The Stranger Things finale finally dropped on New Year’s Eve, and I think most fans will walk away feeling satisfied—but probably not blown away. For me, when I really judge how great a TV show is, I always compare it to The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad. That’s the gold standard. Stranger Things gets close, but it never quite reaches that level.
Spoilers ahead.
When the show first came out over nine years ago, its biggest strength was the mix of nostalgia and mystery. A group of childhood friends in Hawkins, Indiana getting pulled into something way bigger than themselves felt fresh and exciting. Every season added more layers—Eleven’s backstory, Will’s connection to the Upside Down, Vecna’s reveal, and the government experiments—while constantly raising new questions. And let’s be honest, the ’80s vibe made a lot of us wish we either grew up then or could go back in time.
At its heart, Stranger Things has always been about the friendships. Watching Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin grow up together—and then bringing Eleven into that group—was what made the show work emotionally. Seasons 1 through 4 consistently ended with real momentum, leaving fans hyped to see what came next.
One of the biggest issues was the four-year gap between Seasons 4 and 5. That break really hurt the pacing and made it impossible to ignore how much the “kids” had aged. They were clearly young adults still playing teenagers, which took me out of it at times. Even so, there was still a lot of excitement heading into the final season, especially knowing we were finally getting the last showdown with Vecna.
Season 5 was split into three parts, and Volume 1 was honestly pretty strong despite some obvious plot holes—especially how the military situation in Hawkins and the Upside Down being exposed were brushed aside pretty quickly. Still, Volume 1 delivered one of the best moments of the entire series: Will tapping into his connection with Vecna and taking out multiple Demogorgons. That scene was easily one of the highlights of the season, if not the whole show.
Volume 2 is where things started to fall apart. The plot holes became harder to ignore, and suddenly Holly Wheeler was pushed into a major role after barely mattering for four seasons. I didn’t hate her storyline, but the amount of screen time it got felt strange—especially when it came at the expense of characters fans actually cared about. Splitting the cast into different groups again didn’t help either.
Visually, the final stretch also lost some of the magic from earlier seasons. The blue-screen and CGI were way more noticeable, and the world didn’t feel as immersive as it once did. On top of that, the plot armor was impossible to ignore. At no point did it feel like any main character was truly in danger, which made the final battle less intense than it should’ve been. The fight with Vecna and Eleven diving inside the creature looked cool, but there was never that fear that someone might actually die.
That said, the final moments still hit emotionally. The themes of growing up, drifting apart, and looking back on the people you grew up with really landed. It’s hard not to think about your own friendships during those scenes. Eleven’s fate is still being debated, but I lean toward the idea that she was taken out along with the Upside Down.
At the end of the day, Stranger Things will always be remembered as a fun, nostalgic ride with a creative world that felt totally new when it first premiered. My issues with the ending come from knowing how close it came to being truly legendary—and how a few missteps along the way kept it from standing with the greatest TV shows of all time.
