Welcome back to our spoiler-filled thoughts on Stranger Things 5, looking today at the final episode of the season, and the series as a whole. After nine-and-a-half years, the show is over, and to be upfront, it ended on a beautiful note, albeit with an ambiguous note or two that might frustrate more cynical viewers.
Written and directed by the Duffer brothers
A brief(ish) review
At 125 mins, “The Rightside Up” is the second-longest episode of the series (after season four’s 142 min. finale “The Piggyback”), and is effectively two or three chapters strapped to each other. The first part, an action-packed final battle with Vecna and a nosy military, is full of nailbiting, back-to-back set pieces where you’re continuously left on the edge of your seat over who’ll live or die (especially in Steve, Nancy, and Derek’s cases.)
Vecna is finally forced to confront his suppressed memory of how he gained his abilities, but refreshingly, refuses to repent and turn on the Mind Flayer: he’s decided he isn’t Darth Vader, but Sauron, following his mentor Morgoth down the same ruinous path to oblivion. It culminates in a cathartic death scene where the mortally wounded maniac is put out of his misery by Joyce (who lands the honor of dropping the show’s only f-bomb), avenging everyone our heroes have lost because of him.
Amazingly, only Kali dies (or so it seems, more on that later), and that means you can hear the other shoe dropping once everyone returns to Hawkins, where Eleven seemingly sacrifices herself when the Upside Down is blown up, preventing Dr. Kay from obtaining her blood. We move forward 18 months after this heartbreaking sequence, to 1989, when Mike, Lucas, Max, Will and Dustin are all graduating high school.
Dustin honors one of Eddie’s last wishes by making a total fiasco of his valedictorian speech. Mike only attends after Hopper talks to him about his experiences with bereavement, which will hopefully help some people in the real world. The class of ’86 reunites at the WSQK station, and vow to meet up every month. Hopper reveals to Joyce he’s got a job offer in Montauk, Long Island, and they get engaged. The class of ’89 has one more game of D&D, where Mike cryptically reveals his theory about Eleven being alive, before leaving the basement for Holly and her friends to start their own campaign there.
It’s a lovely extended epilogue, very much in the spirit of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, where you realize how much you could go on watching these characters forever, even without the urgency of the plot. Like Lord of the Rings, very few characters ultimately died, but the world has changed, and a major character can quite literally never go home again. In many ways, Stranger Things has cemented itself as the anti-Game of Thrones: it is not a deconstruction of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s masterpiece, but the ultimate reconstruction of it and its hopeful themes.
Believing is seeing
While the Duffer brothers have said it’s meant to be up to you if you believe Mike’s theory is correct, it rings true. After all, this is a visual story, so why would we see Eleven in Iceland if that wasn’t the case? We’re shown Max and Lucas will grow so close they’ll eventually settle down, or that Will will date a cute boy in the big city, and we have no reason to doubt those will happen, so why should we be skeptical about Kali’s final act being to stage El’s own?
In his 1995 book The Films of Steven Spielberg, Douglas Brode argued a major theme in the director’s work was how adults need to see things to believe in them, but the opposite was true for children. Even though Mike is 18, he still has that childlike optimism that’ll not only power him through his career as a writer, but as an adult in an increasingly darker world.
So for anyone frustrated with how the finale appears to want it both ways, it seems to be telling us, on its own terms, that if you take away anything from this nostalgic story, it is to remember the faith and hope you had as a child, and to carry it with you as you continue to face life’s challenges. It is, as Hopper would say, what those you’ve lost would want for you.
Musical notes
Speaking of those we’ve lost, and the final mystery, David Bowie‘s “Heroes” closes out the series over the end credits, further suggesting Eleven is alive, as Peter Gabriel‘s cover was used during Will’s fake death in the first season, and when El mourned Hopper in the third. Whether it was intentional or not (the Duffers say Joe Keery pushed for its use), the decision to play the original version is a lovely way to mark ten years since the singer’s death on January 10, 2016, several months before Stranger Things premiered that year.
Likewise, the use of Prince‘s “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain” (respectively the first and final track of Purple Rain‘s second side) for the countdown to the Upside Down’s destruction, and Eleven’s disappearance, comes across as a way of remembering his passing in 2016. The presence of “Purple Rain” admittedly feels intrusive, but Mike and El’s first dance song, “Every Breath You Take,” would’ve (despite its creepy lyrics) come across as too upbeat for the occasion. In any case, the fact the show got the rights to his music, as well as Fleetwood Mac, the Pixies, and more, is a real testament to just how loveable it was.
Loose ends
Even with the extended runtime, there’s still a lot left to ponder besides Eleven’s fate. The backstory of the scientist responsible for Henry’s powers is left unexplained, and it’s such an obvious loose end for the planned live-action spin-off that the Duffers have already admitted it will factor into it. Everyone being let go by the military is also conveniently bypassed by the final time jump, with us left to assume Kay couldn’t prove they did anything, or was simply too despondent to prosecute them after the Upside Down vanished.
Sam Owens, whose absence was the most conspicuous and glaring this season, was presumably similarly released as a result; it also appears Suzie simply broke up with Dustin after season four. Vickie was noticeably absent from the epilogue, Robin’s reference to “overbearing significant others” aside, but she does have a busy job. Yes, Stranger Things is not going away anytime soon, between the TV spin-offs, books, and games, so these can all be explored in them, but it is disappointing that such a largely self-contained show still falls short here and there.
Goodbye
When Stranger Things premiered, I was reeling from my grandmother’s death, and not really sure of what I wanted to do with my life. Since that time, I’ve gone on to write and edit hundreds of articles, turned 30, and lost my father and grandfather. I can only imagine how much life has changed for its lead cast and target audience, and how momentous its ending feels. It’s great the Duffers got to tell and finish their story on their own terms, despite all the disruptions they faced, and that they delivered a satisfying ending. I look forward to seeing what they have planned next, including the spin-offs, but like Spielberg, hopefully their work will be in an ever greater variety of genres.
And maybe we’ll see Mike and Eleven, together again, in 20 or 30 years. Goodbyes aren’t always for forever, y’know?
