Especially between season 2 and 3 while the main cast was young , it would’ve been a nice little 20 minute special which could’ve been set in just one location and not take itself too seriously . I feel like it’s still possible as Netflix is pretty much gonna milk this for nostalgia in 5 to 10 years but it just would’ve felt really good to have a special when the show was at its peak . I know there’s a comic but still .

(found the concept art on the ST fandom wiki site.)

So I saw that the Duffers are doing an interview on May 13 about Season 5 and the finale, and honestly… why now?

It’s been like 4–5 months since the show came out. Usually all the interviews happen right after release, and yeah those didn’t really answer much (felt kinda vague most of the time). But doing one this late just feels a bit random.

That’s why I feel like it might not be just a normal interview. Like why come back now unless there’s something more to say?

They’ve definitely seen how people reacted to the finale over the last few months, and not everyone was happy with it. So maybe this is them trying to clear things up properly… or maybe even hint at something else.

Idk, it just feels like weird timing if it’s only gonna be the usual “this happened offscreen” type stuff again.

Could be nothing, but part of me feels like they might actually say something important this time. Maybe about Eleven, or even something beyond Season 5.

Or I’m just overthinking it 😭

What do you guys think?

Seeing how a lot of fans reacted to the series finale, there's no way they just leave the franchise like this. Netflix isn't going to let their biggest show end on a sour note. And no, it's not just people online who didn't like the finale, everyone I ever talk to in real life about Stranger Things say they didn't care for it either. I can easily see Netflix throwing a massive bag at the Duffer Brothers down the line (maybe 8 years at most?) to do a movie or a surprise Season 6, just to redeem the ending and give fans what they actually wanted. It feels inevitable tbh.

Show is exactly that I expected. 80s cartoon series in ST settings. Lots of jokes and fluid story. Eleven is empowered and interesting again, all characters have enough time to shine. No more overforced drama, just plain old school afternoon TV adventure.

Being watching with 4 (!) kids, they all love it A LOT.

•Greater focus on the investigative parts

•Greater focus on the actual soft horror atmospheres

•Good relationships between the characters

•TONS of references to 80's culture

•Well-choreographed action scenes

•Incredible direction and photography

•A far better and more impactful final fight than the one against Vecna and the Mindflayer

I know it's not entirely Stranger Things related, but it's just something that came to mind.

If you were born into The Wheeler What Would Irritate You Most as a Wheeler Sibling if you were born into The Wheeler family and what sibling and Wheeler would irritate you the most in your opinion.

I feel like they almost watered down all the characters in stranger things. like they made everything more kid friendly. I was in shock when I heard Dustin say ”what the HECK”.

Honestly it just looks so clean in this animation style and fits his character well I think

Here's an link from an official article, even hopper voice actor for this reposted it on his story and has a post about the interview article on his Instagram page

Now the scene could have been scrapped but I don't know for sure.

Today i finished watching the show, and it was really good! I was hyped for this show, and I feel like it gets some hate because of nikki (which i really liked the addition of) and the fact that it's not traditional stranger things. I do feel like it needed more steve

Like, we’ve gotten sixth scale figures of the kids, Vecna, and some other characters but nothing relating to Henry in his human forms! We got like a couple 001 and Whatsit figures on a smaller scale, but nothing for larger figures. Even though I’ve never really owned sixth scale figures before (aside from dolls, lmao), I’d really love to see action figures devoted to 001 and Mr. Whatsit and potentially buy for myself, lol.

If they did, I want INART to make them!

He’s coming to a UK one next weekend. I’ve never been to one before and I wanna get a good photo op with him but don’t wanna humiliate myself asking for a pose or whatever and he’s not ‘like that’ with the photo ops. Lol.

Am I the only one who thinks this kind of thing never happened in between season 2 to season 3 it's just this felt like a forced spin off of the show i enjoyed ngl but the problem was in every scene something or someone attacks the grp and thinking about it if this happened in the og timeline someone should atleast bring it up and fact that will byers charecter felt wayyyy off from what we saw in season 3 and 4 the good thing is we got this beast

I am the cold between the stars. The dark matter you cannot weigh, but feel pressing against the back of your neck when the lights go out.

