Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ARE AHEAD for the series finale of Stranger Things, available streaming with a Netflix subscription now.
An era has ended on Netflix, nearly a decade after it started for fans who wanted to check out that new show that starred Winona Ryder in 2016. Now, looking ahead to the 2026 TV schedule, the saga of Stranger Things concluded with a two-hour finale event that felt more like a movie than an episode of TV. That was especially true for me when I headed to the movie theater to watch the finale, even though I’d already watched it from home.
Tickets were hard to come by, and I’d wanted to experience the finale, called “The Rightside Up,” for the first time from home where I didn’t have to worry about a Minecraft-esque crowd anyway. I’m glad I took this approach, because there were several parts of the finale that hit me a lot harder the second time I watched, with benefit of a big screen in front of me.
Henry Remembering In The Cave
One of the biggest mysteries heading into the finale concerned young Henry, the mysterious briefcase, and the man he bludgeoned to death with a rock. While we didn’t get all the answers about the man or the piece of matter that connected young Henry to the Mind Flayer, it almost didn’t matter with how strong Jamie Campbell Bower’s performance was as adult Henry.
When I watched from home, my biggest takeaway was how glad I was that Stranger Things hadn’t gone the predictable route of redeeming Henry. I still love that the villain is pretty unabashedly evil, but I appreciated Campbell’s performance more after seeing it in the theater. Those big blue eyes pack a different kind of punch on the big screen!
Steve’s Close Call
Even though Steve wasn’t one of the most likely characters to meet the Grim Reaper in the Upside Down, the final trailer showed Dustin freaking out at something, so there was a death risk for Steve. So, when he fell off the tower in the Upside Down, it seemed entirely possible the first time around that he was going to die.
Admittedly, I was also annoyed at the fakeout the first time around, but the sequence felt much more cinematic in the theater. I even got more of a thrill out of the character beat between Steve and Jonathan without the distraction of Steve’s possible demise.
Hopper’s Dream Of El’s Future (And El’s Reality Check)
Vecna messed with the heroes’ plan in more ways than one when he manipulated Hopper, as he learned about El’s plan to die in the Upside Down with Kali. David Harbour crushed his monologue when Hopper talked about how unfair life has been to Eleven, to the point that I could believe his words would change Kali’s mind about El needing to die. Knowing how the story was going to end added a different layer of tragedy to watching it in the theater.
I also got more appreciation out of El’s later reality check to his idealistic attempts to protect her, reminding him that she’s not Sara and returning the blue bracelet. Again, knowing this time where the story was going for Eleven and Hop, I was just glad to see that he got the reminder of Sara back instead of losing it for good. Seeing him accept El’s choice in the Upside Down also made his fairly jovial behavior in the epilogue easier to swallow.
Joyce Decapitating Vecna
Look, I wouldn’t be a Stranger Things fan if I couldn’t appreciate Winona Ryder getting the big moment with Joyce not only wielding her axe, but also dropping the series’ first and only F-bomb. It was a throwback to Joyce wielding that axe against the series’ very first Demogorgon even when nobody believed her; this time, she had people on her side.
On my theatrical viewing, I paid closer attention to the characters’ flashbacks as she gave Vecna plenty of whacks with her ax. For some, the flashbacks showed their worst moments that they’d overcome by the end of the epilogue. For Mike, seeing him relive that horrible moment of losing El in Season 1 was more painful when I knew that he was five minutes away from losing her all over again.
Mike, Eleven, And “Purple Rain”
I’ll be honest: I didn’t expect Mike and Eleven’s final conversation in the Void, set to Prince’s “Purple Rain,” to hit any harder on the big screen, because it hit plenty hard the first time. Mike desperately pleading for her to change her mind? El dropping possibly the saddest line in series when she tearfully asked him to thank the others for her, “for being so kind” to her? Prince’s iconic tune as the needle drop the Duffers had teased? I figured that I’d gotten the waterworks out of my system.
Then, “Purple Rain” started playing over the audio system of the theater, Millie Bobby Brown and Finn Wolfhard’s performances were in clearer view, and I discovered that I had not in fact gotten all the waterworks out of my system at home. I expect this finale will be divisive in the long term, but hopefully the consensus will be that “Purple Rain” was an A+ choice for Mike and Eleven’s final scene, followed by her death.
Or was it?
El’s (Maybe) Death Sequence
Part of why I expect this finale to remain divisive is the open ending for Eleven. On first watch, it seemed like she definitely died, and Mike’s story about her escape to find peace with three waterfalls was a dream that I, being to my X-Files roots, just wanted to believe. I could just go with the happier version of the ending, even if it didn’t track with what we saw in her decision to stay behind in the Upside Down.
But I paid closer attention to the sequence the second time around, and there are definitely holes in the idea that Mike’s theory is just a story that logically can’t be true. I’d originally thought that the sonic devices weren’t on yet, and that Kali had died much too soon for her to project El.
And it’s close even on rewatch, but the timing can work for Mike’s theory about Eleven’s survival to be true. (Check it out starting around the 1:20:40 mark if you want to see yourself.) The finale never shows the lab being destroyed like the Upside Down versions of the Wheeler house in high school, so it’s possible that the lab was the last to go as the epicenter. If Kali had used her powers to trick Hop into thinking she’d died, then the theory can work that she maintained the illusion long enough.
Finn Wolfhard’s Performance
There are several actors who I thought delivered excellent performances in the series finale, and I’d be remiss not to mention David Harbour and of course Millie Bobby Brown. But Finn Wolfhard’s performance in the last 50 minutes or so sold me on the emotion of the end, and is part of why I need Mike’s theory about El to be true so that his story isn’t quite as desperately sad.
After seeing the climactic (maybe) death of Eleven again, I’m honestly glad “Purple Rain” was playing so loudly over the audio of the scenes, because Mike’s screams would be hard to hear. Even if no actors win any awards for their work on Stranger Things, I hope Finn Wolfhard at least was rewarded for those screams with a cup of tea.
If you didn’t see the finale in the theater by now, you’ve probably missed your shot, but you can always rewatch the highs and lows of Stranger Things streaming on Netflix now.
