TV shows are always problematic in what the writers had intended and what the public ends up wanting. Let’s not forget that sometimes an actor’s portrayal of a character never full works out. Or the actor leaves or sadly dies.
Ten years ago when the Duffer Brothers (Matt and Ross) were putting the final touches on their first season, they probably didn’t anticipate the cultural phenomenon the show would become. Reportedly, the show was intended as an anthology with characters overlapping the same way American Horror Story did.
But they had to move production to Georgia and use the small towns outside Atlanta to produce the fictional town of Hawkins, Ind. Inspired by Stephen King’s early writings, most notably IT, the show was about the geeky friends of a small town having to deal with the sudden disappearance of one of their friends, Will Byers (Noah Schnapp).
There also was a mysterious young girl known only as Eleven (Millie Bobbie Brown) who had massive telekinetic powers, such as Carrie. On top of that was the government conspiracy that mad doctors and psychotic bureaucrats were messing with powers they couldn’t understand.
The first season was a massive hit and the show became one of Netflix’s cornerstone shows. The first three seasons seemed to come along smoothly introducing new characters while leading others to their fates.
Then, Covid-19 happened. While most people expected a fourth season to come in late 2020 or early 2021, it didn’t happen until the summer of 2022. And most of the episodes during the season were a lot longer in their length.
But then, the Duffers and Netflix announced the fifth season would be the last. Little did we know, we had to wait another three years. During the summer of 2023, Hollywood shut down with the WGA strike followed by the SAG-AFTRA strike.
Many people had waited almost six years to see how it all ends and a lot of things had changed. The biggest question was could the Duffer Brothers pull it off to leave everyone satisfied. Well, you can’t satisfy everyone. But this was one of the best final seasons to a TV show ever.
Of course, it’s not going to be up to everyone’s expectations. But I’d bet you a lot of the people complaining and review bombing the seasons aren’t even fans of the show. They might have been critical of the episode in which Will comes out to his family and friends. Yet, I’m sure they didn’t care about the scenes where Robyn Buckley (Maya Hawke) and her girlfriend, Vickie (Amybeth McNulty) get a little too close.
I’ve already touched on this in a previous posts. But as the hoopla over the final season and episode has died down in the last month, I think people will consider it the best finale the Duffers could’ve made. I wasn’t too happy with the way Black Widow was treated in the Avengers: Endgame but I still felt it was a good end to the Infinity Saga.
I think we’ve seen the problems with Game of Thrones and Seinfield in which it’s hard to wrap things up the right way. What makes the final season so impressive is that it really is so simple. Set in the middle of Fall in 1987, about a year and eight months after the events of the fourth season, Hawkins has been under a military quarantine.
Eleven, also known as Jane, is in hiding being trained by her surrogate father, Jim Hopper (David Harbour) and Will’s mother, Joyce (Winona Ryder). The people of Hawkins are trying to live a normal life but Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) is still in her coma while her boyfriend, Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) keeps visiting her. Dusin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) has turned cynical and a little bitter toward everyone following the death of his friend, Eddie Munson, in the Upside Down.
They are all working with Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) and his sister, Nancy (Natalia Dyer) as well as Will’s older brother, Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) and Steve Herrington (Joe Kerry) to help Hopper and Eleven with the “crawls” in the Upside Down to find Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
There’s not much room for exposition. We’ve been following these characters for years. What’s left for us to know about them as they prepare to take down Vecna and keep the government from finding Eleven. However, there is a change this season as Holly Wheeler (Nell Fisher), the younger sister of Mike and Nancy, is getting too friendly with a mysterious character Mr. Whatsit (also Bowers). I actually liked how Holly’s character was further emphasized this season as it finally gave Karen (Cara Buono) and Ted (Joe Chrest) more of a sense of danger as Holly is terrorized by a Demogorgon.
I also think this shows the change in perception from how parents acted during this era. This was the era of “Stranger Danger” and the “Satanic Panic” which was a major emphasis in the fourth season. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, a lot of parents pretty much left their kids to their own devices. As long as they were home for supper when the street lamps came on, it was ok.
There has been some criticism that Linda Hamilton was poorly miscast as Dr. Kay, the resident scientist in charge of the military’s experiments in The Upside Down. But I think she does a great job in the role. It could be viewed as stunt casting but the same could be said about Robert Englund’s cameo in the fourth season.
What I think the series managed to do was to cross genres and bring in people who might not always like science-fiction or horror. For the most part, the series pushed the boundaries on what’s acceptable violence or gore. While the main cast of children let out Anglo-Saxon words, they steered clear from the F-word mostly.
Also, I think the show touched on topics that people could relate to. Nancy has to deal with being treated badly when she works the summer job at the newspaper because she’s a woman. Even though he was a fan favorite, Billy Hargrove (Dacre Montgomery), was a bit of a racist and didn’t want Max hanging out with Caleb. Along with the Satanic Panic, there were issues of bullying and culture clashing. Even Steve, who started out as part of the clique, realized that there’s a fine line you have to walk in high school.
And I think that’s what people could relate to. Even with Ted and Karen, people could relate to their love-less marriage of convenience. Just like Stephen King or David Lynch, the show presented a society that many people could identify as somewhere they grew up or were living. And then, the layers are pulled back and we see the ugliness we don’t want to admit is there.
Also the use of Prince’s “Purple Ran” and David Bowie’s “Heroes” was a perfect touch that is moving. We’ve watched the cast grow up and the sadness of what happens as they move on in their lives. They’re no longer kids but high school graduates facing the unkown of what’s in front of them.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 