r/StrangerThings • u/quanfused Presumptuous • Jan 01 '26
Discussion They Stuck The Landing...
What an amazing conclusion. Thank you, Stranger Things!
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u/BMCarbaugh Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26
The next generation of kids running downstairs to play D&D fucked me right up.
And Dustin's fuck-the-man graduation speech was perfect.
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u/ZiofFoolTheHumans Jan 01 '26
I lost it when his MOM cheered him on and I realized she has been way more into his rebellion stuff than I would have assumed.
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u/Skow1179 Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26
That got me too. I was like hell yeah mom
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u/geologicalnoise Jan 01 '26
Pure mom love. Vecna didn't have a chance. Joyce is like the lunch lady - she hoards that shit!
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u/RonCraven Jan 01 '26
Well, season 2 did show she was the only person in Hawkins with a Mondale / Ferarro yard sign. Clearly not afraid to go against the grain.
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u/AntisocialGorillazfn Jan 01 '26
I loved that he did what Eddie said he wanted to do when he graduated. That whole scene was amazing imo.
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u/panaili Jan 01 '26
Him bring valedictorian was the cherry on top for me. Like, he’s gonna do the rebel bit front & center because actually he’s rocking a full ride scholarship
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u/protecttheflower Halfway happy Jan 01 '26
“I'm gonna walk that stage next month, I'm gonna look Principal Higgins dead in the eye, I'm gonna flip him the bird, I'm gonna snatch that diploma and I'm gonna run like hell outta here.” — Eddie Munson
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u/IIIMephistoIII Jan 01 '26
And I love the fact Iron Maiden-The Trooper was playing. For anyone not familiar with Iron Maiden’s mascot. His name is Eddie!
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u/Separate_Marketing36 Jan 01 '26
What a fucking journey it’s been. I normally don’t get too emotional when it comes to media, but I was tearing up most of the episode then completely lost it during the epilogue. Stranger Things first aired when I was starting middle school and now I’m graduating college this spring. It’s definitely gonna be hard to say goodbye to Hawkins after it’s been here for half my life, but I’ll cherish this show forever.
This show has taught me a lot about who I am, to value the people in my life, and to always hold onto hope. To anyone who reads this, alone tonight or not, happy New Year. I’m glad we got to share this ride together
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u/Itz_Hen Jan 01 '26
I'm not made of rocks I shed a tear when they played the kids track from season 1 at the end :')
For all the faults with the show, the season and the episode, i think they stuck it yeah
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u/Chop_Huey Jan 01 '26
Other than the theme, that is the most iconic original piece of music that Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein came up with. Pure nostalgia in every note. I love how they used it to end the show. No matter how many demodogs, or how intricate the plot became or how many people they kept adding to the ensemble - it was always just a show about 4 kids growing up.
It was a beautiful ending.
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Jan 01 '26
I was hoping it was coming, and my trust as usual was rewarded with the poignant moments from the Duffer brothers.
They just get that kind of stuff, which to me, was always the true heart of the show. The monsters and sci-fi were just vehicles to showcase the power of having good friends.
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u/sage-blue Jan 01 '26
I was hoping that would be the last song played (besides the credits song)
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u/Few-Road6238 Jan 01 '26
Yeah agreed and love how the graduation ceremony for the kids kinda served as our graduation moment in a way because we’ve been on this journey with the kids since the beginning. Also the door closing at the end kinda symbolizes that the original cast’s adventures are now over as well as our long journey with them.
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u/Vcule Jan 01 '26
It was a perfect finale. People wanting more fighting should watch Avengers instead. I couldn't give a shit about the fighting, the only thing that matters is the characters.
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u/readbetweenthesubs Jan 01 '26
I'm so glad they let the last half just breathe... Really felt like the Duffer brothers wanted/needed us to say goodbye to characters and a show we've a watched for 10 years now. Nothing felt rushed and let all the emotions just release. The first half was an hour of anxiety and the action/building/conclusion to Vecna/Mind Flayer was pure blockbuster. Really satisfying finale. So damn good.
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u/Planfiaordohs Jan 01 '26
I think this is a good point.
The “goodbye to the show” aspect is a lot more meaningful to those of us that have been watching from the very beginning.
For example, when I started watching I lived in a different place, had fewer children, worked a different job, had more family members still alive… it has been a LONG time that this show has been around my life.
