Spoilers ahead.
December 31, 2025. 8:00 p.m. Almost ten years after the first episode aired, millions anticipated the Stranger Things finale — and many were left disappointed. A show so palpable has a large audience, and with that comes a lot of mixed opinions. I was one of those masses who felt complex emotions about the ending of the show. One consensus I found among my friends is that it was just mediocre, and certainly not the great ending that people expected of such a beloved franchise.
I briefly considered rewatching parts of the episode to refresh my mind for this review, but no part of me wanted to relive it. I don’t think anyone fell for Steve’s fakeout death. Going into the finale, I was not expecting any characters to die. And depending on how you interpret Eleven’s ending, the only recurring character that passed away was Kali, who, frankly, was only relevant in Season 2. Though I enjoyed her presence in Season 2, I wasn’t really sure how to feel about her character in Season 5 — though it’s hard when most of her limited screen time was spent trying to convince Eleven to sacrifice herself for the world.
After the final fight with Vecna, which had ended with much fewer life-ending injuries than what should have been possible, I noticed that there was still a good amount of time left in the episode. It left me thinking that maybe there was a chance that Vecna was coming back, but as time continued, the less convinced I was. There was no way they could resolve another fight in such little time. And that was when I realized — oh, it’s over. Vecna was defeated…really defeated, this time, and the good guys were left with their whole lives ahead of them. It would be the end of a grand, sprawling story that captured the hearts of people worldwide.
Why did it feel so undeserved? I recognize that the characters went through a lot during the course of the entire show. I’m glad they got their happy ending. But really — that’s it? The fight against Vecna in Season 4 felt more emotionally charged and put-together. For a show finale, this episode was lackluster.
Part of me wasn’t expecting everything to work out so simply. I feel like there should have been more conflict, but the final boss fight was pretty straightforward. Ms. Byers even had a chance to be the one to end it, which was a nice full-circle moment and the only acceptable choice for an otherwise unsatisfying fight. I was left with so many questions, and Stranger Things ended with so very few answers to give.
I can’t begin to count the number of conspiracy theories I’ve seen from doubtful fans — one of the most popular being the existence of a secret ninth episode that would drop after the finale. It’s safe to say it’s been long enough that those dreams have been dashed, and with it, the dreams of any satisfying conclusion.
That’s not to say that the whole season was bad. I very much enjoyed Season 5 Volume 1, and though I prefer its predecessor, Season 5 Volume 2 also had some great moments. The Stranger Things finale was a disappointing use of my New Year’s Eve. It did its job (mostly), tying up everyone’s storylines, though I would have liked to see more Erica and Vickie at the end since they played a bigger part in this and the previous season.
Would I rewatch it? Probably not. Was I satisfied with it? Also no. But it wasn’t horrible, and I can give the Duffers some grace. It can’t be easy to write a series finale when the world has its eyes on your creation and is ready to rip it to shreds. It seems even with the help of ChatGPT on their side, the Duffers fell flat on delivering to their millions upon millions of fans — and that’s a worse fate than any amount of crabs or lack thereof I could give them.
Rating: a solid 2 out of 5 crabs.
