Regardless of how good your show has been, there’s always a sense that everyone still hangs almost entirely on the finale. You may have delivered one of the greatest shows in history, but if you fumble the ball, fail to stick the landing or any other deal cinching metaphors you’d care to name, that’s the first thing people will remember. Thankfully, the season finale of Stranger Things seems to know this fact extremely well as its entire episode count has been specifically building to this exact moment.
It’s no accident that the show contains separate characters each with their own hangups all gradually united by the mystery of a missing local boy and it certainly isn’t by fortuitous happenstance that the sci-fi conspiracy that binds them unknowingly together has been steadily contracting with every episode, but as we reach the climax, there’s a definite feeling that I needed the show to pull this off and not drop the ball.
After using Eleven to get concrete evidence that Will is still alive in the Upside Down, Hopper and Joyce’s attempt to break into Dr. Brenner’s secret lab seems doomed from the get-go when they are instantly caught. However, managing to pivot the situation, Hopper makes a deal: allow him and Joyce to suit up and venture into the other, slimier dimension to locate her son and he’ll not only keep their secret, but he’ll even give them the location of Eleven. Brenner, desperate to get his favorite experiment back, agrees and before you know it, the housewife and the small town cop are clad in hazmat suits and entering the Upside Down while the Dr and his goons race to the local school.
Meanwhile, defying Hopper’s orders, Jonathan and Nancy have headed back to the Byers house to set their trap for the Demogorgon, but find their mission hampered by a regretful Steve Harrington who suddenly turns up to apologize to his ex-girlfriend for his recent, shitty behavior. Unknowingly stumbling into a multidimensional monster hunt, rather than getting slaughtered like most crappy boyfriends do in this situation, he actually proves to be of aid despite screeching in horror through most of it. However, while the Demogorgon is shot, battered and set on fire, it manages to escape, which is exactly when Brenner shows up at the school to take back Eleven.
However, while weakened by using her powers to communicate with Will, she still has enough juice to start snapping necks and popping brains, but while the boys flee the men chasing them, the blood shed draws the wounded Demogorgon to them. Can the Demogorgon be vanquished? Will Will be found? And even if all this happens, can all involved manage to be able to move beyond the many strange things that have recently occured?
I was rooting for this show for many reasons; the 80s obsession; vast homages turned plot devices; insanely likable characters; cool Lovecraftian shit – but the main thing that drew me in was the fact that unlike many other mystery shows that deliberately sustain the secrets far beyond what our patience will allow, Stranger Things was actually building to something that was an actual ending. The promise of a shower of payoff and a spritz of closure meant that I could get fully invested in things without having to run head first into a massive cliffhanger that just deal.out more questions. To their credit, The Duffer Brothers do give us a definite ending only lightly tempered by a couple of last second stings, which highly ramps up the enjoyment. In a world crammed full of popular entertainment that often seems more interested in showcasing the next installment rather than taking care of the story it’s currently telling, it’s refreshing that by the end credits, the Demogorgon is dead, Will is returned home alive (tough break, Barb) and Dr. Brenner has gotten his just desserts at the claws of the very creature his experiments have brought into this world. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t get onimous teases for a second season, but then what kind of 80s inspired, sci-fi horror show would it be without a little tease here and there.
Anyway, rather than speeding through the action of the finale, the Duffers ensure that the emotional resonance the season has build up doesn’t go to waste. Yes, most of Hopper and Joyce’s arc involves them creeping through the misshapen landscape of the Upside Down which looks like the Xenomorph from Alien has thrown up all over Silent Hill, but all those flashbacks to Hopper’s dead child come rushing back when he has to desperately resuscitate Will after they retrieve him from a grotesque cocoon. Not only to the images of doctors failing to resuscitate little Sara give the moment some extra emotional punch, but it actually succeeds in making you feel that there’s actually a chance that Will might not make it (I mean, if Stephen King could kill the kid in Cujo…).
Another unexpected surprise is the ascension of Steve Harrington, who switches from shallow prick, to scared comic relief, to certified monster hunter in a single sequence. In any other show or movie, Steve and his remarkable hair would have been earmarked for being turned into monster scat the second he launched a smear campaign against his own girlfriend, but in an unforeseen twist, the dude actually survives and is even still dating Nancy when we jump ahead a month to wrap things up. This leaves Eleven, who in order to save her friends from a mess she technically created by accident, seemingly sacrifices herself by battling the Demogorgon despite her powers being at such a low ebb. While this is one of the plot points that turns out to be a bit more predictable (even E.T. didn’t stick around for the end credits), a little tease suggests that she’s alive, hopefully well and being left food and Eggos in a drop box by Hopper.
So all’s well that ends well and even though there’s a few niggling points here and there (I can’t be the only one who thought Brenner deserved a far nastier fate than just being dragged off screen by the Demogorgon), Stranger Things manages to bring everything home in a manner that’s immensely satisfying while still pulling that old trick that things are only back to normal on the surface. But be it thoughtful looks from Nancy that suggest Steve isn’t the one she wants to be with to the alarming sight of Will coughing up unearthly worms and having flashes of the Upside Down and keeping it all to himself, it’s obvious that we’re not done yet when it comes to the freakier aspects of Hawkins.
Stranger Things punches it’s ticket with a finale that somehow manages to not only deliver the ending we all wanted while simultaneously delivering some truly unexpected moments. With further mysteries due to be unearthed in Season 2, the Duffer Brothers and one of the most likable casts in television can congratulate themselves on a season that does pretty much everything a show like Stranger Things needs to do to crack the big time. But for now, it’s time to pack away the D&D playing board, because the quest is mostly over.
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
We Have Issues 