Season Five Comes to Its Epic and Emotional End

• Warning: this article contains spoilers for the latest episode of Stranger Things

Stranger Things had an epic and emotional ending, with a dramatic two-hour finale that briefly crashed Netflix’s servers.

Viewers rushed to watch the latest episode, which concludes 10 years of the sci-fi horror series, as it was released at 01:00 GMT.

Some fans also attended special cinema screenings of the finale in cities across the United States and Canada, several of which featured the stars of the series.

Set in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana, Stranger Things first aired in 2016 and stars Millie Bobby Brown, Winona Ryder and David Harbour.

The two-hour series finale drama, titled Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up, Netflix servers initially overloaded.

Several fans reported that they received an error message when trying to play the game – which often happens with big new releases on streaming platforms.

But the episode was quickly restored, and viewers got to watch a finale that included massive battle scenes and emotional tributes that showcased all five seasons, bringing closure to the characters we’ve fallen in love with over the years.

The finale left you on the edge of your seat at times and had others cheering and crying.

A lot of it hinged on Netflix and the Duffer Brothers, who created the 1980s-inspired, monster-infused interdimensional series. The end of a beloved series comes with both anticipation and plenty of criticism.

So far this season, fans have been picking apart scenes and combing through previous seasons to try to piece together how it all might end in the Upside Down.

Viewers were quick to point out gaps in the story or problems they felt while writing the script, pointing out flaws in Will Byers’ exit scene or issues such as Holly Wheeler’s jacket with a logo for Under Amour (a brand that was only created in 1996) appearing on screen.

Countless theories discussed on social networks have only exaggerated the end of this saga.

Fans have guessed possibilities such as time travel (clocks have been a major plot point for several seasons, after all), placed bets on which main character might die, and some have had wild thoughts about Henry Creel “Vecna” using mind control on characters throughout this season to explain various gaps in the storytelling.

In the end, some theories were founded. Others, not at all.

Don’t read any further if you don’t want to know what happens in the Stranger Things finale.

In the finale, we see an epic final fight that requires all the characters to finally defeat Vecna ​​and the Mind Flayer before the worlds merge and Hawkins, Indiana – and Earth as we know it – are taken over.

We don’t see any dramatic deaths in the core group of stars we love over the course of five seasons – although we did see the death of Kali (Eight).

What happened to Eleven, however, remains up for interpretation. She finds herself faced with an impossible choice.

At first, viewers are left to believe that she chose to stay in the Upside Down as it explodes and is demolished forever in order to eliminate the possibility of being used to create more children with powers like hers.

But later, in a long epilogue scene, Mike Wheeler suggests another possibility: Eleven uses Kali’s powers of illusion to make it appear as if she is dead before escaping.

He says he thinks she finally arrived at the place they talked about running away to: a country with three waterfalls.

Mike says that’s what he likes to believe – and every member of their Dungeons & Dragons group – Will, Dustin, Lucas and Max – all agree that they believe it too.

It’s a fitting ending that leaves open the possibility that Eleven will also have a happy ending.

The epilogue takes us 18 months into the future after the demolition of the Upside Down and the defeat of Vecna ​​– and the Mind Flayer.

We see Hooper and Joyce get engaged and the team of older teens talk about their college lives and careers.

It’s a happy ending for everyone.

But even with such an epic finale, there are definitely some holes in the story that weren’t fully explained in the final episode.

This will definitely be a finale that will please some fans and leave others wanting more.

In the United States and Canada, the finale was released theatrically in its entirety.

Fans in Los Angeles stood in the rain for hours outside the Egyptian Theater along Hollywood Boulevard to watch it in one of Netflix’s theaters.

The streaming giant, which is currently trying to buy Warner Bros., renovated the historic 1922 theater and now uses it to host premieres and special screenings of projects.

Fans, many dressed as characters or demogorgons, took photos in the Stranger Things themed lobby. Netflix distributed special merchandise, such as T-shirts and figurines.

While waiting for the special screening, fans in the room exchanged theories about who might die or how it might all end. Many discussed popular theories about Steve Harrington’s disappearance and clung to the hope that he would survive the final battle.

Liv and Alina Valdez, dressed as fan-favorite friends Steve Harrington and Dustin Henderson, said they couldn’t have been happier with how it all ended.

“It’s been almost 10 years,” Liv told BBC News, wearing the uniform of Harrington’s Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlor outside the theater.

“The Duffer Brothers did a good job of giving the audience what we needed, maybe not necessarily what we wanted.”

They both applauded the happy and perhaps bittersweet ending.

“It was an emotional roller coaster,” Alina added, noting that the end of Eleven’s performance was perfectly done.

“It was just a lot of emotion,” Diana Espinoza told the BBC, standing in the theater lobby with a new Demogorgon plush toy.

“I lost control of my tears!”

She donned a jaw-dropping long dress at the screening and said she tried in vain to avoid various fan theories that had gone viral on social media because she wanted to be “blown away” by the final episode.

Being in a theater with other fans screaming and crying during crucial scenes was icing on the cake.

“I loved the finale. There was no better way to end it,” she said, calling it both bittersweet, emotional and a “happy ending” that everyone deserved.

Additional reporting by Steven McIntosh.