On January 7, 2026, the website for the streaming goliath Netflix crashed. The reason? Millions of fans of the global TV show Stranger Things were overloading the servers, causing them to overheat. But, why were so many people on the site even though the finale to the show had been released a week earlier? The answer is a conjunction of odd occurrences/scenes and confusing writing that made a significant portion of the fanbase believe that the ending was fake and that the real one would release on January 7.
But let’s start at the beginning: In 2016, Netflix released Season 1 of Stranger Things, a Sci-Fi thriller following a group of kids unraveling a mystery in their small hometown of Hawkins, Indiana. Set in the 1980s during the Cold War, the show was reminiscent of coming-of-age stories by Stephen King such as Stand By Me or IT. The show’s incredible directing, retro-style music, captivating original story, and multi-dimensional characters made many fans, ourselves included, nostalgic for a time period that they weren’t even alive for. As the fanbase grew, the fifth and final season became one of the most anticipated seasons of television ever.
As superfans of the series early in its journey, we were excited for the fifth season, especially because of Season 4’s massive cliffhanger. However, instead, the beginning of the final season ignored all the tension built up by the previous season’s apocalyptic ending, skipping a year and a half later and just narrating a summary of what happened. That choice was only the beginning of many disappointments.
Benjamin’s thoughts (spoiler-free):
I felt that overall it stood as a mediocre season of television. The season displayed some legitimately great moments; however, some parts felt confusing or frustrating to watch. The plot began messy and seemed all over the place. Still, the actors’ performances proved to be solid and the characters certainly brought back nostalgia from previous seasons. While the final season didn’t necessarily flop, it wasn’t incredibly good and was a far cry from the quality of the rest of the show, which is disappointing since the finale was expected to be a culmination of all the progress in all the previous seasons. I am a massive fan of Stranger Things and believe it is one of the best shows of all time, so while it is certainly easy to hate the final season, my affection for the show lent me partial satisfaction with the ending.
Darby’s Thoughts (with spoilers):
The show, unsurprisingly, did not live up to the massive hype and anticipation online. Like other Netflix shows, in the midst of trying to please everyone, they ended up pleasing no one. But despite the negativity online, the final season definitely possessed some likeable aspects.
The last season introduced Delightful Derek, who–for me–carried the show's comedic value on his shoulders. Holly Wheeler was also a fleshed out character, portrayed skillfully by Nell Fisher, but her taking so much screen time in the final season over Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven, for example, made no sense. This season felt more like a spin-off, since the main characters got completely sidelined.
However, while some criticize the anticlimactic ending for being too simple, I think Mike’s leaving the young’uns to play D&D was a nice callback in a “passing the torch” to the next generation sort of moment. Some of the long-term endings in the epilogue felt fitting, too, like Steve Harrington’s job as a coach. Others, like Will’s ending being only his acceptance of his sexual orientation, felt oversimplified.
General Reception
After the finale of the show dropped, many fans expressed disappointment, so much so that some refused to believe that it would end on that note. Some of these fans started noticing strange coincidences and became convinced that the final episode was actually a trance caused by the main villain, so a secret ninth episode was coming out on January 7. The conspiracy theories spread quickly online and became known as “Conformity Gate.” On the night of the 7th, so many people were refreshing Netflix in search of this “secret episode,” the website crashed—illustrating just how much fans refused to accept the true ending.
Part of their denial stemmed from how the last season was ridden with inconsistencies and inexplicable loose threads, all of which have been picked apart by vulturous online fans. For example, why did the demos disappear in the finale and where did the Season 4 bats go? For that matter, where were the Russians, who have been integral to the past four seasons? Why didn’t Will die along with the Mind Flayer, since he was part of the hive mind? Why did the military just let the rest of the crew go after Eleven “maybe” self-sacrificed? Why did Nancy’s gun harm the colossal Mind Flayer when the military’s shots don’t harm even the smaller demogorgons? These are just a few examples of the plot holes that plagued the final season.
Netflix kept on trying to “up the ante” and make each season more dramatic than the last (think Riverdale), but in the end, they just included too many concepts and characters, many of whom were forgotten along the way. The show also lost the opportunity to explore some interesting possibilities, such as exploring how Max deals with her grief for her brother, Billy Hargrove, who was a really multi-layered character but seems to have been just forgotten completely. Even simpler motifs that had been present earlier on, like Eleven’s intense love for Eggos, were just dropped, whether intentionally or not.
(Un)fortunately, this season is not the last we will see of Stranger Things. A documentary was released on January 12, and an animated series will air later this year. Perhaps with new characters and a clean slate, the show can rewrite its legacy.