*This article contains spoilers for “Stranger Things”’ fifth and final season
The fifth season of “Stranger Things” claimed Netflix’s first place for most streamed shows within its first two weeks of release. Following the first part of the final season, released on Nov. 26, all previous seasons reentered the Top 10 as audiences tuned in.
“Stranger Things” is set in Hawkins, Indiana, between 1983-1987. Season one starts off with four adolescent boys Mike Wheeler, Will Byers, Dustin Henderson and Lucas Sinclair. Will goes missing which leads to the discovery of a girl with telekinetic abilities, Eleven. At the end, they reunite him with his friends and family.
In season two, the audience is given parts of Eleven’s backstory. Along with the information that Will is possessed by the Mind Flayer. In season three, Soviet Russia created a new gate to the Upside Down. Eleven closes the gate, killing the Mind Flayer and freeing its victims but temporarily losing her powers in the process.
In season four, fans are greeted with the backstory of Henry Creel/One who, when banished to the Upside Down by Eleven, became the main antagonist, Vecna. Eleven gets her powers back, they plan an attack on Vecna and at the end he’s presumed to be dead, until the release of part one of season five.
In season five, Vecna is kidnapping children in order to use them to force the Upside Down into the real world and the government is hunting down Eleven due to her creation of the Upside Down. Eleven finally defeats Vecna and destroys the Upside Down with a bomb crafted by her adoptive father but doesn’t leave that world as she believes it won’t ever truly be destroyed if she’s in the real world. The show ends with the question of whether or not she truly died.
“I think my sister told me about [‘Stranger Things’],” social studies teacher Jakob Hughes said. “I was 17, maybe 18, just kind of getting out of high school. I watched the first season when it came out, and it was really good.”
The creators of “Stranger Things”, Matt and Ross Duffer, took the show into a different direction this season. According to Common Sense Media, compared to the previous seasons, there was an increased use of violence and gore, due to the themes of drugging, kidnappings and harm done to the face. This season also included a scene from season four when One killed all the kids in the laboratory except for Eleven because she had freed him. The scene in season five showed the kids in full detail and mutilation. According to Netflix, season five had the same warnings as the season previous to it, not warning fans of the route they went down.
“I did not think that would happen and I really like the plot so far,” Aslanzade said. “I think it’s way more intense and it’s way more dramatic. The other ones, they were kind of scary but weren’t as intense.”
In anticipation for the last parts of “Stranger Things” release, fans had predictions. One prediction was that Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler, siblings to Will and Mike, would stay a couple. Sophomore John Enos was one of the fans that supported this. In season five, the two shared a moment during the crisis of life and death. While the room was filling up with melted liquid, they made up and Jonathan proposed.
“Their whole scene was honestly ambiguous when first watching,” Enos said. “I genuinely think the Duffer brothers did really bad with most of the relationships. I think they could’ve done way better in terms of writing, consistency, emotions and dialogue.”
The release of season five created mixed feelings for fans. Some fans, like Hughes, find that Eleven’s disappearance makes the show feel more authentically 80s and fits in with the story’s setting.
“Ultimately I liked it, I think it was an alright ending to a fantastic show and that might be an unpopular opinion,” Hughes said. “I liked how it delivered closure and where they don’t really say for sure if Eleven dies or is alive, I think that made it feel like an 80s movie, and I thought it was a little bit cheesy.”
However, fans like Aslanzade, expected a different and more intense ending than having Eleven disappear. Leading fans to feel, according to Giant Freakin Robot, like the finale was disappointing and unrealistic.
“I feel like it was a different ending than everyone expected and I don’t like how Eleven disappeared,” Aslanzade said. “I feel like the ending could’ve been much better. I had higher expectations. I think that if it ended in a different way I would have really really enjoyed it but it kind of changed my opinion on the show.”
