Stranger Things Season 5 has finally wrapped up the Netflix show’s story, but its biggest recurring problem ruined any chance of a truly satisfying ending. Set in Hawkins, Indiana, in the 1980s, Stranger Things first captured the hearts and minds of TV audiences nearly 10 years ago, following a group of young outcasts who become embroiled in supernatural danger after their friend goes missing. Throughout its five seasons, the sci-fi horror series added to its lineup of lovable characters as it fleshed out the arcs of Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), and so many more. By the time Stranger Things premiered its final season, its cultural impact wasn’t in doubt. However, the show’s mishandling of its characters’ fates made Season 5 a total letdown.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Not a single main character died in the first four seasons of Stranger Things, and the trend persisted in Season 5. The series’s refusal to ever kill off a core player in its central friend group or one of their family members had been criticized before the final season. Even so, the decision of creators Matt and Ross Duffer to keep all of their main characters alive or potentially alive at the end of the narrative was the wrong call. Stranger Things never had to slaughter characters left and right like Game of Thrones did. Still, the show’s constant plot armor for its most prominent figures from the beginning undermined the enormous stakes of the story and the danger its characters were constantly placed in.
Stranger Things Season 5 Suffers from Its Lack of Major Character Deaths
To no surprise, Stranger Things Season 5 sees the heroes defeat the human-turned-otherworldly-monster Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) and his possessor, the Mind Flayer. The sole non-villain to die is Eleven’s fellow child test subject Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), who had only appeared in two episodes of Stranger Things Season 2 before returning as a minor character in Season 5. The series finale couldn’t even commit to Eleven’s sacrificial death, as Mike later theorizes that Kali created an illusion to help her escape Hawkins. Cheapened by the ambiguity, Eleven’s ending epitomizes Stranger Things‘ reluctance to take risks that might upset its audience.
Bafflingly, the final battle against Vecna and the Mind Flayer ends up extremely underwhelming because the supposedly high-powered villains don’t even manage to hurt anyone. Sporadically blasting the Mind Flayer with flamethrowers and guns apparently is too much for the giant beast to handle. Meanwhile, Eleven hardly struggles to kill Vecna, who never once in Season 5 appeared as threatening as he was in Season 4. Earlier in Stranger Things Season 5, the once-daunting demogorgons are unable to land a scratch on teenagers untrained in combat, yet can seamlessly slash through any number of military soldiers. At least one major character death had to happen for Season 5 to live up to the dire stakes the series had set up. Instead, the main characters’ endless plot armor diminished all suspense.
Stranger Things Season 5’s countless death fake-outs got more frustrating as they piled up. Jim Hopper (David Harbour) nearly met his demise for what felt like the millionth time, and fans were once again treated to a Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) almost-death. The emotional confession and breakup between Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) and Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer), who find themselves trapped in a room ominously filling up with thick goop, could have prevailed as one of Stranger Things‘ most memorable sequences if it had represented the characters’ final moments. But Jonathan and Nancy’s miraculous survival renders their heart-to-heart all but pointless. Without definitive and permanent consequences, all of the peril and terror the main characters of Stranger Things endure meant nothing.
Beyond an absence of tension and stakes, Stranger Things Season 5 also suffered from an overabundance of characters. Some previously indispensable characters, such as Eleven and Mike, were sidelined in seven of the eight episodes. At the same time, Season 5 separated its main group for way too long, only bringing everyone back together in the penultimate episode. Hardly anyone outside of Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) received enough screen time conclude their arcs. As a result, the many poignant moments between characters in the finale ring hollow. This issue is worsened by the three-and-a-half year gap between the releases of Seasons 4 and 5. If Stranger Things had killed off a few main characters in past seasons, its final season might have been able to deliver a fulfilling ending for everyone.
Stranger Things Never Had the Courage to Kill Off a Main Character
Even before Season 5, Stranger Things never took one of its key figures off the board. The deaths of Barb Holland (Shannon Purser) in Season 1, Bob Newby (Sean Astin) in Season 2, Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery) in Season 3, and Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) in Season 4 didn’t carry the emotional impact a main character’s death would have. After Season 5, it’s clear that Stranger Things needed to give both fans and the show’s other characters someone significant to grieve.
If Hopper’s apparent sacrificial death in the Season 3 finale or Max’s coma at the end of Season 4 were permanent, Stranger Things would have left a much bigger mark on viewers. Over the course of the show’s entire run, there was rarely a moment to feel genuine concern for a central character’s survival. This tendency to always take the safe route damages Stranger Things‘ legacy, as the series’s stale formula of invincibility for its main characters turned out to be Season 5’s downfall.
What are your thoughts on Stranger Things Season 5? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
Most Viewed
-
Image courtesy of Iron Gate and Coffee Stain -
Courtesy of Shueisha
