This article contains spoilers for “Stranger Things” season five.
After almost 10 years of nostalgic adventures and excessive plot armor, the series finale of “Stranger Things” premiered on Netflix on Dec. 31, 2025.
The feature-length episode of just over two hours brought the story to a semi-ambiguous conclusion, implying that Eleven faked her death inside the Upside Down and was still alive.
The Duffer Brothers, the creators of the series, also hit on many of the major questions left for the final half of season five. We discovered how Vecna or Henry Creel got his powers, and in a full circle moment, we saw Joyce Byers kill him by decapitating him with an axe.
The existence of the Upside Down is also explained as a tunnel of the worm hole located between Earth and the Abyss, which is introduced fully this season.
Will’s connection to the hive mind is further played with, showing him hack into Vecna’s mind and control his actions to save Max (who is also brought back from her coma).
However, many questions were left unanswered, and further plot holes were created that took away from the viewing experience for many.
Will’s connection to the hive mind not affecting him in the final battle was one of the plot holes, as a major plot point found throughout the second half of season five was completely ignored in that sequence.
After the expansion of the Demogorgon to include dogs in season two and bats in season four, no form of the creature is seen in the final battle as they completely abandon the Mind Flayer and Vecna whom they are controlled by.
The unexplained endings of side characters such as Suzie and Vickie also left some feeling shortchanged by where the show left off for some of their favorite characters. The basic plot and outcomes outside of the glaring plot holes, however, leave the story in a fine place.
Seeing Robin and Vickie break up or continuing a now three-season-old plotline of Dustin having a long-distance relationship (that hasn’t been significant to his individual character development since season three) would have been inconsequential. These holes were not as important as the scene where Jonathan Byers, Nancy Wheeler, Robin Buckley and Steve Harrington reunite as they return to Hawkins, Ind. after going their separate ways.
There is also an argument to be made that the inclusion of Demogorgons in the final battle would have distracted from the main fight against the Mind Flayer and Eleven against Vecna, even if it comes off as lazy more than as an artistic decision.
The first half of the episode is bare bones, to the point method of wrapping up the Vecna plot, removing the Mind Flayer as a threat and closing the book on the Upside Down.
The episode really thrives in the second act, in which it gives an emotional look at the characters’ lives after chaos and shows the kids graduating from high school to move towards adulthood. Joyce and Jim Hopper get married. Steve Harrington is a baseball coach with Delightful Derek as his backstop.
We get to see the characters who we fell in love with, the reason we cared about the plot, move on to bigger and better things. If you can get past the plot holes, it’s a sentimental and fitting ending that answers enough questions to satisfy.
Well great now I don’t have to watch it! Just kidding, I always looked ahead for the other episodes. I have put off watching the final episode because I don’t know what I am going to watch after this and don’t want it to end.
It is common for final episodes to have plot holes. If they didn’t then what would they do 5, 10 or 20 years from now when they need rent money. At least now when they reboot they will have something to give answers to.
Oh no my friend. You have no idea of the disaster they made. Watch it.
Finale so barebones half the audience thought there’d be another secret episode… Finale so awful someone compiled a list of more than 100 plot holes… Disappointing ending, mainly for people who have been watching since the first seasons came out.
After watching the finale I think it was rushed a little they killed Venca too quickly and they could have put a plot twist but overall it was okay
Rate 5/10 could have made the fight a little more longer and added the mindflyer as a shadedow getting into will mind
How about there aren’t any plot holes and Vecna simply won, the last hour is them trapped inside Vecna’s mind? Hence all the not so subtle clues…
Well, you’re wrong. As admitted by every single person involved in the project, directly. So there’s a bunch of plot holes and no subtle clues you’ve made up to help you cope with a terrible ending
You have got to be shitting me. Satisfying what? After almost 10 years, and 4 season of pure delight a masterpiece, they FUCKED UP in the worse way possible. The last season was messy, unclear and it felt like was written by someone else completely. I won’t even start explaining why, because it has been discussed more than enough everywhere and by everyone,but still. It wasn’t satisfying even if you ignore all the plot holes and the missing characters, two things that I will never forgive is how they started the 5th season compared to how they end the 4th, and the fact that after building an incredible Big Bad in the form of the mind flyer for the past 4 season, they took it down in less than 7 minutes fight in something that calling anticlimactic it would be an understatement.
So, that’s it.
How long did the fight with the Mind Flayer need to be for you to approve of it? 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes? 90% of the episcoe?
No way you actually thought the fight was a good fight. It’s not about length. It was just an unrealistic (even by plot armor logic) and boring fight. Somehow the kids teleport to the top of a cliff? Let me buy you guys time says Nancy who immediately starts shooting buying them all of about 1 second of time.
The mall fight in S3 was about 100x better
The finale was just fine…I would give it a solid 8 or 8.5 out of 10. People are just so eager to trip over themselves to complain, nitpick and pile on. There are a few things that could have had more time spent on it or modified to be a bit better, but overall it was a good ending to an incredible show. It is just baffling.
We need more ….Why would you have a Blockbuster series and just end it..we Dont want No silly Animated Series..We’re waiting???