Stranger Things Season 5 Spoilers!

[Loopytiles]

So excited about this! Can’t bear to watch without spoilers first.

I also thought it was was excellent and am a little surprised by the over analysing on line, someone on here even commented it was unrealistic. I mean cmon, the whole thing is unrealistic

anyway we thought it was fab and really enjoyed it. Very watchable.

There are apparently various nods, like the handle for the electricity at the tower changes colour like the middle of the go round in Holly's playground, everyone sitting with their hands together Infront of them like Vecna at the graduation where the robes were orange as they would have been in Henry's time but you would have thought would be green and orange. I'm sure there are videos on yt, there's quite a few examples people are pointing out...I think it's clutching at straws.

I did see some funny comments about how the mid ending has turned us all into crazy Joyce from S1. I love a good conspiracy so I'm enjoying the theories but I just don't see it. If the ending was stronger I don't think people would do this. After the S4 ending (which was great) there were some theories about what was coming next but not as desperate and frenzied as some of the current theorists 😂

Well yes, ST in general is unrealistic but don't you agree it was a bit weak how easily the defeated both Vecna and the MF compared to their battles with them in previous seasons? The final battle took less than 10mins and it didn't seem like a particular struggle. That's what people mean by unrealistic .

They took Henry & the Mind Flayer by surprise so how quickly they were defeated was no surprise to me! I thought it was perfect!

I don't want to over analyse too much but why was he taken by surprise? He knew the gang was working on thwarting him. Even if he thought they couldn't make it to dimension x surely you would still think about worse case scenario. Holly, when she woke up managed to get out of DX and straight to the upside down and she's 9(?) with no prior experience. The fact that she did that he would also realise gave away his location earlier.

They were ready for the final battle. They have faced him before. They were tooled up and had a plan.

Personally I was happy with a longer epilogue than more action scenes. It's the characters I love and I loved seeing everyone's ending. I'm glad they used the time for that.

We watched it last night - absolutely loved it!

I don't agree with any of the criticisms I've seen at all - I think it was a perfect ending. I liked Mike's story, I see it as a nice way for him to cope with the reality of El's death and also to help his friends come to terms with it (and to help the audience), which is a key part of the art of good story telling.

But I do think she died. I don't think she had fully decided until she walked out and got hit by the sonic - as soon as she realised the military were more interested in capturing her than the fact they'd saved the kids, and saw her friends being held at gunpoint, she knew Kali was right and it was the only way to end it otherwise they would have always been looking for her.

She was standing just inside the gate - the sonics were all aimed at the bottom of the ramp, which is why she could use her powers and her goodbye with Mike was heartbreakingly perfect. The line up with the lyric in Purple Rain "It's such a shame our friendship had to end" as they kissed nearly broke me!

I don't see the lack of demogorgans, demodogs and demobats as a plot hole - we don't know how many of them there were, how many were in the upside down etc - the Mindflayer and Vecna would have been expecting them to attack from the bridge, not the Abyss, so it would make sense that there wouldn't be many on the planet itself. The only thing that bugged me about the final battle was how quickly they got up on those cliffs.

I did think that there was going to be another battle with the military at the end and that ultimately K would be the 'big boss' but I'm actually glad they didn't do that.

The Duffer Brothers always said that there would be spin offs but the story for this group and Hawkins was closed and I found the 45 minutes dedicated to tying up all the story lines really good.

They've left enough open ended that they can get plenty of material, without having to keep this story line going - they could have a military spin off - K could easily carry her own series with other monsters and weirdness, we will hopefully get the prequel with the story of how the scientist came to have the Mindflayer rock in the tunnels and there are 12 children who we know have innate superpowers with Derek in particular being a very popular character, so more than enough opportunity!

But it didn't take 10 minutes?

They wouldn't have killed the Mindflayer with all the guns and weapons, if El and Will hadn't taken out Vecna and they wouldn't have taken out Vecna if they hadn't got the Mindflayer distracted.

But ultimately the battle was so much more than just the final fight - it was everything they'd learned and been through to get there - it was the skills, the co-ordination and the trust in each other that have been built up over the whole of the run and certainly from S5E4 onwards.

It was Will getting into Vecna's head and getting him to doubt, it was Max living in his memories for 2 years, it was Nancy learning how to manage guns which takes time. If Nancy had offered to be the bait in season 2 or 3, they would have lost while Jonathon and Steve were arguing with her why she shouldn't do it. It was Robin's relationship with Steve and Vicky which gave her the insight to be able to talk to Will which ultimately led him to his powers and strength.

A huge battle with 100's of Demo-creatures would have been stupid and would have taken something wildly unrealistic within the context of what had gone before for them to succeed. If they had done that it would have left everyone going "Well why didn't they just do that so Bob / Eddie didn't have to die" or whatever. A bit like in LOTR when everyone says "Why didn't Gandalf just get the Eagles to fly the ring into Mordor".

