Am I alone in feeling that their intended ending of Eleven "sacrificing" herself is kind of problematic? I'm just not keen on the idea of Eleven giving up because she feels like her existence is a burden on all of her friends, and applauding it as an act of selflessness. 'Stranger Things 5': Duffer Brothers Unpack Emotional Series Finale
Oh you're right, it totally betrays the show's core themes of found family & breaking cycles of abuse. It's sends a weird message that suicide or abandoning your loved ones is an effective way to prevent your abuse from affecting others. This narrative misdirection is compounded by the kids suddenly becoming accepted by their bullies in the epilogue, which muddles the show's messages about self-validation and the value of non-conformity. Vecna refusing to accept that he was corrupted by the Mind Flayer and had the choice to resist could have been prescient commentary about how people's susceptibility to propaganda, but it was introduced too late in the game to get elaborated on. I think Hopper's speech to Mike about grief is the closest we got to a meaningful uplifting message in the finale.
Thinking about the problem, if they say, got in a position to show the world what was happening, do we get a storybook ending where the military gets taken to task for the secret experiments or do we get the whole world going after Eleven instead? Or is it better to just leave it where it's still a secret, they're continually fighting the military, "and the adventure continues", as it were? Makes things completely open-ended but does at least send the message that it's right to protect your friends who are being persecuted for being different.
just got to watch and I enjoyed it despite there being no surprises almost the whole way through. huge spider Mind Flayer and Henry refusing to heel-turn and get a redemption arc rocked, really glad they went with that. I was kinda checked out after this shaky season but the epilogue really did some work, that final DND game got me good. Finn and Sadie acting like the rent was due this whole finale, Maya's crying on the roof also felt a little too real to just be acting biggest problem as ever was just the bloated cast making pacing all over the place. Winona and Sadie getting like two lines each in the first hour of this was wild stuff, did we really need that much Murray compared to Joyce and Max? also legitimately insane that to me that Owens didn't even get a mention, I guess they just left him to starve to death in that bunker in s4
also said this midseason but again at the end, very very funny that Vecna's plan in s4 didn't do shit and they just ignored that whole cliffhanger ending entirely lmao. not what you'd call an airtight narrative show
just finished the finale last night. i gotta say, i don’t have as many issues with the writing and plot holes as most people - in my mind the last couple seasons are in mcu/avengers territory; huge budget, over the top story, etc. it just can’t feel like s1 again. all that said, can we please talk about the music? i thought purple rain was an abysmal choice for that moment. obviously it’s the pinnacle of the entire show and a very tough spot to fill, but that just seemed so on the nose, no vibe/feel.
The one thing I have been kicking around in my head is that it’s kind of a bummer for Max/Sadie that she’s the one member of the cast who doesn’t get to be part of the big fight with all of her friends.
Idk, I think El’s ‘abuse’ goes beyond normal levels of abuse here, we’re talking about a kid with blood that has the ability to turn other kids into weapons. She knows Kali is right about the military never stopping, and she’d rather live a life in peace than having to fight for her entire life to make sure her blood isn’t used to ruin other kids lives.
Purple Rain was a bad song choice, whole scene was bad. Not to mention we haven’t seen Mike and El share any significant screen time in like 5 years before that
watched the first 4 seasons and was waiting to watch S5. Sounds like a majority of S5 was lackluster. Should I waste my time with it or just skip and watch the finale to see how it all ends?
The sequel series in 5-10 years of them all older and reuniting with El is gonna hit but god damn I will be so old if/when that happens