# Stranger Things - Final Season
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, netflix
**Created:** [July 16, 2025, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926 "2025-07-16T17:13:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2025, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/81 "2025-12-31T03:21:33Z")
> [@zbuzz](#):
>
> Interesting that Hopper, ostensibly the only character in the bunch who would have a problem with it, wasn’t in the room for the coming out.
Hopper might be anti-gay?
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### Author:  [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2025, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/82 "2025-12-31T03:43:11Z")
I don’t know, and I can’t imagine there is much time to make it a story point with only one episode left. But if anyone in that group has a problem with gay people, I think we all know it would most likely be Hopper.
Maybe he wasn’t written into the scene because like I said about the D&D stuff. Hopper can’t stand the little parentheticals, he gets angry when people don’t focus on the task at hand, so someone coming out in the middle of their planing to save the world would be annoying to him even if he had no problem with them being gay. It would be the timing that pisses him off, not the content. But him blowing his stack at Will coming out would make him look like a homophobic asshole instead of just being his normal asshole self, so they kept him out of the scene to avoid that.
But it’s probably nothing. Just interesting that he was the only main one not there for it.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2025, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/83 "2025-12-31T15:47:28Z")
I hope Netflix has its servers ready for a massive amount of viewers at 8PM Eastern tonight.
This is probably one of the bigger “everybody all at once” moments they have had.
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### Author:  [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2025, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/84 "2025-12-31T16:18:51Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> My only real criticism so far is how they handled Will coming out. It felt out of place in that moment and very contrived.
It was so corny that I was half-tempted to fast forward past it, but I stuck it out.
My only complaint about this season is that it sometimes feels like the dialogue is kind of rushed in order to fit in enough lines for their huge cast.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2025, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/85 "2025-12-31T19:52:39Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> I hope Netflix has its servers ready for a massive amount of viewers at 8PM Eastern tonight.
>
> This is probably one of the bigger “everybody all at once” moments they have had
I’ll be watching in a movie theater at 8 tonight! It’s amazing how many screens they are showing this on tonight and tomorrow that are sold out. Brings back memories of Star Wars and Endgame.
[ ](https://i.ibb.co/JRJy3jVD/IMG-1871.png)
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### Author:  [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)
#### Post date: [December 31, 2025, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/86 "2025-12-31T20:13:48Z")
I didn’t think the WIll scene was out of place or ill-timed. We are ramping up for the final battle. Will is obviously going to be a very important person in defeating Vecna. We just saw him get beaten. This was Will disarming Vecnas big hold over him, his secrets. Now he’s ready to fight. We needed a “team comes together and takes a beat realizing what we are about to do” moment. The way his big brother looked at him got me. I thought it was a beautiful scene it was explained why it had to happen, and why it had to happen at that moment. That’s how I saw it anyway.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/87 "2026-01-01T01:03:00Z")
I’ll probably jinx it, but it is working just fine for us 2 minutes into it.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/88 "2026-01-01T03:06:20Z")
A great finale. Really just excellent. Loved it.
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### Author:  [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/89 "2026-01-01T03:24:03Z")
Fully agree. Glad I took this ride.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/90 "2026-01-01T03:27:47Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#):
>
> Fully agree. Glad I took this ride
Watched it with my daughter and wife and we all agree it was really well done.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/91 "2026-01-01T03:34:08Z")
Uh, how did they climb those cliffs fast enough to mount their attack while Nancy ran away?
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### Author:  [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/92 "2026-01-01T03:38:16Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#):
>
> how did they climb those cliffs fast enough to mount their attack while Nancy ran away?
Lower gravity on the abyss planet, obviously.
Over I liked it.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/93 "2026-01-01T03:46:22Z")
A solid ending, really enjoyed it! Not gonna lie I was tearing up during the ending montage. It was so cinematic, looked incredible on the big screen.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/94 "2026-01-01T04:07:16Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#):
>
> Not gonna lie I was tearing up during the ending montage.
The drawn out postscript (46 minutes, basically a full TV episode) reminded me that this was a show I had been with for 9 years. I remember staying up very late binging the entirety of Season 1 the night it came out.
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### Author:  [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/95 "2026-01-01T04:17:24Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> …reminded me that this was a show I had been with for 9 years…
And at least for me personally, what a long nine years. Seeing the flashback images of the main characters as the kids they were in the first series really brought that home.
I remember discussing the first few episodes with friends on my team at work. Technically, I still work at the same place, but there’s virtually no connection as I’ve gone through acquisitions, mergers, divestitures and reorgs since then to the point that it’s unrecognizable.
Since then, I moved, we _all_ went through Covid, my wife had and recovered from cancer. That first series now feels so long ago that I may as well be thinking back to **my** high school years in mid-80s Indiana.
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/96 "2026-01-01T10:33:37Z")
The finale was very satisfying, I thought. My wife and I very much enjoyed it.
I’m just disappointed they never named the final monster.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/97 "2026-01-01T11:33:12Z")
> [@Atamasama](#):
>
> I’m just disappointed they never named the final monster.
I think that was the Mind Flayer.
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### Author:  [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/98 "2026-01-01T14:23:46Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#):
>
> I think that was the Mind Flayer
That’s what we thought. The show writers remembered this year to:
- go back to #8 again, at least somewhat utilizing that one-off episode
- deal with the Mind Flayer
- explain why Will was taken in season 1
Those were kind of lingering plot points and I think they did their best.
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### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/99 "2026-01-01T14:48:39Z")
I liked the finale. Good but not sure if it was great. But I’m satisfied with the arc of the show.
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### Author:  [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)
#### Post date: [January 1, 2026, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stranger-things-final-season/1020926/100 "2026-01-01T17:16:53Z")
Can someone please explain Henry’s and the UpsideDown’s whole timeline to me?
(I am assuming spoilers okay at this point.)
In his memory who was that guy and where did the suitcase with the … stuff … come from?
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