- - USA TODAY and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article. Pricing and availability subject to change.'Stranger Things' series finale recap − This is really how it ends?

Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY January 1, 2026 at 4:59 AM

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Spoiler alert! The following contains details from the series finale of "Stranger Things": "The Rightside Up."

After nine years, five seasons and a whole lot of Dungeons & Dragons terminology brought into the popular lexicon, "Stranger Things" is finally over. Was it worth it?

Maybe? In spite of the Godzilla-like monsters, flame throwers, a real death, a maybe fake death and more heart-to-hearts than a middle school sleepover, the two-hour-long series finale of "Stranger" ends with more of a whimper than a bang. It's an episode full of logical fallacies, unearned emotions, frustrating plot holes, and twists meant to be scary that end up being silly. Creators Matt and Ross Duffer threw everything and the kitchen sink at this movie-length finale (that is running in actual movie theaters), and it was all too much, and not enough.

The problem is that "Stranger" possibly can't end with any sort of satisfaction, as it's become far bigger than its humble origins. At one point this was a small little sci-fi show that paid homage to 1980s movies like "ET." Now it's a money-making machine that's more CGI than human, that keeps flashing to a kid wearing an "ET" shirt.

Subtlety, surprise and nuance are gone, replaced with beheaded villains and bad metaphors. But while disappointing and somewhat limp, the finale, at least, wasn't a disaster. Better to be remembered as a small disappointment than a massive failure.

Whatever "Stranger" was, it is finally over and done with. And maybe we can stop pretending Millie Bobby Brown and friends are still teenagers now.

Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, and Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley in Stranger Things: Season 5.Nothing can possibly go wrong with this plan, right?

The episode picks up right where the second part of the season left off on Christmas Day, which the majority of the gang in the Upside Down on a Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) hunt while he tries to end the world. His seance of doom is ... well, creepy. But it appears to be slowly moving Vecna's planet towards the Upside Down and then our very own planet, which just cant be good for anyone.

In the real world the plan is not going super well. The military found Erica (Priah Ferguson) and Mr. Clarke's (Randy Havens) hideout and a van with the Squawk's logo. The radio station just happens to be where Vickie (Amybeth McNulty) and Max (Sadie Sink) are camped out, radioing the team in the Upside Down for nervous updates. They've split up down there: Half of the team starts climbing the radio tower for Steve's (Joe Keery) wackadoo plan, and it's just like Steve and Jonathan did in the first episode of the season. Symmetry is fun, guys!

The other half of the team, which includes Hopper (David Harbour), El (Brown), Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) and, of all people, Murray (Brett Gelman), is bound for Hawkins Lab and the sensory deprivation chamber. El and Hopper both make sweeping promises to each other to focus on killing Vecna over everything else, including destroying Dr. Kay's (Linda Hamilton) lab. There's no way that those promises will come up again, right?

An image from the "Stranger Things" finale.Climb every radio tower

On the climb up the Upside Down radio tower, Will (Noah Schnapp) and Mike (Finn Wolfhard) stop to have a little heart to heart about Will's big coming out, which marks the 10th or so time this season that our characters have magically been able to stop mid-apocalypse to have emotional conversations.

At the Squawk, Vickie is freaking out just at the moment El and Kali pull Max into their telepathic world of Blackness just as the planet, aka the Abyss, starts descending. The three women try to get inside Vecna's mind, and make it back to the 1950s memory while Max tries to figure out the fastest way to actually get to Vecna for all the murdering. Of course Dr. Kay and her goons show up at the Squawk at the exact wrong moment, but Vickie is able to spirit the en-tranced Max behind the secret wall, for now.

The whole thing is not going exactly to plan for anyone, since the radio tower is being crushed by the abyss instead of slicing through it. Everybody's about to be squashed by it while Max is leading El and Kali through a weird memory of an interpretive dance/theatrical performance that looks like it was copped from Showtime's "Yellowjackets." Of course El stops Henry's seance at just the right moment. For a tantalizing second we think the show has killed Steve just like legions of fans have been predicting, but it's his old enemy Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) that saves him in the end. Now the team can start crawling through the exotic matter goop to The Abyss planet, "Mad Max"-style weapons in hand.

