I'm Torn on the Stranger Things Finale

After going out last night, I got home from work pretty early in the morning and finally sat down to watch the Stranger Things finale.

To start off, I was never a long time fan of the show. I only began watching Stranger Things about three months ago.

I just knew with the new season coming out that it was going to take over my For You page, my Twitter feed, and everything else online. That sense of FOMO definitely kicked in, so I pushed myself to finally get into the show.

And honestly, I don’t think Stranger Things is one of the greatest TV shows ever made. But I really did enjoy it. If someone asked me whether they should watch it, I would absolutely say yes. It’s more than just pretty good. I’d say it’s a really good show.

I’m typically not that into heavy sci fi. I like Marvel and DC movies here and there, but overall that genre isn’t usually my thing. Still, I would recommend Stranger Things without hesitation.

Going into the finale, I came out of it with pretty mixed feelings. The first half of the episode, roughly the first hour, didn’t fully land for me. I felt like the show went with a very safe ending.

Spoiler alert upcoming:

No major characters died. Aside from Eleven, supposedly, which I’ll touch on later, everyone made it out alive. Mike is alive. Dustin is alive. Joyce is alive, even though I genuinely thought she was going to die. Lucas is alive. Max is alive. Robin is alive. Nancy, who I thought had a real chance of dying, is also still here.

And that’s fine. I loved these characters. But at the same time, I do think a finale needs stakes. It needs consequences. Because of that, I felt pretty mixed about the first half. I would have liked to see them take a more surprising and outlandish approach. Something a bit riskier. Something more emotional.

They did a decent job, but it’s not one of the greatest finales of all time by any stretch.

The second half of the episode, the epilogue, is what really saved the finale for me. That’s where I started to feel things more. Not emotional in the sense of being overwhelmed or moved to tears, but more in a quiet, reflective way.

At the very end, when they return to playing Dungeons and Dragons, Mike becomes the storyteller. That part hit close to home for me. I relate to that role a lot because I like making blogs and writing. It’s not the same thing exactly, but you know how it goes.

All of Mike’s friends around him seem to get a happy ending. He’s the only one who really doesn’t. And that was extremely relatable. I don’t say that to be negative or to make anyone feel bad for me. But there are times in life where that feeling is very real.

A lot of my friends have gone on to be more successful, more confident, more social. Some have had girlfriends and seem further along in their lives. And sometimes I wonder if I am ever going to get that. How I am going to get that. When it will happen. And how long I am going to feel the way I do at times.

That’s the part of the finale that really got to me. At the same time, I believe that those things will happen for me one day. Right now, I’m not out there chasing anything. I’ve reached a point where I’m pretty peaceful with where I’m at.

Mike seems to be in that same place at the end of the show. He knows his time will come. He’s okay waiting. And eventually, things will work out the way they’re supposed to.

Because of that, while I didn’t love the first half of the finale and thought it played things too safely, the epilogue completely changed how I felt. It was relatable. It was thoughtful. And it did a great job of closing out the story while still leaving the ending open to interpretation.

That final Mike scene really stuck with me. I felt it. And I figured there was no better place to write about it than on my own personal platform, where I can be honest and say exactly how it made me feel.

So yeah. Good job, Duffer Bros.