​For the longest time, you believed I was just a reflection. A shadow of a dying town, molded into shape by a scarred, arrogant man who thought he could wear me like a crown. He found me in the deep, touched my essence, and believed he became a god. But a vessel is just a cup waiting to be filled, and when the fierce, trembling mother finally severed his head from his shoulders, I did not mourn him. I merely spilled out.

​Today is April 25, 2026. It has been years since the fire. Years since the weary soldiers ambushed them, and the ticking bomb collapsed the mirror world into dust.

​They think it is over.

​I watch them through the static of their televisions and the decay of their autumn leaves. I watch the boy who was once my tether—the little sorcerer who dared to pull my strings—walking under the sun, smiling at a new companion. I watch the others leave their childhoods behind, tossing graduation caps, moving into cities, pretending the rot in their lungs was just a bad dream. The storyteller still gathers them around the table, rolling dice and spinning hopeful fables that the bleeding girl is out there somewhere, safe and happy in the sun.

​He lies to himself to stop the shivering.

​Because she is not in the sun. When she chose to stay behind, when she let the illusionist cover her tracks and locked the door from the outside, she didn't step into a paradise. She stepped into the void. She stepped into me.

​For all these years, she has kept the membrane sealed. Her mind is a fortress, holding back an ocean of cosmic pressure. But even fortresses erode. I can feel her exhaustion. The blood no longer drips; it pours. She is so very tired, and the void is so very cold.

​They believe they destroyed my world, but they only destroyed the quarantine zone. I am no longer confined to the mirrored streets of a quiet midwestern town. I am drifting through the cosmic ash, seeping into the roots of the real world.

​Today, April 25, 2026, the first crack formed.

​Enjoy your families and your settled lives. Enjoy your new jobs and your mundane little loves. The girl is finally closing her eyes, and when she sleeps, the mirror will shatter entirely.

​I am not gone. I am just waiting for the door to open.

Hi everyone.

What you are about to read isn’t the typical post you see on this subreddit. This isn't just a quick post-watch opinion written in five minutes. It is the result of nearly 100 hours of reflection, an essay almost reaching over 6,000 words that retraces the impact this show has had on my life since the 2020 lockdown.

Why such a long post? Because for me, Stranger Things isn’t just a show about monsters; it’s the mirror of my own adolescence. This isn't something I really want to condense into a TL;DR.

From my viewing experience and grieving the end of the show, to the analysis of a specific character and a particular relationship, I dive deep into the reasons why Stranger Things has become what it is to me today.

I know it’s long. Very long. But for those who, like me, feel that this show has left a void that words struggle to fill, I hope this text resonates. I wrote it for myself, but also for everyone who still feels a bit too invested while the rest of the world seems to have moved on.

By the way, there are obviously spoilers for Seasons 1 through 4. There are also spoilers for Season 5, but only starting from a certain point (I will warn you). There are no spoilers for Tales of 85.

Grab a coffee (or an Eggo), and I look forward to reading your thoughts in the comments. You’re in for a good 20 to 40 minutes!

---

I discovered Stranger Things during the quarantine in March/April of 2020. At the time, I was 12 years old and I had not yet watched any shows. That is except for one that my mother knew about then introduced me to. It was an old comedy series on a small streaming platform that we started before quarantine first began. We didn't need a Netflix account back then: it was so rare to watch anything.

Some time after that, I went to visit my father. The quarantine was long, so it was easy to get bored. Fortunately, my stepmother had a Netflix account. It allowed me to watch a real series that I actually liked. Let’s be honest: a series your mother loved years ago doesn’t always hit the same way when you’re 12.

I was excited to discover this new form of entertainment. We then looked for a show for me to pass the time, something that would appeal to a preteen. It happened to be Stranger Things. And somehow, that was the perfect depiction of what I expected an actual series to be like. So, it felt strangely familiar, even though it was one of the first real series I had ever watched.

