Take 50: Stranger Things 5: The Final

Five years have lead to this: the final confrontation for all the marbles. It’s everyone versus Vecna and not everyone is walking away from this one. When the dust settles, the survivors must make way for the next chapter and what it will entail. Whatever the case, nothing will every be the same again. Vague and ominous enough? This one is a bit A-typical so my this review will also be a little different from my usual reviews. It’s the end of an era after all, so attention must be paid.

My history with the Stanger Things phenomenon is a different. Until about two months ago, I was totally indifferent to the show. After being told by everyone how great it was, I watched the first season and I was just ‘whelmed. When I say it was over hyped, I am being generous. I am also a bit of a contrarian when it comes to things that are too popular. Tiger King- never seen it and absolutely no desire to ever watch it. Birdbox? Squid Games. Nope and nope. When I do break down and try what’s hot, I usually don’t share the public sentiment. No, I didn’t like Parasite. Everything Everywhere All At Once, meh. Deep down, I already knew Stanger Things was going to fall into my pattern. I forced my way through season one but I was good. No need to go any further.

Fastforward to November. I now live with a huge fan of the show and I was coerced into watching with the goal of being current when the crazy marketing strategy for the fifth and final season would go into effect. My expectations being as low as possible, I ventured back in a little bit reluctantly, but I was open. To my surprise, this time, it just hit right. I found myself looking forward to my nightly outing into this strange new world. I even had favorites now: Dustin, Karen, Eleven, Steve, Robin, Max, Holly, and my girl Erica (you can’t have America without Erica) … this was officially my $#!+.

But of course, all good things much come to an end. And I get it. Now felt like as good a time as any to wrap things up. But boy, did this finale had to do the impossible: satisfy everyone. Judging from the comments, it missed the mark for a lot. But being the contrarian that I am, I truly dug it Every character had at least one cool moment. The sheer 80s-ness of the final battle let me be a kid again. Being the end, no one was safe and I enjoyed the fun anxiety of genuinely worrying about whether or not these characters that I have grown to love in a short time would survive and have their happy endings…

And speaking of endings. Not since Lord of the Rings was there such a dragged out conclusion. Here though, I wouldn’t have wanted any thing less. I appreciated the time and care devoted to properly sending these characters off. This is really it! It felt final so I feel as though we needed every second of this. Supremely satisfying. I also love the fact that part of it was intentionally left to our interpretation. As a person who likes a happy ending, I know how I took it and my take is definitely not the same as others, but the fact that they are equally valid is spectacular.

As long as that ending was (and I tell you, it’s loooooong), it still left a thing or two unclear. And my Erica could have used more screen time, but I found this finale to be most satisfying. It was pretty “G*d dang swell” indeed.

My score 9.8

Any strange takes of your own? Leave them in the comments. And until next time…