This post contains spoilers for the series finale of Stranger Things.
The “Stranger Things” kids are OK. They are battered, forever bonded by trauma, haunted by violent images of what they saw and the heartbreaking losses they suffered… but they are truly okay. After five wild seasons, the series finale of the global Netflix phenomenon brought the journey of Hawkins’ best nerds to a dramatic conclusion and made Vecna disappear for good. But how did this come about? And is the ending really as peaceful as it seems, or did the Duffer brothers (who also wrote and directed the finale) leave a few strategic loose ends? Let’s rewind.
Season five, episode eight, winkingly titled “The Rightside Up,” begins with the main group coming together for “one final stand” against Vecna and the Mind Flayer, as Mike (Finn Wolfhard) classically puts it. The Wolf Pack military unit led by the evil scientist Dr. Kay (Legendary actress Linda Hamilton) is on the hunt for them, while Henry/Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) continues to hold Holly and several other kidnapped children captive, their bodies entangled in the Tree of Pain.
The final plan against Vecna
Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) and Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) go into the abyss of Eleven’s mind to begin the search for Henry/Vecna, explaining to the confused Max (Sadie Sink) that the only way to destroy him is to enter his mind (in a very brief “German, please?” moment). The rest of the group heads to Squawk Tower into the abyss, ready to blow up the Upside Down once Vecna is dead – with explosive help from Murray (Brett Gelman) and support from Erica (Priah Ferguson) and Mr. Clarke (Randy Havens). Easy, right?
Of course, the plan quickly goes awry. Eleven and Kali find Henry and the children quite quickly. But before they can destroy him, Vecna plays mental games with Hopper, who is guarding Eleven’s body in the tank. First he manipulates Hopper into seeing a vision of his deceased daughter. He then lets Hopper overhear Kali telling Eleven that the only way to truly destroy Vecna is to sacrifice herself as well.
Hopper’s deception and the turning point
As long as Kali and Eleven live, there will always be a portal to the human world, and the military will always hunt them. Vecna then tricks Hopper into firing his gun, causing him to hallucinate that he shot Eleven. Hopper frantically pulls them out of the tank, which rips Eleven, Max, and Kali out of the Upside Down (and tasks little Holly with rescuing the children and leading them to the cave through which they can escape into the real world – with Henry close behind them).
Thrown out, Eleven and Kali instead make their way into the abyss to join the others in the fight against Vecna. But before that happens, Hopper threatens not to detonate the bomb that would destroy the Upside Down if Eleven actually plans to sacrifice herself. “I have to end the cycle,” Eleven insists. From this moment on, attentive viewers know: There is no way Eleven could make it through this finale alive.
The victim is getting closer
Season after season, the weight of this world rested on her shoulders, forced to live a brutal life as a result of her father’s cruelty. How was she supposed to survive that? Before we can think about these questions for long, the Wolf Pack catches up with them. Eleven uses her powers to fight them and disarm them – but Kali is caught in the crossfire and is shot in the stomach. “My story was always meant to end here,” she says, accepting her fate and dying quietly.
Back with the others, Will (Noah Schnapp) uses his connecting ability to enter Henry’s mind. He sees the childhood memory that led to Henry becoming Vecna (with a young Henry beating a mysterious scientist to death). “You’re a vessel just like me, Henry,” Will pleads with a tearful Henry.
Will against Vecna
But Henry resists, determined to be the villain forever and give in to the gigantic mind flayer. “Will realizes that he has walked the same path as young Vecna, but the difference is that Will fought it and Vecna gave in to evil,” Schnapp said in an interview with Netflix.
Henry then awakens the Mind Flayer and sets it to kill Steve, Nancy, Robin, Dustin, Lucas and Will. Eleven finds them, jumping into the Mind Flayer to destroy Vecna, who controls him from within, while Will fights telepathically from without – no longer empathetic or fearful, but ready to face his former tormentor head on.
The final fight
The rest of the group does everything they can, shooting at the Mind Flayer and destroying it piece by piece. “Everyone contributes in a meaningful way,” co-creator Matt Duffer told Netflix. “In that sense, it feels very much like the culmination of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign, with each character having a special ability and bringing it to this final battle.”
They finally take down the Mind Flayer after Eleven pushes Vecna back with her telekinetic powers, impaling him on a jagged fang. The others rush in to be with Eleven and save the children trapped in the Tree of Pain as Vecna wheezes and gasps for air.
Joyce’s final blow
He’s still alive – but not for long. Joyce (Winona Ryder) approaches him with an ax in hand. “You messed with the wrong family,” she says. She then swings the ax and cuts off his head, destroying it once and for all. Meanwhile, the music swells and a montage of everything these characters have been through plays – a reminder of how much has happened in the last decade and how surprisingly small the cast once was.
But they are not out of danger yet. Dr. Kay and the military are already waiting, still eager to take control of Eleven. Amid the chaos, Eleven pulls Mike into the abyss and tells him she will sacrifice herself. As Prince’s “Purple Rain” plays, they reminisce about their times together and their brief romance.
Eleven’s farewell
“I will always be with you. I love you,” Eleven tells him before sending him back to the real world and allowing himself to be destroyed in the explosion that destroys the Upside Down.
And then… it’s over. No more Upside Down, no more military persecution, nothing like that. Hawkins is just another place. And apart from Eleven, everyone survives. Now all they have to do is prepare for high school graduation and plan their future lives. (And somehow, in one of the most amazing twists, Dustin manages to become valedictorian.)
A quiet epilogue
The closing goes smoothly. Joyce and Hopper get engaged. The older kids – Robin, Nancy, Steve and Jonathan – reminisce about their high school days and vow to always stay friends, in a very Gen-X, Reality Bites-coded scene.
The series ends the way it began – with the main group plus Max having a heated game of Dungeons & Dragons. During the game, Mike explains that Kali may have cast a powerful spell to protect Eleven before her death, and that the Eleven who died in the explosion was just an illusion to permanently keep the military away.
The open secret about Eleven
The real Eleven, Mike enthuses, is somewhere in a distant country, beautiful and free, with three waterfalls in the distance, just as he had always hoped. This idea brings tears to others’ eyes. The series goes one step further and shows Eleven backpacking through nature on her way to peace and safety.
In their interview with Netflix, the Duffer brothers didn’t want to reveal the truth about Eleven’s fate. The story Mike tells provides emotional comfort to the children of Hawkins. “She lives on in their hearts whether it’s real or not,” Ross Duffer said.
The group then ends the game so Holly and her friends can take over, lovably carrying on the Dungeons & Dragons tradition. It’s a full circle thing, and surprisingly neat for a series with so many twists and secrets. Almost everyone survives. There is no post-credit scene. No hint of a never-ending ending. Everything is actually good. In a landscape of sequels and exploited IPs, the Stranger Things finale is finally and complete – the credits roll one last time.