The Right Side Up (So Long, Stranger Things)
ok, so. that was the final season and series finale. 10 years and 5 seasons and countless waffles and lots of great music.
I thought it was good. It had a lot of amazing elements, nostalgia and bittersweetness and some well written conclusions, but half the time it also felt off. Not outright bad or wrong, just off, the finale didn't hit dead center for me.
It felt like a really long, well written epic fanfic. I'm not sure how else to explain it - there was a lot of exposition and a lot of fanservice character interactions that the narrative probably didn't need and it made the story feel bloated, but the kind of bloated you get after eating Thanksgiving dinner. It's a wanted bloat, you just want more. Which is what fanfic is good for, but not necessarily professional tv storytelling. Best example is probably Will's big coming out scene - very emotionally satisfying but unrealistic for the time and setting and context, especially as it was set up in the first season. One could argue that Will needed to unburden himself to better mentally fight, but did he really need to do so at that time to anyone other than his mom and Mike? Is he really angst-ing over whether Murray will accept him or not? (Buffy did both things better - the reactions of friends when coming out, and having epiphanies/revelations at bad times.) This the point in the fanfic where you go, oh ok, this key 1980s scene was definitely written in the 2020s by a young person. Cue all the arguments about media literacy and personal catharsis for the author.
Also the final boss of the Abyss Spider was underwhelming and disappointing; all these years of trauma drama for Space Shelob and a bunch of teenagers kill it in less than 10 minutes? That's an entire thesis unto itself in unpacking, because the Duffers did set that up all the way back in S2 and re-enforced it every season since, but the payoff fizzled.
It was still a thousand times better than the GoT finale, and a hundred times better than the HIMYM finale.
Few things off the top of my head that were definitely 10/10:
Jamie Campbell Bower as Vecna/Henry/001 - a story is only as good as it's villain and this one had a few, but the main baddy was, is, and will always be Vecna. And he fucking nailed it. Master performance. The writing managed to be on par for the acting which surprised me, and I loved that we saw Henry's humanity and Vecna's rejection of his humanity. He couldn't deal with being a victim; he chose evil and made himself believe he was in a symbiotic relationship. Not everyone can or should be redeemed.
Robin Buckley - her character arc was really well written and well acted. Even after S4 I felt like I didn't really have a grip on her character and I struggled writing her voice in my one ST fanfic, but I think I know her now. Maybe because she finally found her own voice. :) Maya Hawke, who's not just an actress but a voice actress, was perfect as a radio DJ. It was a narrative set up to give that voiceover at the end to help wrap things up, and it worked. (Plus, Vickie was used sparingly but to great effect.)
The Squawk - great narrative circle to all the radios and cassette tapes of music used throughout the series. I loved how it was secretly a way to send messages to the party, the setting for that entertaining testosterone fueled climb, it became a base of operations, and was where Robin was meant to end up.
Will Got Powers - let's fucking go! I don't care if they were only Vecna-adjacent, I love a come-full-circle victim hitting back, if Mike can imagine a hopeful ending for El then I can imagine Will still has a spark of some power after S5. I choose to believe in movie Matilda ending over book Matilda ending, sorry not sorry.
Exotic Matter Building Top Phenomena - after a decade of creepy tentacle flesh biohazard stuff in 99% of the Upside Down, this was something different and creative and just as disturbing. The corpses were scary AF.
Nancy & Jonathan Adulting - you had Eddie egging on Steve and Murray egging on Jonathan, but in they end there was a reason they worked so well together. And that thoughtful maturity was what let them work things out to part on good terms (and leave room for getting back together way in the future, maybe.) The stupid love triangle is dead, long may it not reign.
Karen Wheeler is a BAMF as expected - she finally is let in on the secret and we see where all of her children get it from. How much more could've been accomplished if she'd been in on everything from the start?
Dare I explore tumblr and read other finale musings... I already know the internet is divided, it's either Pure Cinema or Pure Garbage and the Byler fans are crashing out. Whatever, I was happy enough to see Mr. Clarke again. The real Lord of the entire series!
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