In Vecna's mind Max reunites with Holly (Nell Fisher), and Kali uses her illusions to prove to the kids that Mr. Whatsit is actually the bad guy. Vecna thinks he's winning because he's "caught" El. He does a little mind-reading and discovers Kali is in the mix, but Max gets the kids to flee for the cave just in time. Kali almost kills him, but you knew Vecna wasn't going to die just 25 minutes into the episode.

David Harbour as Jim Hopper and Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven in Stranger Things: Season 5.Things fall apart

But apparently 25 minutes into the episode is the exact right time for Steve and Jonathan to have their little emotional moment. How many more can they shoehorn in big talks before the end of the series?

Hopper has a vision both of his dead daughter and Kali telling El to kill herself to stop Dr. Kay's experiments, but of course it's Vecna. The veiny villain tricks Hopper into pulling El out of the sensory deprivation tank, leaving the kids alone in Vecna's mind. Max wakes up with a gasp and gives away her and Vickie's position in the secret basement to Dr. Kay, who finds a hilarious outline of "Operation Beanstalk" with the group's entire plan.

El comes up with a shaky Plan B to kill Vecna, but Hopper decides its his turn for a temper tantrum and threatens not to blow up the Upside Down if El goes through with killing herself. Kali grabs a gun, which doesn't help anything, but Hopper is insistent that El promise not to be a martyr. They can't talk about it more because their old pal Scarface, aka the soldier they tortured (Alex Breaux), has found them and surrounds Hawkins Lab with his fellows.

Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and friends are making the world's slowest march to Vecna's lair, when Will goes all visionquest again, and sneaks a peek inside Vecna's mind. The big baddie is trying his darndest to get inside the cave where the kids are hiding, but he keeps reliving that memory Max and Holly saw in the second batch of episodes where he killed that scientist looking guy as a child. But Vecna makes it through, and chases the kids into the desert. Will decides to try to stop Vecna psychically, with Joyce's (Winona Ryder) help, while the rest of the party moves on.

Scarface and friends attack the lab, and break out the kryptonite that cripples El and Kali. Hopper grabs El and leaves Kali behind to be captured by her torturers again. But then Hopper develops a conscience and rescues the poor kid, but not before Scarface shows up and captures them both. Wise-cracking Murray, however, brings a grenade to the party and blows up the helicopter with the kryptonite satellite, allowing El to reach Hopper and Kali with vengeance on the brain (it's not pretty for Scarface). But it's too late for Kali, and someone no one cares very much about becomes the first character to die in the finale.

Vecna's inner demons

Holly leads the kids into the mineshaft and starts pushing them through the exit from the fantasyland, but Vecna is close on her heels. She finds the firepoker she grabbed earlier in the episodes and tries to take on Vecna single-handedly. She's no match for him of course, but now Vecna's directly inside the mineshaft memory, and he's taken over by it before he can really hurt Holly.

El comes up with a plan to (essentially) jump into the Abyss and confront Vecna in person, but not before assuring to Hopper that she's "not a kid anymore" and asking him to believe in her, all while Murray awkwardly watches. But hey, back to Henry Creel, child murderer in the mineshaft, and the fancy silver briefcase he beat a man to death for. Inside is some kind of glowing stone that merges with young Henry's body, and apparently is a connection to the Mind Flayer (think back to Seasons 2 and 3). The scientist gives one last helpful gasp "it will consume all!" and it turns out the villain of the story isn't actually Vecna at all! It was just a big blob of smoke and evil!

Through their hive mind connection, Will tries to reason with Henry/Vecna, but old blonde and sociopathic contends that he could have resisted the Mind Flayer but he chose not to. He believes the Earth and humanity should be destroyed. And in that moment the big tower thing Henry has been keeping all the kids in on The Abyss collapses into something that looks a lot like the Mind Flayer but solid, and turns out to be just that, but with more spider-monster vibes.

