Driving an hour away to a movie theater was not something I had planned on doing for New Year’s, but it was almost necessary, since it was the last episode of my favorite show. I have been watching Stranger Things for five years now, since I was eleven, which is ironic because that is the age the Hawkins kids started in the show. Knowing that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, I spent my time searching for a theatre that wasn’t sold out because practically all of Cedar Park was booked. To my surprise, I got a text from my aunt, saying that she was going, and that’s how I ended up in a Cinemark in South Austin on Jan. 1. 

Sitting in my luxury lounger, my body was physically shaking with anticipation as I saw the Netflix intro flash across the screen. I remember thinking about all the conspiracy theories and which ones might be the most accurate, but my mind was stuck on the Wrinkle in Time theory. This theory uses parallels from the book’s characters to match characters like Vecna being the “Black Thing.”

In my previous article, I mentioned how I knew it was going to end with Will, which is definitely true, because of his newfound power to hack into the hive mind. After finishing watching it, the impact he had was not as big as I was expecting, and Eleven basically took all the attention when killing Vecna. Will’s character arc felt so rushed and he was almost treated like the last resort to finally ending it all. That would be one of my biggest complaints, as well as the short amount of time (15 minutes) of them completely defeating the mindflayer and Vecna. 

Another theory I had discussed was Steve dying, which, after watching, was a close call, but I knew the Duffers brothers wouldn’t let that happen. Of course, he lives another day, but it for sure gave me a heart attack when he almost fell off the tower at the Squawk. 

Tying back into Max’s fate, I was so happy when she finally escaped Vecna’s mind and woke up out of her “coma”. Her and Lucas back together again healed my heart, and honestly, I didn’t care what would happen after that. I loved how involved she was with the kids, who were also trapped in Vecna’s illusions, and the fact that she went back into his memories with Eleven and Kali to help them get out was awe-inspiring. I think Max and Holly being a duo was such an unexpected pair, but it was definitely interesting to see. Holly’s role this season was actually so impressive that I didn’t realize how important she would be to defeating Vecna and ultimately leaving the abyss, where her and the other kids’ bodies were held. 

Speaking of Abyss, I was so confused when unraveling what it was, but breaking down the ideology of a wormhole, or the so-called “bridge” helped me to connect the dots. Basically, the upside-down is the bridge between two dimensions, one being earth and the other being dimension X (the Abyss). The Abyss is where everything began for Vecna, where his powers originated, and that’s all the information we viewers know. The Mind Flayer acts as his “base,” where he operates within its structure and stays in his hivemind-state as Henry. The whole idea was to stop the abyss from colliding with Earth, which was Vecna’s master plan, but for some reason, Kali decides that her and Eleven need to die so their bloodline doesn’t keep the cycle going, trauma in all. 

I thought the “sacrifice” situation was absurd because Eleven deserves a happy ending, she has been through so much, and it felt like Kali was just another distraction to manipulate her. I found Kali suspicious from the moment she returned, but now I have realized that Kali was actually planning to cast a spell to save Eleven, which could or could not be true, but to me, the evidence is pretty clear.  

Another part of the sacrifice that absolutely tortured me was Mike’s reaction. Mike has been my all-time favorite character since day 1 of watching Stranger Things, but he is so overhated and overlooked. Have we forgotten that he was the one who took Eleven in? He literally brought her into their friend group, and he truly is the heart. With their relationship being distant for the past season, I was not really expecting a whole lot from them because for the most part, they have been acting like their friendship is forced, and it’s like they went from being awkward to being siblings. But as soon as the “purple rain” scene happened, I forgot all about it and remembered what it’s been like all along. I broke down into tears. It was such an emotional moment; even though it was a sad goodbye, it was satisfying to me. 

When the ending jumped forward to 18 months later, and played “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac in the background, I couldn’t help but tear up again. It was nice to see that everyone was back to their normal lives, even though they never really had one. It was questionable that Mike, Will, Max, Lucas and Dustin were all graduating, since they weren’t even at school half the time. Even though Dustin being the valedictorian was pretty cool, it didn’t really make sense. After watching them get invited to Stacy’s post-graduation party and Mike coming up with the “bright” idea to play Dungeons and Dragons instead, I got so mad. I would’ve gone to that party, like “are we serious?” Anyways, I think he did it on purpose, so that he could tell them about what he really thinks happened to Eleven, which he became aware of at graduation. 

After Dustin’s speech, we see Mike listening to the vibrations of the speakers. As he’s having a flashback to what Eleven’s kryptonite sounded like, he realizes that Eleven wouldn’t have been able to stand anywhere near the military’s equipment in order to sacrifice herself. That’s how Mike comes to the conclusion that she is still alive, and it was all an illusion. Some think it was just a way for him to cope with the thought of her dying, but I disagree. All in all, the Duffer Brothers wrapped up the ending nicely, even though a lot still goes unanswered and remains a mystery of assumptions. There are many things I’m still frustrated by, but I’d rather enjoy it then dwell on all its flaws. To me, it’s not over. I believe.