[Editor’s note: The A.V. Club will return to recap Stranger Things‘ series finale on December 31.]
“It gives me a headache trying to understand all this,” Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) says toward the end of Stranger Things‘ latest round. Granted, she’s recently woken up from being under Vecna’s (Jamie Campbell Bower) spell, so her confusion about the latest plan to kill the enemy is warranted. But there is a considerable amount of exposition packed into these three episodes—each clocking in at least an hour, with the sixth (and, admittedly, the best) coming up to 75 minutes. The bloated runtime is bound to cause fatigue at various intervals, like when poor Holly Wheeler’s (Nell Fisher) friends turn against her and kick her(!) or when Steve (Joe Keery) and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) beat each other up. The question “What is the point of Brett Gelman’s Murray Bauman?” also comes up whenever he’s onscreen.
Stranger Things has a lot to accomplish in these final few outings, so the pacing seems annoying. Then again, the decision to split the season up is frustrating in and of itself. First, we had a monthlong gap between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and now, the finale releases on the night of December 31. If you have made New Year’s Eve plans and hate spoilers, well, stay away from social media until your hangover recedes on January 1. At least the Duffers try to justify this batch of overlong episodes by introducing game-changing Upside Down lore and a dangerous new dimension that sets up a challenging mission for the gang. And that’s not to mention the tearjerking conversations and life-or-death adventures some of them experience. (Yes, I’m looking at you, “Jancy.”)
The show still works because it has a lot of heart, and the writers have cultivated stirring dynamics over the seasons. Despite its issues and overtly familiar beats, Stranger Things hits due to the endearing characters and their bonds. We get to see plenty of that in these episodes. “Shock Jock” and “Escape From Camazotz” keep everybody separate before a much-welcome reunion in “The Bridge.” There are lots of moving parts, though, so for my sanity and yours, I’m divvying this recap based on the pairings. As the show’s writers have done before, the puzzle pieces connect by the end. Let’s start with my favorite new duo. (Steve and Dusty have some stiff competition.)
Max and Holly: “Sorcerer” offered a glimpse of the two girls teaming up to escape a vengeful villain’s mind control. There’s a lot to appreciate about this pairing because of what they bring out in each other. A generally cynical Max was at her lowest point after losing her stepbrother in season four. Holly is the opposite in the sense that she’s jovial and friendly but feels less assured in and out of the loop. Together, though, Max and Holly make for a dynamic duo. The most engaging parts of this season stem from their adventure across Henry’s memories. With dipshit-turned-delightful Derek’s help, Holly escapes from Henry Creel’s house, but not before meeting the 11 other children Vecna has kidnapped. She knows no one will believe her about Mr. Whatsit’s true identity, so Holly and Max leave on their own by revisiting all the times Holly interacted with Mr. Whatsit before being taken.
As they hop from the playground to a library to her home, Holly witnesses the demogorgon attack on her mother. She’s stumped by the fact that she did nothing to help Karen (Cara Buono), nor did she help when Vecna attacked Max in episode six. (They escaped with a timely assist from Will entering Vecna’s mind.) I understand Holly’s dilemma, but girl, you’re 10. The fear is normal. However, it leads to an interesting personality switch between the two in episode six. Holly becomes pessimistic about their chances of escape, claiming she isn’t Heroic at all. Max encourages them to keep going until they find the exit, which they eventually do—or at least Max does, when she sees Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) sitting by her hospital bedside, playing Kate Bush on repeat. Holly’s gate is nowhere to be found, but Max gives an encouraging, emotional speech about her strengths. Sink and Fisher, much like Keery and Matarazzo, have such easygoing camaraderie that you can’t help but fall for their friendship here.
Speaking of Steve and Dustin, I won’t lie: Watching them punch each other in “Shock Jock” was maddening. Their feelings are heightened, but come on, we need them to be pals. And thankfully, it happens sooner rather than later. After initially not wanting to be paired up in the Upside Down, the two explore the basement of Hawkins Lab while Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Nancy (Natalia Dyer) do the same on the upper floors and the roof. Their goal is to find an energy shield that’s keeping the Upside Down safe, per Dustin’s theory. If they blow it up, then maybe they can take the entire UD down. But Dusty finds Brenner’s old journals, which reveal that the “shield” is actually the door to a darker, empty dimension that they dub The Abyss. Opening it would cause even more chaos. What they don’t know is that upstairs, Nancy has already fired a gun at the shield, leading to some sort of melting gray goo that’s destroying the building they’re in. When they realize this, Steve—ever the hero—wants to climb right up and rescue his friends. But Dustin stops him. He can’t lose Steve after watching Eddie die in his arms. It’s an incredibly sweet moment that reminds us that, in the end, Dustin is just a kid, too, even if he’s been spending the past 18 months riling everybody up in that torn Hellfire Club T-shirt and looking for a fight. It’s a coping mechanism, but the walls finally break, leading to Steve comforting his best friend. Huzzah!
Jonathan and Nancy: After she fires that gun, they’re trapped in a place where the goo is not only melting the walls but also filling up the room they’re in. With nowhere to go and nothing to do, the couple finally has a much-needed heart-to-heart about the state of their relationship. They perform an autopsy of it, essentially, talking about how they both want different things and that spending time apart when Jonathan was living in California emphasized this. They trauma bonded after Will’s kidnapping and Barb’s death. Since then, they’ve only faced uphill battles. As safe as they feel with each other, they’re also suffocated in the other’s presence. So they share their confessions and happily break up, despite Jonathan showing her the ring, assuming death is on its way. Of course, Dustin and Steve manage to rescue them. “Escape From Camazotz” brings out some of the best work from Heaton and Dyer. For any Stancy shippers, though, Nancy shuts down the idea of liking Steve, primarily because she remembers how he wants to be a dad of six kids. (Someone tell Steve he’s already a dad of sorts to the multiple teens around him!)