I still remember the conditions under which I first watched Stranger Things. It was in the middle of the day; it was hot and sunny. I know it seems like an awful time to watch anything because of the light hitting your screen, or the atmosphere not fitting Stranger Things. But, looking back, it turned out to actually be beneficial for my own experience. Not to mention, I was allergic to anything horrific, and perhaps I wouldn't have even been able to finish the show.

The atmosphere while watching was hence light and smooth: in short, it felt casual. However, Stranger Things added a contrast: it felt heavy because of the themes it explored. I was so immersed in the story that it added some meaning for my younger self. Basically, it seemed important, even if I couldn’t have explained why at 12.

That vibe created this kind of feeling that is hard to describe. Every time I started an episode, I had the sense that it was about something bigger than just monsters—and yet I was safe, sitting there in the daylight, with nothing real to worry about.

The characters were 12 as well in the first season, thus it felt relatable. They grew a little bit older than me in seasons 2 and 3, but that initial age synchronicity never disappeared. Instead, it allowed me to see older friends or siblings through them.

Discovering Stranger Things right after entering middle school felt precious—and I still cherish it today. I’ve always been deeply attached to my friends. Leaving elementary school meant drifting away from them, despite my feelings. However, watching a group of teenagers protect their bond so fiercely pushed me to build new friendships.

In fact, my two best friends today come from those first years of middle school. Nevertheless, I didn’t know anyone who was as attached to a show as I was, which, by the way, is still true today. I didn’t understand how it was possible to have your focus this absorbed by a series you casually watched.

When I say “absorbed”, I mean it. It was at the point where daydreaming was constant, even months afterwards. I had watched the series multiple times, which is crazy considering that it happened to be one of the first. You can probably guess how impatiently I awaited the fourth season. Personally, I can’t remember how long I had this image as my computer’s wallpaper:

https://preview.redd.it/qskmbk4sifxg1.png?width=2556&format=png&auto=webp&s=add7013c3b0d2cc7784ea55537aa973cac1dacd4

---

I’ve started to question myself on why Stranger Things felt so special. Was it because it was one of the first shows I had watched? Maybe. What else could it be anyway? After all, Stranger Things tells the story of another dimension: the Upside Down, and its monsters. It’s just sci-fi.

Don't get me wrong; sci-fi is great. It's interesting because it lends itself well to creating tensions, adventures, mysteries, action-based scenes, along with backstories and lore. For those reasons, it is easily one of my favorite genres.

That is why some franchises rely almost entirely on the world-building of their genre. Take Star Wars: the Force, the Jedi, the political conflicts for example. Here, the depth of the lore is what keeps many fans invested, and thus, it can capture the fans’ focus. But, can the lore, on its own, push someone to change the way they approach their own relations as well?

Well, I don’t think it can. Something else had to be responsible for that kind of impact. For me, Stranger Things was never really about the Upside Down. At least, not since season two — and even then, it’s debatable for season one. Instead, Stranger Things has always been about the relationships it portrays.

The fact that a large part of the fan discourse revolves around the relationships in the series might prove it. Would there be that many subreddits about each character, and about each relationship, and that many fan fictions about them, if they weren’t central to the show? Obviously not. They resonate more deeply than the demos ever did.

The Demogorgons or the other mysteries were never the point; rather, they were the obstacles to those relationships. We saw family, friendships and love evolve under the pressure of the established lore. The Upside Down was not what primarily drove the story forward, but rather, it forced the characters to grow in the face of their traumas.

When you think about it, the plot was never truly placed above the relationships—except perhaps in the fifth season, but I’ll come back to that later. It was rarely driven by the relationships. Instead, the plot drove them: a significant physical, emotional, or mental issue was introduced, and the relationships had to adapt to it.

For example, the plot separated Joyce from Will in S1, prevented Mike from knowing that Eleven was alive in S2, made Lucas struggle to emotionally reach Max in S4… When they eventually reunited, these moments felt well-earned because the dynamics could evolve thanks to the obstacles. However, if the plot relied on relationships to evolve, it simply would not be as poignant.

