Netflix’s New Stranger Things Spinoff Makes Eleven’s Ending Even Worse

Netflix’s brand-new Stranger Things spinoff series, Stranger Things: Tales From ’85, was released on the streamer on April 23, several months after the Stranger Things finale hit the platform (and some theaters) on New Year’s Eve. This new animated show is set between seasons 2 and 3 of the original show and centers on the main kids, with the addition of one new main character, Nikki. The show therefore fits into that original narrative, although it’s also a standalone.

In this spinoff of Stranger Things, the gang is facing a new threat—a monster that is clearly supernatural and presumably from the Upside Down but is seemingly distinct from the Mind Flayer. In that sense, the series is technically its own story. However, given that it focuses on the main characters from Stranger Things, it’s impossible to separate from that original show, including, unfortunately, the extremely controversial finale and the emotional conclusion to Eleven/Jane Hopper’s story.

The Stranger Things Finale Was Controversial For A Reason

There were certainly Stranger Things fans who loved the show’s ending and found the conclusion of every character’s story, including Eleven’s, beautiful. Yet, there’s no avoiding the fact that there was extreme backlash to the finale as well—so much so that the conspiracy theory Conformity Gate got considerable traction online. Essentially, many fans believed that the finale was so bad, in their view, that it had to be a deception, and a real, secret finale was coming. That was ultimately disproven, but that just goes to show how controversial this ending was.

There were myriad reasons for this fan response, from the handling of the fan ship “Byler” (Will Byers and Mike Wheeler) to the absence of any Demogorgons in the final fight. Among the biggest grievances, however, was the end to Eleven’s story. The conclusion of her story is technically ambiguous, although the only options are really that she died when the Upside Down was destroyed or she lived but can never reconnect with her friends and family again. In either case, this is a pretty depressing ending.

What made it considerably worse for many fans was the Duffer Brothers’ reveal that this was meant to symbolize the kids’ childhood ending, which only made many fans even angrier, as they felt that this dehumanized Eleven. This was particularly thorny because that is what Eleven had experienced her entire life—being dehumanized and used. This led to swift backlash, especially when it was revealed in the docuseries One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5 that Millie Bobby Brown had to film her final scenes alone, whereas everyone else got to celebrate the ending on set together.

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Tales From ’85 Makes This Ending So Much Worse

If Eleven’s ending was controversial before, Tales From ’85 makes it absolutely brutal. Seeing Eleven with the other kids is painful enough because audiences now know that she will eventually either die or be separated from them forever. What makes this so much worse, though, is how fruitless her character development feels. In Tales From ’85, Eleven calls Mike out much more directly for trying to make choices for her and not listening to her. She is also clearly trying to better establish independence.

While this is great, and certainly something Eleven deserves, it’s also frustrating for two reasons. First, this largely wasn’t done in the original Stranger Things show. Max pushes Eleven to create an identity for herself, but there’s little in the way of Eleven truly asserting herself in that regard. More frustrating, however, is the fact that, in the end, Eleven still doesn’t really feel independent. The only choice she truly makes on her own is one that means she either died or is distanced from her friends forever. What’s more, the finale emphasizes her relationship with Mike, not her personhood.

Did Stranger Things Ruin Its Own Chance At Spinoffs?

These issues with Tales From ’85 raise questions about whether Netflix has spoiled its own possibilities when it comes to Stranger Things spinoffs. The ending of the original show was so controversial and, especially in the case of Eleven’s story, heartbreaking, that it makes it hard to watch new stories in this universe. This is particularly true with this show, which features Eleven herself.

There is also already discourse online about fans finding it difficult to rewatch the show because they know how it ends and are unhappy with it (or it’s just too painful). It’s not unreasonable to think that this may mean Stranger Things’ finale was the entire franchise’s own undoing.

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