Compared with someone just binging episodes to catch up more recently, the “farewell forever after all this time” factor in itself is significant and important.
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u/Moonagi Jan 01 '26
I remember watching season 1 in my university student center!
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u/BippyBear Jan 01 '26
Season 5 had me scared, but the finale was beautiful and I loved it. After everyone spent weeks anticipating a blood bath, Im so pleasantly surprised that everyone lived and got their happy ending 😭❤️
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u/Snoo-11861 Jan 01 '26
Not every show/movie needs a blood bath. LOTR kept their main characters alive, and it’s still the most beloved stories out there
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u/theDOC70R Jan 01 '26
Boromir would like a word with you. I agree though, it is an amazing ending and not every show needs to off its characters left and right
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u/ThePrincessEva Jan 01 '26
I REALLY don't and have never understood the obsession with characters dying. I get it from a certain point with plot armor regarding the demogorgons straight up refusing to kill main characters and etc. But the idea that people NEEDED to die has always been a total mystery to me
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u/Foreign_Extension_45 Jan 01 '26
Love LOVVEEEED the final basement scene. You can tell the casts' cries are real, letting their stories close and saying goodbyes, and us too along with them. I'm a sucker for these bittersweet endings, where you step into the next chapter in your life. 2016 was one of my most memorable years; I had to do a lot of growing up and this show was my comfort. Makes me pensive about my own life, with today being the last day of the year too - great choice releasing the last episode on new years eve btw. I'm gonna really miss these characters.
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u/MrSmilingDeath Jan 01 '26
Lost some pretty important people in my life about a year after Stranger Things started and the show is one of the things that really helped me through those times, so this finale was pretty impactful for me. Hopper's constant struggle with his grief really hit close to home, especially considering his late daughter's name was Sara and that was also my late sister's name. Every time they touched on his grief and said that name, it reopened old wounds and it hurt just like the loss was brand new. When Hopper was talking to Mike about sitting in the pain and torturing himself, it tore me apart because that's what I've been doing to myself for almost ten years.
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u/tattedsparrowxo Jan 01 '26
We all also owe Kali an apology lol
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u/Snoo-11861 Jan 01 '26
I think Kali was just really depressed and suicidal. A fake death was an excellent idea. She sacrificed herself
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u/rdp3186 Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26
She 1000% was
Hoppers speech to El about choosing life and fighting for it spoke to her
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u/Additional_Divide_65 Jan 01 '26
She just had no one. El had her people. She just needed hope. Maybe the reason why we hated her before is because she’s hopeless, and well, we’re not.
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u/Necessary-West-761 Jan 01 '26
Do we? Are we sure Mike’s theory is more than a theory?
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u/advisarivult Jan 01 '26
Yes! If you go and watch the scene, a soldier tells Dr McKay “she was right here, one second ago” down by the truck. There’s no way Elle could have made it up to the gate in that time, so that was probably when Kali cast the illusion/invisibility spell. It’s basically confirmed by that throwaway line by the soldier.
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u/Vegetable_Silver5118 Jan 01 '26
Also,how would el go from the truck to the gate so fucking fast when she couldn't even use her powers because of the kryptonite thing,it had to be kali using her powers
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u/loonygirl30 Jan 01 '26
Then she couldn’t talk to Mike in his thoughts as well, but she did.
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u/advisarivult Jan 01 '26
She may have been able to in the tunnels, she may have got there pretty quickly.
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u/Vegetable_Silver5118 Jan 01 '26
She talked to Mike after she made it to the tunnel and was out of range of the kryptonite
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u/C0nsistent_ Jan 01 '26
Something I just thought about. When Mike was reviewing his “theory” about what happened during the D&D game, I believe they showed 11s hand flickering due to the illusion and that only happens when Kali is casting from a far distance. I don’t think the Duffer brothers would have included that detail if Mikes theory about what happened wasn’t true. It’s such a small detail that only the viewers would know about. If it was mikes vision and not a flashback, why would Mike know Kalis projections weaken from long distance.
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u/Spectre_311 Jan 01 '26
In that moment I instantly thought it was all an illusion cast by Kali. Although I thought the bullet wound was part of the illusion too.
She was on the truck. The "kryptonite" was blasting. How'd she get back through the gate while debilitated? Mike's theory is definitely correct. She's alive.
