On January 1st, 100 million fans from around the globe gathered around their screens, and they ushered in the new year by watching the Stranger Things finale. A majority of them were not pleased, however.
Stranger Things is a sci-fi multidimensional series based in 1980’s Indiana, and it first aired nearly a decade ago. Through new presidents, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the rise of Tik Tok, there was always the promise that there was a new season of Stranger Things being produced for our revolving door of media consumption. For many, the series even became a comfort show and became ingrained in pop culture. When it was announced that season 5 would be its last season, it built a lot of anticipation into what the public wanted to be a perfect final season. Instead, watchers got a “long” and “rushed” story with “bad CGI”.
Many people in our community at BASIS Independent Brooklyn are big Stranger Things fans as well. They also had very similar reactions to viewing this finale. Freshman, Polina S. commented, “It was an interesting episode. I loved it at first, but as I thought about it, I realized the finale had a lot of plot holes.”
As well as interviewing students, I also talked to our resident Intro to Film teacher, Mr. Festo who gave very insightful words, saying, “When the uproar began regarding the plot holes and inconsistencies within the final episodes, I wasn’t left feeling betrayed the way I did after the final season of Game of Thrones, the last television series to face the onslaught of disappointed viewers. Rather, I shrugged these off and enjoyed Stranger Things for what I thought it was: A fun sci-fi story with some heartwarming friendships.”
He added later on that, “When friends or colleagues came to me to complain about how the ending didn’t make any sense or how Dustin should have done this instead of that, I didn’t have much to say besides: “I thought it was fun and looked really cool”, because that was what I was seeking from this show the entire time.”
By returning to what brought us to the show in the first place, we are able to lessen our expectations of this show. At its core, Stranger Things is an awesome series. If we simply take it for what it is instead of what it could’ve been, we will be able to enjoy this finale and other pieces of media at a fuller capacity.
