After 42 lengthy episodes and almost a ten year run time, Stranger Things finally came to an end on December 31, 2025. With a two hour long final episode including a 45 minute epilogue, fans were devastated to see the show come to an end. There have been a plethora of mixed opinions online about the show’s ending, and a number of conspiracies as well. Personally, I enjoyed the ending and the final season overall, but let’s dig deeper into the final season of Stranger Things.
Volume One
The season opens with a flashback of Will in the Upside Down in season one. I think that opening the season with this was an amazing way to open the final season and draws viewers in immediately. This also sets up the rest of the season, as throughout it we learn more about Vecna, the Mind Flayer, and the Upside Down as a whole. At the end of Volume One, Vecna makes his first appearance of the season, and Will discovers he is able to use Vecna’s powers as his own. The scene of Will discovering his powers is without a doubt my favorite scene of the season. I was genuinely jumping for joy in my bedroom at 11 P.M. Kali being brought back was nothing special to me. I’m glad that she had some other use in the series besides that one episode, but I don’t really care for her character. This “plot twist” was also really expected, at least in my eyes.
Volume Two
Volume Two picks up right at Will’s power scene, and it follows their journey in deciding a plan to kill Vecna. In episode six, Max escapes Henry’s mind, finally ending her coma and joining the others in Hawkins. The scene of her and Lucas reuniting actually had me bawling my eyes out. I just love them. Top tier scene of the entire series. In episode seven, Dustin discovers that the Upside Down is actually a wormhole, or bridge, to another dimension that he calls The Abyss. This discovery was one of the best plot twists of the season, and was genuinely very unexpected. I wish they had introduced it earlier in the season though, so that there was more time to actually unpack this other dimension.
Nancy and Jonathan’s break up had me jumping for joy I can’t lie. I was really glad they didn’t have Nancy end up with Steve or Jonathan, because her character is so much more complex than a love triangle. Also in episode seven, Will sits down with the others and comes out as gay to them. This scene also had me bawling my eyes out, because I just love Will Byers. Robin and his bond over this was a really good friendship addition to this season as well.
Finale
Now, let’s unpack the finale. Starting off strong, when everyone was in the Upside Down on top of the WSQK tower, and Steve fell, I have never been more ready to turn off my TV. Thankfully he survived, or else I never would have recovered. Their adventure to The Abyss was interesting to watch, as well as Jonathan and Steve’s chat on the way there. The scene of Vecna’s lair turning out to be the real Mind Flayer was so cinematic and I was really happy with that twist as well. I do think that their battle with the Mind Flayer could have been a little more lengthy, considering they fought the mini version in the mall for longer.
It makes sense ultimately, since Vecna had to be alive for the Mind Flayer to be alive, and El and Will working together were able to defeat him relatively quickly, especially since Will was in his mind. No main characters died during the battle, which was relieving. Joyce being the one to actually kill Vecna was so fitting, and the flashbacks of all the things he put the characters through was really emotional and cinematic as well. Everything is great after this, but unfortunately this is very short-lived.
As they ride back into Hawkins, the military is waiting for them on the other side. They capture everyone, except one person: El. What. A. Nightmare. All the flashbacks of her and Mike to Purple Rain, you guessed it, had me bawling my eyes out! Everyone begging her not to sacrifice herself was so sad also, but I think ultimately it was a good ending for El. I can’t imagine any version of the show where El lives and is just hanging out with everybody at the end.
Now, we cut to the epilogue. As I was still crying from El, now I have to see them all graduate. Thanks, Duffer Brothers. Hopper’s talk with Mike about grief and moving on was so beautiful and I loved that they have a good relationship finally. I loved Dustin’s tribute to Eddie during his speech, and seeing the older group reunite after so long. Steve’s baseball team. I just love him and I have never been more glad that a character lived in my whole life.
The last scene was so full circle, as it both started and ended with the group playing DND. Mike’s speech about how he believes El lived was so sad but also so beautiful. He loved her so much that he refused to believe that she didn’t get the happy ending she deserved. I, personally, can’t decide if I believe Mike’s theory or not, but regardless I think that is so beautiful.
The Fan Theory
Overall, I would say I was happy with the ending, but some fans were not. Like, at all. So much so, that fans all across the internet developed a theory. This theory states that the final episode titled, The Rightside Up, was not actually the last episode of the show. Fans believed that the eighth episode was showing Mike stuck in Vecna’s trance, which began when the screen went black for seven seconds after Steve fell off the tower. This theory is called Conformity Gate.
The evidence fans decided pointed towards Conformity Gate ranged from tiny mistakes, like Mike’s basement doorknob switching from the left to the right side, and big gaping plotholes, such as Vickie being completely gone in the epilogue. Fans thought that Vickie’s disappearance could be explained by Vecna not knowing who she was, so she was left out in Mike’s fantasy land. One of the biggest pieces of evidence towards this was the color of the dial in the WSQK tower. It changes from grey in the first episode to red in the last. This was alarming to fans because when Max and Holly were stuck in Henry’s mind, it was the colors of things and all these simple alterations to memories that allowed them to escape; one of them was the color of the merry-go round at Holly’s school, which was yellow, but in Henry’s mind it was blue. The color of the dial changing from grey to red reminded fans of the merry-go-round and was one of the most discussed pieces of “evidence” for this theory.
This secret ninth episode was believed by fans to come out the evening of January 7th. As it is now January 9, there is no “secret” finale, what you watched is what you got, sorry folks.
Though I think some more crazy fan theories about the show can be expected to fabricate out of the internet over the next few months, I am here now to say that I think the eight episodes we got are all we are getting. I really enjoyed the final season of Stranger Things, and I think that a lot of the disappointment from fans is due to both their extremely high expectations for the final season, and their hesitation for the show to actually end. Stranger Things coming to an end is very sad, but I am unsure if there was any better ending the show could have had.