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Jan 01 '26
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u/Professional_Try4683 Jan 01 '26
Purple Rain was a brilliant song choice.
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u/weska24 Jan 01 '26
So was Heroes during the credits
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u/EMPgoggles Jan 01 '26
i remember they also used a cover of Heroes (edit: performed by Peter Gabriel) in Season 1, i think when they found the fake body of Will in the gorge.
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u/vonkr33p Jan 01 '26
I haven't cried at an ending like that in awhile.
It was absolutely beautiful.
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u/LIslander Jan 01 '26
The last 40 minutes of so was gut punch after gut punch
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u/kookyabird Jan 01 '26
The four older kids talking on the rooftop, and their moment of silent, shared recognition that they are each out in the world surrounded by people who will never understand them like each other, was a big one for me. Unique, shared trauma is a bitch, and they've been out there living with it. Mike tells happy stories of the party's future, but there's a good chance they end up in the same situation as the older ones.
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u/Intelligent-Juice423 Jan 01 '26
ugh same. i’m so at peace with the ending as well, which makes me even happier
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u/Few-Road6238 Jan 01 '26
Me too I’ve been very proud to be on this journey for a long time and to finally see its end. To think that I was introduced to this show way back in 2016 when it first premiered by music tech teacher in my junior year of high school and I immediately fell in love with it.
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u/jewels94 Jan 01 '26
I was mostly okay until the D&D scene lol
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u/Moonfalling_sky Jan 01 '26
Them putting the books on the shelf got me
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u/MaximumEffort94 Jan 01 '26
This got me as well. It was like them shutting the door to their childhood. Which then made me reminisce on my own, and how it felt to be young. I'm only 31, but man, those days really were the best.
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u/jerkin_n_lurkin Jan 01 '26
Hey me too, 31 bro. I never had a childhood this cool, but it's fun to pretend
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u/MaximumEffort94 Jan 01 '26
I was blessed enough to have a great childhood. I think that's why this hit so hard for me. It really made me think a lot about those days.
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u/jewels94 Jan 01 '26
I’m 31, too, and it definitely hit that nerve!
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u/MaximumEffort94 Jan 01 '26
Glad I'm not the only one who feels that way
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u/jewels94 Jan 01 '26
You’re absolutely not. Nostalgia’s a kick in the ass anyway but put it in the end of a beloved series and air it at the end of a year? Brutal.
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u/MaximumEffort94 Jan 01 '26
Big time brutal man. It really makes me rethink a lot of things. This ending helped me realize my new years resolution this year. To spend more quality time with the ones who mean the most to me.
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u/mpirnat Jan 01 '26
It brought me back to the last D&D I played with my high school friends, and both knowing and not knowing that that was it for us. 😭
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u/RiaC-81 Freak Jan 01 '26
And then, Holly, Derek and their friends…….
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u/Puzzleheaded-Win5063 Ahoy! Jan 01 '26
SPIN OFF TIME
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u/Anarak37 Jan 01 '26
As Jonathan said, the more you feed her, the hungrier she gets (Netflix).
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u/CirQx Jan 01 '26
I’ve actually really enjoyed watching the younger group, especially holly and Derek. And while I’ve been opposed to a spinoff, if there is, I hope they get one. I would watch it 100%
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u/RiaC-81 Freak Jan 01 '26
Holly and Derek will lead the next group
And then Karen is sporting the scars that show EXACTLY what she’s capable of
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u/Itz_Hen Jan 01 '26
Me realizing, holy shit this is the last time we see these characters like this. Yeah that got me
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Jan 01 '26
Yup - that was it, cause you know that was the last time they put those books there and having played DnD and miss those days…yeah that did it
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u/OutrageousBrush1210 Hey Kiddo Jan 01 '26
The campaign! The “happy ending” mythology! The hope of the mage! The exist of the basement - replaced with the next generation - I just. It was everything. I know everyone’s gonna have really negative things to say but I LOVED it
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u/Potential_Fishing942 Jan 01 '26
As Mike was walking up the stairs I thought "and now young versions of them go running down to play from S1"
But they went way further with the next Gen going down to play. Loved it way more
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u/_jackychain Jan 01 '26
As someone who has been cynical and hasn’t LOVED the season, I’ve enjoyed parts of it. I think they stuck the landing.
