I love Stranger Things, but I can't help feeling short-changed by season 5's lackluster finale and it's super short final battle

After 10 years, five seasons, and countless episodes, Stranger Things has come to an end. However, now I have had almost one week to sit with it – and, despite my prior excitement for the 2-hour-plus finale – I cannot help but feel let down and overall disappointed by how the series creators have decided to end the show. Instead of getting closure, I and other fans have been left confused, with my most burning questions unanswered.

Like many others, I started watching the show as soon as it hit Netflix in 2016 when I was just 16 years old, and I've kept up since. There was nothing like Stranger Things around when season 1 aired. The '80s setting made me feel nostalgic for a time I had never even lived in, and the themes of friendship and outcasts coming together in order to defeat evil reminded me of classics like Goonies and The Lost Boys. Layering fantastical elements on top of this, pulled straight from the world of Dungeons & Dragons, was just pure genius.

There was no doubt that series creators Matt and Ross Duffer had struck gold. The following seasons were equally as addictive. Sure, there were a few bumps in the road, like season 2's strange 'Lost Sister' storyline, but the team always managed to reel it back in, leading to an action-packed fourth season, perhaps the show's best installment. However, Stranger Things season 5 is where it all goes wrong for me, finishing on a lackluster final episode that left a bitter taste in my mouth.

Where did it all go wrong?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on the whole season. Despite being the weakest, the fifth installment does have its high points, including the mid-season finale, where we saw Will finally face up to Vecna and gain powers. To me, this completely flipped the script. It has fans questioning whether Will would be the one to defeat Vecna, or if he would turn evil just as Henry Creel did when he was possessed by the Mind Flayer years ago. Volume 1 also influenced some major fan theories, such as Vecna building some kind of time machine using the twelve children, or that Ted Wheeler could be responsible for the Upside Down.

Alas, when volume 2 rolled around, I was disheartened over how slowly the season was progressing. I wondered just how the show would manage to stuff so many answers, a final battle, and character conclusions into just a two-hour finale. Then, on New Year's Eve 2025 came the final episode, and, to my shock and horror, the final battle that I had been waiting almost a decade for came in under 20 minutes. Eleven and Will managed to push and impale Vecna, and Joyce Byers then cut his head off with an ax. "Is that it?" I thought, as the moment I had been anticipating was over in a flash. None of the kids were injured, with Eleven, Joyce, and co. managing to leave the Abyss without a scratch (and though Eleven seems to sacrifice herself in the finale, she might still be alive).

It's not that I wanted any of the characters to die, but if there are no stakes and the gang is able to win every time against a big bad who has been presented as unbeatable this whole time, then what is the point? The final showdown should have been more than half the episode, presenting the battle from different points of view, with Eleven reaching into Vecna's mind, spilling his memories, and revealing some more lore. The Mind Flayer itself was also very easy to defeat, more so than he was at Starcourt Mall in his lesser form. Plus, where were the Demogorgons and the Demodogs? Don't you think that creatures would show up in their native habitat when their master is under threat?

So many unanswered questions

Aside from the final battle, the finale fails to answer a whole bunch of questions from throughout the show, including Vecna's master plan. Why did he need exactly 12 children? And why wasn't he better prepared for the group's attack when he seemingly has a connection to Will? It feels as though what Vecna and the Mind Flayer had planned for Will was ultimately forgotten about, especially in the final battle. If Will was able to feel everything Vecna felt, why is he unscathed when Vecna dies?

The other issues I have can be put down to weak writing and forgetfulness, such as Will and Vecna randomly having the same birthday, Hopper and Joyce not addressing on-screen the fact that they know Henry Creel and went to high school with him, and Will reminiscing about him and his friends having milkshakes at Melvads, which is the name of the hardware store in Hawkins. Plus, it puzzles me how Hopper and Nancy were able to continue on with their lives after the Upside Down was destroyed, when they actively fought and shot multiple soldiers. Wouldn't the military still be after them?

Conspiracies galore

Almost immediately after the finale aired, the Duffer brothers took part in a string of post-mortem interviews with outlets such as Entertainment Weekly and the Happy, Sad, Confused podcast. The duo seemed to suggest that the reason the finale left many questions unanswered was that those issues were wrapped up off-screen, and the audience can make up their own minds on certain plot points, such as what happened between Vickie and Robin.

However, leaving the ending (especially when it comes to Eleven's fate) "ambiguous," as Ross Duffer puts it, has caused a new Stranger Things conspiracy theory to take over the internet known as 'Conformity Gate.' Some viewers believe the season 5 finale was fake and that a new episode, aka the real finale, will air on January 7, 2026. I believe that if the Duffers were to rectify potential plot holes on screen rather than in interviews, fans may have the answers they desire.

Nevertheless, I don't want to keep pulling apart a series I have invested so much time and energy in. Putting aside my high expectations, I must admit that despite not quite sticking the landing, Stranger Things season 5 was still an enjoyable adventure, and better than a lot of TV shows streaming at the moment. Maybe the saving grace of the finale was seeing Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin back together right at the end of the episode, in the exact same spot as when we first met them back in season 1 episode 1. Before Vecna, the Mind Flayer, or even Upside Down, the bond between my favorite little outcasts is what made me fall in love with the show in the first place.

With this in mind, maybe the whole point of the finale wasn't about the big battle or twisty theories, but was about saying goodbye to the characters we have grown to love and honoring their journey. So instead of feeding into conspiracies or obsessing over how I wanted the finale to turn out, I'm choosing to remember Stranger Things for the wild, funny, scary, chaotic, and emotional journey it has taken me on over the past almost 10 years.

The complete Stranger Things series is available to watch on Netflix now. For more, check out our guide to the best Netflix shows, and keep up with new TV shows.