Stranger Things Season 5 Finale Review: Earned Ending or Missed Chance?
Huge vibes, massive buildup, surprisingly safe payoff. Did Stranger Things lose its nerve at the finish line?
Stranger Things Season 5 Finale Quick Take: Instead of breaking our hearts, the show wrapped things up with comfort food storytelling, and the lack of real consequences makes the victory feel light.
Stranger Things Season 5 Finale: A Strangely Hollow Exit
Five seasons. Years of hype. Infinite memes. And finally, the end.
Of course expectations were high. We watched these kids grow up while wrestling monsters, trauma, and portals that kept ripping the world open. They earned an ending that felt raw and dangerous.
But the finale played different. Maybe the time gap didn’t help. Maybe seeing everyone fully grown changed the energy. Or maybe it was simply the way the story wrapped itself up so fast. Instead of fireworks, we got a polite sparkle and a checklist.
Yes, the heroes won. Yes, the villains went down. But it all felt strangely easy for a show that once lived on fear, chaos, and heartbreak.
Nancy goes full Sarah Connor with a shotgun to a wormhole
On paper, the buildup should have broken us. Losses. Sweat. Panic. Tears.
Instead we drifted into a kumbaya graduation ceremony.
Vecna and the Mind Flayer folded faster than expected. No brutal prices. No permanent scars. No moment where you genuinely thought the show was about to rip someone out of your arms. Even Kali’s return felt more like a brief cameo than a real choice, as if she appeared only so she could disappear again before anyone could reconnect.
And Eleven. Once again, she becomes the sacrifice. Except this time it feels solved like a DnD puzzle instead of something tragic or soul-crushing. Smart idea. Not much emotional punch.
The finale felt scared of letting anything truly hurt. Older seasons were not afraid of scars. Here, danger looked staged while long speeches tried to sell the emotion. Some of it worked. A lot of it felt padded and hollow.
Characters Who Felt Stuck Instead of Evolving
Some arcs still shined. Max felt grounded and painfully human. Hopper stayed Hopper, steady and heartfelt.
But elsewhere, the wheel kept spinning.
Eleven grows, but still ended up trapped in the same sacrifice narrative. Mike mostly reacted around her rather than owning his own journey. Nancy, Robin, Jonathan, and Steve supported the mission well, yet often slipped into long conversations that stalled momentum instead of deepening character.
And the Mind Flayer reveal should have been explosive. Instead, it was rushed past like a door cracked open then quickly shut. The potential to explore backstory, mystery, and mythology was sacrificed for extended goodbye scenes that could have been wrapped up in minutes.
The Unwanted Long Goodbye: Why Did You Do This To Us?
Structurally, the finale felt weak.
The battle sequences should have been terrifying. Instead, the planning worked too perfectly. The group faced little resistance for such massive enemies. Strangely, Mike’s parents took worse hits from demogorgons in the earlier episodes than the heroes did from the ultimate villains here.
Then came the extended epilogue, an entire hour that felt more like emotional filler than true closure. Graduations, proposals, reflection scenes. None of it felt unearned exactly, but it lacked energy. It was as though the story had already ended and the show refused to leave the stage.
By the time we reached the ambiguous hints about Eleven, it felt less thoughtful than sequel bait.
Final thoughts: quoting the finale, “Suck my fat one”
That line fits the mood, because honestly, the finale almost feels like it said that to viewers who wanted sharper storytelling.
What frustrated me most was the waste of potential. There were incredible building blocks. Vecna could have survived round one. The Mind Flayer could have escaped or wrecked someone we loved. We could have gotten a brutal backstory reveal. Anything that added real cost.
Instead, we got safety. Victory. Sentiment. A soft landing wrapped in a long farewell.
I wanted fear. I wanted consequences. I wanted at least one goodbye that punched the air out of the room. What we got felt closer to a reunion special than the finale of a cult series.
If you enjoy darker storytelling that leans into consequences, you might like my review of Pluribus, a story that plays like an existential crisis pushing the human mind to the brink of collapse. Or for something that turns creeping dread into a slow burn, my Bugonia review might be up your alley.
But that is just my take.
Did it work for you? Or did it feel like Stranger Things played it safe when it mattered most?
Tell me in the comments, and while you are at it, drop your favorite moment from the finale.
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