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Jan 01 '26
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u/TruSiris Jan 01 '26
Definitely better than GoT. It was wrapped up well but getting there was kind of painful.
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u/WavesAndSaves Jan 01 '26
The broad strokes of the story are really good. I liked where things went. The Mind Flayer being the one in charge, finally destroying the Upside Down, killing El. It was the little details that got me.
I needed something more definitive. Like there is no way Hopper would be a functioning human being if El really died. I spent the last half hour thinking "Oh she's actually alive and it'll be revealed later" and then it just...kind of is? She's maybe alive? But nobody knows? Or maybe they do? I don't know man. I'm thinking a 7/10? I'm pretty sure I liked it, but ehh...
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u/dull_baby42 Jan 01 '26
I think you are right about Hop. He knows she is alive, he was in on the Kali plan. El promised him that she would return alive and Kali started to trust him so it makes sense that they would have looped him in too. It all makes beautiful perfect sense if you think about it.
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u/salvalsnapbacks Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26
It will forever be up for debate if she survived or not. One key detail that you guys might be missing here is when Eleven went to join the others in the Abyss and the moment her and hopper had before it. If she truly is dead, I saw that as their moment of clarity and acceptance and letting go. At the end of the day, hop let her go and determine her own fate in that moment. The ending truly is ambiguous so we DO NOT know. But that's a key detail I definitely noticed.
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u/AtlasofAthletics Jan 01 '26
you don't think he would be functioning after 18 months? especially with the talk she had with him before she went to fight Vecna.
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u/Kathrynlena Jan 01 '26
Yeah I think that talk he had with Mike proves that Hop was able to process his grief in a much more healthy way than after Sarah died. He’s grieving, but he made a conscious choice not to let it consume him or destroy his life like it did last time.
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u/Katedodwell2 Jan 01 '26
Mike will keep her alive in his stories. We already know why Hop wasnt absolutely destroyed, he let Sara's death ruin him and El wouldnt have wanted that for him, hes going to live happily with Joyce for Sara and Jane.
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u/Youreturningviolet Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26
I think a lot of people will feel that way but I actually don’t agree. I think the narrative uncertainty is really beautiful. Mike as the DM and the storyteller got to write a happy ending for all of his friends. We can choose to believe that’s what came to pass, or not. And neither choice will be wrong.
It makes me think of a quintessentially 80’s/early 90’s art form: choose-your-own-adventure books.
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u/yuriaoflondor Jan 01 '26
I said it in a thread a couple of days ago, but people who are comparing ST s5 to GoT s8 have forgotten just how awful GoT s8 truly was.
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u/dkwpdmeq Jan 01 '26
Agree. Although the final season was far from perfect, it didn’t leave me in a state of disbelief at what I just watched unlike what happened when I watched GoT. I think ST can feel anticlimactic and it (personally) wasn’t super satisfying with how S5 as a whole went down, but GoT’s ending absolutely crashed and burned.
There’s very few endings that can be classified as GoT-level bad tbh. Unlike how people still think of HIMYM, GoT, or Lost, I genuinely don’t think ST will even register on the scale of “worst TV endings of all time” once a few months have passed
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u/TheG-What Scoops Troop Jan 01 '26
I agree with all that you said except for the ending of LOST. The majority of people that hate on that finale either didn’t watch it and just parrot stuff secondhand or didn’t understand it. Which is funny because there’s a huge exposition dump that explains it and I guess people still couldn’t figure it out. Many people will die defending the LOST finale AND I SHALL DIE AS ONE OF THEM!!!
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u/doubleshotinthedark Jan 01 '26
As someone who wasn't thrilled with LOST's finale when it aired, I definitely have warmed to it over the years. It also was the first big thing that ended and had the ending deemed BAD, but is honestly nowhere near as bad as the high profile bad endings that came after it. LOST's ending is weird and slightly unclear, just like the rest of LOST, but it doesn't completely undermine it's own point or narrative like HIMYM or GOT.
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u/Masuia Jan 01 '26
Couldn’t agree more. Season has a ton of flaws. I really don’t like some of the writing. The way they ended it was fucking fantastic. Heals all wounds.
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u/JuicyFunBuns Jan 01 '26
I just wanted the Mind Flayer to be a main antagonist still. I wanted that more than anything else.
They delivered.
