Stranger Things 5 Finale review: Not the ending we expected but the one we needed!

We knew this would be our final crawl into the Upside Down - a last goodbye to Hawkins but nothing could have prepared us for what actually unfolds. Here’s a spoiler-free review.

It’s been a decade since we’ve lived withStranger Things. Since Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas walked into our lives with D&D, since Will went missing and the mysterious girl Eleven was found in a small town called Hawkins, Indiana. And our world changed forever! As we grew with the kids on the show, walking into the Upside Down and fighting its inhabiting monsters became a ritual we loved coming back to. For almost ten years, we’ve watched, loved, hated, laughed, complained, made memes, gone deep into rabbit holes, and more than anything, found a comforting friend in Stranger Things - one that doesn’t lie, but simply understands. And now it’s all come to an end. And while goodbyes are hard,theStranger Things Season 5 finale, once again becomes that comforting friend who understands that letting go can be magical and moving on isn’t about losing but gaining, something we cherish forever, something we pass on!

When Dustin says in the last volume that everything we thought we knew about the Upside Down has been dead wrong, it almost feels like it’s meant for us. Because this show, from the very beginning, has always told us about the end. From Season 1 itself, the signs are the same - missing kids, an uncharted territory, a monster in hiding, plans that were well-informed and carefully laid out. Even in Season 5 we knew how this was going to play out between Vecna and the Party, as we were clear of both their plans. And yet, as it inched closer to the end, we refused to see it. Fan theories flowed like conspiracy theories, each one diving crazier and deeper than the last. And maybe the craziest part is this - we went this far for a show that places D&D at its centre. A game built on campaigns, storytelling, and conspiracies that feel real enough to believe. In a way, we didn’t outsmart the Duffer Brothers; they checkmated us.

They’ve said it in interviews over and over again that this show is not Game of Thrones. It’s not what people are making it out to be. And yet, that’s exactly how they got us. Because we were right about one thing - we were being fooled. And no, not because Vecna was controlling our minds, but because we were doing it to ourselves. We studied this show in greater detail than it ever asked for. Every written word, every poster, every micro-expressions - everything was dissected. As if every room was being scoured for a hidden detail and every dialogue was vetted for a missing piece. When the truth was always right there, in plain sight. And for that, I tip my hat to the Duffer Brothers. They know how to play D&D; we don’t.

Also Read: Stranger Things 5 review: Volume 2 is all about the build up before the Stranger Things finale!

Think of it this way just like how Harry Potter, for all its magic and world-building, ultimately rested on one simple truth that love conquers all. It wasn’t about the Horcruxes or the Elder Wand that mattered in the end, but understanding that truth, something Voldemort never could because of his hate and choosing how to live by it. It’s the same here. This story is about truth too. About seeing the world for what it is - cruel, mean, messy and unkind and still deciding how you behave, what you stand for, and how you show up despite it all.

And I, for one, am glad to know that I was right about one thing - this show has always been about finding belief in a world that has stopped trusting anything that stands to be different than the rest. It has always been about friendship, a bond stronger than most and an ode to storytelling, to the magical power of stories that find us even in the darkest of places. Because if you haven’t noticed by now, Stranger Things’ beauty lies in the fact that it meets you exactly where you are. Whether you believe in logical science, emotional drama, children's play, or philosophical storytelling, it becomes whatever you want it to be. Riddled with metaphors that work however you choose to interpret them, it leaves it all up to you - how you see it, feel it, and carry it with you. And isn’t that precisely the job of a good story? To be whatever you need it to be!

In that sense, Stranger Things final season then becomes an act of going back, time travelling through space, wormholes and dimensions, fighting monsters like Demogorgons and Mind Flayers only to remember what it felt like to believe with that innocent, childlike certainty. To remember the strength that lets you fight back against anything, and to hold on to it, because the world, whether it’s the military or Vecna, will try to take it away from you every single day. But if you choose to remember the truth, and believe in it, then there’s no way anyone can take that from you.

In these cynical times of doom and despair, where the end of the world feels closer to reality than fiction, that hope is exactly what we’re all desperately craving. And to be fair, they did warn us to brace ourselves, keep the tissue boxes ready. And they were right. It might not be the ending any of us guessed, but it’s the ending we deserved, if only we choose to see it for what it offers, and not for what it doesn’t deliver against our expectations. It’s dark, but it’s also healing because of the emotional weight it carries and the closures it gives. And I, for one, am all the better because of it! 

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