SPOILERS BELOW!!
By Owen Quinn author. Photos copyright Netflix.
So here it is. The most hyped and eagerly awaited television event in years, the final season of Stranger Things. There have been rumours of death and bloodshed, trailers that have been dissected more than the Roswell alien and theories flying all over the place. Who is going to die or is it a double bluff? Is Vecna the real villain or have we been misdirected? What is Linda Hamilton’s role? Who is going to die? Yep, I’ve said it twice because that’s all people want to know. Bets are high that it is Steve’s last days on Earth but we will have that answered in the New Year. So here we go. And yes, I stayed up to watch it at one o’clock in the morning with my snacks and Coke Zero and yes, tomorrow in work is going to be fun.
As you saw from the release of the first five minutes recently, season one Will is dodging demogorgons in the Upside Down. But he is captured and out of the shadows appears Vecna. Tendrils appear and pin Will to the wall as something is pumped down his throat. After the devastating cliffhanger where Vecna has managed to partially combine the Upside Down and Hawkins, life is very different. We were promised that the show would hit the ground running and it really does. Our own imaginations and anticipation adds to this. We love these characters deeply so we care what happens to them. That’s the mark of good writing.
Photo copyright Owen Quinn 2025
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Hawkins is now a sealed quarantine zone with a heavy military presence. The cracks they thought were caused by the season four finale earthquake have been sealed with steel. Everyone is told to blend in and comply. Food is rationed. It’s been one year since the town was sealed off from the rest of the world and our heroes are not the gung ho kids we knew any more.
Will and his family live with the Wheelers now. Holly Wheeler, Mike’s sister is seeing a man whom no one else can, the mysterious Mr Whatsit but says he is there to protect them from the monsters. Will is having visions of spinning skies and demogorgons, Holly being taken yet they cannot find a single sign of Vecna. Steve and Jonathan are still in competition with each other but they are all trapped in this nightmare. Robin has a new girlfriend and runs the local radio station where she feeds coded information to the others that they got from contraband-laden Murray.
This tells them it is time for a crawl. They are a unit but relationships between them is strained. This is down to Dustin’s refusal to blend in. The Hellfire club have gotten the blame for everything and while Dustin cannot tell anyone what really happened to Eddie, he proudly wears the Hellfire shirt. He is grieving and it’s showing.
This only makes him a target for the brutal bullies and at Eddie’s vandalised grave, Dustin is left badly beaten. His absence puts the team’s plan in jeopardy for the crawl.
Thanks to Murray, they discover that Hopper will have to do a crawl when the soldiers burn a way through to the Upside Down. They have a base there run by Linda Hamilton’s Dr Kay which mirrors the one in Hawkins, the Big Mac. She just loves slicing open the creatures in the strange place but needs the girl. But is she talking about Elle or Holly?
Elle has been training hard for her battle with Vecna but Hopper has refused to let her come search the Upside Down because it is full of soldiers and she is most wanted number one.
What stands out here is the tremendous stress they are all under. Only they know Vecna is behind it all so they having been searching zones and clearing them over 37 times now. There is no sign of Vecna, so where is he hiding? But they are fighting with each other. Dustin refuses to back down and be compliant. Hopper and Elle are fighting over his decision not to let her join the crawl. The Wheelers are fighting over their over crowded house, causing a subtle alcohol problem for Mrs Wheeler. Robin has to cancel her date with her new nurse girlfriend beccause the fight comes first. There are so many secrets right now that it’s all going to implode.
But there are wonderful character moments like Murray popping up. Elle and Mike having a heart to heart on the rooftop. There conversation about what happens after the happily ever after just screams bad vibes to me given we know someone is not going to make it out alive. It’s classic horror when they say, “Let’s split up!” Speaking of which, am I the only one that thinks that is Vecna’s distorted face in the cloud above them? Similarly, Hopper and Joyce talk about his refusal to let Elle go on the crawl. It is a lovely glimpse into Hopper’s deep feelings as a father terrified about losing his daughter to Vecna and the military which is why he has kept them off the grid since the quarantine.
We are hit with multiple cliffhangers aat the episode climax which means you are most certainly coming back for more. Hopper, Holly, Dustin and the Wheelers are all in deadly danger and you are waiting for someone to die.
As Holly discovers, it is bad enough for a monster under the bed but when it comes out of the ceiling it’s another matter entirely.
The Time Warriors and Beyond 