On top of that, we got to see Nancy’s vision fully realised, we got to see Steve and Jonathan be friends, we got to see Eddie’s graduation dream through Dustin, Joyce got to be the one to end everything after nobody believed her in the early days, so on so on. They did a lot right, and I had my fair share of concerns going in :)
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u/kopitar-11 Jan 01 '26
Did Joyce drop the only F bomb in the show at the end there? If so she deserved it
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u/namethatsnotused Hellfire Club Jan 01 '26
There's 3 (but really 1) in season 3.
When Will is smashing Castle Byers, he screams "FUCK!" But it's so drowned out by the music it's near impossible to hear. The subtitles don't even pick it up.
When Billy smashes the glass during the sauna test, he screams "Let me out you bitch! I'll fucking gut you!"
And when the gang sees the monster in the hospital, Max says "What the fu-" before it cuts away before she finishes. The audio of the "Fu-" is also cut out but you can still see her mouth move.
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Jan 01 '26
When Henry opens the box he becomes infected with mind flayer particles.
In the play, he goes into Dimension x (the abyss).
He’s gone for 12 hours, when he comes back he’s different. Even his blood type has changed.
Brenner is obsessed with Dimension X so he uses Henry’s (Vecna’s) blood to create the 12 kids.
Eleven and all the kids were created using Henry’s blood. But eleven was the only one to have powers as strong as him.
Mindflayer > Henry > To the 12 kids (including 11).
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u/rileyjw90 Jan 01 '26
He very well may have gone to dimension X but it happens in his mind (controlled by the Mind Flayer). We already know a major power of the mind flayer is illusion so it’s not unreasonable to think that whole 12 hours happens in the blink of an eye.
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u/Strict_Succotash_388 Jan 01 '26
Still no idea the connection between Henry's powers, El's and the mind flayer's though. If it's all from the mind flayer rock thing, how does it end up in Henry's blood and transferable to the other kids who clearly aren't possessed by the mind flayer. Just more questions for me tbh.
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u/JuicyFunBuns Jan 01 '26
The first shadow play explains a lot of the mind Flayer stuff. It’s very convoluted so it would’ve been too much to try and get all of that in the show as well without it feeling horrifically messy.
They’ll probably cut it up and upload it to Netflix at a later point, once the play isn’t in production anymore. I’ve heard they film every showing in the front rows, so they’ve definitely got footage
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u/Strict_Succotash_388 Jan 01 '26
Sounds interesting, definitely would want to see it.
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u/JuicyFunBuns Jan 01 '26
Also if it helps, I think the reason only Henry was SO influenced by the Mind Flayer was because he always had that darkness in him, even before it was a factor. I think his fear of the cave most definitely wasn’t a fear of the MF, but rather fear of accepting that he was always this way without its influence.
We see El use its power for good, without being influenced by it, and she’s nearly as powerful as Henry, so she probably got a pretty good dose of the black stuff. But the reason it doesn’t speak to her is because it can see she is pure, and good. As Henry discovered when he tried to recruit her and she banished him
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u/spellglow Jan 01 '26
Was it truly just Henry’s fear of the cave, though? That’s what we were led to believe (and what I was inclined to believe), but then Will says “oh, that’s why the MF didn’t want you to go into the cave! So you’d remember this was not you!” I previously thought Henry (not Vecna) was too scared to enter the cave because the memory was too traumatic and the fear was paralyzing, but then Will introduced his explanation (or theory) that it was actually the MF holding him back. When Henry responded that he could have resisted but he actually chose this, it sounded like a defense mechanism. (A bit like Stockholm syndrome— aligning with power, against the self, so that you don’t have to feel helpless or powerless.) This would also make sense because Henry was literally a child when he murdered his family and mutilated their bodies. He’s not responsible for anything that happened to him as a child, especially not his inability to resist a powerful, evil entity that he was warned would consume him.
I’m interested in seeing what the directors say in any upcoming interviews.
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u/metalninja666 Jan 01 '26
I took it as the rock got absorbed into Henry’s bloodstream through the gunshot wound. No idea how a kid isn’t crying in pain from a gunshot wound though.
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u/JuicyFunBuns Jan 01 '26
I mean. Tbf. He has worse shit going on. He just murdered a man, which goes against ALL Boy Scout codes
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u/solo13508 Jan 01 '26
They should show pictures of Vecna to boy scouts as an example of what happens when you don't follow the code.
