Finally, fan theorists can relax. All the speculation and frame-by-frame analysis can end. Stranger Things is over, riding into pop culture history with a feature-length finale that vanquished the bad guys and found ways forward for most of its main characters.
But it wasn’t all thrilling triumphs. There were some clumsy moments that felt like the Duffer Brothers knew they were doing too much—but went ahead and did it anyway. And while a lot got mopped up, some questions remained unanswered, a side effect of having to tend to an abundance of lore, with inevitable inconsistencies cropping up across nine years of television.
“The Rightside Up” begins immediately where “The Bridge” ended. Most of our heroes are now in the Upside Down. Dustin, Steve, Nancy, Mike, Jonathan, Joyce, Lucas, Robin, and Will climb the WSQK tower as the Abyss begins its descent. They claw their way into its wasteland, adding “interdimensional space travelers” to their list of accomplishments.
Like much of Stranger Things season five, there are too many characters crammed into this sequence, but we do get a couple of standout moments: Jonathan and Steve bury the hatchet at last, Joyce and Will do some follow-up bonding, and a very well-armed Nancy volunteers to be the bait when the group faces the Mind Flayer. The Mind Flayer battle scenes are fantastic; who knew Vecna’s kid-exploitation lair could also transform into a fully mobile and alarmingly huge spider-like creature? Not every choice in this episode was the right one, but whoever gave the Duffers a blank check for “giant monster special effects” should be commended.
Meanwhile, Eleven, Kali, Hopper, and a very glib Murray head to the Upside Down version of the Hawkins Lab, which has a perfectly operational version of Dr. Brenner’s psychic journey-enabling water tank. Eleven’s plan: enter Vecna’s mind in the Abyss and prevent him from crashing the planet into Earth, aiming to end him while Nancy and company free Holly and the other kids he’s imprisoned. Hopper’s there to remind her to come back alive; Kali, meanwhile, believes both she and Eleven must die to end the cycle of violence they’ve unwittingly become a part of and that Dr. Kay is dead-set on continuing.
Speaking of Dr. Kay, her military goons—who are focused only on capturing Eleven, despite the apocalyptic event literally closing in on them—manage to wreck aspects of this carefully plotted scheme, menacing everyone still in Hawkins (Max, Vickie, Erika, Mr. Clarke) while they’re at it.
However, would it be Stranger Things if something actually went according to plan? While fans couldn’t be sure who would survive the last episode, it seemed pretty certain that Hawkins itself would carry on. Stranger Things is a show about finding strength in friendships, learning to trust the people who care about you, and digging deep to find the confidence and self-worth to defeat whatever evil pops up in your path. It stuck to that message first and foremost, and season five also added a PS about how you need to face your fears—including past traumas, as we see with Henry/Vecna’s cave terror (never fully explained; for that, you’ll need to buy a ticket to Broadway, apparently)—or you’ll remain frozen in place.
Will’s coming-out scene in “The Bridge” already reinforced that lesson and delivered a positive outcome. But “The Rightside Up” also reserves a nice moment for Joyce, who—after being a hand-wringing background presence for too long—gets to land the killing blow on a dying Vecna. Her axe-chop, backed by a montage of all the terrible things Vecna has forced on everyone since “The Vanishing of Will Byers,” allows Stranger Things to briefly mitigate its “too many characters” problem by granting a very deserving player some overdue catharsis.
Unfortunately there are few other examples of this happening, though Eleven’s choice to separate herself from the group forever is maybe Stranger Things’ most daring decision, far eclipsing any other character death (including Kali, Barb, Bob, Billy, and even the great Eddie). Whether you believe she actually perished along with the Upside Down as “Purple Rain” faded out, or you think Mike’s escape fantasy actually happened—well, that’s Stranger Things’ way of achieving closure but also offering an alternative for anyone who really, really wanted that happy ending.
Eleven’s death (or “death”) should have been the endpoint of “The Rightside Up,” but after five seasons and nearly 10 years, Stranger Things earned that “18 months later” epilogue. If 45 minutes felt excessively long, more puzzling was the distribution of those minutes. The military occupation and quarantine of Hawkins—not to mention years’ worth of clandestine, cruel, and morally corrupt experiments on children and pregnant women at Hawkins Lab, as well as the lurking presence of the Upside Down and its monsters—are papered over with a rebuilt downtown and a memorial to “the great earthquake,” the cover story for the rifting that ended season four. All those dead soldiers under Dr. Kay’s command? Collateral damage, apparently.
Dustin’s graduation rebellion was fun, but did we need that extended St. Elmo’s Fire-style interlude with the older kids and their new haircuts? (Poor ol’ Vickie, whose absence in this epilogue is tossed aside by Robin’s mention of “overbearing significant others.”) Hopper’s proposal to Joyce was sweet, but that sly suggestion they move to “Montauk” was, for Stranger Things trivia hounds who know the significance of that reference, even sweeter.
Hitting the Wheelers’ basement to finish one last Dungeons & Dragons campaign was the ending fans have been expecting for years. But of course, Stranger Things could not resist adding Mike’s sunny predictions for each player’s future: Lucas and Max will stay together; Dustin will thrive at college and still have adventures with Steve; Will gets to be gay and happy in a city that isn’t Hawkins.
As for Mike, we see him sitting at his desk, destined for a life typing up fantasy stories based on the adventures we’ve just spent nine years watching. That is, unless what we’ve been watching all along is an adaptation of the role-playing game whose D&D-style illustrations and cover art appear throughout the end credits. You could choose to believe that, as Mike himself might say.
No doubt “The Rightside Up” raked in millions of eyeballs and views for Netflix. A few new adventures are coming—don’t forget about the animated series, which is set between seasons two and three—but the cultural impact of Stranger Things has surely reached its peak with the finale.
One of the first true phenomenons of the streaming era, the show’s formula was built on lifting elements from other sources (Stephen King stories, D&D, countless horror and sci-fi movies from the ‘80s—not to mention a general nostalgia for the era, seen in the show’s music, fashion, and production design) and patchworking them into a story that still felt new and exciting.
At its heart, Stranger Things was a show about fans that racked up a huge following of its own—making “The Rightside Up” an emotional experience for most who watched it. Whether that emotion was joy or frustration (or a little bit of both) is up to you. And either way, we can all breathe easy, knowing only one hit Netflix show wrapped in 2025 with Cate Blanchett slapping some sequel potential into its final scene.
Stranger Things seasons 1-5 are now all streaming on Netflix.
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