The hospital crew: The action-packed parts of episodes five and six take place in the hospital. Vecna, using Will as a spy one last time, figures out where Max is being kept. He sends a bunch of demogorgons to attack her physical body, hoping that if she dies, Holly will be alone and return to him. But he underestimated the power of a determined mom. Karen saves the day by helping kill the demogorgons in the hospital’s laundry room. But before she does, Lucas runs around with Max’s body in his arms, getting help from Robin and her girlfriend, Vickie (Amybeth McNulty). They also think they’re about to die, but Stranger Things puts no one essential on the chopping block. Still, there’s plenty of tension in these chase scenes, which end on the happy note of Max waking up and reuniting with Lucas. Sink, a natural scene-stealer, and McLaughlin turn in season five’s strongest performances in this scene. I’m so glad she’s awake and that Lucas won’t have to listen to “Running Up That Hill” ever again.
The “Let’s wake up Will Byers” crew: As it turns out, Joyce (Winona Ryder) has learned her lesson about keeping Will away from danger after seeing him gain powers. She comes up with the plan that Will should channel into the hive mind and attack Vecna through it. While it works at first, Vecna’s power overtakes Will. It isn’t until El (Millie Bobby Brown) and Hopper (David Harbour) return from the Upside Down with Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) in tow that a new plan to wake him up emerges. El jumps into a water tank to try and find Will in the void and gets him out of Vecna’s control. Meanwhile, Erica taps Mr. Clarke into the team, using his skills to make another telemetry tracker and figure out where Dustin, Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy are in the Upside Down. Once they do, everybody comes together—thank heavens!—in “The Bridge.” Now, episode seven is where the finale’s shape starts getting outlined.
For starters, Kali tells Eleven that their blood will be in constant demand. Killing Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton) isn’t enough because someone else will take her place so that the military can keep making new weapons. Kali suggests the only option is to, um, kill themselves. I do not support this insane plan, even though Kali feels burdened after witnessing how Kay was infusing her blood into pregnant moms. Please, Eleven, you gotta come up with a better plan. Plus, season five has oddly sidelined its main protagonist so that Will gets a lot of the focus as the new Sorcerer. Eleven has been stuck in Hopper’s charge, but she’s the OG powerful superhero, and I am hoping the finale doesn’t forget that.
Then there’s Steve, who comes up with the ultimate plan of destroying The Abyss, which has already begun its descent into Hawkins. Once it’s close enough, he suggests climbing up into it using the radio tower and destroying it from within before it takes them all out and Vecna’s plan to merge worlds occurs. Hey, at least it now makes sense why the premiere had a scene of him racing Jonathan to climb up to the top of that damn tower. It’s a deceptively simple goal because we just know things aren’t going to entirely go their way. Still, most of the gang head into the UD to make it happen—El, Hopper, Nancy, Jonathan, Murray, Steve, Mike, Lucas, Robin, Dustin, Will, and Kali. Meanwhile, Joyce, Max, Erica, Mr. Clarke, and Vickie are still above ground.
Before they head down, though, comes a Stranger Things scene that’s been a long time coming. Will, extra traumatized after being under Vecna’s control again, makes a hearty confession to everyone. After a lengthy speech in which he tearfully talks about how he’s similar to his friends and they all share the same interests, he admits that he “doesn’t like girls.” He was afraid to say this out loud because of the fear he’ll be abandoned, but talking to Robin about her journey emboldened him. It’s a very moving (although, admittedly, a little cheesy) speech that ends in a big group hug. Aww. I do think watching it will be beneficial to younger ST fans, but it’s a bit wild to shoehorn this huge moment right at the end of the penultimate hour. Let’s meet back in 2026 to figure out how this all wraps up, huh?
Stray observations
- • One of the most badass Stranger Things shots of all time is when Nancy pops out of the truck’s roof wearing military gear, professionally shooting at all the people who are stopping them from entering the Upside Down.
- • “You die. I die.” Steve and Dustin repeat this to each other as they prep for their final mission, and I know I complain a lot about how this show doesn’t kill main characters, but this dialogue better not be any foreshadowing.
- • Is it just me, or did Hopper’s “Welcome home, kid” to Max ring a little fake?
- • I didn’t get to this in the main recap, but Holly does exit from her gate only to end up in The Abyss. She manages to briefly escape and fall into the Upside Down long enough for Nancy to see her, but Vecna pulls her back up.
- • Just to be clear: The Upside Down was created by science and is the literal bridge between Hawkins and The Abyss. What the hell, sure.
- • “Are you saying that Holly is trapped under a steel plate?” Karen asks, fully unaware of what the Upside Down even is.
- • I love how quickly this crew gains new members. This time around, it’s Karen, Mr. Clarke, Derek, and Vickie, with Vickie and Mr. Clarke even traipsing around the UD like it’s a normal day.
- • I have a genuine question: If El can move those plates, like she does after Hop destroys the security camera, why didn’t they just use that as a way to get in for their crawls? Is it just so that El can stay hidden?
- • Let me end this by saying that I’ve never laughed harder during Stranger Things than when the 11 other kids who Vecna kidnapped kept chanting “Back to the light” after being manipulated by him. Sorry, but it was hilarious.
Saloni Gajjar is the TV critic at The A.V. Club.
