Netflix fans terrified long-running series set to wrap up with ‘underwhelming’ finale

Stranger Things fans are waiting with bated breath to see how the beloved series will finally end.

In 2016 the sci-fi drama burst onto our screens. Created by the Duffer brothers, the show was set in the 1980s and followed the residents of the fictional small town of Hawkins, Indiana, after a young girl with psychokinetic abilities opened a gateway between Earth and a hostile alternate dimension known as the Upside Down.

It was an instant success, quickly becoming one of the streaming services most-watched shows ever, going on to continue to break records across its subsequent four seasons.

Since its release, the cast of the show has included Millie Bobby Brown, Noah Schnapp, Gaten Matarazzo, Finn Wolfhard, Sadie Sink, Winona Ryder and David Harbour.

Last month, after a two-year wait, the first episodes of the fifth and final season were finally released – with Metro’s review calling them a ‘masterpiece’.

On Boxing Day another three episodes dropped – with the epic two-hour finale set to be released on New Year’s Day.

However, after watching the most recent episodes, even passionate fans of the series are questioning whether the creators are going to ‘stick the ending’.

The second volume consists of three more episodes: Chapters Five to Seven, titled Shock Jock, Escape from Camazotz and The Bridge.

Kicking off after Will Byers (Schnapp) used his newly found superpowers to kill three Demogorgons, the gang then had to come to terms with the fact that Vecna had managed to kidnap the 12 children they’d been trying to protect.

Along the way a mind-blowing twist that turns the entire show on its head is dropped, while several characters also come incredibly close to meeting their end.

However, critics and viewers alike have admitted the second batch of episodes have been somewhat underwhelming.

‘The first volume blew my mind, and I gave it an easy five stars. Volume two doesn’t quite hit the same mark, as gripping as I still found the three new episodes. As long as the grand finale hits home, I can forgive a slight dip in the middle,’ Metro’s review read.

‘Volume two might not have reached the same level of magnificence that volume one did in my eyes, and the plot twist has the potential to split the fandom right now the middle, but I am optimistically staying firm in my belief that the two-hour episode coming on New Year’s Day will be one of the best TV finales of all time. I just hope I’m right.’

Echoing the same sentiment, The Guardian’s review said: ‘As things stand, the finale has a mountain of admin to battle through. Vecna needs to be defeated. Children need to be rescued. The world needs to be saved. The evil scientists – who started all this, remember – need to be stopped. And then, when all that is done, it somehow needs to find believable and distinct emotional denouements for (if I’ve counted correctly) 17 characters.

‘There is so much work to do in such a short space of time it’s unfathomable how the Duffers can wrap a satisfying bow around such a sprawling mass. Then again, stranger things have happened. Let’s talk again next week.’

Meanwhile The Standard added: ‘No doubt the finale will be worth it. But with so many loose ends to tie up, characters who simply refuse to die, and a plot that’s rapidly staggering under the weight of its own convoluted logic, the road to the summit has never felt so long, or slow.’

After tuning in, many viewers have also expressed concerns with how so many threads will be wrapped up in the finale.

‘Me watching that Stranger Things volume 2 ending, very underwhelming,’ user HYBRld posted on X.

‘This season of Stranger Things is straight up not good. No stakes to anything because no main character is ever gonna die, Minshewmania shared.

‘I feel like my biggest thing with Stranger Things 5 is that the expectations were huge and there were so many questions needing answers…we were given answers to some things and then a lot of filler.. feels like the ending is going to be disappointing compared to what it could be,’ Caleb wrote.

‘Volume 2 flopped so hard that I’m not even sad about Stranger Things ending in 4 days and I’ve been a die-hard fan since I was 14,’ H3LLFIRELIVES added.

Ahead of the series finale, the Duffer brothers addressed fan speculation that a string of main characters could be on the chopping block – especially after the number of deaths in previous seasons.

‘Oh, man…I don’t know what I would say to them,’ Ross Duffer told Today.com.

‘I mean, obviously, it’s (an) emotional ending to the show for a variety of factors. But I don’t want to say too much.’

So far at the end of Vol.2 – no main character has been sacrificed, leading many to think a bloodbath in the final battle with Vecna could be ahead.

‘I want people to brace themselves as they go into the finale,’ Ross explained. But I can promise you it’s not a Red Wedding situation, like from Game of Thrones. We’re not gonna wipe out eight of our characters.’

Meanwhile Matt Duffer added they were ‘not doing anything for shock value’.

In an interview with Metro, the brothers also admitted that the prospect of fans finally reacting to the final adventure was ‘terrifying’.

‘You have ideas of how they’re gonna react, but you never know,’ Matt said.

‘Sometimes you put out a season, and what you think is gonna resonate with the fans does in fact resonate. And then there’s elements that surprise you – things you think are going to really connect with them, don’t. And then other things you weren’t expecting were going to connect with them, really do.

‘This is both a terrifying and really fun part of the process, which is actually putting something out that we put three and a half years into, but we’re really proud of the season. I think the actors are really proud of the season. So hopefully, the fact that us, our writers and the actors are confident in it, we’ll see.’

The final ever episode of Stranger Things will be released on New Year’s Day on Netflix.

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