After 9 years of sci-fi adventure, Netflix’s Stranger Things officially comes to a conclusion with season 5 episode 8: The Rightside Up. We’ve reviewed the first and second volume so you can check those out before reading ahead.
And if you’re ready, join us as we take you through this last ride for the fan-favorite series with this High Five review. You know the drill, spoilers ahead.
Smack in the Middle of Action
There’s no dilly-dallying for the last episode of Stranger Things. It picks up right after episode 7 and we’re thrown right into the battle in the Upside Down. The party is ready to defeat Vecna once and for all and save Hawkins and the world.
Just as Mike says in the episode, the party have become “intergalactic space travellers.” The characters travel to Vecna’s mind, the Upside Down, and the Abyss, using each of the locations for a climactic and chaotic battle, making for one of the most action-packed episodes in the whole show.
Cinematography Continues to Be Breathtaking
The visuals continue to be eye-catching throughout the last episode. The Upside Down retains its bleak and cold surroundings, while the Abyss—the original dimension that connects to the Upside Down— has an aggressive warm color that depicts a scorched sky. Vecna’s mind is ironically vibrant, with a retro callback that viewers are sure to appreciate.
All these visuals help pin down the location of each of the characters to help the viewer differentiate the various scene jumps for the final battle. Each of the party members had a role to play, so it was awesome to see their contributions to the fight while being able to follow exactly where things are taking place.
Problematic Pacing
The scene above is exactly how we felt when we watched this last episode. Despite the non-stop action and longer running time, the episode feels unevenly paced. It’s the only qualm we have, but it’s a big one that affected how we would all view the show in retrospect. The finale felt like it cramped a little too many characters into the narrative and ended up rushing through the motions to get to the actual fight. Everything felt too fast, making for an unsatisfying end to some arcs, with some plotlines not even addressed or concluded in the episode itself.
Growing Up is the Rightside Up
They started with a Dungeons and Dragons campaign, and they ended with a DnD campaign. After the adventures and literal peril these characters have gone through together, the episode gave them a fitting end, leaving fans with something to think about and a choice to take the route of hopeful or bleak. But for the original party, they choose to believe and hope as they continue on with their lives.
Nostalgic End Credit Scene
Stranger Things paid homage to its run by showcasing iconic scenes from the series playing alongside David Bowie’s “Heroes” during the end credits. It’s a direct callback to earlier scenes when Peter Gabriel’s somber rendition of the song played during the discovery of Will’s “body” in season 1, and El reading Hopper’s letter in season 3; only this time, it’s played straight in all its nostalgic rock glory. The end-credits sequence definitely makes for the perfect homerun, befitting the cast’s final goodbye.
The near-decade long run is finally over with a slightly disappointing end, which, with better planning and pacing, could have become a conclusion as iconic as the series preceding it. SEA Wave rates the finale of Stranger Things 2.5 out of 5 waves.
Catch all the episodes of Stranger Things on Netflix now, and stay tuned for the spin-off animated series, Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 later this year.