We're only a few days from Stranger Things 5 Vol. 2. Like most fans, I was starting to get worried about a few of my favorite characters making it through Vol. 2 (and the finale) alive and well. I even wrote a list for Winter is Coming about the 10 characters in danger, and that's a lot of characters.
While I was writing the list, though, I came to a realization that I was putting too much weight on who is going to live, who is going to die, and how the series ends instead of just sitting back, relaxing, and enjoying this chaotic mess of a journey.
When you've invested this much time into a series, as a fan, watching, analyzing, and predicting what is to come, it can be exhausting. I watched the first episode of Stranger Things, like a lot of people, in July 2016. I remember writing about the first eight minutes of the series that Netflix released the day before, I think, the series premiered. And, I've been a fan since then.
Stranger Things ending brings out a lot of emotions. For me, anytime one of my favorite shows end, a movie series ends, or I finish a book series I really love, it's always a little bit sad. I'm definitely feeling that right now as we head into the final four episodes of Stranger Things.
Now that we're right at the finish line, there's also a lot of anxiety. Are the Duffer brothers going to stick the landing? Is this going to be the next Game of Thrones? What's going to happen with these characters? Is Eleven going to die? Is Hopper going to die? What about Steve (Joe Keery)? How will I feel when this is all over?
But, in reality, how Stranger Things ends matters, but it can't take away from the joy the show has gifted me for the better part of a decade.
Of course, I have my picture-perfect ending for Stranger Things and these characters. And, I'll tell you about it: Everyone teams up to defeat Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower). Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Hopper (David Harbour) don't have to sacrifice themselves. The right characters get killed; the main characters stay alive. Everyone moves on, slowly but surely, and gets to live happily ever after.
At the end of the day, this is a show about kids trying to find their missing friend, about overcoming trauma, and about how bonds, friendship, family, and love, can't actually be broken. There's only one way this show should end, to me.
But, even if it doesn't go that way, it's fine. There's so much going on this season compared to almost every other season. In the first three seasons, we had a few groups working in tandem, even if they didn't know, to complete a common goal.
This season, it's the same, but there are like 20 characters spread out across, potentially, multiple worlds and dimensions. It's the biggest thing the Duffers have ever done, and we might as well just enjoy all the parts working together, or trying to work together.
If nothing else, Stranger Things 5 is big, fun, and wild. I have no doubt that the next four episodes will be the same.
The other thing is, and I could be totally wrong about this, the Duffer brothers, generally speaking, don't go too hard when it comes to character deaths. Yes, we've seen lovable characters killed off throughout the series, but this show isn't Game of Thrones.
It'd be great if these characters got a happy ending or that I was satisfied, personally, with how the show ended, but that's not what it's about. Stranger Things has always been about the journey, the ups and downs, the good parts (the world watching together!) and the bad parts (the long delays between seasons).
A few bad episodes, or choices by the creative team, at the end of the series can't change how much the world enjoyed loving this show way back in the summer of 2016. They can't change the collective gasp in season 2 when the Duffers jumped from the Byers house with an incoming demogorgon attack to a standalone episode in Chicago with Eleven and Kali. The finale doesn't change just how much fun the third season, set over Fourth of July weekend in 1985, was. The ending doesn't change how dark and magical the fourth season was.
We don't see shows like Stranger Things very often. I'm guessing it'll be a very long time until we ever see a show like this again. It's already over in some regards. The Duffers will be, if they haven't already, finished the final cut of the finale, "The Rightside Up," and sent it to theaters around the country.
So, for the next week and change, I'm just going to chill out, embrace the chaos, and enjoy one of my favorite shows...(Vecna voice) one. last. time.
Stranger Things 5 Vol. 2 premieres on Dec. 25 at 8 p.m. EST. The finale hits Netflix six days later on Dec. 31, also at 8 p.m. EST.