Look, I’ve been covering TV finales for eight years now. Written about everything from Lost to Game of Thrones. But sitting down after Stranger Things Season 5?
That hit different.
The gates are sealed. Mind Flayer’s done. Hawkins is still standing—barely, but standing. And honestly? I need to talk about what just happened to these characters we’ve grown up with.
The Battle That Changed Everything
This wasn’t your typical “everyone charges at the monster” scenario. No way.
The Duffer Brothers orchestrated something way more complex. Three separate teams. Three impossible missions. And the kind of desperate planning that only works when you’ve saved the world four times already.
The suicide squad went deep. Steve, Nancy, Robin—they hit the Abyss in the Upside Down’s core. Pure distraction play. The kind of mission where you don’t really expect everyone to come back. Classic Hawkins move, honestly.
Meanwhile, Hopper’s crew played with fire. Literally. Him, Joyce, and Murray setting up exotic matter charges at the main gate. Joyce had an axe. Hopper had his lighter ready. Murray had… well, Murray had opinions about the whole thing.
But here’s the real fight.
The psychic battle. Eleven, Kali, and Will going straight into Vecna’s mind. Not punching, not running. Just raw willpower against an entity that’s been terrorizing them for years.
The Sacrifice Nobody Saw Coming
Kali’s death wrecked me.
She took Lt. Akers’ bullet meant for El. This woman who barely knew her “sister,” who spent most of her screen time as morally gray at best—she gave everything in those final seconds. Redemption doesn’t always look pretty, but it always costs something.
And Joyce Byers? Of course Joyce landed the killing blow with that axe. The mom who literally tore dimensions apart looking for her son gets to finish the monster. That’s not just storytelling. That’s justice.
The bombs detonated. Dimension collapsed. Dr. Kay and her whole military nightmare buried in rubble.
Finally over.
Where They Are Now (And I Have Feelings About This)
The 18-month epilogue wasn’t just checking boxes. It showed us who these people became after surviving the unsurvivable.
Eleven & Mike: The Greatest Illusion
Okay so initially we thought El was gone. Consumed in the blast. I genuinely believed they’d done it—killed off their main character in the finale.
But here’s the twist that got me: Kali’s final illusion hid El’s escape. She made it look like El died so the girl could finally, finally live without labs or military or prophecies hanging over her head. She’s at some secluded waterfall now. Just existing. Just being Jane.
Mike graduated—shocker, I know. But more than that? He became their chronicler. A writer keeping their story alive. That final scene with him narrating a new D&D campaign in the Wheeler basement? That’s Mike understanding their real power wasn’t the superpowers or the weapons.
It was the story itself.
Will Byers Finally Got His Happy Ending
Can we talk about Will’s arc for a second?
This kid who spent Season 1 trapped in the Upside Down, who carried that connection like a curse through every season after. In the finale, he weaponized it. Used that trauma-bond to block Vecna’s escape routes.
Turned his nightmare into their advantage.
Now he’s in New York City’s West Village. Art school. Love. Creating instead of suffering. He’s not the missing boy on the poster anymore—he’s the artist painting his own future.
And honestly? After everything Will went through, this feels earned.
The Steve & Dustin Brotherhood Continues
Dustin Henderson gave the valedictorian speech of the century. Full tribute to Eddie Munson and the Hellfire Club. Bet the faculty had thoughts about that one.
He’s at a nearby college now, which means the Steve-Dustin dynamic isn’t ending. Thank god.
Because Steve? Steve Harrington bought Eddie’s house. He’s coaching at Hawkins High—baseball and sex-ed, which is the most Steve Harrington sentence ever written. His hero’s journey ended exactly where it should: rooted in Hawkins, taking care of the next generation of kids who need a older brother figure.
Some people are meant to leave. Others are meant to stay and make things better.
Steve’s the second kind.
Lucas & Max: The Quiet Miracle
Max’s recovery is probably the most satisfying part of this whole epilogue.
She’s skating again. Actually skating, not just surviving. Her and Lucas graduated together, settled in some small town we’ve never heard of. It’s not a fairytale ending with grand gestures and dramatic declarations.
It’s better.
It’s two people who’ve been through hell choosing quiet, lasting love. The simple life they both earned about five traumas ago.
The Supporting Players Found Their Peace Too
Nancy Wheeler quit Emerson’s predetermined path. She’s at The Hawkins Herald now, chasing real stories instead of theoretical ones. Journalism major to actual journalist—minus the college debt and mediocre professors.
Jonathan’s at NYU making an anti-capitalist film called The Consumer. Which is so perfectly Jonathan I can’t even.
Robin’s thriving at Smith College, but she’s got monthly meetups with Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan. Because that’s the thing about surviving the apocalypse together—you don’t just drift apart after.
And Hopper and Joyce?
Engaged. Living in Montauk for Hopper’s new job. Two people who’ve literally died and come back earning every single second of that coastal peace.
The Final Scene Changed Everything
Here’s what really got me though.
The last shot isn’t our heroes. It’s Holly Wheeler and her friend Derek in that same basement. Holly’s the Dungeon Master now. She’s describing a quest to wide-eyed kids who don’t know what’s really happened in their town.
Mike’s voice fades in as narration. He’s describing brave heroes facing the unknown—but he’s talking about them. The new party.
The torch has been passed.
That’s the perfect ending, honestly. The adventure doesn’t stop. It echoes forward. All that courage, friendship, and belief that kids can fight darkness—it’s going to the next generation of Hawkins kids who’ll probably face their own impossible things.
Because in Hawkins, the game’s always worth playing.
Roll for initiative, new party.
[Author’s Note: I’ve been writing about Stranger Things since Season 1 dropped in 2016. Covered every premiere, every theory, every heartbreak. This finale rewarded that eight-year investment in ways I didn’t expect. The Duffer Brothers stuck the landing.]