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna in Stranger Things: Season 5.This was the real monster all along?

As far as reveals go, this one almost feels like a cop-out on the part of "Stranger" writers. For two seasons Vecna has been the show's villain, a more visceral, human baddie for our heroes to fight, rather than amorphous entity with no emotional grounding. And then they switched it back, and made the monster comically large.

But I suppose "Stranger" has become such a money-making juggernaut for Netflix, and the wait for the finale has been so drawn-out, that the Duffers thought that they had to literally go big or go home. And now we get El, in her terrible outfit, staring down a gargantuan monster, literally ripping its heart open for her final showdown with Vecna. And we're only halfway through the episode at this point.

In addition to the monster having kind of a funny hair-do, it also apparently can be hurt by itty bitty little bullets from Nancy's machine gun. She lures it away, Vecna and El fight, the rest of the party goes for an attack from the high ground. It's all connected, hive mind style, so every time the teens hurt the monster, Vecna gets a little weaker, and vice versa. Meanwhile Will Byers has his white eyes on, his "I'm not afraid anymore speech" ready and tries to control Vecna so El can kill him.

And it seems like she actually does! Vecna gets speared, the monster goes down, the creepy heart stops beating and everyone's alive! Nancy gets to pull little sis Holly out of her gross cocoon. They save the rest of the kids. Joyce beheads Vecna while all the characters expel their collective trauma from five seasons of violence and misery. Happy endings all around!

So why is there so much time left in the episode?

fifth and final season of the Netflix horror series will return Nov. 26 (with subsequent installments on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve). Take a peek at images from the episodes, including Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers.

" style=padding-bottom:56%>"Stranger Things" is almost here! The fifth and final season of the Netflix horror series will return Nov. 26 (with subsequent installments on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve). Take a peek at images from the episodes, including Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers.

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"Stranger Things" is almost here! The fifth and final season of the Netflix horror series will return Nov. 26 (with subsequent installments on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve). Take a peek at images from the episodes, including Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers.

">"Stranger Things" is almost here! The fifth and final season of the Netflix horror series will return Nov. 26 (with subsequent installments on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve). Take a peek at images from the episodes, including Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers.

" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/RzAeU.LnvUOzyLNzaxPp8g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MjE-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/71a106283a6ab3d378bdf2f2384d4d92 class=caas-img>Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5. The third Wheeler sibling has been too young to be included in earlier seasons.

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Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5. The third Wheeler sibling has been too young to be included in earlier seasons.

">Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5. The third Wheeler sibling has been too young to be included in earlier seasons.

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" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/l_ji5F.AMMoqugGsoqpeaQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MTg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/e8a7e3a335cbc876082f2687bd513d30 class=caas-img data-headline="Sneak peek photos from 'Stranger Things' Season 5, including Max Mayfield's fate" data-caption="

"Terminator" star Linda Hamilton makes her debut as Dr. Kay in "Stranger Things" Season 5.

">"Terminator" star Linda Hamilton makes her debut as Dr. Kay in "Stranger Things" Season 5.

" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/l_ji5F.AMMoqugGsoqpeaQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MTg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/e8a7e3a335cbc876082f2687bd513d30 class=caas-img>Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven and Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Their teen romance will have to endure apocalyptic problems.

" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/qy4Geh.QMahfCvWEtuhLeg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MjE-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/9ed8ae652163a17aa9c4bf3d283d2b8f class=caas-img data-headline="Sneak peek photos from 'Stranger Things' Season 5, including Max Mayfield's fate" data-caption="

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven and Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Their teen romance will have to endure apocalyptic problems.

">Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven and Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Their teen romance will have to endure apocalyptic problems.

" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/qy4Geh.QMahfCvWEtuhLeg--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MjE-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/9ed8ae652163a17aa9c4bf3d283d2b8f class=caas-img>Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson and Joe Keery as Steve Harrington in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Everyone's favorite friends will have their own trials and tribulations.

" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/_TyJnIH_U_Lf9gZiI.uJ.g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MTg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/a055de7def60c3f90f97b78e769ef8cc class=caas-img data-headline="Sneak peek photos from 'Stranger Things' Season 5, including Max Mayfield's fate" data-caption="

Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson and Joe Keery as Steve Harrington in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Everyone's favorite friends will have their own trials and tribulations.

">Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson and Joe Keery as Steve Harrington in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Everyone's favorite friends will have their own trials and tribulations.

" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/_TyJnIH_U_Lf9gZiI.uJ.g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MTg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/a055de7def60c3f90f97b78e769ef8cc class=caas-img>Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair and Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Max ended Season 4 of the series in a coma caused by villain Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).

" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/7Ehuaz_w1.S4RhBhlpWaGw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MTg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/cd442a42b58b3ae7c253851d9fe9793e class=caas-img data-headline="Sneak peek photos from 'Stranger Things' Season 5, including Max Mayfield's fate" data-caption="

Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair and Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Max ended Season 4 of the series in a coma caused by villain Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).

">Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair and Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Max ended Season 4 of the series in a coma caused by villain Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).

" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/7Ehuaz_w1.S4RhBhlpWaGw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MTg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/cd442a42b58b3ae7c253851d9fe9793e class=caas-img>Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Lucas' little sister is a fan favorite.

" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/8na3IIzRuAQIfof5v2K.fQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MjE-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/e14a5ac256d98855e5088dcb81240fbf class=caas-img data-headline="Sneak peek photos from 'Stranger Things' Season 5, including Max Mayfield's fate" data-caption="

Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Lucas' little sister is a fan favorite.

">Priah Ferguson as Erica Sinclair in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Lucas' little sister is a fan favorite.

" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/8na3IIzRuAQIfof5v2K.fQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MjE-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/e14a5ac256d98855e5088dcb81240fbf class=caas-img>Noah Schnapp as Will Byers and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Will's kidnapping by Vecna into the Upside Down in Season 1 started the whole series of unfortunate events of the show.

" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Mwhvpt.yUEU5Fv7aZhT7jw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MjE-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/e6b0ba459d2bce31adf213a7496d3343 class=caas-img data-headline="Sneak peek photos from 'Stranger Things' Season 5, including Max Mayfield's fate" data-caption="

Noah Schnapp as Will Byers and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Will's kidnapping by Vecna into the Upside Down in Season 1 started the whole series of unfortunate events of the show.

">Noah Schnapp as Will Byers and Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna in "Stranger Things" Season 5. Will's kidnapping by Vecna into the Upside Down in Season 1 started the whole series of unfortunate events of the show.

" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Mwhvpt.yUEU5Fv7aZhT7jw--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MjE-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/e6b0ba459d2bce31adf213a7496d3343 class=caas-img>The gang's all here: Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, and Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair in "Stranger Things" Season 5.

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The gang's all here: Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, and Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair in "Stranger Things" Season 5.

">The gang's all here: Joe Keery as Steve Harrington, Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler, Charlie Heaton as Jonathan Byers, Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley, Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler, Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers, Noah Schnapp as Will Byers, Gaten Matarazzo as Dustin Henderson, and Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair in "Stranger Things" Season 5.

" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/wwusqG6UtnVdtJ5aAzme2g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MjE-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/3596667b10f87f946eadcf642f3dc2a0 class=caas-img>An image from "Stranger Things" Season 5. Things are looking positively like the end of the world in Hawkins, Indiana.

" data-src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/VlX51cBfSMVITokWKgtS6A--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MTg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/f92d8833a2986f1cbd9f734f35dc1074 class=caas-img data-headline="Sneak peek photos from 'Stranger Things' Season 5, including Max Mayfield's fate" data-caption="

An image from "Stranger Things" Season 5. Things are looking positively like the end of the world in Hawkins, Indiana.

">An image from "Stranger Things" Season 5. Things are looking positively like the end of the world in Hawkins, Indiana.

