Stranger Things S05Ep 08- FULL REACTION

I really liked this season and the finale. I know many were negative on it and my opinion isn't the most popular, but I understood the choices they made, even if wasn't the 'happily ever after' ending we wanted. I choose to believe Mike's version of the events. I don't know, maybe I just WANT to believe it, or maybe I'm an optimist.

I’ve heard all the arguments and gone back and forth on whether or not “I believed” and just couldn’t make up my mind so I decided weeks ago to let you make up my mind for me. Sophie says El lives; she lives. 🥹 Thank you for another great series! 🖤🖤

I love how they brought El's training into her last fight with Vecna. Her whole training was about being creative/agile and jumping and dodging stuff and being quick and they brought all of that into the fight. So badass! Also they don't really confirm it but I've felt like Will's connection to the Upside Down shifted once he found out about his powers. I think there's a psychological thing where he learned about his powers, honed those powers and then the side effects became manageable or negligible as a result. Some people felt like the fight scene was too short but I disagree for many reasons. For one, it wasn't too short when you consider that this very fight began at the beginning of this episode when El stopped him from combining the two universes. You could also make the argument that the fight began years and years prior when El and Henry were in the lab and they had that fight where El banished Vecna to the abyss in the first place. This is just one battle in a big fight and it was epic conclusion to that fight.

I don't think El is alive. I think Mike needs that theory to kind of accept what happened and move on. I don't see El leaving her friends behind, at least not without telling them that she's fine. Also, there's no way Kali could be alive and perform the illusion; her injuries were severe.

Let’s go: The scientist with the briefcase is nothing more than a fugitive scientist carrying a piece of dark matter from Dimension X, the Abyss in the series. This dark matter (stone) was obtained after an experiment conducted by Doctor Branner’s father. The experiment is basically a reinterpretation of the conspiracy theory surrounding the Philadelphia Experiment; the story only modifies a few details by making Doctor Branner’s father the one who led the experiment. Long story short, Doctor Branner’s father was the only survivor. He suffered consequences, since his temporary journey to Dimension X (the Abyss) altered his blood. Doctor Branner spent his entire life studying and trying to recreate his father’s experiment, mainly by conducting tests with this remnant of dark matter (the stone). Until the cave scientist steals it and escapes. Henry finds him; he is paranoid because he thinks he might be a Russian or Chinese spy, or whatever, pretending to have an interest in the stone. And well, you already know the result. Henry is marked by the Mind Flayer and gains his powers. This is what happens in the Stranger Things play, so it's not a theory, missunformation or spoiler, it's canon. And the Duff Brothers (the creators of the series) told that in many interviews.

One of the things that was a shot in the creators’ own foot was the fact that they made the play. Instead of creating a totally parallel and random story for the play, they decided to retcon and make a story about Henry, based on the events of Season 4 and his backstory. I say it was a shot in their own foot because the play is basically the entire story, plot, and arc of Season 5, since it emphasizes that the Mind Flayer has been the main villain from the beginning and was questioning and leading Henry to the dark side. But instead of recording and releasing the play before the launch of Season 5 so that everyone could have access to it, or at least publishing a book with the script of the play, they didn’t do that. I didn’t see it myself, but I followed it, so I already had an idea of what happens and can understand the plot holes. However, people like you, for example, who didn’t see it, don’t have those answers. Another thing that hurt them was that they didn’t know how to introduce and develop the play the way they should have. It was necessary for us to have a good portion of the play’s events throughout the entire season through flashbacks, using Max as a conduit so we could access those memories, because again, a large part of the audience DID NOT SEE THE PLAY. But that’s something they didn’t do. My problem with this season is how they tried to put in too many things. Even though the concept of the Abyss and the Upside Down being a bridge is interesting, we didn’t need that. We won’t have time to explore it in all the necessary layers since it’s THE LAST SEASON. And honestly, at least as a fan, I never felt like we needed an explanation. And if we did, they could have gone with something simpler, like String Theory, and just said it was merely an overlapping parallel dimension/reality, period. I always thought it was a parallel reality we shouldn’t have access to, but we did because of El. Another thing: I understand the symbolism of twelve—twelve hours, twelve months, even the twelve apostles—a very symbolic number indeed. But as a creator, are you really going to introduce twelve children in the final season of the series? Because that takes screen time. Time that we need not only to conclude the characters’ arcs but also the entire arc of the villain and the series itself. I think they could have reduced it to three children: Holly, Derick, and Holly’s best friend. Eleven was very harmed by the writing in this series. It’s as if they tried to erase her as much as possible—and no! It’s the last season! We should have her as close to her friends as possible, especially if the focus was to kill her in the end. This season was harmed by the accumulation of excess in the script, lack of development and organization, and that excess could have been contained if the creators had revised the script. The script is the fundamental device in cinema (we learned that in class). You can save poor direction or poor production, especially in terms of budget if you didn’t have much investment, but you cannot save a bad script. Everyone will read the script, even the makeup artist, since makeup is important to emphasize the character’s subjectivity (emotions, intentions, arc, etc.). So everyone on set depends on the script, and I don’t think Millie (El's Actress) was able to deliver a phenomenal performance like in the other four seasons because, in the middle of filming, the creators (the Duffer Brothers) were writing or rewriting the script during the actual scene shooting, which is UNACCEPTABLE.

