There was a great worry that Stranger Things would not be able to stick the landing. It wasn’t quite closing out the Skywalker Saga for Star Wars, but it was close. A series that was a decade of cultural juggernaut. This was the thing that put Netflix on the map, the dragon they’ve been chasing ever since to capture that lightning in a bottle that gave them their one true original hit. So, like the rest of you out there, we sat and watched one of the most satisfying endings to a long-running TV series out there. Were there bumps along the road? Sure. But at the end of the day, this series was first and foremost about the characters. It was about the loveable bunch of Hawkins, Indiana residents that band together to stop an evil from taking over our world.

They did it for five seasons, and while this last season had some bumps along the way, and plenty it could have done better, this finale makes up for a lot of those warts. Along the way with this two hour finale, we got plenty of stories wrapped up, and they somehow navigated making it a satisfying end for almost every major character. It even gave us the poignant ending that I’m sure everyone out there wanted deep down. This show has always worn its inspirations on its sleeve, and Stephen King’s books are up at the tippy top of that list. This was a Stephen King ending to his most beloved works. The evil out there was the Mind Flayer and Vecna, yes, but that really was secondary to the evil that is man, itself.

There was no big blowoff with Dr. K or the military, you know why? Because that evil is systemic. It’s always going to be there. But for at least one day, everyone in this party got to be heroes. The weak became strong, the timid came to life to save the day. Because really, through all five seasons of this show, that holds true. Everyone, even the smallest people (literally, Winona Ryder is tiny), can affect the world in a huge way.

That’s what struck me most about this series finale. The big satisfying moment of Vecna being defeated was basically 60% of the way through it. For some out there, that might feel anticlimactic, but we’re not watching this show for Vecna. Yes, seeing El shove his ass onto a spike and Joyce whipping out a battle axe to lop his head off was amazing, but it was the aftermath that really made this series finale special. Seeing all the characters 18 months later, their wounds still apparent (mental and physical), but happy. No one wants to see a bloodbath. Anyone wanting to see almost any of these characters die, was crazy. This was the moment that nearly a decade had been building towards.

So, the Duffer Brothers gave everyone what they wanted. There was still a huge death (or a faked death, depending on if you believe Mike’s D&D campaign or not), but it felt warranted.

So what were the issues with this finale? Sure, Kali felt like she was there as a big surprise and didn’t really end up doing much through it all. Her death also felt somewhat forced. Some of the other characters like Murray, Vickie, and others that were pretty important to the party, didn’t get any closure.

I’ve said previously that I did not envy the Duffer Brothers for having to write the ending to this show. What started off as a small-scale The Goonies-esque romp turned very quickly into an inter-dimensional science fiction odyssey. They did not disappoint.

They also did not disappoint here with the soundtrack; the moments were well-timed and the songs absolutely wonderful. We got two Prince tracks, “Landslide”, and finally an Iron Maiden needle drop for Eddie Munson.

But really, at the end of the show, through it all, this was about some of the most lovable characters in the history of television. These are the types that you miss days, weeks, months, and years later. For some of us, we’ve grown up with these characters. The time period with Stranger Things running on Netflix was a tumultuous time for most people out there, so for this series to give so much storytelling goodness, to provide a cultural juggernaut, this was the perfect ending.

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