After 10 years of Dungeons & Dragons references and supernatural discoveries, “Stranger Things” finally came to an end on New Year’s Eve. The fifth season’s almost 11-hour run-time and three-part release built heavy anticipation for the conclusion of the show, an expectation that left many fans feeling unsatisfied on the comedown.
Set 18 months after the events of Season 4, the new season finds the characters trapped in a Hawkins locked down by military force. Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven is in hiding while being hunted for her powers by a mysterious general and the rest of the gang try to resume normal life during the day while scouring the Upside Down for Vecna — revealed in the last season to be the man behind their plight — after hours.
A big difference in the plot of Season 5 is that it revolves largely around Holly Wheeler, Mike and Nancy’s little sister, rather than the main ensemble. Played by Nell Fisher, who was just a pre-teen during filming, she and Max Mayfield, played by Sadie Sink, led much of the storyline. While this choice felt slightly confusing and out of place, the young actress gave an endearing performance, which occasionally bordered on obnoxiously passionate, making for a convincing middle-schooler. Sink’s performance also stood out amongst her peers, successfully conveying teenage angst as well as her new concern for her young peers and yearning for her life before the chaos.
David Harbour, who played Jim Hopper, also delivered a movingly emotional performance, continuing to deal with unresolved personal issues regarding his late daughter and his new, adopted one.
Despite being the main characters, Brown’s acting as Eleven, or Jane Hopper, and Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler left much to be desired, in their separate characterizations and romantic chemistry. Amid controversy about her rumored plastic surgery, Brown’s performance was undeniably static compared to previous seasons and her fellow actors. Similarly, Wolfhard’s line delivery often fell flat, lacking the proper emotional weight for the intensity of the scenes.
Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp, whose kidnapping started the events of the entire series, had a relatively small role in the season as well, although he was eventually vital to the conclusion. Notably, a long scene was dedicated to his coming out as gay, a fact heavily implied in previous seasons, but which was still unknown by the characters. Many fans had looked at Will as hopeful representation of their own LGBTQ+ narratives and were disappointed by its execution in the show. Instead of a genuine moment between Byers and his friends, the coming out was essentially forced by the villain, and many fans felt this pressure-induced outing was a disservice to the character and their own expectations and experiences, and that the character deserved a more noble opportunity to find acceptance.
The first part of the season, released on Nov. 26, was significantly more compelling than the last two parts, leaving me on the edge of my seat and looking forward to the conclusion. Despite this excitement, the last four episodes were full of monologues and confusing plot development. Much of this stemmed from the fact that a stage play titled “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” was produced between the fourth and fifth seasons, the plot of which was retroactively accepted as canon, confusing many fans — including myself — who had not seen it.
Not only did this lead to plot holes in timeline and character relationships, but for the show to progress long explanations were needed, which slowed the flow of the story while audiences had to sit through wordy monologues without much action. While the progression stagnated, viewers were then left with no time to digest the hunk of information given to them before another thing happened which had to be explained.
Even with the retrospective lore changes explained, the Duffer brothers, showrunners and writers of the series, left viewers with more questions than answers, which led to many fans theorizing — hoping, perhaps — that a secret ninth episode was coming to explain why nothing lined up with their expectations or previous seasons. No such thing exists, but a “making-of” documentary was released, where the Duffer brothers admit to starting to film before finishing the script. Also in the documentary are shots of the brothers’ laptops with a tab for the show’s script open, next to a tab for what appears to be ChatGPT, leading many fans to blame the poor writing quality on its potentially AI-generated and certainly rushed nature.
Whether AI-generated or not, the ending was disappointing, and all blame seems pinned on the Duffers for lazy writing and an inconclusive plot. The 10-year-long epic came to an end with many heartfelt moments as well as many flaws, and the story decisively over.