Stranger Things finale: A lengthy letdown that fails to capture the series’ magic
The Stranger Things finale, despite its iconic series legacy, disappointed fans with its overly long runtime, cheesy endings, and safe storytelling choices that diverged from the original brilliance. Picture: Netflix
Image: Netflix
Warning: This article contains major spoilers.
There’s no disputing that Stranger Things is an incredible series, which helped establish Netflix as a streaming juggernaut. As memorable as the series was in its run since 2016 though, the final was just about as forgettable.
I’m not even talking about the major plot points though, as it was simply too long.
At 128 minutes long, the final 40 minutes came after Vecna was defeated and the gates to the Upside Down were destroyed. Those final 40 minutes could have easily been made into a montage of a couple of minutes, but instead drew it out with some really cheesy endings and dialogues for what once was an epic tale.
In fact, it reminded me of the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King climax. After that bloody ring was finally destroyed and Sauron and his army were vanquished, we had to sit through all the tying up of loose ends of all the characters.
Stranger Things Finale: Disappointing Ambiguity and Unfulfilled Storytelling
The difference though? This was the third movie in the epic trilogy, and the run time of the final instalment was two hours and 45 minutes. After the ring was destroyed, the final soppy bit went on for 27 minutes. That’s still 13 minutes less than what we witnessed in Stranger Things.
It was a complete anti-climax to the final battle which took place after all the events in the series led up to it over a four-year (almost 10 in real life) period in the story.
I wasn’t even upset that El had sacrificed herself as the Upside Down was sucked into the Abyss. It had perfect symmetry that the main protagonist of the entire series died along with Vecna.
Then in the epilogue, let’s call it that, Mike comes up with a theory that she didn’t really sacrifice herself to ensure the Upside Down remained gone. Instead, El had used the powers of Kali to create the illusion that she had died and was now living a solitary life away from all those she grew to love during the series.
That was a pretty poor attempt to leave the ending open-ended, as we very clearly saw Kali die earlier in the finale. To leave in an ambiguous ending like this was the safe option and not the bold storytelling we saw back in the earlier seasons, like season one when we first thought we saw El die.
The fact that Kali died wasn’t even much of a surprise and didn’t evoke much sympathy for her character. Despite Stranger Things creators Matt and Ross Duffer’s attempts to make us connect with a character that had been absent from the series for three seasons, it felt like a rushed attempt to plug some holes in the plot.
Stranger Things Finale: Safe Choices and Divergence from Its Original Brilliance
No other major character that viewers actually cared about, except El, died. Again, that’s just a safe, mediocre choice in my view.
Then we had bits like Joyce and Hopper getting engaged after a laborious setup in a fancy restaurant, which felt like a million miles away from the mother of Will violently hacking off Vecna’s head with an axe much, much earlier in the finale.
Ultimately, Stranger Things was an incredible series, but the finale was a distinct departure from what made it great.
* The views expressed are not necessarily the views of IOL or Independent Media.
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