Stranger Things Season 5 Finale Review

Stranger Things, the famous show across the United States, has finished its final season on New Year’s Eve of 2025. It was its fifth and final season which has rendered many of the fans disappointed but satisfied in the very least. The show ran from July 16th, 2016, to December 31st 2025, having a total of 42 episodes. Their latest and final episode was the finale, having a runtime of 2 hours and 8 minutes. Titled “The Rightside Up” it ties everything together from seasons 1 to 5.

The finale of the show carries out the main plot with (spoilers ahead) Vecna, the main antagonist finally being defeated, not without insight on his backstory though. The group’s plan consists of posting at the top of a radio tower, waiting for the sky of the upside down to get closer to the ground… on the upside down, it may sound confusing but if you know, you know. As the team crosses onto what’s called “The Abyss” they make their way to Vecna’s territory and plan to defeat him. Eleven is in where everything started with her sister and her father figure Hopper, after a close encounter with the military forces, her sister is shot and is thought to die, while Hopper, Murray, and Eleven devise a plan, the action is started when his base turns into a living version of the “Mind Flayer,” appearing as a huge spider. Eleven jumps rocks to get into the abyss and faces off against the Mind Flayer. She gets inside with Vecna and the kids and faces off with him one-on-one. While the group plans to ambush it and use Nancy as bait to successfully do it, they leave the mindflayer to die as well as Joyce, fulfilling the final blow. With them all escaping and the plan to explode the ball of energy holding the upside-down realm and real world together successfully working, they ultimately ended up leaving eleven in the upside-down as a sacrifice. As we flash forward 18 months, it describes everyone’s current life, and when showing the group playing D&D, they show Mike’s theory of what actually happened, believing Eleven is alive somewhere.

But with the finale, not everyone was satisfied. A lot of people believed it was fake, thinking there was a “real” ending named the “Conformity Gate” thought to be released on the 7th of January was to give an extra final episode despite the original ending. Personally, I’ve had a good view of it, thinking it’s a good ending and it fits for the show to go as it does. I don’t think it’s more or less mediocre, but I do admit the visuals were good as well as the acting, so overall, I’m giving it a rating of 9.5/10, not getting a perfect score, being I was personally still hoping for closure on some topics. On the other hand, many fans were mad and upset with the plot holes and the many questions unanswered, such as:

How did eleven escape the military?

What happened to the contamination in the upside-down?

What happened to the Hivemind?

Where are the bats?

Why didn’t Hopper or Joyce know Henry?

And many more, with the ending said to be left to the viewer’s own interpretation by the Duffer Brothers.

After asking some people who saw the finale, they said:

(Kelsey R) “I thought it was alright, but I kinda just zoned out because it was a little hard to follow, there were just bits and pieces I wasn’t picking up. They were just dropping new lore every second, so I didn’t appreciate that.”

(Brooklyn B) “Yes, but I have some mixed feelings.”

(Haylie H) “No, I’m angry, it’s unfinished.”

(Allison K) “I liked the way it ended because of the way it connected by making me feel nostalgic as well as interested in the new.”

(Aayan H) “I feel like the ending was an off-brand ending of Attack on Titan.”

(Devin B) “I think it was super good, and I think the ending was super good, and people online are complaining too much.”

(Ms. Roark) “So, I believe that we were robbed of so many things for the Stranger Things finale. First of all, there were so many questions that were not answered. Okay?
For one, where were the demi-gorgons and the demi-dogs when they got there? I mean, from seasons one through five, they were such a big issue, but on the big day, when we’re supposed to fight Vecna, they’re nowhere to be found, which doesn’t make sense to me. 
Second thing, if Will is connected to the mind flare and to Vecna, why was he alive at the end of the show? It was like, all of a sudden, they weren’t connected anymore? Third, all of a sudden, the government people just don’t care about all this destruction that has happened. 
They don’t care that Hopper killed their men. In fact, Hopper got promoted back to the police force. And so
my question is, why did we not get any answers? And this is just me, you know, scratching the surface. I feel like they wanted to go easy on us as viewers. 
They didn’t want anything tragic to happen. Um, which I think we could have handled as viewers. I think that as the show has had more money, the Duffer Brothers got lazier with their writing. 
Basically a sellout, okay? The more money and resources they had, the less they cared about it. That’s just my personal opinion. 
Also, why was Henry in the cave as a small child?”

Clearly, some opinions sway from a likable side to a dislike, but as it is over now you’re more than welcome to share your opinions personally.