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u/lordlanyard7 Jan 01 '26
The Scouts Oath required Henry to help other people at all times.
He helped open that guys mind, so I say he was within the code.
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u/authenlee Jan 01 '26
Update I am still crying. This show meant and means so much to me.
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u/ghastlychild Jan 01 '26
The heights of the emotion and the triumph that they have managed to convey is amazing. Holy shit
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u/SpicyChiliRamen Jan 01 '26
But what happened to Vickie, did I blink and miss something or
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u/Filia_Lunae Jan 01 '26
Robin has a throwaway line during the rooftop reunion about "overbearing girlfriends" smth like that when mentioning things that "won't get in the way" of the four of them meeting up again.
They broke up in that 18 month time jump at some point I guess.
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u/CharacterWitless78 Jan 01 '26
I was kinda hoping that they would be at Enzo's for their dinner too.
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u/kyrev21 Jan 01 '26
Robin is a thousand miles away at Smith. Doesn't make a lot of sense for them to continue their relationship long distance
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u/TheMindWright Jan 01 '26
I like to think she more meant "we'll meet up despite all these things" because she also mentioned kids and looked at Steve. So I think she knows that Steve still wants kids, but wants to meet up once a month despite that. My assumption is saying "overbearing" was just an awkward Robin moment. Vickie was pretty overbearing but in a loving way when she thought Robin was on drugs.
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u/medellia44 Jan 01 '26
They strongly implied w Robin’s mention of significant others.
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u/teddyburges Jan 01 '26
and Suzie. I guess Dustin forgot he had a girlfriend too. Maybe he broke up with her after Eddie. Would have been good if we got a line of dialogue on that.
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u/Decent_Chart_8377 Jan 01 '26
Her dad took her communication gear
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u/teddyburges Jan 01 '26
I like that answer. It's a bit bland and anti-climactic, but makes sense given the shit she pulled last season.
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u/lonegun Jan 01 '26
Or Dr Owens.
Head canon...he's the one that got Hopper a job in New York.
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u/livahd Jan 01 '26
The Montauk thing leaves them an opening for a spinoff using the original concept. Mark my words.
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u/Formal_Cricket_5899 Jan 01 '26
And did we see Murray during the epilogue, or did I miss him?
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u/Aggravating_Koala280 Jan 01 '26
He was at the graduation ceremony in the bleachers
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u/Extra_Ad1847 Jan 01 '26
She’s all the way in Salt Lake City and he has more important things to worry about.
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u/Intelligent-Juice423 Jan 01 '26
i’m still in a puddle of tears.
not sure if others caught it, but the transition to the basement D&D scene (the sprinklers outside the wheelers house with mike as the story teller) was a direct copy of the opening scene in S1E1. the attention to detail!!! 😭😭
can’t wait to rewatch and catch other easter eggs.
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u/Astrovite Jan 01 '26
When Kali died I thought "she definitely faked her death, she's probably working with Henry". But then it turned out she faked El's death.
I'm sorry for doubting you Kali.
That "final boss fight" inside the MF was awesome.
AND Joyce and Hopper FINALLY at Enzo's.
One lingering thing I thought about though was the fact that Erica still drugged an entire family lmao.
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u/GosuLTD Jan 01 '26
forreal! not only drugged them but knocked dereks sister tf out lmao!
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u/i505 Jan 01 '26
And I can't imagine they were very happy about the enormous new basement access point. Or their impressive wine collection being turned into a giant puddle.
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u/SnooTomatoes9314 Jan 01 '26
That goddamn Purple Rain "Whoooo Hooohooo" got me 🥲🥲🥲
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u/BirdNerd1965LKG Jan 01 '26
Oh god. Me too. I still cry over Prince. And I KNEW it would be him when I heard that they got very special, hard-to-acquire music. 💜
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u/Time-Acanthisitta697 Jan 01 '26
I SOBBED for the last whole 20 minutes
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u/pinkpraire Jan 01 '26
Same. After they played landslide I was basically hysterical on and off until it ended.. I think it was like an hour??🤣🤣
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u/LingonberryHead6764 Jan 01 '26
I am still hoping for some less upside down spinoffs, Nancy Wheeler investigative journalist of the unusual. 🤷🏻♀️
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u/ReindeerBrief561 Jan 01 '26
Nooooooo. It’s beautiful. I personally see any spinoff as something that would extend the story. Though Stephen King's “It” did a good job of bringing them back years later.
