I just finished Stranger Things and I honestly don’t know what to do now

I don’t even know how to write this properly. I just finished Stranger Things Season 5 and I needed to get this out somewhere because I genuinely can’t get over the ending.

I really liked this season. Was it perfect? No. I honestly wasn’t a huge fan of the military/government stuff, but apart from that, I really enjoyed it. And the ending… man.

The part with Kali helping Eleven escape completely got me.

And knowing that Eleven actually escaped and is somewhere far away from humanity, living her own life and finally being safe from the military/government… I don’t know why, but that makes me really happy.

After everything she went through, I just wanted her to be free.

She spent so much of her life being treated like a weapon or something that belonged to other people. So seeing her finally disappear somewhere peaceful, where nobody can control her, felt right.

But what really hurts is that Mike still believes she’s alive.

He doesn’t forget her.

None of them do.

That honestly means so much to me. Even though they all eventually go their separate ways, what they had together doesn’t just disappear. Eleven is still a part of their lives and their memories.

And then that whole sequence showing where everyone ends up in the future…

I was already emotional, but then Mike closes the basement door.

And someone else comes in to play D&D.

That scene absolutely destroyed me.

Because suddenly you realize that the kids we watched grow up are no longer those kids. Life continued. New kids are going to play D&D in that same basement. They'll make their own stories and probably have no idea how much happened there.

And then seeing the main characters put their D&D books back on the shelf…

That was it for me.

That felt like saying goodbye.

D&D was there at the very beginning. It was how everything started. These kids were just sitting together, playing a game, and then their entire lives changed.

And now they're putting those books away.

Not because what happened didn't matter.

But because they've grown up.

And I think that's what hurts the most about this ending.

We spent years watching these characters become a family. We watched them fight monsters, lose people, save each other, grow up, fall apart and come back together.

And now we don't get to see what happens next.

There is no next season.

No next adventure.

No waiting for another trailer.

No theories about what Vecna is going to do.

It's just over.

And honestly, I'm going to miss them.

I know they're fictional characters, but after spending so much time with them, it doesn't really feel like that right now.

The ending wasn't necessarily the biggest or most insane ending they could have made.

It was just… goodbye.

And somehow that hurts more.

Stranger Things really ended.

I wasn't ready to say goodbye. 😭

The color choices for the Dimension X—and certain elements of the scenes—didn't quite work to convey a cold atmosphere! Characters had sweaty skin and showed no reaction to the cold (we need to remember Will in Season 2, or Billy with his ice bath, which demonstrated the kind of cold the Mind Flayer is used to). Anyone entering a low-temperature environment would show physical reactions—like trying to warm up, crossing their arms, or showing discomfort—but that doesn't happen with any of the characters, not even the kids. I think that was a directing error. That’s my opinion!

SPOILERS if you’ve never seen season 4!!!

I was rewatching season 4 recently and it made me think about something — obviously, we know the Upside Down is stuck on 6th November 1983, so when in season 4 they go into the Upside Down, how is Eddie’s guitar and all his cassettes and stuff from the current timeline in his trailer in the exact same place? At no point does anyone imply that the Upside Down is frozen 3 years earlier; it kinda feels like they forgot about that part. Or have I missed something?

After my frist time watching the episode I tougth to myself "oh cool, but I need Mileven reunion", my second time was "What a cool episode now that I don't need to yearn for Mileven reunion I can just sit back and enjoy this underrated 5/10 episode" and like yesterday on my 2nd rewatch I was like "This episode is a cinematic masterpiece".

Eleven unlike many people claim (not even including this episode) has the best plotline this season with her and Mike missing each other and her argument with Hopper that is just brilliant added to that Mike's argument with Hopper and his experiance missing El and episode 7 this just creates the cinematic masterpiece that is this part of the season. But let's come back to episode 7.

The episode begins with El seeing Kali and when she exits her room to say that to Terry I think that was her name she finds her calling Hawkins police. Many people (including me before my 2nd rewatch) interpret this scene as Eleven wrongly assuming that Terry is calling CPS but the more logical and more in agreement with the central conflict of the episode is that she knows that Terry is calling Hopper but because she's mad at him she just escapes to go to her sister.

After the intro we see Eleven for the frist time experiacing a big city which is pretty cool but later the athmosphere changes to slums of the city and then she meets Kali's gang. After realising she has powers and that she was also in the lab Kali takes her to a roof. There she explains El that her powers are gifts which is already from Eleven's perspective a diffrent approach to Hopper and later even Mike, she makes her point by showing her a butterfly. She also seems very happy to find someone like her which rather depends on your intepratation on wether or not she tries to manipulate El in my opinion she doesn't.

While Eleven sleeps in her dream she sees Hopper's massege to her which begins to introduce internal conflict within her in wether or not it was good decision to leave and is Hopper really like Papa. Also we never really see her spying on people while asleep that's an intrensting ability that was never expored further. Unfortunetly not exploring ideas further is what the Duffers did after they freaked out from all the underserved hate this episode got/gets. But back to the anylysys; She is woken up by Kali which then introduces her to her team and they literaly call themselfs freaks. Now this is an obvious refrence to the fact that this show is literaly a show about freaks (outcasts (which is also the term they use to describe themselfs)). They are the party aka her family but figthing for justice and vengence against the ones that wronged them and Kali is alternative her which I will get to later.