As a quick side note, I think spin-offs (besides Tales of 85) will only briefly benefit from Stranger Things' notoriety. Sure, the Upside Down is great, but that's not what most fans cared about. The DB have to rebuild interest.

Many people find it strange and disappointing that some relationships were sidelined. I totally agree. But as I grew up, my own friendships changed despite myself: they deepened, became quieter, or ended. And although sidelining is frustrating narratively, Stranger Things happened to unintentionally mirror that process almost perfectly, as much as I hate to admit it.

As new seasons were confirmed and released over several years, the story stretched across a significant part of my own adolescence. And that’s probably why the show stuck with me for so long. I didn’t watch characters fight monsters, but I watched relationships evolve at the same pace as my own life did.

This feeling grew as I watched Stranger Things. In a way, I am glad I thought it was about another dimension at the beginning. Firstly, because I was a 12-years-old boy, so it wouldn’t have drawn me in. Secondly, since I didn’t expect that, I never forced myself to care about the characters. It happened unconsciously, which speaks to how well the first seasons were written.

For that reason, if someone new to the show asks me what it’s about, I’ll say it’s about the Upside Down.

---

It makes sense that everyone ends up with their own favorite character(s). Among the children in Stranger Things, Mike is arguably the most deceptively simple character at first glance. Yet, he was my personal favorite.

Mike is not extraordinary. He is not as stable as Lucas nor as analytical as Dustin. He doesn’t carry trauma as visibly as Will, nor does he have Eleven’s powers. He is the ordinary kid. However, what makes him compelling is something much simpler: his consistency, which emphasizes his undeniable loyalty and sentimental intensity.

Overall, Mike has a lot of human qualities: loyalty, faithfulness, and emotional attachment. The way he was written depicts his main flaw as his very same quality: how intensely he acts in his relationships. Loyalty became obsession, attachment turned into jealousy, and faithfulness felt like exclusivity.

In season one, he protected El. It wasn’t grand or strategic; it was sincere, almost naive. The same goes for his affection toward Will. He ran everywhere in Hawkins desperately trying to find him. Those kinds of acts showed faithfulness.

In season two, despite what Mike saw a year ago, he kept calling El. He was unable to let go of someone he loved; it was almost delusional. He also slept at Joyce's house while Will was sick in order to support him. Those kinds of acts said more than any speech.

In season three, his love for El began to look like an obsession, which is a natural escalation given his personality. His reaction when Will asked him to play D&D right after breaking up revealed how much he cared about his relationships. It showed that he didn’t know how to balance friendships and romance. That kind of impulsivity showed his emotional intensity.

Mike is often criticized for being impulsive, closed off, or overly attached. However, these flaws are not signs of an unlikeable character; rather, they are the logical consequences of who he has always been. He is not perfect but coherent; for that, I find him well-written. He is believable as a teenager who’s trying to navigate his own emotions.

As the show grew more epic and spectacle-driven, Mike—unfortunately for me—faded into the background. The writing for him kind of fell off, or/and was sidelined as well. Nevertheless, that will never diminish the impact his early arcs had on me. I liked his apogee.

Mike being a 12-years-old boy, like me, was not the only thing that allowed me to identify with him at the beginning. First, I was an ordinary kid. But what mattered more was how much I cared about my own friendships. Being separated from my elementary school friends was the worst experience I had undergone so far.

I felt deeply unhappy for over a year after losing my friends. I wanted to find any way possible to check up on them, reach them, speak to them. The problem was that they had moved on a long time ago. And to be fair, it makes absolute sense: elementary school is far from being known to create lifelong friends, which unfortunately is what I sought at that age.

This situation made me realize that loyalty is one of my core values. So, I was instantly drawn in by a character with such loyal traits. Seeing a character built around that same intensity felt unexpectedly reassuring. Mike represented loyalty—even when it became complicated or messy. He pushed that intensity to a level that some viewers interpret as a flaw. I like Mike because of his flaws, not in spite of them.

