia.  Being the older millennial I am, I love anything to do with the ‘80s and ‘90s.  Also, the choice to have David Bowie’s ‘”Heroes”’ playing during the end credits was a boss move.

—Written by Nadiya

So what did you think about season five of Stranger Things?  Did you love it, hate it, or are you somewhere in between?  What scenes stood out for you?  What was your favorite scene?  Which scene was your least favorite?  Did you like or dislike Will’s coming out scene?  Do you believe that El lived or died?  Was the season consistently strong for you, or did it lack in certain places?  What is your favorite season of Stranger Things and why?  Let me know in the comments section!