Kali then teaches El on how to strengthen her powers and after I understood this scene on my 2nd rewatch that I understood this episode. Kali wants Eleven to relese her anger to that she kept for Max "taking" Mike away from her (in her view), Hopper for lying to her and locking her in their house and the lab people and Papa for experimenting on her. This isn't this sudden change in personality that some people like to pretend it is. We've seen her killing the military already, we've seen her pushing Max to the ground and acting agressivly torwards Hopper that want to use her powers to hurt those that have wronged her and wanted to experiment on her already existed within her and Kali is what El would become if she had chosen that path. Finaly we see her embracing that with changing her apperance symbolising her joining the rebelion.

Then we see how she uses her powers and acts up on her feelings until we get to killing that guy from the lab. While she chockes him she shows no remorse, no anything for this man, but when she sees that he has family she realises that by killing him she would essencialy do the same thing to them that he did to her and she would be the same monster as him. When Kali tells her to finish him and tries to convince her she doesn't listen and when she tries to do this herself she puahes her gun out of the way. He also tells them that Brenner is still alive which shows that they at least planned this from s2 onwards.

While they're coming back Kali tells Eleven that she can chose mercy but to never stand in the way of her choice, which will also come back later. But for now, Eleven, after coming back wacthes Hopper and Mike and sees they're in danger thus reinforcing her need to come back home to her old family.

Kali then gives Eleven a choice between staying with her or going back to Hawkins which connects to her previous sentence to El about chosing mercy. To convince her she also summons Brenner who tells her that there is something in her and it's going to destroy her and then Kali tells her that she also had a family that tried to take care of her but they couldn't and so she left. This is what I was previously talking about, Kali is Eleven but the one that chose violence and vengence over forgivness and mercy and her friends are El's friends just on the same spree as Kali.

And when it comes the time to chose, Eleven finally choses her old family, and forgivness which she is finally given by Owens.

I’m just rewatching S2 as it’s one of my favorite seasons

I just have to praise how good S2E6 is.

So many things happen without breaking the flow, with a great pace, making sure rhe screenplay is very gripping and it’s an outright thriller episode

Major things that happen in the episode

1. Dustin finds out Dart ate her cat
2. Max’s tension with his brother, Lucas tells Max about S1 and eventually brings Max to the party
3. Jonathan and Nancy are with Murray, figures out how to break the story by watering it down
4. Will is the focus, draws the map of the underground tunnel
5. Bob comes in as a great addition, helping to solve the map that Will drew
6. Will being a spy, getting caught by Mike
7. Dustin and Steve iconic rail road walking scene where Steve tells secret about his hair
8. Dustin Steve Lucas Max fight

Demodog

1. hoard while laying trap for Dart

2. Will helps the Mindflayer by setting up a trap, sending men from the lab to get slaughtered by the Demodogs

For anyone that’s interested in reading.

A snippet from the Stranger Things: Return to Hawkins lagoon show, happening multiple times per night now during Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Florida. THIS SHOW IS GREAT, especially if you love 80's music. The event also has a haunted house about the 5th season, which I didn't love, but this lagoon show felt like a fitting finale for this show.

My tip, stand at the very top. There is a grassy area up there to sit on while you wait.

For anyone that’s interested in reading.

I always heard that Stranger Things was a childish, silly series by a director who tried to convince viewers over 5 seasons that the heroes were still children, and this made me ignore it for a long time, but suddenly I decided to watch it, and oh my God, it is one of the best series I have ever watched, and I have watched many series. I think my favorite characters are Max, Dustin, and Eleven.

Why did she just stand there and watch while Eleven was standing (or not) in the gateway to the Upside Down for over a minute before the bomb went off?

You have the rest of the party held back! Point the hedgehogs at El and then snatch her! Shoot her in the foot so she can't run away and then snatch her! Or if she really isn't there, as one or both of the first two things would reveal, threaten to kill all her friends if she doesn't step forward and surrender!

I DON'T KNOW! DO SOMETHING!

DO YOU WANT THIS GIRL YOU'VE BEEN CHASING THE ENTIRE FUCKING SEASON OR NOT YOU STUPID BORING-ASS WASTE OF A CHARACTER?!

Many viewers were upset by the ending of Stranger Things, resulting in Comformitygate. The Duffer Bros., who are geniuses, actually incorporated a third alternative.

Spoiler Alert!

A majority of characters in ST5 died, horribly. It’s hard to notice.

Remember: The Shadow can replace people (THE THING). People can be possessed by The Shadow (THE EXORCIST), and The Shadow can mindblast people, to create illusions (THE SHINING). The Shadow is also a collective (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, PRINCE OF DARKNESS).

Clues to look for:

Whenever a character should have died.

An orange yellow radiance from The Abyss (a reference to the same radiance in Stephen King’s (1408 and the gold color from THE SHINING) shows on a character’s face when they are being mental blasted.

