I’m almost never on this site anymore but after finishing season 5 of stranger things (i know, late to the party), I just had to put a rant out there. it’s been years since I’ve seen season 1-4, so I did have to refresh a little, but it’s clear the writing for this season wasn’t really up to fan expectations 😭 and for a good reason because I wouldn’t say I’m too much of a diehard but what they did with the ending was like bruh this can’t be canon 😭. it’s like they had a sitdown with the writers of GOT season 8 and tried to learn how to end a show from them. like yo next time lowkey go learn from vince gilligan
anyways i haven’t done the whole Reddit deep dive yet so i’m just basing my opinion off what i thought while watching the show and some youtube comments that agree.
first of all, missed opportunities all around, especially with mike. like i genuinely believe it should have been canon for vecna to take him and for a highlight of the season to have been relationship dynamics between him, el, and will. there’s a whole youtube video on this and i strongly support that version of s5. will can still have the whole being connected to vecna thing, holly could have been a trap to “lure” mike, and we still could’ve seen amazing acting and badass moments from both just with more nuance, more plot twists, and more emotional tension all around. plus, with the whole d&d theme going on, it would’ve been really cool to see vecna turn the storyteller of the group into his pawn/vessel and there being a whole extended plotline where vecna’s plans to get back at the party and the party’s reactions could be acted through a mike memory of them playing d&d and a whole imaginary campaign in this head, except it’s happening irl (i saw this on youtube and i think that would have been wayyy cooler plot line than the 12 children which the show didn’t expand on or explain either). plus with this route we can get more interactions with mike and max which would have been another fun dynamic to explore.
next, will seemed to be selectively connected to the hive mind? i think it’s really cool that will realizes he can use his powers because he’s connected to the hive, but it made no sense that he miraculously disconnected during the final fight and survived until the very end. i love will’s character, but plot wise, it didn’t make sense if he was connected and mysteriously disconnected. maybe he does survive by some miracle or el does something, but i truly did want the scene where joyce is hacking away at vecna’s head to be a moment of intense pain for will because he was still connected to vecna. and it would have been an intense, raw emotional moment for joyce to finish the job, fighting the pleas of her son to kill her most hated enemy. again, saw this on youtube too but was exactly my thoughts when watching the show.
and not to mention, the science is just like HUH??? like they didn’t even try to bullshit some physics that could maybe make sense theoretically. they literally get a high school physics teacher in on the team, but he contributes nothing beyond agreeing the abyss is a realm of total evil and that it’s a whole wormhole deal. like with the whole “worlds colliding” thing, their theory being “correct” seemed pretty lucky to me given that steve was just guessing and had no physics fact checkers on his “theory.” horrible missed opportunity to actually make something make sense.
and vecna’s backstory and eventual hiding place in the abyss was kind of lackluster. vecna’s backstory was giving muzan from demon slayer… could’ve developed it more. and dropped more lore about everything. also the abyss not even looking cold to me was strange if they thrived in freezing environments…? and what happened to the mind flayer basically being like an omnipotent cthulhu-like eldritch horror who had far greater powers? why was it so easy to end all the evil 💀
tbh watching that fight lowkey gave me flashbacks to GOT final season fight against the whitewalkers.
lastly, having el kill vecna makes no sense to me. i think will was the one being set up to do it and that it should have been him. or at least, have had a major part in it before collapsing and joyce attempting to finish the job, but having to deal with realizing that will was still “connected” to the hive. it would’ve been an incredibly cinematic moment to have vecna attempt to get at the party one last time by showing joyce her worst fears, causing her to hesitate before she ultimately overcomes him and kills him.
but yeah, there’s a lot more plot holes beyond this. i wish the version the fans have was canon because 😭😭😭 this cannot be real. I NEED A GOOD FANFIC !!!!!
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