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After 10 years, five seasons and one star’s marriage to a famous nepo baby, “Stranger Things” has come to an end. Thankfully, many fans such as myself have saved millions of fan edits to rewatch for years to come.

Season one of “Stranger Things,” created by Matt and Ross Duffer, debuted July 15, 2016. The supernatural horror drama begins in 1983 and pays homage to 1980s music and film, telling the story of a small town under attack by monsters from a different dimension.

The final season was released in three parts: four episodes on Thanksgiving Day, three on Christmas and the series finale on New Year’s Eve. The long gaps between releases gave audiences the opportunity to get caught up, but also created high expectations for fans like me.

Season five bit off more than it could chew. In interviews, the Duffers said the “stakes are higher than ever” and the final season would be “very brutal” and “violent.” With so much hype surrounding season five, I was let down by the actual episodes.

In roughly 10 hours of runtime, season five attempts to fit more government conspiracies, an alternate dimension and new protagonists like Holly and Derek. It’s overwhelming for both superfans and casual viewers.

Complicating the story further, the Duffers launched a Broadway prequel in April. The play, “First Shadow,” is full of important backstory, which they attempted to summarize in season five with limited success. Contrary to the Duffers’ claims, unless fans watched a bootlegged recording of the show online, they were lost.

With so much new lore, it feels like half of season five is spent with characters explaining to each other what’s going on. Viewers made jokes about the trope of using items on hand to explain difficult concepts and plans (this pencil is Mike, that eraser is the portal) and repetitive corny dialogue like “Explain in English, please?”

The information overload never slows down. In the penultimate episode, there is a big reveal that the Upside Down is actually a wormhole to a second dimension: The Abyss. It was a strange move to reveal such an important piece of the story at the very end of the series.

Viewers also noticed more continuity errors than in prior seasons. Certain set pieces changed colors between episodes, dialogue contradicted previously established facts, and a main character’s birthday changed several times. Mistakes are unavoidable in a 10-year-long show, but “Stranger Things” had so many it was hard to ignore.

After the show’s finale, many fans obsessed about conformity gate, a theory that the recurring mistakes were intentional. Fans claimed the final episode was a trick by the main villain, Vecna, and that a secret ninth episode was forthcoming.

Like many fans, I checked Netflix the morning of the predicted extra episode and was disappointed to see it was just bad writing after all. Nevertheless, theories continue to circulate online among superfans.

Prior to the finale, fan theories focused on the relationships in the show. For example, Jancy and Stancy – Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Nancy (Natalia Dyer) versus Steve (Joe Keery) and Nancy – both have devoted fans and thousands of videos.

By far the most talked about relationship in the series is Byler, the potential relationship between Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard). In season 5, Will comes to terms with sexuality and his romantic feelings for Mike, who is in a straight relationship. Byler fans, such as myself, hoped the season would reveal that Mike had feelings for Will, too. It did not.

Will comes out in an emotional scene that got mixed reviews. The scene felt awkward because of how many people were in the room – including some characters Will had never met on-screen. The scene felt far less realistic than Robin’s (Maya Hawke) coming out scene in season three, which was intimate and authentic.

Despite the final season’s challenges, it still held some of the best moments in the entire series. The fight scenes in the first hour of the finale reminded me why this show is so good and had me on the edge of my seat. The final confrontation with Vecna was satisfyingly action-packed.

My favorite scene comes at the end of season five episode four, when Will discovers that he has powers. It’s both thrilling and touching, showing how Will’s acceptance of himself and his sexuality allows him to reach his full potential.

Another highlight of the season is “Lumax,” the relationship between Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Max (Sadie Sink). McLaughlin and Sink are two of the show’s strongest actors, especially Sink, who was nominated for a Tony for her role in “John Proctor Is The Villain.”

For fans like me who started watching “Stranger Things” in middle school, there is a sense of coming-of-age nostalgia about the cast and the show. There are blurred lines between the actors and the characters they play. During the graduation scene, it felt like watching the end of a big chapter for the actors as well as their roles.

To wrap up a show of 10 years in any comprehensible way is an accomplishment – especially a series as convoluted as this one. Despite its flaws, season five was a fitting end to a beloved series.

Published on January 13, 2026 at 9:31 pm