Friends don’t lie. And I won’t lie, the “Stranger Things” finale was disappointing. “Stranger Things” season five (2025), written and directed by Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, wraps up nearly a decade of filming in an eight-episode season. Season five is the end of the “Stranger Things” series, though the ending seems a bit anticlimactic. Five seasons of buildup leading to an ending that left viewers confused, and wondering where the well-written show we saw before had gone.
This season, the small Indiana town is put on military lockdown. This forces the group to get creative with how they plan to save Hawkins. The military is after Jane, forcing her to hide while preparing to face Vecna again. Recent discoveries lead them to realize they do not know as much as they thought about the upside-down, and that they have new problems to deal with. All the while, Vecna gradually takes more children, but what he is using them for is unclear. Can one final fight end it all? Can they save Hawkins?
I liked the costuming this season for the most part; the show has always done well at making everything time-accurate. I really liked how they dressed everyone in a way that was reminiscent of their outfits from previous seasons. One thing I did not like was how out of character the outfits and hairstyles were in the epilogue. They were just at odds with how those characters were in the rest of the show, and seemed like something the characters would never wear.
As for characters, it was disappointing to see how the writers ignored Mike’s character development. The fans saw him as misunderstood and that he struggled with himself, but in the end, they never gave a real reason for some of the choices he made. The rain fight with Will and the van scene were never resolved, among other scenes, leaving viewers missing what they could have had. Mike, in the earlier seasons, is such a complex and well-written character, and he had none of that same personality in the final season.
One of the actors’ performances that specifically stood out to me was Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays Vecna. He is also known as Henry Creel, Mr. Whatsit and 001 throughout the series. Season five gives Henry an in-depth backstory that we have only seen before in the play “Stranger Things: The First Shadow.” In this final season, he has moments that leave the viewer questioning if he will get a redemption arc, and seeing that he might not have always been the monster that everyone thinks he is. His acting in this season is fitting of the character and makes the show more enjoyable to watch. He portrays a complex villain, not just a completely heartless villain.
Another actor I took notice of was Nell Fisher, who plays Holly Wheeler in the show. Holly’s character is focused on much more this season. Her character is now much more focused than it was in previous seasons, now that she has grown up enough to be involved in saving the town. Her character this season was interesting, showcasing her maturity and helpfulness, even though she’s young. Nell Fisher’s performance is impressive, and I love how she played her character.
It seems the Duffer brothers tossed some long-running character development to the side and did not resolve what they said they would. Viewers are left wondering why they never addressed Will’s painting, among other unfinished stories. Props were changed and reused in ways that do not make sense, which was also noticeable. The ending had enough plot holes and unfinished parts that it had fans theorizing about a secret ninth episode, one that obviously never came.
Overall, my opinion is mixed. I’m happy with some parts of the ending, but there are many other plotlines and stories they left unfinished. So, as much as I liked certain aspects of the finale, it just was not what I hoped it would be.
