The second part of “Stranger Things” season 5 was released on Christmas Day, followed by a two-hour finale released on New Years Eve. Will Byers’ (Noah Schnapp) supernatural powers  created quite the cliffhanger at the end of part one, which made the hiatus between episodes seem painstakingly long.

The three episodes before the finale revealed that everything we thought we knew about the Upside Down was all wrong. What was once believed to be an evil parallel dimension of the town Hawkins, Indiana, is actually a wormhole to another dimension that Vecna is trying to merge with theirs.

The episodes are split amongst three equally treacherous locations. The real world, the Upside Down and Vecna’s memory room. Each location has its own sinister challenges, putting each character through many near death experiences.

The Duffer Brothers typically provide characters with insane amounts of plot armor, but this season was a pretty severe case. Especially in the final episodes of the show, you’d think we’d see some more major character deaths.

The danger was so severe that the amount of “near-misses” felt a bit outlandish. Demogorgons constantly attacked, giving characters injuries that looked unsurvivable. And despite being severely wounded, Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) lives, which seems totally inconceivable. 

The only major character death of the season was Eleven, if you think she’s dead. I was shocked that she could actually die, since she was what the original plot of the entire show was based on. Her death could be a representation of the death of the series.

Another marker of the season that separates it from the others is the plethora of heart-to-heart conversations between the characters. “Stranger Things” previously was mostly focused on  action and mystery. While some of these heartfelt moments were impactful, some of them only served to slow down the plot.

Of the plot-slowing moments, there was one that stood out to me the most. Max (Sadie Sink) and Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher) find themselves stuck in Vecna’s treacherous memory room and are given a second chance to escape after failing the first time. However, instead of running for their lives, they just stand there and delve into drawn out speeches. This scene was very frustrating to watch and had me screaming at my TV, as many others can relate to.

Alternatively, one example of how these drawn-out speeches could be quite impactful was  Will’s coming out scene. Will became sick of Vecna using his fear as ammunition, which resulted in him sharing his sexuality with his friends and family to prove he’s not afraid anymore. Several characters including his brother and friends embraced him, reassuring him of his bravery, which is notable for a show set in the ‘80s.

However, many fans felt that Will’s coming out scene was forced. Although it may have been awkwardly placed, at a point in the storyline where tensions are high with external conflict, I think it was important to the overall arc of Will’s sexuality that has been present since season 1.

However, not every character was given a satisfying storyline this season. Season 5 had many new characters and plot points, but this came at the cost of characters who were once integral to the series fading into the background. For example, Holly has been pushed to the forefront of the season, while Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) has taken a backseat.

Additionally, many scenes that included Eleven highlighted other characters. Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Will and Lucas consistently took the lead, dominating all the planning and conversation. And even during the scenes where Eleven was present, she didn’t interact with the characters as much as she did in past seasons.

Fans feel as if the characters they were so invested in for years are on the back burner while a new character they had never seen before is taking all the screentime. I shared the same feelings, but also think that Holly is a valuable character that provides important context to Vecna’s motivation.

In tandem with her lack of screentime, Eleven’s powers are not utilized as they could be throughout the season. Hopper (David Harbour) takes on the role of the overprotective father, which ends up holding Eleven back from using her powers to her full potential.

In past seasons, Eleven would use her powers whenever she felt necessary, without seeming to take a second thought. But this season, she consults Hopper before her every move and time they spend arguing could be spent devising a new plan or training to develop her powers further.

To add to the tension, a controversial character was reintroduced this season — Kali (Linnea Berthelsen), another child test subject from Hawkin’s lab. 

I felt like Kali didn’t have Eleven’s best interests at heart throughout the season and many fans shared the same sentiment. Along with this, all of the scenes she was included in felt boring, slow and repetitive. 

Eleven, Hopper and Kali had the same argument about how to end the Upside Down multiple times. These scenes could easily be condensed or even replaced altogether, so ultimately Kali just served to be another factor in slowing down the progression of the plot.

The finale begins when Eleven, Max and Kali enter the memory room and save Vecna’s victims. Eleven is brought back to the real world by Hopper, who is manipulated by Vecna. I don’t think this would have happened in earlier seasons, as Hopper is usually quick-witted and hard to trick.

The show sets Hopper up as being hard to crack because of his military experience and time in a Russian prison. This character choice goes totally against what we’ve seen in previous seasons and just seems totally out of place and random.

But ultimately, the most contentious scene amongst fans in this season is the fight scene between Eleven and Vecna. The fight is about 10 minutes long and really just begs the question: Why couldn’t we have done this last season?

Vecna is built up as a powerful, undefeatable entity throughout the series, so fans were led to believe the final fight would take considerable time and effort. However, Vecna was finished with a few back and forth hits, which was really disappointing and honestly just contradictory.

Fans were so unsatisfied with the ending, they created “conformity gate,” a conspiracy which theorizes that there was a secret finale that would’ve been released on Jan. 7. This theory was false and, honestly, I found the whole thing to be quite ridiculous.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the writer’s strike delayed production of the show for many years. Although the finale was imperfect and riddled with plot holes, I still found it enjoyable and a worthwhile watch.

The show ends with one last Dungeons & Dragons game. I really enjoyed this touch as a nod to the early scenes of the show, and I wish the writers capitalized more on this nostalgia throughout the season.

As a self-proclaimed “Stranger Things” super fan, I think other fans should be more grateful for the finale we received. This series will be a major facet in pop culture for years to come and I’m very happy I got to experience it in real time.