“Life has been so unfair to you” then proceed to kill her off. What an absolute dumpster fire of an ending. They made her form friendships, fall in love and gain a family, to show that she’s a person and not a weapon like she was made to believe by her abusers. Her journey wasn’t about saving the world but about finding her place in it. Only to undo her entire arc and emphasise that she was, in fact, a mere l weapon all along by having her sacrifice herself because she can’t escape and is innately harmful because of her blood. After suffering years of abuse and dehumanization the solution for the exploited, disabled, bullied 16 year old girl was to commit suicide because her existence is a burden. What a disgusting message to send to your viewers. It’s bio determinism, anti recovery and a pro suicide narrative framed as realism. Max skateboarding in the epilogue after going blind + having all her limps snapped clean in two and graduating despite having been in a coma for 2 years. Will being unaffected when Henry died despite his connection to the hive mind. Hopper and Nancy facing 0 legal repercussions after mass murdering soldiers and Hopper just continuing being chief of police. But El running away with Mike and hiding until the military dismantles the operation is what’s unrealistic according to the Duffers. Mind you she successfully hid herself for the entirety of s2 and even when she went to a public school in s4 the government still couldn’t find her. Speaking of Mike, he lost every ounce of character development since the writers legitimized all his fears and concerns ruining yet another character arc. S3 Mike was right they all did treat her like a machine in the end. Hopper framing El’s suicide as a choice and telling Mike to move on as well as the implication he only saw her as a replacement for Sara when El returned the bracelet. Dustin and Max mourned the senior drug dealer and racist step brother longer than they did El. Not even a single mention about her in his speech. This season/finale was full of plotholes, retcons and inconsistencies but the worst decision of the writers was betraying its theme. A show meant to celebrate outcasts had the biggest outcast kill herself. Anyways I’m glad this shitshow ended and would like to give props to whoever the ghostwriter was for the earlier seasons because there’s no way the people who wrote this mess are the same ones that wrote s1.

Ya the last half of this season was a long, jumbled, chaotic story with too many characters and some odd scene choices. I don't hate it or anything hte way a lot of people seem to...but it wasn't as strong as it could have been for me. However, I'm in agreement with others that they nailed the last 5-10 minutes w/ the goodbyes and the acting and the tears and the flash forwards. And the theme music coming back at the end? amazing. really hits u in the feels how fast time flies by. I feel like Stranger things was Gen Z's Harry potter franchise where you got to see the children grow up to be young adults.

A very uneven(and maybe unnecessary) season, but that little epilogue saved it. They went back to the early theme: the nostalgia and innocence of childhood, the way it deals so differently with fear and uncertainty. Love that.

Since you asked, the origin of the rock will be explored in a live-action spin-off. It will take place in a different town and time period, and will have its own lore and mythology. As for the episode itself here is some behind-the-scenes information. The last scene was always planned as the main party leaving the basement. The movie Max and Lucas watch in their brief flashforward is the supernatural romance drama Ghost (1990) very good film that very much makes sense as the movie date for them. Only the duffers and Millie Bobby Brown know Eleven’s true fate which is purposely left ambiguous so the audience can decide for themselves. The Prince songs used in the final episode are the first time ANY of his songs have ever been used in another Tv show.

After hearing your take on Vecna i really would love for you to watch the anime My Hero Academia

Yeah, as you said, a lot of unanswered things and plot holes. But all in all, not a bad ending. I don't know if you noticed, but the girl that asked Dustin to come to the party was that same girl that refused to dance with him back in S2 finale (when Nancy danced with him). Also, when Karen called Joyce to tell her she doesn't know where Mike is, it's a throwback to S1 when Joyce called her to ask about Will. Pretty much the same words 😁 As for Eleven, we don't know if she's alive or not. We hope that she is, but we have no confirmation. The only ones who know are the Duffer brothers and Millie (who btw has been instructed to not tell Noah the truth because he can't keep a secret 🤣). The story Mike said makes sense on one hand, but on the other, I mean, Kali was very far away from Eleven, so can she really reach that far away, especially because she was basically half dead already from getting shot. So it's kinda questionable if she was able to reach that far in her state. But, as pretty much everyone, I believe 🙏🏻 Here's a bummer. Dr. Kay is alive 😑 They should've killed her, but no. She is alive. And somehow, the military released all of them. I get that there was no reason to keep them (since the idiots wanted Eleven), but still, they got released pretty easy.