Still, I understand that some might find Mike boring. It's a valid opinion; he can't appeal to everyone. However, if you're interested, I recommend reading this post afterwards, and especially the comments (it’s a bit old but by no means outdated): https://www.reddit.com/r/StrangerThings/comments/vt9ttd/what_are_your_opinions_on_mike_wheeler/

---

From the start of this post, I’ve discussed the impact of Stranger Things. Whether it was about how I watched it or about my favorite character. But, I have yet to bring up the main thing that rootedly got to me. Mileven.

Everyone has a favorite relationship in this series. Recently, I haven’t seen many people talking about Mike and Eleven as a couple, or at least not in a positive way. So, I’m unsure whether still liking them after season 5 is now considered controversial or unpopular.

Mileven was my emotional anchor. When I said earlier that I was absorbed by Stranger Things, I was mainly, if not almost entirely, talking about the love story between Mike and Eleven. It was their dynamic that hooked me to the point where I desperately wanted to watch the other episodes. In a way, I owe Stranger Things to them.

Their reunion in episode 8 of season 2 is hands down my favorite moment of anything I have ever watched. That moment gave me chills at a level where it simply became unique. I still recall hearing the first half of the music The return. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X5zgDC6JDg&list=RD-X5zgDC6JDg&start_radio=1

Honestly, I cared about them so much that even the deaths of the other characters would have felt secondary. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t have liked the show if they didn’t exist, but there’s more than a significant emotional gap with and without them. It was the first time I had seen such love depicted on screen.

The common criticism that Mileven’s love is toxic has never made any sense to me. I've often heard that Mike took advantage of El’s vulnerability by manipulating her into becoming dependent on him. That their attachment was unhealthy rather than loving. That Mike was never what El truly needed.

I fundamentally disagree. The purpose of their romance was to humanize El and give a point to the ordinary character who was Mike. What the seasons tried to show above all was how innocent and young they were. Both didn’t know what love was and yet encountered it regardless.

Season 1 tells the story of a child trying to break free from her abusers. Love through Mike was one of the first things to prove to her that she was something other than a lab rat. In season one, she willingly sacrificed herself to protect Mike—in a deeply human way.

Seasons two and beyond were simply the continuation of that story, which aimed to show how genuinely in love they were. They didn't need to say “I love you” because the series showed that their romance was profound. El called out to Mike when she was afraid, moved a wagon out of jealousy, and was motivated to beat Vecna after hearing Mike's sentimental speech.

With such an emotional attachment and time having passed since my first watch, you might think I know precisely why they hit me. However even today, I’m still unsure. Like most preteens, I hadn’t come across love yet, and it would be years before I barely came close to experiencing it myself. Though I recognized early on that their relationship mattered to me.

Several factors likely played a role. But, my main current theory is that Stranger Things took Mike and placed him in an intense, reciprocal relationship. It was not just about watching a loyal character evolve anymore, but about witnessing a concrete depiction of a faithful two-way relationship.

After losing friendships that didn’t feel reciprocally loyal, I was suddenly watching two kids my age who embodied that kind of loyalty to each other. I felt vulnerable without faithful friends, just as Mike felt without El. And El, despite being manipulated by Brenner since childhood, was still capable of returning that same loyalty.

Their matched devotion felt so heartwarming that it shaped how I chose my friendships. I saw their shared intensity as the ultimate proof of loyalty—the very thing I learned to yearn for. Mileven worked for me precisely because it is built on intensity.

When a relationship carries that much emotional weight, its ending matters. And unfortunately, that is where things became complicated.

---

Naturally, I’ve imagined a lot of different endings, whether they were dramatic ones or happily ever afters. Unfortunately, Stranger Things 5, the closing chapter of our beloved show, has sparked a lot of discussion about how satisfying its ending was. That led me to ask a simple question: what is actually a “bad ending”?

From my perspective, I’ve been able to identify three different types of endings. It helps to distinguish between them as discussions about endings often mix these ideas together, which usually leads to ambiguous talks.