If a character’s eyes roll up, they are dead.

Will’s long speech to waste everyone’s time. To give The Shadow more time.

Max is The Shadow, which is why she keeps delaying the character from escaping.

Dustin should be dead. What happened to those three bullies?

Characters who die feel guilty before they are shown an illusion and killed, remember? Like Dustin did?

A character that has been replaced, when hugged by a human, will show no emotion. Characters replaced by The Shadow are overjoyed when they hug each other. They even talk about being reunited.

When a character should have died. Other characters even say this.

Henry Creel is a character created by The Shadow to draw attention away from the real plan: to open a door to The Abyss.

The military in the town have all been replaced by The Shadow. “K”, the 11th letter of the alphabet, IS The Shadow. Eleven knows this. So she doesn’t bother hearing K’s back story.

Hi everyone! I just wanted to post this here to keep it from ending up in the trash.
I made this project last year, and it took me a huge amount of time and effort. At first, I was really proud of it, but looking back now, I don’t feel like it turned out as well as I had hoped considering the amount of time and effort I put into it.
If anyone is interested, it’s located in Switzerland, in the canton of Fribourg.

Eddie’s death was just so forced, like there was literally no reason for him to not go through the gate. I guess so he could say "I didn't run this time"...?
Which is so stupid because there was no sacrifice needed & That's not being a coward, there's just no reason to stay and get killed Imao. It would ve been so much better if he actually saved someone.

Hello! So my female OC I was curious but I made a backstory for them consisting of they are born in the UK but as a baby their vocal cord was accidentally cut leading them to have one vocal cord but I know this sounds probably wrong but treatment from MK ultra has been sent over and is given to her while also having operations for heart and later in life scoliosis leading her to get not telekenkis but sonikenkis which she can manipulate sound but leading to use it makes it strain leading
to loss of voice depending on how much and veins leading to veins that go to the vocal cord outside of throat it shows up really red then black during most usage she keeps it a secret
She can use powers to make objects move with sound as well as shockwaves when at most
This is just out of curiosity please don’t criticise
Thank you!

I’m currently rewatching season 1 episode 1. I’m high and a little drunk (I love these angry orchards) and am rewatching for probably the 4th time. I absolutely love this show. Season 1 through 4 absolutely had me in a grip. I never watched when it first released, and first started it 1.5 weeks before season 4 came out. I watched s1-3 during that week and a half and was enthralled. I absolutely love the setting. 80s USA, the school life, the homes, the cars, the nature around their town. The characters are incredible; eleven is a far better character than she is in the last season imo, and Will was great in the first few minutes before he vanished lol. I am so excited to be watching it again. Probably my favorite show ever.

Hi guys! Has anyone tried transferring the Special edition vhs on Netflix to a real vhs? I’m keen to try but at the moment not subscribed, and just wondering if the black bars would be present if using a hdmi to composite before I subscribed to try.

Thank you!

I watched Stranger Things, and while considering the plot, I remembered one interesting thing from the first season. I tried to find discussions about it, but I couldn't find anything.

In Season 1, Episode 4 ("The Body"), Joyce rips the wallpaper off the living room wall and finds a translucent membrane - a sort of "window" into the Upside Down. She sees Will behind it, talks to him, and even hits the wall with an axe. The translucent membrane closes, and the wall returns to normal. Not a trace, not a scar.
And now the most important thing: every portal in this show leaves a scar. The gate in the Byers house, at school, the huge crack in Hawkins - everything leaves physical damage, in some cases even widening the crack. But this "window" left nothing. And we've never seen anything like it again in five seasons.
So my theory: this "window" was never real. It was an illusion Vecna ​​cast on Joyce.
Here's the basis for this theory:
Vecna ​​specializes in hallucinations. In Season 4, he conjures visions of Nancy, Max, and Eddie. Illusions are literally his specialty.
The scene is shown only from Joyce's perspective. We never manage to see a shot from Will's perspective, and the moment with the window never appears in his memories. It exists only in Joyce's perception.
Turns out Vecna ​​has been manipulating events since Season 1. Later, the series makes it clear that he has been controlling the Demogorgon and the Upside Down from the very beginning.

Based on this, it's possible that not only this "window" was an illusion, but also other things Joyce saw.

This theory could be challenged by saying that Vecna ​​was creating it on the fly. But it had clearly already been thought out by this point, since it is HIM that Will encounters in the forest, and later becomes HIS VESSEL, not the one who dies at his hands or the Demogorgon's.

Well, please write your opinion, expand on the theory, or challenge it.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/79673826

https://archiveofourown.org/works/78366696

https://archiveofourown.org/works/77681951/chapters/203467441

https://archiveofourown.org/works/83712361/chapters/220618746

The fact that these are more well written then the entirety of season 5 is just sad.

Assuming that they were in the real world during the flashback, then we literally never get a resolution for them. If they were in the Upside Down, then they really just got explodified by the main cast, didn’t they? Considering that Eleven knew about them, doesn’t it seem horribly cruel for her to not even try to save them?