Yes, it reminded me of The Leftovers, a great show that has a solid ending with answers, conclusions, and some ambiguity just to maintain some of the mystery.
I had no problem with the ambiguity of the ending so much as the way the last episode was drawn out after the final battle. I would happily rewatch the whole series if it wasn’t for all of the totally unnecessary conversations whose contents could have been summed up it a knowing nod or short comment. The show often treated it’s audience like idiots who had to have everything spelled out for them and the prolonged ending was the most egregious example of that.
Yeah, we were thinking there must be some mini-adventure at the end to save El or deal with the military when we saw that there were still 45 minutes on the clock after everything had ended.
But, in general, watching through it, it didn’t feel too too slow or like filler. There was a moment in there where I panicked that they were going to go into a clip show (I would have flipped a table, so help me) they could have maybe cut the whole graduation scene, but I gather it was a call back to something that Dustin’s metalhead friend who died had said about his plan to flip off the principal at the graduation ceremony. I think it there had been a reminder hidden somewhere in the season, that would have been more impactful.
The scene on the roof with the older kids did feel very much like a scene from an 80s movie like Ferris Bueller or the Breakfast Club. So I was able to see it as an homage to those - not sure that millennials and younger would have the same appreciation. But otherwise, you could probably skip that whole scene.
The rest seemed necessary.
Apparently this is partly a Netflix thing. They know much of their audience is “watching” the show while doing something else, so they encourage shows to frequently recap for the audience so they don’t get lost, hence the kids pretty much spelling out their plan or what they’re doing multiple times each episode.
Personally, I think people take their chances if they aren’t paying attention and it’s a risk to water down your content like that, but, then again, I’m not the one with a successful multibillion dollar streaming company
It’s called a denouement and it’s there for a reason! I hate when things end immediately after the climax. One thing I like about the mini-series format is it gives time to work through the post-climax repercussions. Particularly movies tend to be climax, high-fives, roll credits.
Just like any other part of a narrative, the denouement can be done poorly.
One thing I was a little concerned about was that post show, Nancy and Jonathan end up staying together, based on a Discover Card ad. A quick look shows Discover came out early enough, that Nancy applying for a credit card could be happening during season 5. It would explain how they could afford all that stuff at the army surplus store.
That was more of a reunion show than a denouement. And it didn’t answer the most important question: “How were they all allowed to return to their normal lives?”
A long history of things like Area 51 let the military know that the best way to handle a cover up that involves lots of civilians is ignore and deny. Letting the civilians tell the truth and be laughed at is much more effective than disappearing people and leaving behind motivated investigators who might discover actual evidence.
We were in Hawkins to cleanup and protect the civilian residents from the earth quake which released toxic gases and potentially infectious agents. Some brave soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice in these dangerous conditions. The military will support any request from local law enforcement regarding investigations into serial killers or cult activity, but those are not under our jurisdiction and we do not have any comment about them.
Of course, this sort of thing happens all the time in TV and movies. We finished watching Slow Horses, and my takeaway was that you can hit a co-worker in the face with a fire extinguisher, and suffer no consequences.
“The Internet” was so displeased with this one that they came up with a conspiracy theory that the current last episode was an illusion created by Vecna and that there was a secret real last episode that was going to be suorise-dropped soon.
Well, maybe the show should have stolen five seconds from Mike’s moping marathon to allude to that.
This show is based on many different 80s and some 90s Sci-Fi, adventure, action and horror movies. None of the movies it is based on ever did such a thing. I don’t know where this need to have every single thing in a fictional work specifically explained as though it were real came from, but I think we need to re-learn how to just enjoy a story without the fine toothed comb. I really do not want the shows and movies I watch to start doing this.
It would have been unnecessary if they hadn’t spent 40 minutes showing us an aftermath that is at odds with the previous events.
Now I sound like someone who didn’t like the show. It just bugs me that they used that ridiculously long “denouement” for things that were a lot less important or interesting than how they all get to have their normal lives back.
A scene with General Doctor (Doctor General?) Kay telling her troops that they’re lucky nothing actually happened in Hawkins or they’d all be court-martialed? Even one of the older kids complaining that nobody in New York believed them when the talked about Hawkins would have suggested a coverup.
I do agree, the military just vanishing from the story was abrupt, even if the “18 months later” gave them plenty of time to pack up and leave.
I also agree with @Elmer_J.Fudd , that not everything has to be explained in explicit detail. It’s clear the military is done with Hawkins and kids, the exact details were not considered important.
I bet that secret episode will also explain that Mass Effect 3 was a delusion from an indoctrinated Commander Shepard.
To me, the denouement was absolutely essential to close out and finish the story. We’ve spent 10 years with these kids and all the rest of the characters. Our own lives have changed tremendously since the first season when these actors were 11. I needed that closure, that time, to say goodbye, not only to this story and these characters, but to my own 80s childhood. We were able to visit a time that we all remember, but may not specifically recall when we knew it was over. I was crying off and on for the last hour of the finale. I was thinking about it for days afterwards and feeling emotional. It was not unnecessary. A scene showing the military leaving and someone saying “ok commence cover up of black op now” would have been totally unnecessary and would have taken away from the emotional power of it all. Seeing Mike walk up those basement stairs and look back at the younger kids, knowing that his childhood was now over, that was such a perfectly powerful moment, and really hit me in the feelings. Without that last 45 minutes, it wouldn’t have felt finished.
That it happened which way? Mike’s way? I thought that was just wish fulfillment fantasy. I sure as hell hope El is dead, because that ending is much more satisfying to me. Otherwise, it verges on the realm of “it was all a dream” to me.
Yeah, that one was supposed to drop on Jan 7, according to the theories floating around at the time. I chuckled at how stupid the idea was.
The ad is set (according to a wall calendar) in October 1987, which isn’t post-show at all. To the extent that an ad is “canon” to the show, or the equally small extent that any of this should be scrutinized.
I saw the finale last night, and I mostly go with what everyone else has been saying: the kids are too old, the deal with leaving the military custody was glossed over, the final RPG session scene got a bit too weepy, but I can excuse all of that. All in all, it was a satisfyingly epic conclusion.
Two hours is a long-ass time to watch something on Netflix, though. Or on the laptop in general.
I like how What We Do in the Shadows dealt with fan disappointment, by hypnotizing the audience into seeing their perfect ending.
Really? The hero losing hope and killing herself is more satisfying to you than the hero outsmarting her enemies? Even though its contrary to her entire personality and character arc?
Was outsmarting people part of her personality?
Perhaps I’ve forgotten the earlier seasons but, in this season at least, she seemed more like a “rush forward and bang your head against anything in your way until the thing or the head gives way.”