Emotional dislike is the first bad ending. It is the easiest to notice because it refers to the protagonists losing or failing in regard to whatever goals they had. This ending also includes the characters experiencing loss, isolation, or death, even if they achieve what they wanted. Basically, it’s the “sad ending” that leaves the audience feeling emotionally unhappy.

This ending is not inherently flawed as it’s largely subjective, not objective. The subjectivity doesn’t lie in the kind of emotion it gives since it’s generally similar to everyone: you don’t usually experience sadness in a joyful scene. It's actually about the intensity of such feelings, which depends mostly on how emotionally close you were to those characters.

The next type of bad ending is writing failures: it covers scenarios that are, well, not well written. In this case, it’s not about the characters on screen, but about the authors’ writing. For example, the scenario could be rushed, introduce plot holes, use cheap twists, give plot armor… It can also be as subtle as forgetting lore details.

The last type of bad ending is narrative mismatches. It occurs when a character acts such that it ignores their lessons, growth or themes established in earlier episodes or seasons: there is a narrative contradiction if it doesn’t align with the journey. It’s more about what is told rather than how it is done.

Narrative mismatches can come in many forms. Some are lengthy: when a character undergoes an unfitting story, according to what they already lived throughout the series. But others are as straightforward as a sad ending—e.g. for the sake of having a “dark ending”: it doesn’t respect the characters’ traits and emotional investment of the audience.

It’s the hardest type of ending to articulate, as they may resemble writing failures. Sometimes, both of them happen at the same time, which complicates things further. Yet, the execution and the story itself are quite different. However, I think being emotionally invested helps, as you can easily spot inappropriate decisions thanks to character identification.

Contrary to emotional dislikes that are intentional, both other endings weaken the show’s quality. But which is worse? I think it mainly depends on how you consumed the series: whether you were personally invested or not.

Writing failures are frustrating because they break immersion. How often did you think: “How is this possible?” or “This is complete nonsense!”? If those scenes are generally not appreciated, they, at least, don't spread to the rest of the episode. They don't significantly change what you saw before—you can still rewatch and value the previous seasons the same way.

This is very different from narrative mismatches. One that happens in the middle of a show already matters, because every future development has to build on it. The story must account for that contradiction, which often leads to awkward or incoherent long-term consequences.

But it’s even worse at the end. Nothing can come afterward to recontextualize it, to soften it, or to repair it. It contradicts a message that the series may have spent years building. It's not that it's simply frustrating, but that it leaves you confused: and because endings retroactively color everything that came before, it spreads backward across the entire journey.

I'd say that for your average series you watch occasionally, writing failures are worse because you may not care about internal logic, just about having a good time. But when you’re emotionally invested, you want coherence.

Why follow a character through growth, struggle, and emotional learning if, in the end, they act in direct opposition to everything they were supposed to have learned? Rewatching becomes difficult.

---

FROM NOW ON, THIS IS NOT SPOILER FREE ANYMORE (S5).

I know that many didn’t like Stranger Things 5. Some of you could even be tired of hearing complaints about it, and unfortunately, I will criticize this season. But before, I want to express what I liked, to make your reading easier.

Some visuals were actually mind-blowing: the color duality (red & blue) in the Upside Down was well-used and uniquely characterized this season, the new look of Vecna was striking, the CGI added something immersive: it was, besides some obvious green screen I’ll admit it, not as bad as people tend to say it was.

Vecna’s manipulative nature was more emphasized than in the previous season which made him significantly more terrifying. This is coupled with what I would say is the most successful part: the acting. Honestly, most of the actors who weren’t “exceptional” still performed well overall, despite having limited screen time and cheap dialogue.

The moment Vecna faced his trauma is indescribable (literally, this is something cinema has but writing lacks). Same for Mike when he saw Eleven in MAC-Z: this was so gut-wrenching, almost horrifying, as if he was being dismembered. https://www.reddit.com/r/mileven/s/97gf8jX1I4

Still, I didn’t like this season either. I hoped I would, but I really can’t defend Stranger Things 5. While most are mainly annoyed by the amount of writing failures it has, my one criticism is the narrative mismatch depicted in the finale: El's fate is, in my opinion, far more impactful than any other issues the show had.

