Okay some more detailed thoughts now I've been able to sit with it for a bit, obviously SPOILERS for the finale (and full season 5) x

I think they got the tone for the finale just right. It celebrated the characters we've enjoyed for so many years, and that, for me, is always more valuable than the shock factor. I never really bought into the necessity to kill off the series regulars and I agree with the Duffer Brothers that this never really felt like that kind of show, so I'm glad that even to the end, they didn't stray too far from that ideology - for me, it's a nicer thought to imagine El's out there somewhere, but equally, her sacrifice felt fitting and not without purpose. I really loved the epilogue as a whole, too. The tears in both the rooftop scene with Steve and co, and in Mike's basement in the final scene, felt real from the actors.

The final fight against Vecna was thrilling and I didn't look at my phone or check how long was left at all through the whole 2 hours, which is quite something for me! I liked that everyone got to play a part, including Joyce, who I was really hoping would get to land the final blow on Vecna when she saw him impaled. Feels really fitting that she finished him off for good considering the show began with Joyce at the forefront.

Jamie Campbell Bower deserves awards aplenty for the range as Vecna / Henry / Mr Whatsit this season, he was particularly terrifying in the finale - and dare I say, more terrifying when he's not in full Vecna getup. Noah Schnapp and Sadie Sink are my other MVPs of this season, both delivered every step of the way.

Season 5 as a whole was solid, with a little dip in the middle, but overall the quality was high. I'm hoping to rewatch the whole thing soon, some of it I've only seen once and not in a long time, so I'm keen to see how the different details slot together that may have gone over my head.

I can't stop thinking about both the rooftop scene at the end and the basement scene. The tears everybody cried - especially from Maya and Sadie - were absolutely genuine and not acting tears. The heartbreak on Finn's face as he was putting his D&D book away, and then when he looked back on the stairs really hit me. I found it so emotional to watch. It was so beautifully scored too.

Edited January 1Jan 1 by Jαsє

"You f***ed with the wrong family" still has me shook

Feel like I've had enough time to take it all in, and phew what a season that was.

Volume 1 was incredible and set the bar very high for everything they had to accomplish and give closure to with the remaining episodes, and, personally, I think they succeeded on all fronts. Sorcerer was such an epic episode, leaving us on that cliffhanger with Will truly was a moment. It only really felt like there was a bit of a hiccup with episodes 5 and 6 not really having a great deal to say besides slowly moving things along and putting all the pieces into place for us to be where we needed to be by the end of episode 7 going into the finale.

All of the character moments with Will were beautiful as well as the action (despite what Twitter says - and even outside of that it's clear that people were actively looking for reasons to try and get a hit tweet by slating the show; so many posts raging about things that happened or questioning things that supposedly didn't make sense... that would if you actually watched or paid attention to the show). Noah (alongside JCB - and Delightful Derek lol x) has really been the star of this season. The 'RUNNNN' moment from the trailer was one of the coolest scenes and had me gagged. His coming out scene was heartfelt and you can tell just how much it meant to Noah, even if it felt like a few characters really didn't need to (or deserved to) be there in that moment perhaps.

As for the finale, I genuinely don't think I've been so emotional watching something in a long time, or had shivers at so many different points through an episode of a TV show. My heart almost stopped when they had us thinking Steve was going to fall from the tower. The Byler clown mask was on for a second in the conversation between him and Will about his sexuality. The 'we are one' moment of revelation when the Mind Flayer woke in the Abyss was f***ing stunning. Everything was just so cinematic. The one scene that hit so f***ing hard though was Joyce butchering Vecna; the flashbacks of all of the pain and torment they'd been put through and her just ending him once and for all, honestly stunning. Icon behaviour. I like that El's ending was ambiguous in a way that as viewers we can make our own minds up on what happened and whether what Mike chooses to believe is what we choose to believe. And in an episode where they proved that your big, grand finale doesn't need to have your cast all being slaughtered and killed off to be worthwhile and stick the landing, having that glimmer of hope at the end doesn't negate just how impactful her sacrifice felt earlier in the episode.

Overall, amazing stuff and I'm glad they spent a good amount of time giving everybody their moment and an optimistic ending after the journey we've been on all these years. Couldn't have ended any other way really.

My only gripe is after RUTH was feature in practically every episode this season, the streak was over 🤣🤣🤣

Otherwise great ending practically perfect in every way

I think it's a pretty big deal for them to get two Prince songs featured

That just felt incredibly cathartic when Vecna was being decapitated. And that it was Joyce (Winona Ryder) being the one swinging her axe was the perfect choice. She was the one that never gave up on Will from the start in season 1 when Will was taken, Joyce was the protector. And all those flashbacks of all the traumas that each character had to deal with as Vecna becomes beheaded, iconic!

At one point I actually thought Will was going to persuade Vecna/Henry to fight with them against the Mind Flayer, Jamie Campbell Bower did such a great job in portraying this evil character, and showing that sometimes people are just too evil and there is no saving them from themselves.

Also Nancy giving badass Sigourney Weaver vibes from Aliens, that was pretty cool too.

Noah Schnapp (Will) is my favourite actor on this show and he did an incredible job as always this season. People say Eleven is the heart of the show Stranger Things, but actually I disagree, it is Will.

Didn't care for the epilogue though, was just waiting for that part to end, lol.

