Stranger Things will be remembered for this
So. My thoughts. Where do I even begin?
First, I want to say that not only was this the most disgusting queerbait I’ve ever had the misfortune of experiencing or witnessing, but this entire season was perhaps the most sloppy, most unsatisfactory and underwhelming conclusions to a show I have ever seen. No, I’m not being dramatic.
Byler aside, and I will get to that, but byler aside, this was a travesty of plot and character alike. A train wreck in slow motion. Who the fuck greenlit this?
This story was once compelling. Unique. Interesting with the perfect amount of mystery to keep viewers invested. And this final season failed to answer practically all questions audiences had for the last decade. What is the upside down? Apparently a wormhole, never mind that they never elaborate on this at all, we have marvel action sequences to film!
How does the upside down look like a mirror of Hawkins? Who the fuck knows. Why was Will taken? Who knows! What did Hopper discuss with Brenner and the other lab people in s1? Who knows! How did Will call Joyce on the phone and do all of the other things we saw in s1? Who knows! Every single question you could entertain, they provide no explanation. Why? Because the writers probably had no clue themselves, and nothing makes that more apparent than this so called finale.
Next, the characters. Christ alive, the characters. We spent 10 years building up two different love triangles that amounted in absolutely nothing. Who writes something like that? Genuinely what was the point? That’s the thing, there was no point. The writers didn’t know what to do with any of these characters or their complex relationships, so they decided to do nothing at all.
They claimed they were not going to leave anything ambiguous, and yet the entire story, the supernatural plot and the character conclusions was left nothing but. It is astounding to me, almost unthinkable to me, that people sat down and wrote this and thought it was a good conclusion. As a writer myself, as someone who has been storytelling since I was 10 years old and as someone who is truly and deeply passionate about the craft, I am speechless. In fact, speechless doesn’t even begin to cover it. I am in disbelief, more like it.
I think as far as characters go, no character is decimated quite like Mike Wheeler. So, his conclusion is what exactly? Misery forever? Absolutely nothing about his actions throughout the show make sense narratively. He quite literally is a nothingburger character if there ever were one. It’s a damn tragedy to me, a total waste of potential. Had they actually written Mike and El’s relationship to be compelling in any sense of the word, perhaps I would have given a damn when El had her whole bullshit monologue and suicide.
Scratch that, we don’t even know if she died. Again, ambiguous bullshit to cop-out for the fact that they didn’t know what to do with her character.
Onto byler, the elephant in the room. Bylers, do not ever let anyone make you feel stupid, or crazy. This was queerbait, to a degree I have never witnessed until now. Malicious and disgusting, and above all cowardly. We did not even get a confrontation or discussion between Mike and Will about Will’s feelings for him. They were such pussies that they could not even do that much. It’s absolutely ridiculous. I could say more on this topic, but I will leave it at this: I genuinely hope this destroys their careers irreversibly. No matter what you ship or what you like or don’t like, they did indeed bait queer viewers, and they baited everyone else too by refusing to elaborate on the relationships Mike had with El and Will. It was again, a travesty for all three characters, a goddamn assassination. 3 for 3 in one go. Do I have to repeat myself? I’m speechless.
This show will be remembered for this. It will be remembered only for this ending. Rarely do shows stick the landing and have satisfying finales. I can count only a few on my fingers. Breaking Bad, probably the best show ever written. Better Call Saul? Arguably even better. ATLA? Amazing. TLoK, though it had some flaws, was also still wonderful. Death Note? Iconic. These are some of my favorite stories, as a lover of writing. I love good storytelling, at the end of the day. I love compelling plots and characters with depth, with meat to them and something to ponder and discuss with others.
Stranger Things? Hollow, lacking in soul and heart all across the board, from the characters to the relationships to the overall plot.
This was quite literally the worst series finale to any media I think I’ve ever seen. It shocks me to my core. It’s so bad that it retroactively destroys the entire series leading up to it. I feel sorry for the actors, who deserved a better conclusion. I feel sorry for the time we all wasted on this. And most of all, I feel sorry for the fans. All of us, no matter your favorite character, ship etc.
We the fans deserved better. And that thought, and that thought alone, is what I will think for the remainder of my life in connection to this show. And that makes me sad, more than anything.
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