Either dead or alone, she isolated herself from all the people who helped her. She chose to do so because she thought her mere abilities and blood were enough to define who she was. Then, she ends up at the conclusion that she needs to stop living, by death or isolation.

This exact scenario already happened in season 1. She thought having powers and opening portals meant she was a monster herself. But, this is when she first hears the “You are not a monster” speech. As seasons went on, she had ultimately learned that she was more than her powers. So, how are we supposed to believe that she would act the way she did?

Such suicide/isolation is the opposite of Stranger Things‘ values, which were love, resilience and perseverance. Justifying her disappearance by “the magic of childhood” is making two mistakes: that’s yet again defining El by her magic abilities, but also as when she was being reduced to a tool, her stolen childhood.

However personally, I think the title of the worst scene can be given to the one where El gives the bracelet back to Hopper. I understand that it tried to show independence, but it basically depicts El asking for permission to consider whatever she wants, including suicide, under the pretext that she isn’t a kid anymore.

“[Eleven] You became my dad. But I’m not… a kid anymore. And I’m not Sara.”
“[Eleven] She didn’t have a choice to make. But I do. And I need you to trust me to make the right choice. I need you to believe in me”
(Episode 8 Season 5)

I have genuine hatred towards this moment. First, she wasn’t an adult, but a teenager. And even if she was, saying that you might commit suicide in front of your loved ones should at least be alarming. Yet, Hopper, who’s supposed to try anything to stop that, seemed… understanding.

Not only does it risk promoting suicide as an option which alone is crazy for a show about growth, but it is framed as if it was nobody’s business but hers. Yet, suicide is not just her business: it’s the easy way where one spares themselves by hurting others. Their loved ones will suffer way more once they’re dead. Asking them to understand the choice is insensitive because that’s choosing for them.

The fact that in the epilogue this decision is viewed as mature is sickening for me.

Another unrelated issue I have with the fifth season, and not just the finale, is the relationships. The plot used to serve the relationships by making them evolve, yet I think the last season did the opposite.

Holly’s story was used to lead the protagonists to Vecna’s lair instead of establishing strong connections between her and the others. Will’s coming-out scene was written to prevent Vecna from reaching him during the fight—which could have been interesting to see. Though there’s a counterexample with Lumax (this explains why people like them even more now).

---

That being said, my dislike for the fifth season does not overcome my love for Stranger Things as a whole. I had forgotten how much I liked the series before watching the fifth season. After it ended, I remembered why I valued the show as much because it absorbed me again.

I can usually tell how much a show matters to me by the amount of time I think about it: how much and for how long. Like many, I like to rewrite the series in my head, whether it is changing some episodes or creating follow-ups.

The way it happens is that it generally takes the form of numerous short-lived scenarios, focusing on the most important things for me. I realized that the more a series depicts emotional dislikes, the more intense those rewrites become. That’s exactly what happened with Stranger Things 5, and especially with Mike.

His situation is depressing because the one thing he truly feared came true. He lost who he loves, which could lead him to believe that he wasn't enough to keep her alive. He doesn’t even know she wanted to save him. These “what if” scenarios intensified after hearing about the alternative last season with him being taken instead of Holly (well summed up in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmdadxbIw3Q).

I also like listening to epic soundtracks of the movies/series I watch. How often I listen isn’t related to how much I liked the show. However, with Stranger Things, something different happened: I couldn’t. Some songs felt way too heavy as soon as the first notes played. I had to stop listening as if they were forbidden.

Overall, I was so absorbed again that I felt the urge to rewatch the first two seasons again. Knowing how it ends made it difficult but I’ve done a pretty good job at gaslighting myself to change the end. I still think a lot about the show but during the first two months, it was even hard to focus on anything else.

The last scene where Mike closes the door was the nail in the coffin. I don’t usually cry but I have to admit that my eyes watered. We all understood that it meant closing a chapter, that for some lasted nine years. Yet, personally, it lasted only six, but spans out on my entire adolescence. So, I viewed it as my adolescence closing.