The ending, even and especially, down to Joyce hacking off Vecna's head with an axe brought together all of the strands that had been woven over the past five series because ultimately, it wasn't about the Mindflayer and Vecna, it was about friendship, family, trust and belief - that is what won the day!

Really i saw the stage show and forgot about the cave. And the suitcase knowledge doesn't really throw either story

Perfect 👌

The only thing that bugged me about the final battle was how quickly they got up on those cliffs.

Agree, especially considering how slowly they all walked when they were ambling towards the mindflayer.

there are 12 children who we know have innate superpowers

??? Do we? I don't think they do, otherwise El's sacrifice was for nothing.

El was special because she was born with powers that were the same as Henry's - which is why she could defeat him and her blood would have worked where Kali's didn't (I suspect they had another story line in mind which they didn't end up exploring which would have been similar to the Harry Potter thing of El being the most powerful because of her mothers love).

But Henry also said several times that the reason he chose the 12 children in particular was because they were special. He tells Will it is because they are easily broken, but that is just to make him doubt himself. He specifically tells the children they were chosen because in his world they have powers.

The same was emphasised about Will - that he was a sorcerer not a warlock because his powers were innate and that the difference matters.

He always had the potential, but it was injesting the Mindflayer goop while hooked up in the cocoon, plus self-belief and letting go of fear that triggered those powers into something tangible. They talk about him 'borrowing' Vecna's power's because of his connection to the Hive Mind, but there is nothing to say that him or the other children can't tap into other hive mind style powers in the future.

The most likely argument is that the 'inate' power is actually belief and imagination - Will was always the most imaginative of the OG4 and the 12 that were chosen would have all had to have had imagination to believe in an 'invisible' friend at that age - they really push the imagination thing with Holly, the girl you see being picked up by the military watching the cartoon and how well Derek embraces his role in going into the military base.

It's also played through in the scene where the kids are still with Henry and he has them convinced Max is the bad guy - when they wake Holly by chanting "Back to the Light" - the similarity with Peter Pan where they bring Tinkerbell back by chanting "I do believe in Fairies, I do, I do" is obviously intentional, as is the fairytale nature of those scene's with Holly's Little Red Riding Hood / Snow White style outfit.

Agree the final battle compared to others, especially Starcourt, was weak. Yes they had a plan, weapons, surprise element etc but still it absolutely lacked the tension, peril and edge of your seat factor of old. And the barren landscape of dimension X and crusty mindflayer also looked like effects over substance. Although I loved the nod to Ripley and Alien when the minelayer had Nancy backed into the canyon and their faces almost touched.

Mmmm Bloomin, your posts are good points.

Great points @BloominNora

Although I loved the nod to Ripley and Alien when the minelayer had Nancy backed into the canyon and their faces almost touched.

@tellmewhenthespaceshiplandscoz - the 80's film references - explicit and implicit were off the charts good - right from the first season. ET, Tron, Goonies, Alien and Aliens, Terminator 2 (Ok - that was 91 but close enough 😀), Never Ending Story, War Games, Star Wars, Back to the Future, Rambo, Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Predator, Scanners, Dune - it really was a love letter to 80's pop culture!

Agree!

Because of you I've been tumbling down rabbit holes... I almost managed to convince myself 😂 have really enjoyed reading all the thoughts about it.

I don't think it will happen but the videos are really interesting. I definitely started second guessing 😆

The duffer brothers just wasn't going to please everyone.
I loved the whole series and took it for the coming of age, nostalgia that it was.

Of course there were bits that annoyed me and plot holes.
I think El not having a proper ending annoyed me the most but that is because I hate ambiguous endings and find it hard to move on if there is.

But I loved the coming together of different generations, the theory's even though some were absolutely bat shit lol that is what I will miss the most.

I will not be watching the documentary on behind the scenes because I want the magic to stay just how it is.

Can you imagine all these people who sent money on the cinema showing to be surpriseeee its all fake! Some of the fans are so intense!

For me ending was fine but you knew there was no real danger to any character whereas previous seasons there was. But least they didnt kill people off for the sake of it

It would have been a epic twist though - I don't think people would have minded spending the money.

But, as much as I would love to see another episode, the only way it would have worked was if major characters died, and I didn't want that. Have enjoyed it all.

From what I have seen the money they paid for tickets was refunded back into vouchers for confectionery.

Im glad they didn't kill of people for the thrill of it, takes a lot to do that as it needs to carry the show without that.

My son was disappointed that none of the main cast was killed though.

Yes, the "tickets" were $11 and for that we got a concession voucher of equal value

I would of loved to have watched the final in cinemas here.