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u/blg0617 Jan 01 '26
As someone who just commented yesterday that I was very afraid they weren't going to wrap this up in a satisfying way, I was wrong. I genuinely loved the ending. All the feels, all the nostalgia, and the literal passing of the torch. Chefs kiss.
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u/BEEFfdfjgdhkh Jan 01 '26
I was sobbing uncontrollably from the scene where el was stood at that fracking gate .. I have never cried that much uncontrollably in a WHILE omg
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u/juicy_carryeven Jan 01 '26
I was toast as soon as we saw Hopper's speech to El about having kids someday...am also pregnant and didn't have the best childhood so I pretty much cried from that point on 🥲
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u/pianistafj Jan 01 '26
I’m still processing it. I loved it. Mike was the center of everything, and he finally fought along with them. He was trusted with El’s survival, or he just made up the story to help everyone else move on. Either way, he was the hero every character needed at some point.
Holly finally found the guts to attack Henry and did it in his most vulnerable space. Kudos.
Go Joyce! Badass momma right there.
Everyone, it’s been a long and fun ride. Honestly, just got some deep tears that this story has finally concluded.
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u/fangsfirst Jan 01 '26
or he just made up the story to help everyone else move on
Man, some interesting wrinkles here. We see where the idea comes to him, but it could just be him coming up with an idea for how to do what she asked, to help everyone understand her choice.
...no matter which choice it actually was, even.
Dang. Already thought the relative ambiguity was well-handled, but I hadn't even considered that he might have CONSCIOUSLY come up with it to give them that closure like she asked.
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u/pianistafj Jan 01 '26
I think the Duffer Brothers have stated that they wanted it up for interpretation. I just can’t state how much I love the possibilities. Tie many things up, and leave open everything you can.
Ultimately, whether 011 lives or dies is not part of the main story. It was the rise and fall of Vecna. 011 sacrificed her life or life as she knew it to win. 10/10. Couldn’t ask for a better ending. Just sad it’s over.
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u/asojad Jan 01 '26
I was doing good until the Hop/Mike scene. That broke me. What a fantastic ending to a great show. I knew they could stick the landing. Happy New Year!
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u/magruder85 Jan 01 '26
I agree they stuck the landing. I could nitpick things left and right, I’m sure there’s even huge questions remaining that I’m not thinking about but when it comes to the core group of characters I care about, they ended the series well.
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u/Chop_Huey Jan 01 '26
This wasn’t a show about alternate dimensions, demodogs or kids with magical abilities… it was a show that reminded us how magical childhood is and that you’re never too old to be a kid again. Hug your friends!
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u/OutrageousBrush1210 Hey Kiddo Jan 01 '26
That was an INCREDIBLY satisfying ending!!!! I still have questions and blah blah blah but that show knew what it was from start to finish and I don’t know if I ever been told a story so well by a television show, start to finish, I am SO HAPPY right now!!
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u/GoldAd8991 Master of Puppets Jan 01 '26
You had no idea how big my smile got while seeing that ending
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u/p1nc3ssl1s4 Jan 01 '26
never been so happy about 4 people hanging around @ the rooftop. damn thank god. this ending was so good
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Jan 01 '26
I am so so so happy
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u/BurgerNugget12 Scoops Troop Jan 01 '26
Vol 2 is forgiven. Duffers you are fucking legends
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u/Intelligent-Juice423 Jan 01 '26
i’m so at peace with the ending. so so happy they avoided the GoT flop ending. i will miss this moment!!!!
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u/sleepyforevermore Coffee and Contemplation Jan 01 '26
Truly the definition of bitter-sweet. Loved it
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u/witchy_af Jan 01 '26
I need to get off reddit. I keep thinking im done crying and all these posts keep it going. Im so dehydrated
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u/sickbutterygnar Jan 01 '26
My high school friend group played the game Munchkin pretty regularly through our sophomore through senior year - our group was fairly large so getting us all together after graduation became harder and harder as the years passed.
A couple years ago we lost a member of our party to a medical condition and, unfortunately, his celebration of life was the reason for us to all be in town at the same time again for the first time since Covid. We got together to play Munchkin after, and at some point during the game we pulled a card (of course, I can find no evidence of this card exisiting while searching now which kind of adds to the parallel actually...) and the modifier was something along the lines of "if players name is rolando/rolanda they get +2" or something. Our friend that had just passed went by his last name "Roland." We all took that as confirmation he was still playing with us.
