Within the first five days of being released, 59.6 million fans tuned into “Stranger Things” Season 5, according to Variety. With the show developing over the span of nine years, the ending of “Stranger Things” is met with only one feeling: bittersweet.
After Season 4 ended on multiple cliffhangers, fans sought highly anticipated answers. People were left questioning after Max’s near-death experience, Eddie Munsen meeting his end and the Upside Down bleeding into Hawkins.
There is now a darker tinge that fills the air of Hawkins, a shift away from innocent Dungeons and Dragons playdates, to a town under the control of the military, and an active portal into the Upside Down. Characters who were once the underdogs have grown up and changed for the better. Most notably, Will Byers.
“I think the first half of the season was so well developed,” senior Hannah Wang said. “The way that Will’s powers were introduced was a prominent scene.”
Yet, after part one, fan opinions of the new season got increasingly negative. Though critics largely kept ratings high for Season 5, it has the lowest Rotten Tomatoes score of any season, with a 85% rating for writing. Science teacher and avid “Stranger Things” fan, Bryan Moretz describes the disappointment from the lack of quality writing during the final season.
“The overall quality and pace were very fast,” Moretz said. “It felt like there were multiple writers all doing their own thing and then throwing it all together.”
The Duffer Brothers released “One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5” for those seeking deeper insight into the development of Season 5.
“In the documentary, they did not have an ending written for Episode 8 while they were filming,” Wang said. “I think that everything was so predictable for the finale.”
Many were also confused that no main characters died after the defeat of the Mind Flayer and Vecna. This is out of the ordinary, considering that in every season leading up to Season 5, there has been at least one major character death. Though actually watching the fight scene with the mind flayer, it is no surprise that no character died, as the duration only lasted 5-10 minutes (almost the same duration as Will’s coming out scene). It was disappointing how weak the mindflayer and Vecna seemed, as the show had been building up to this final battle for so long.
“It was very superficial, and felt more like a fun adventure movie rather than seeing the final ending of a season that had a lot of emotional value,” Wang said.
The fact that Season 5 was supposed to have the most dangerous final battle of all seasons, and the only emotional value seemed to be Eleven’s sacrifice, is shocking. Even then, Eleven’s death is heavily disputed, with writers hinting at her possible survival through Mike’s theory.
“I think she’s still alive,” Sixth grader Vaishnavi Ganti said. “Because you can’t see her tattoo. Her wrist is glitching, and she doesn’t have a nosebleed after pulling Mike into the void.”
Eleven’s fate in the last episode was left up to viewer’s interpretation. Because of this, and the strangely easy resolution to what the show had been building up for the last nine years, many “Stranger Things” fans theorized that there would be a surprise ninth episode.
Fans on various social media platforms developed the Conformity Gate Theory, dissecting the final episode and pointing out oddities and plot holes. According to the theory, Vecna had created a fake reality in which he is still alive, and the characters are under his mind control. Fans had their hopes that Netflix would drop the surprise episode on Jan. 7, but to no avail.
“I thought at first it would be cool to have an alternate ending,” Moretz said. “But at the same time, I could just tell it was over.”
