Note: This will have spoilers for the final season
Since the five seasons took nine years to unfold, it’s really something that this season incorporates flashbacks, or at least flashes, of the first seasons. You can really see how the cast has literally grown up together.
By the nature of the three-part release schedule we had to have two big cliffhangers before the finale, but it was a nice compromise between an-episode-a-week and we’ll-force-you-to-binge-so you-aren’t-spoiled.
Was this season perfect? Not by a mile, but it did resolve most of the things hanging over Hawkins. Rather than a D&D fantasy the story ends up being more of an SF Horror movie like The Thing.
We learn that Vecna/Henry didn’t initially choose the evil path, but he did embrace it. His death gave Joyce her moment in the finale.
We are given an ending that didn’t kill any main characters. It’s sad that Elle/Jane doesn’t get to stay with her friends and father but I choose to believe that was the extent of her self-sacrifice.
It was nice to see the next generation taking over the basement at the end; I appreciated having a dénouement that wasn’t rushed with the little glimpses of how the kids would continue to grow. I wouldn’t have minded a little more with the older teens. I thought the restaurant scene with Hopper and Joyce was going to be the long awaited date with Robin and Vickie and that was the only part that semi-disappointed me.
I will be curious to see what the Duffer Brothers come up with next for Netflix!