Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 8 “The Rightside Up” felt like it could have been an email due to how clunky yet empty this series finale felt. And instead of making me nostalgic for the years spent watching this show, the series finale made me realize that I was being too lenient on this series. Because what I’m left with is a plothole ridden mess with a couple bright spots interspersed that makes me glad that this journey is over just so my favorite characters are spared this kind of nonsensical writing where they can somehow take on a godzilla-sized creature from another planet but a young woman has to fake her death to have some sort of peace in her life.
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Eleven Deserved Better
After everything that Eleven went through, the Stranger Things series finale is a disrespect to her journey, her pain, and the viewer themselves. She has been hunted down multiple times, used as a guinea pig by someone who fashioned himself her father, been manipulated, lied to, and separated from the ones that she loves. And instead of giving her a definite ending that honors her sacrifice and the years that we have spent consuming this show, the Duffer Brothers decided to kill Eleven while also giving us a wink wink epilogue where she might still be alive.
In a way, I think the show is trying to dangle the carrot for a possible spin-off where these characters will return. But the matter of the fact is that they missed the landing of the series finale so hard that I wouldn’t trust a spin-off. Because if they went and acted this way after five seasons and gave me a lackluster series finale, what’s stopping them from doing it again? The trust is broken and unless they go back in time and fix this thing, the damage is permanent, not just to the Duffer Brothers but also to Netflix as well, who has touted Stranger Things as its staple piece for years.
Eleven deserved to live her days surrounded by those that she loved. And if we’re going to hand wave so many things away when it comes to Stranger Things as a whole, why not hand wave everything involving Dr. Kay? Because this isn’t a moment for reality. This is a fantasy role-playing game transformed into a TV show. You make the rules, the Duffer Brothers. And according to what I just watched in the 2-hour series finale, Eleven lost everything but Hopper and Nancy are totally ok from the military after killing a bunch of officers? Make it make sense.
Then there’s Eleven and Hopper themselves.
The show made Eleven and Hopper a unit, a daughter and father duo. And sure, the scene where Eleven was telling Hopper that he needed to trust her and that she wasn’t Sara was beautiful. But Stranger Things left him thinking that his second daughter was dead. And there’s no way, despite the development we’ve seen, that that death wouldn’t devastate Hopper. But we never got to see any of that because there was another time jump that completely hopped and skipped out on the grief like we as a viewer would forget. We wouldn’t. We know that Hopper grieved Eleven and that Eleven grieved him, if she’s still alive.
Truly, the Stranger Things series finale could have been an email.
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Jamie’s Acting Was the Only True Bright Spot
As disappointing as Stranger Things “The Rightside Up” was, Jamie Campbell Bower deserves his flowers for his role as Vecna. His time in Season 5, particularly when in human form has allowed him as a character to express a variety of emotions ranging from fear to anger and desperation. But Bowers’s acting also allowed the viewer to connect with his character on a new level. Vecna’s Henry form was disturbing, overly polite looking, and carried this menacing weight on his back that spoke of an intensity that would rip out your spine if they chose to do so. And it all worked.
Bower’s scenes were intense and had this vulnerability to them that made you feel sad for Henry. Well, kind of sad. Because you feel for Henry when you saw that he was a kid who ended up getting shot, subsequently murdered someone, and then had a piece of the Mind Flayer become part of him. But we all make our choices. And unlike the other superheroed people on this show, Henry stepped into the darkness. (Not just on the show, but in the play, which I watched.) And Bower managed to walk that fine line between empathizing with the villain because of the past while also acknowledging the terror they wield in the now.
Our very own Vecna/Henry Creel being a bright spot for the Stranger Things series finale, hurts the show. Because the strength of a show comes from a collective. And right now, this collective of characters feels stretched thin, cheesy, and with consequences for the things done along the way. Also, I kind of want to see more of Vecna/Henry. Or know more about him because of what I’ve been given on the show. I shouldn’t want that. I should be wanting to see more of Eleven and Hopper and the rest of the gang. But it goes to show you Bower’s acting prowess surpassed the rest of the cast and the disappointing writing from the Duffer Brothers.
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Can We Talk About the Plotholes?
As a long time fan, an even more disappointing part of Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 8 is how it opened my eyes to the glaring potholes along the way. Usually when I like a show I’m critical but more patient when it comes to mistakes made in the episode or discrepancies from previous episodes because surely they’ll fix it, right? But this finale pushed me to a point where I couldn’t just hand wave away the mistakes and questions I had when we got to the final moment of Mike walking up those stairs and closing the basement door.
Instead of celebrating that my favorite (Steve) was still alive I was wondering about the fact that the show promised big emotional moments, and then no one in the main cast died. I was also thinking about how we’ve constantly been shown that Will is part of the hive mind, but nothing happened to him when Vecna and the Mind Flayer died. Also this is the world of the demogorgons, the demodogs, and the demobats. So where were they? What was the point of the play and Joyce and Hopper knowing Henry if they were just going to ignore that? What about all those pregnant women in the base in the Upside Down?
Alsooooo why did Jonathan, Nancy, Robin, and Steve get that roof top scene like they’re all besties when we never even got that in the show of them being a collective friend group? And how did Max end up graduating after missing so much time in school because of her coma?! The questions just keep coming!
At this point in a series, I should be reminiscing about all the good times that I’ve had in Stranger Things. Instead I’m scouring social media trying to see if I’m alone in this feeling of disappointment. Because I know the show is capable of telling a concise, intelligent, and emotionally poignant story. (i.e. The death of Eddie left me reeling because of the heartbreak and lost potential. And I didn’t even like Eddie.) So why didn’t they give that to me in Season 5? Instead I got contradiction after another that somehow felt really rushed but also like they had an hour left of footage to put together and they just slapped together whatever they could and ran with it?
Unfortunately for the Duffer Brothers, fumbling the landing of Stranger Things is going to be a core part of their resume. When people see their names, they’ll know that they play it safe while making big promises. They will also know that their favorite characters won’t die, not everything will be explained, and that there runs a possibility of the center of their story ending up the way she was in the beginning of the series: alone in the world and running from the military as if all the years of supposed development, love, and family were for nothing.
Stranger Things Seasons 1-5 are now available on Netflix.
What did you think of the Stranger Things series finale? Let us know in the comments below!
Read all our reviews for Stranger Things Season 5 below:
- Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 1 Review: “The Crawl”
- Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 2 Review: “The Vanishing of Holly Wheeler”
- Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 3 Review: “The Turnbow Trap”
- Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 4 Review: “Sorcerer”
- Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 5 Review: “Shock Jock”
- Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 6 Review: “Escape From Camazotz”
- Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 7 Review: “The Bridge”