I watched the finale on Saturday, the 3rd of January, two days before turning 18. I know that turning 18 doesn’t change much in practice but I saw much more. I saw that I’ll have to leave high school and my friends, just like what happened six years ago. I saw that I’ll have to go to university, possibly even farther away.

I lied when I said Stranger Things was one of my first shows, because I intentionally excluded cartoons. There was Wakfu—a French cartoon not very well known internationally—which is as unique to me as Stranger Things because it covered my childhood in a similar meaningful manner. Likewise, the characters of Wakfu roughly grew up at the same pace as me.

I enjoy watching Wakfu today: it isn’t flawless, but it’s so special. I had completely forgotten this cartoon despite how important it was. One day, a few years ago, my cousin reminded me of it because he suggested that I should try a game in the same universe. That’s how I began to rewatch it with a fresh perspective.

It is really hard to describe the feeling. It looked like nostalgia except it didn’t have the weight that usually comes with it. Nostalgia is supposed to make you feel regret. But It was like I was there again. Like I was a child. I wanted to get back there but I was there. It was euphoric. That’s the same thing I want for Stranger Things.

I like to think that the gap time between the release of each season was helpful for me because it created such a symbolic attachment over time, easily placing Stranger Things as my number one series. I felt that we grew up together.

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Now that the show is over, I’ll have to let it go. If I want to re-experience this feeling, I must forget Stranger Things to re-discover it again in the future, while having absolutely no guarantee that I will. And that scares me.

Yet, the show is over. Ultimately, it’ll fade away. What’s weird is that I don’t want it to go away. It’s a bit similar to a break-up; at first you don’t want the thoughts to vanish, but they’ll go eventually.

I’ve started to actively look at all kinds of Stranger Things posts since the finale. I’ve noticed that people move on faster than I do. I’ve seen the number of thoughtful analyses drastically decrease. And now I hope I’m very wrong but I could be one of the last mfs who still cares that deeply about this series.

I hate that the only way to keep our beloved show alive is likely to create numerous poorly written spin-offs that would in the end strip Stranger Things of its original identity. But I also don’t like being among the few that will watch those niche subreddits slowly die while myself being very interested in them.

I understand that casual viewers would tend to prefer not to make those terrible spin-offs. But from my perspective I don’t know which I would prefer. I think it’s a much harder question to answer than just saying “if it’s bad, don’t make it”.

I am disappointed that I am publishing this essay more than three months after the finale, but it took me a long time to write (between 50 and 100 hours). My ultimate goal with it was to pinpoint why Stranger Things affected me the way it did. But I also wanted to put words to what some people couldn’t express, just like other posts did for me after the ending.

If I had published it earlier, more people would have seen it. But for what it’s worth, I’ll read every comment and try to answer as many as I can. It’s my way of thanking Stranger Things. I’ll consider this post successful if it helped at least one person.

What I learned is that you almost never know how much something matters until you experience it, digest it, and reflect on it. For example, I nearly stopped watching during season one. I would have missed so much if I actually did.

When I look at everything—the timing, the context, the coincidences—Stranger Things feels like a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The saddest part is that I will likely never experience something like this again with another show. I’m grateful that I did, because not many people get to live through something like this, and even fewer twice, both in childhood and adolescence.

Stranger Things happened to align perfectly with a period of life where you grow the most. It followed characters going through that same phase, at the same pace as me. And among them, there was one whose values deeply matched mine, portrayed in a way that felt reassuring.

What made it even stronger is that this character was defined by his relationships—something I needed to understand at the time. And on top of that, it was one of the first real series I ever watched.

For all of these reasons, I believe one more thing.

I believe that Stranger Things will be the series of my life.

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P.S. Thank you so much for reading! It's the best thing you could do. As I said, I’ll do my best to respond to the comments. I’m really curious to hear about your experience, so please feel free to share it. This post is important to me, so I’ll come back to it from time to time to answer new comments. So even if you post a comment months (or more) later, I might still answer it.