What did I think of it?
This was as perfect an ending to a story as The Lord of the Rings had. I am soooo not kidding.
The final scenes... wow. I was almost in tears. Those nearly came after everything else that preceded it in this very last episode of Stranger Things.
I feel like it's the end of a journey for me. This show, which I first discovered while staying in a hotel in Albuquerque in September of 2016, has been a part of my life ever since then. I became a true believer in this story and its wonderful characters. And now the story is done and... I don't quite know what to do now. I feared this would happen. Stranger Things has been the one thing of pop culture that I've held onto for almost a decade and now it's ended. That is an enormous void that it's leaving in my time on this earth. It's like a part of my youth peacefully passed away tonight.
Well, like is said at one point in this final episode, there are two paths to take. I am going to choose the one that leads away from the sadness. I am going to choose life. Just as I've always been trying to do.
I think I needed to see this episode. More to the point, I think that I needed this show. What a ride it has been!
One of the greatest endings to a story in the history of anything. I'm going to have to watch it again, after my brain calms down.
Dear Duffer Brothers: Thank you for sharing this story with us. I for one feel all the better for being along for where you took us. And I wish you well in your future endeavors.
It was amazing, in vast part. The final battle could have been longer. Vecna was beaten too easily. I wanted to see the abyss/upside down start merging with the earth and upping the stakes. And I think a lot of us want resolution about Eleven. That wasn't fair to Mike and the rest of her friends. Overall a very good ending, I'll give it 4 out of 5.
ReplyDeleteSPOILER ALERT!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe battle was good. It made sense. The group was distracting the mind flayer and they lasted long enough for Eleven to arrive and take it on. Then Eleven entered the mind flayer and took on Vecna. She was strong enough to hold her own his time and Will was tapping into the hive mind giving her an assist. It was two powerhouses against the bad guy and Vecna went down. Then while he was impaled on the spire the group arrived inside the chamber and that's when Joyce went all "avenging angel" on Vecna and delivered the final blows that made *damn* sure he was dead.
It was an epic battle that lasted plenty long enough. Stranger Things is among other things a homage to the Eighties and the final battle lasted as long as a fight against the bad guy in movies from that era, if not more so. And I'm finding myself comparing the fight against Vecna/mind flayer to be longer and more epic than Jack and Kate's fight against the Man in Black on the show Lost. That fight was certainly high-stakes: if the Man in Black had succeeded it would have meant the end of humanity as we know it to say nothing of the planet. In this final battle on Stranger Things the group was fighting for the fate of the earth, too.
The last fight against Vecna satisfied me in every way. I can't find any way to improve on it.
Re: Eleven's fate. I've no idea if she somehow survived. But I'm going to do as Mike and the party did and choose to believe. They have hope. They choose to cling to that hope and they are finding that there is *happiness* in that hope. Who knows, maybe someday Eleven will return. But if not then Mike can believe that she found happiness too, now beyond the reach of those who would try to use her as Brenner did and Kay then sought to do.
Not every ending needs or even deserves to be written out or shown to us. Sometimes less is more. And I can be content with my private interpretation of the final scene and what the party chooses to believe about Eleven.
Wow!! So much to unpack from this finale! It's going to be something we'll be discussing and debating about for a very long time to come. But that's a good thing. This was a very good show and it went out in fitting fashion. Just as The Lord of the Rings did.
I'm happy with it. And I think that most other people will be happy with it too. I'll give it five stars out of five. It was spot on perfect. Especially the last hour.