Stranger Things Series Finale Gives Kali a Confusing Ending (And Fans Are Furious)

The message contains major spoilers for the series finale of “Stranger Things.”

Linnea Berthelsen’s Kali Prasad was killed during the series finale of “Stranger Things” in what was supposed to be a triumphant act of bravery, but it came across as a wasted opportunity to do the character justice. Naturally, fans have expressed their feelings on social media and, as you might expect, most of them aren’t very happy.

“Stranger Things” had a divisive ending with the finale of its fifth and final season, which left so many questions unanswered. What Happened to the Soldiers and Dr. Kay by Linda Hamilton? And those poor pregnant women in the lab? And did Brett Gelman’s Murray Bauman and Amybeth McNulty’s Vickie Dunne just disintegrate with Upside Down or something? As of now, it doesn’t look like we’ll get any answers anytime soon, but one thing fans are demanding to know is why the hell Kali was given such a short break.

The character ended up being the only one Major death in ‘Stranger Things’ series finale alongside Vecna ​​(Jamie Campbell Bower) and Eleven (Milly Bobby Brown), although the latter may or may not still be alive. As far as most fans are concerned, it’s bad enough that the show’s writers brought Kali back only to kill her, but they also botched her death, which to many viewers seemed like a complete waste.

In season 5, Kali Prasad returns after revealing that Dr. Kay was using her blood to attempt to create a new horde of telekinetic children. But this return was somewhat spoiled by creators Matt and Ross Duffer who made her a villain. David Harbour’s Jim Hopper is suspicious of her motives, and in episode 7 she tries to convince Eleven to stay in the Upside Down after Vecna’s defeat in order to end their lives as she collapses. Her reasoning is that their deaths will prevent any further experiments from being conducted on the couple, but the series clearly showed her to be, at the very least, untrustworthy.

Then, in the finale, Kali met her end after Lt. Akers (Alex Breaux) shot her and she appeared to bleed out on the floor of Hawkins Lab. That was already a pretty disappointing ending for the character, but in the episode’s final moments, Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) suggests that Kali actually survived long enough to create a final mirage that made it appear as if Eleven remained in the Upside Down as it collapsed, when in reality she had escaped. We then see Eleven travel through a mountainous landscape and through a small town where, presumably, she plans to live out the rest of her days.

So, Kali was brought back, introduced as a villain, killed, and then revealed to still be alive long enough to help isolate Eleven from everyone close to her before being wiped out by the implosion of the Upside Down – and that’s if Eleven herself is still alive. (No wonder fans are furious about Eleven’s fate.) It’s not great, and fans have made that very clear online.

Talk to Deadline in November 2025, the Duffer brothers said they had “always wanted to bring [Kali] back because Linnea is an incredible performer. » The two men said they wanted to give the character “another chance to shine”, with Ross Duffer adding: “We didn’t want to just put her in for the sake of putting her in. We wanted her to have a real impact on the story and on Eleven’s journey. “Obviously, they thought they had accomplished this with the questionable sacrifice of Kali in the series finale, which mostly resulted in the most obvious character deaths possible. But fans aren’t convinced.

At least, the social networks the reactions seem to suggest so. Besides users expressing contrition for suspecting Kali of being evil, there is a cavalcade of perplexed and angry responses to her death. Reactions range from slightly irritated – “They kill Kali instead of the main characters who should have died multiple times, okay, Duffer brothers” – at furious — “This girl suffered like hell, saw her friends die, man, SHE DON’T DESERVE THIS, MAN, WHY DON’T GOD GIVE HER A HAPPY ENDING!!!”

Then there are those who noticed logical inconsistencies with the “Kali Saves Eleven” story. Like a user pointed out, Kali was taken down “well before El jumped into the Abyss” at the end, which would make it very unlikely that she would have survived long enough to cast her final illusion. Another brings up the fact that Kali’s illusion would have ended when the lab first exploded and killed her for good, but it didn’t, making the whole “Eleven Escaped” scenario pretty much impossible. But the main feeling was summed up by another userwho simply wrote: “What’s the point of bringing Kali back if she was going to die so quickly and meaninglessly?”