As much as we all love the series “Stranger Things,” and as much as it felt nostalgic watching its long awaited final season, season five could have been a bit better. Season 5 of Stranger Things is very important as it wraps up the series and delivers the ultimate showdown against Vecna, and also provides resolutions for characters like Will and Eleven. In the next few paragraphs are my opinions on how the season could have been better and why I think that season 5 felt unfulfilling with the plot holes and lack of interactions between some characters. The following paragraph contains spoilers about the final season of Stranger Things.
The undebatably popular show, loved for its 1980s setting and supernatural elements, has raised peoples’ expectations as each season ended throughout the years, but sadly that was not the case for season five. Although many people felt it was a fulfilling ending, many of my friends said similar things like Yilkauli Rodriguez, a sophomore at Manheim Township, claimed the season to be “what most of the fans like us were not expecting to see, especially with how uneventful I felt the ending was” or Frankie Booker, another sophomore at Manheim Township, stated this season was “not at all what I was prepared for, all the theories I had seen on platforms like TikTok went more in depth than the original ending”. Season five is still being ranked among the worst seasons of Stranger Things, if not the worst, by many viewers.
Looking at past seasons, season five definitely had an opportunity to conclude the series in a more meaningful way by refining its storytelling, or reducing the amount of plot holes that were left in the season. The role of the military or even how underwhelming Vecna’s death was for having been a consistent villain for an entire season before were some important aspects that could have had a much greater impact.
Season five could also have improved by focusing on Will’s connection to Vecna and the Upside Down, something that has been in place since nearly season one. Instead of the other characters using Will as an intel for their plans, he could have been used as a key role in a battle against Vecna, since the two are seen to have very similar powers. Instead of actually facing Vecna, I found Will to be used as more of a spy and provided a necessary mental connection for weakening Vecna, but not for killing him.
Although I enjoyed watching Eleven fighting with Vecna, and as much as it made sense, I think having Will use Vecna’s power against him would have been a much more interesting scene as it could have provided a clearer emotional resolution of Will’s past trauma. Throughout the entire season, Mike and Eleven’s relationship did not seem as obvious as before, especially with their rare amount of screen time together. The chemistry between the two did not feel present, to me it their scenes together often felt like interactions between friends who are starting to grow apart since they lacked the usual screen time they have had in the past seasons. I also personally felt that Eleven’s screen time was reduced this season, which was potentially so that the show could focus on other character arcs like Steve and Dustin.
Focusing on the Mind Flayer, one of the strongest antagonists shown in the series, his motivations and background could have been a little more complex. While to me it sounds cliché that every antagonist just happens to want to take over the world, seeing the Mind Flayer have the exact same motive as multiple antagonists in other shows disappoints me. In earlier seasons, while the Mind Flayer was present, not much was revealed about him until this season; making the ending feel rushed as all this information is being revealed to us all at once. Things like his origin and his true form are still very unclear, which raises questions and although it is good that this leaves the rest of the story for us to imagine and make theories, it doesn’t really make sense to me that a main antagonist like the Mind Flayer has a backstory still partly unknown. After being a part of the show for so long and causing so much chaos, I think we deserve to at least know for sure where he comes from, not partial answers.
Overall, “Stranger Things” season five was a nostalgic season to watch, especially for those who have been fans since the beginning, but the ending felt too rushed and combined with many plot holes. By focusing on a refined plot, strengthening the villain that was supposed to be one of the strongest but felt underwhelming and filling some of the plot holes, the series could have ended in an impactful way.
