Last warning: Spoilers ahead…
Doesn’t everyone have a Stranger Things throw pillow?
For five seasons and ten years, Stranger Things served its viewers a science fiction coming-of-age/coming out story wrapped up in 1980s Dungeons and Dragons and NeverEnding Story goodness. Those of us who actually grew up in the 80s recognized the fashion, the music, the hair, and we luxuriated in the nostalgia of it all, while worrying about the safety of our favorite characters (STEVE!) and how it was all going to end.
And that’s when the Duffer Brothers pulled off the biggest twist, the most totally tubular 1980s move of all. They gave us a happily-ever-after.
For the past decade or so (in fact, I might argue as far back as Buffy, Season 5), contemporary ‘prestige’ programming has outdone itself in its attempts to break loyal viewers hearts in the series finale. Breaking Bad, Six Feet Under, Sons of Anarchy, Killing Eve, We Were Liars… showrunners love to make us fall in love with characters only to snatch them away from us in a series’ final moments.
But true to its John Hughesian roots, Stranger Things went to great lengths (a 45-minute epilogue) to assure its viewers that each of our favorite characters (STEVE!) made it out of Hawkins okay.
Did it all make perfect sense? No (Don’t think too hard about the military presence and what happened after that final bad-ass showdown).
Did we have another Eddie Munson-level grand sacrifice for the good of all? Yes (But we all saw that coming, right? Why else bring back a not-terribly-well-received character from season 2 if not to die nobly?).
Did we get a Lost/Sopranos type interpretation moment of a main character’s fate? Yes (She’s hiking waterfalls, y’all, and I won’t be taking questions).
But did everything ELSE work out okay? Abso-posi-lutely. We got Dustin’s graduation homage to Eddie. We got a rooftop Reality Bites callback. We got a proposal! We got Will living his truth! All our heroes (STEVE!) got to live.
And that, my friends, is how you do a series finale, 1980s-style.
Thank you, Stranger Things, for bringing the best of the 80s back. You are bitchin'.
Want more 80s nostalgia in your life? Check out my 80s Pinterest board.