Stranger Things Finale (2025) Review

After nearly a decade of Demogorgons, bikes, and upside-down nightmares, Stranger Things comes to an end with a finale that is as emotionally loaded as it is imperfect. Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up closes not just the story of Hawkins, but a cultural phenomenon that defined a generation of TV viewers who grew up alongside these characters.

After the events of the fourth season, in the fall of 1987, the group seeks to find and kill Vecna following the opening of rifts throughout Hawkins. Their mission becomes more complicated when the military establishes a quarantine in town and begins hunting Eleven. As the anniversary of Will Byers’ disappearance approaches, the group must unite for a final battle against a new deadly threat.

Season synopsis

Set in the fall of 1987, the final episode delivers the long-awaited confrontation between Eleven, Vecna, and the Mind Flayer as the group races to stop the full merger of worlds. As Eleven, Kali, and Max enter Henry’s mind, the show leans heavily into its core themes: trauma, choice, and the fight between corruption and compassion. The revelation that Henry was ultimately consumed by a fragment of the Mind Flayer reinforces the idea that Vecna was never fully in control; he was shaped, twisted, and ultimately consumed by the very darkness he embraced.

The final battle, however, is where the episode stumbles. While visually ambitious, the confrontation with Vecna and the Mind Flayer lacks the intensity and momentum that previous climactic moments in the series delivered. For a villain positioned as the ultimate threat across multiple seasons, the Mind Flayer’s defeat feels surprisingly restrained, almost rushed, and far less epic than expected. The Mind Flayer’s kaiju-like appearance raises expectations that the narrative doesn’t fully satisfy.

That said, the emotional weight of the episode carries it through its weakest moments. Jamie Campbell Bower delivers one of the strongest performances of the season, bringing a tragic vulnerability to Henry that briefly makes us pity him. The music choices, especially David Bowie’s Heroes, elevate the finale into something deeply nostalgic and bittersweet, perfectly capturing the tone of farewell.

Not all creative choices land. The survival of so many characters undeniably dilutes the emotional focus, and lingering plot holes remind us that the writing struggled under the weight of its own mythology. Still, the epilogue is where Stranger Things regains its power. Seeing the characters move forward, graduating, reuniting, imagining futures, feels earned, even if not entirely satisfying.

Eleven’s ending is the most heartbreaking. A character who spent her life being experimented on and weaponized is denied the fully normal, peaceful life she deserved. Mike’s lingering theory offers a glimmer of hope, but it doesn’t erase the tragedy of her sacrifice. It’s a reminder that heroism often comes at an unbearable cost.

Ultimately, this finale won’t meet every expectation, and perhaps it never could. But despite its flaws, it succeeds where it matters most: emotionally. On November 6, 1983, these characters’ lives changed forever. On 1987, the door finally closed. Saying goodbye hurts but it’s impossible not to feel grateful for the journey.

Stranger Things ends not as a perfect show, but as a beloved one, and that may be its greatest victory.

All episodes of Stranger Things (2016 – 2025) are now available on Netflix