OK, finished! Spoilers to follow obvs x I think I felt similarly about the finale that I did for most of the season in all honesty, in that I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it, and that was mainly decided in S4, when the start of the season took a really dark, more horror-linked turn which I thought would emphasise a change in direction, but the last episode definitely confirmed that wasn't the case, and so I think S5 played out as well as it could given it was solely going for the 80s Action/Sci-Fi blockbuster route. I was one that complained about the characters not dying (and they still had a ridiculous amount of plot armour in this), but I do realise now that it wouldn't fit the tone here and so the route they went down felt OK. That's all fine honestly, it's just not quite what I loved the show for. I think it just lacked a wow moment and instead just settled for solid, there just wasn't really much else they could've shocked us with - yeah, Will's secret power and El having to stay behind wereI supposed meant to be big, but they didn't feel like game changers or surprises.

But anyway, some good things - the effects, 80s atmosphere and performances were all great, I thought they were better in S3 and it could've used a bit more diversity in the presentation of the worlds, but these were still very impressive. I think the finale actually did pretty good at giving all the main characters something to do and the epilogue felt very genuine as young adults moving on in the world (I guess the alternate ending for El is a nice bit of fan service, but I personally think the real one is more fitting, just hope they don't go with that as an excuse for a spin-off xx Mike as a Stephen King-esque figure felt a great shout as well). There was a lot of 'moments' some of which felt awkwardly placed, but Steve and Dustin I think effectively showed their fallout and reunion well. Jamie Campbell Bower I think was the best part of the season, he really was incredibly effective and I loved that they didn't go the redemption route when they could've gone, and I agree that it was a great way of saying that some people really do just want to watch the world burn. Kinda liked Dipshit Derek too, his arc did feel complete.

The main issues were as you might expect from a show that doesn't kill off main characters - too many characters, too much plot and way too much time dedication to venn diagrams and plans. I think the real sticking point though was the real lack of an effective villain - Vecna/The Mindflayer just never felt that threatening and was constantly outmaneuvered by the kids, given he had control of where Holly was taken, you'd think he wouldn't keep losing them! The Demogorgons suddenly slowing down dramatically when the main characters and being randomly taken out by a heavily injured Karen Wheeler, and the Military as well felt useless, Dr Kay literally did nothing all season apart from...experiment on kids, which we knew about already. Linda Hamilton was totally wasted and didn't even get a resolution, they just...went away? Kali felt quite useless too and only served as a means of communicating that El had to die. I would criticise them for literally completely forgetting about Vicki entirely in the epilogue, but I found that quite funny! 😅 she was annoying anyway x I didn't really see anything wrong with Will's coming out scene, I just think it would've been more powerful if it was just to his family and Mike and they did it better with Robyn, sad that the backlash to that is one of the main talking points but culture warriors gotta fight etc.

TL;DR: Solid and good endings for the characters, but not what I really came to love the show for. I will miss it though, it was undeniably a bit of a phenomenon a little bit like Harry Potter and it's always nice to see a show end naturally with a story completed. Didn't do a Game of Thrones at least x I would recommend the stage show to anyone that hasn't been, it's a good bit of additional lore that adds a bit of context to the final.

The epilogue was long. But I get why they needed it - I thought it was nice and as far as an ending goes, I think it probably was just about perfect. It's hard for a big show to have a good ending which is not devicise, but I think they ended the show perfectly with Mike shutting the door.

This might just be me, but some of the emotional scenes left me a little cold. As the show grew to be more ensemble, Mike kind of became side tracked as a character - I don't know, I felt the Purple Rain moment could have been bigger. It almost felt too short for me. I think Eleven definitely sacraficed herself, but it's nice they left it open ended.

My biggest criticism is though there wasn't enough stakes in the final battle. I don't really get the whole "it's not that kind of show to kill off characters" - they have done in the past. I just felt Vecna/Mind Flyer needed one of the main characters to be killed, that way the stakes are truly high rather than what we got. I get why they didn't want to do it, but felt a bit of a cop out to me.

I'm glad to see people in here who thought it was actually quite entertaining as a finale. I really don't understand the mass hate surrounding it. Was it "perfect"? To me, no. Was it "Flawed"? Yes. But on the whole, I thought the final episode was entertaining and done well for the most part. I think I would have liked to have seen more of a "fight" against Vecna and honestly, I think it should have been him vs Eleven with the occasional interference by the others as they were battling against the "Demos" (Where WERE they in the final episode??) and definitely think *someone* should have died during it.

As a complete season, I enjoyed majority of it. But when I didn't like it... I thought it was terrible. I thought Noah Schnapp in particular was very hit and miss... he was either absolutely AWFUL or really strong... it was bizarre. I agree with Rooney that Mike really became sidelined and that's a damn shame because Finn is a very talented actor! Adored Max (obvz - my number 1!), Lucas, Nancy, Henry and Robyn in particular.

On the whole though it is better than the rest of the internet (and seemingly people Ik irl?????????!) would have you believe, even if it's flawed.

I think this show is such a massive phenomenon that people expect so much of it and so this finale not being bad but not being great either was such a let down that now to even some people its ruined the entire show for them.

Sadly a lot of people online were praying on its downfall even before it had aired, so it's no surprise that many of those exact same people ended up hating it - they weren't exactly allowing themselves to think anything different...!

Anybody interested in these

Royal Mail Stamp Commemorative stamps for Stranger Things

https://shop.royalmail.com/special-stamp-issues/stranger-things

Documentary coming next week (12th) exploring the filming of the final season