" src=https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/VlX51cBfSMVITokWKgtS6A--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02MTg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/usa_today_slideshows_242/f92d8833a2986f1cbd9f734f35dc1074 class=caas-img>

1 / 10Sneak peek photos from 'Stranger Things' Season 5, including Max Mayfield's fate

"Stranger Things" is almost here! The fifth and final season of the Netflix horror series will return Nov. 26 (with subsequent installments on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve). Take a peek at images from the episodes, including Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers.

It's not over until it's over.

Everybody's giddy and happy as they start to drive out of the Upside Down, and Murray and Hopper set the musical time bomb to destroy the place for good. But oh no, the second they drive back through the gate the military captures them, as they might have guessed would happen driving back into the, you know, "military access control zone."

The soldiers don't capture El, because she's standing just inside the Upside Down. Mike knows what she's going to do, so El sort of psychically kidnaps him to explain herself and say goodbye and they kiss (in their minds) to the tune of Prince's "Purple Rain." Everyone tries to stop El from sacrificing herself, but she's inside the gate at the moment the bomb goes off, and we all get to watch her get swept away into dust. The soldiers forget that they're supposed to be holding Mike in custody, so he gets to plaintively walk to the place where the gate to the Upside Down used to be, and let out a single tear.

Everybody gets a happy ending

And now, it's 18 months later, and somehow, Robin (Maya Hawke) is back on the radio, Steve is a high school teacher and coach and Mike and friends are all graduating. Max is back on her skateboard, Hop and Joyce have shacked up and everyone seems really happy. Except for Mike, sitting outside the place El died, needing a pep talk from Hop to walk at his high school graduation. (Also, guess the military let them off easy? Sure, why not, there's no reason logic should start working in this show in the final 40 minutes.)

Will makes it to his graduation in the end, to the happy tears of his scarred mother Karen (Cara Buono). Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) even gets to be the valedictorian and give a speech that mentions Dungeons & Dragons, encourages anarchy and emotionally wraps up the themes of the whole series in a nice little bow.

It keeps feeling like some supernatural shoe is about to drop, but instead we keep getting codas for our characters. The big kids, all home from college, get some beers and hang out on the roof of the Squawk, cry a little and plan to hang out all the time even as they grow up and old. Hopper proposes to Joyce (at what we must assume is the famous Enzo's restaurant), and suggests a move to a beachside town. The four original boys, plus Max, spend their graduation night playing D&D instead of going to the popular girl's party. The end of their campaign allows yet more codas and happy endings. Max may call Mike trite, but I'm going to start calling "Stranger" nauseatingly sentimental at this point.

Mike also tells one more story with a happy ending. About how supposedly Kali helped El fake her death, and El escaped somewhere with three waterfalls. It's a theory, maybe a fantasy, but they all "choose" to believe it, and literally put their D&D binders up on a shelf, because this show is not even a little bit subtle anymore.

Then little Holly Wheeler and her 10-year-old friends all swarm into the basement and take over the D&D table in a passing of the torch that basically whacks the audience over our collective heads.

And then the credits roll.

Noah Schnapp as Will Byers and Winona Ryder as Joyce Byers in Stranger Things: Season 5.Was the 'Stranger Things' finale any good in the end?

As far as TV series finales go, we're not in the range of "Game of Thrones" or "How I Met Your Mother," but we're certainly not in the ascendant land of "The Sopranos" or "Breaking Bad." There are a million unanswered questions: What happened to Dr. Kay? How did the weird mind flayer stone end up with that scientist? Why wasn't there a single demogorgon in the finale? What happened to Vickie and Murray? Why was this finale two hours when it clearly could have fit into a tight sixty minute episode? Seriously why did the military let them all go after they straight up attacked American soldiers?

Perhaps there was no good way to end a show as big as "Stranger Things." Because as big and epic as it was on screen, it was somehow bigger in our culture and minds. But there's something a bit lame about ending it in that basement, as if the characters never had lives outside the archetypes the show made for them, cribbed from a role playing game. Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Max were only ever as interesting as their romantic relationship. Dustin was just the smart comic relief. Will was the victim, then he was gay. And Mike was El's boyfriend.

And that's all the Dungeon Master ever wrote for them.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Stranger Things' series finale recap − This is how it ends?

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