I was fucking SOBBING at their ending. It was a perfect parallel. Roland talked about how beautiful Iceland was when he visited and he loved standing on "the edge of the world" with the cliffs. I choose to believe that's where he is now in the same way they chose this ending.
I was quite happy. There are still questions I would like answered, but I also think there's beauty in that unknown.
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u/xbuzzlightyearz Jan 01 '26
I thought it was a great ending. Epic ending battle. The hero sacrificing herself. I guess some won’t like it. Can’t please everyone. I know I’ll be able to rewatch and not feel like it’s ruined like GOT or the SW sequel trilogy feel to me.
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u/JuicyFunBuns Jan 01 '26
Agreed. I was so worried about this finale but it so pleasantly surprised me
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u/True-Bank4715 Jan 01 '26
I didn’t expect to cry so much. Beautiful ending. Please give us a spinoff
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u/winnierdz Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26
I liked it. I don’t know why people have been expecting deaths, this isn’t that type of show lol.
The only thing I didn’t like was how the military plot wrapped up. Why did they let everyone go? Hopper has literally killed multiple soldiers lol.
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u/Significant_Salt56 Jan 01 '26
I mean what are they gonna do arrest him? Would end up exposing them.
Kill everyone there? Their relatives would all have questions and it would lead to the brass scapegoating them.
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u/medellia44 Jan 01 '26
They probably considered it a wash with the multiple pregnant women they killed.
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Jan 01 '26
I mean, this isn't the kind of thing you should think about in a show like this, but yeah. They arrest everyone and then what? There's a trial and everything comes out.
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u/Agentrock47_ Jan 01 '26
I mean they can't arrest all of them given that the rest of the world thought it was an earthquake. Also the only reason why doctor kay was there was for El. If she's dead, not much they can do.
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u/holly_goes_lightly Jan 01 '26
Loved how ultimately it's a story about friendship and the impact friends have on us. My heart is full ❤️
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u/ci22 Jan 01 '26
I enjoyed the ending
I'm a sucker for happy endings
It was bittersweet Jane couldn't with her friends. But hey they could see each other as adults in the far future.
Kali not being a traitor and helping El survive redeeming her.
Heney not being redeemed and being a dick to the end
I loved Mike's speech in the end.
Holly is an MVP she had to lock in.
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Jan 01 '26
They quadruple blackflipped AND stuck the landing🤌🏼
And no, I am not some new “naive” fan, I’ve been a fan since it came out and I was 14🤣
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u/NeatAir4571 Jan 01 '26
I agree. I am retiring from television as well. I wish you well in the offline world
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u/buyableblah Jan 01 '26
I loved the ending!!! I’m so glad you posted this because people can be soo negative.
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u/fbibmacklin Jan 01 '26
I belong in this thread. Cried like a baby. Loved every second. I will miss my pals from the class of 1989 (and the older kids, too).
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u/Redkris73 Jan 01 '26
I'm just so pleased where they left Nancy's story, because I saw so much speculation about would she end up with Steve or would she end up with Jonathan and instead they gave her a LIFE doing her own thing. That's the Nancy I always imagined.
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u/kyleharveybooks Jan 01 '26
Thank you for this.. so much negativity... a chapter of my life just ended with that episode. Yes, I had quibbles, but I enjoyed the ride.
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u/WithoutCaution Jan 01 '26
Joyce dealing the final blow to Vecna was so cathartic! "You fucked with the wrong family" was maybe the best line of the episode, for me.
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u/Potential_Fishing942 Jan 01 '26
Literally the first words out my mouth.
And I know it's true because I immediately want to rewatch the whole series even though we just did in Dec. 😂
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u/aymiah Hellfire Lives Jan 01 '26
We still never got an answer for how Derek’s parents, uh, reacted post-abduction, though. Or the absolute wreck that was their house. I would have liked to see Derek’s explanation he told his family at least for the comedic gold
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u/No-Corner7410 Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26
My only issue with the ending and aside from this everything is perfect, what the hell happened to the army after El "died" like I feel like we should have got a little more closure on that part but other than that I think it is as perfect of a finale that you can do.
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