Stranger Things is officially over. Well, the main series, anyway. Netflix is still putting out the animated midquel series Stranger Things: Tales from ’85 later this year. But the decade-long wait for an ending for the Hawkins kids is finally over. To some, the series finale seems to have gone over pretty alright. People in my group chat called it “fine,” another said they “absolutely crushed” it, and another remarked that they “did the best with what they had.” Those are reactions in private, rather than ones said publicly to get social media engagement, so I wasn’t surprised when I looked elsewhere and saw people were raking this episode through the coals.
The fifth and final season of Stranger Things has been divisive, as it’s received criticism for bad, overly simplistic writing and awkward, corny sentimentality. At this point, it’s entirely possible that the wave of critical reactions could just be bleedover from what many consider a subpar final season, but there have been a few pain points that fans are harping on, whether that be quippy writing, bad performances, or the special effects several people independently compared to those in Linkin Park’s 25-year-old music video for “In The End.” Hell, there are even a few comments in the video’s YouTube comments referencing the bland, awkward CGI backdrops of some of the finale’s sequences.
Stranger Things episodio final. pic.twitter.com/XCKAxILzhK
— Indie 505 (@Indie5051) January 1, 2026
ONE THING, I DONT KNOW WHY https://t.co/5eTYWLnPlv pic.twitter.com/sOLSJTjGIw
— Bee (@SavinTheBees) January 1, 2026
Was going to make a Spy Kids 3D joke but this honestly looks better https://t.co/WBxQX6tHeD pic.twitter.com/HuyeCoqTGJ
— Jane Altoids (@staticbluebat) January 1, 2026
Linkin Park walked so stranger things could run pic.twitter.com/wnsQJuZNmy
— vids that go hard (@vidsthatgohard) January 2, 2026
every shot from the stranger things finale looks like this pic.twitter.com/NIJGgJYZSH
— manic nixon dream girl (@kennixonette) January 2, 2026
The piss-colored, oddly lit CGI of some of the last episode’s scenes is especially baffling considering Stranger Things’ fifth season is estimated to have a budget rivaling that of blockbuster films like Avengers: Endgame and Avatar. That is, of course, spread across the season’s eight episodes, but when the climactic otherworldly scenes all look this rough, you gotta wonder what that money was going toward.
Beyond the way the episode looks, the performances of several members of the cast have received some significant criticism, with much of it being directed to Finn Wolfhard. Some fans feel he couldn’t pull off what were supposed to be the episode’s biggest emotional swings, such as reacting to the “death” of Milly Bobby Brown’s Eleven, with whom his character has been romantically entangled for most of the show.
you can tell when a nigga just sick and tired of his job LMAOOOO https://t.co/SQdeyEKTNV
— ₭ma (@KmaFr_) January 1, 2026
will is losing a sister and mikes mom is taking away his ps5 https://t.co/2TQbIg5Asd
— ً (@kyoreals) January 1, 2026
me when i accidentally hit my pinky toepic.twitter.com/ucwQ5Vhuvj
— dhar (@getocausa) January 1, 2026
Finn’s acting was so bad, people genuinely thought Mike was a repressed homosexual who had feelings for Will while delivering his love confession to El
— l (@HOLDINGTHECOBRA) January 1, 2026
my cramps are so bad rn im hittin this pose pic.twitter.com/XrjYtsQLxM
— tina♡ (@neonlxnii) January 1, 2026
even his hands can’t act https://t.co/SyLroJR8pM
— MIKE WHEELER MUST DIE (@mitskyuri) January 1, 2026
do u guys think the cast was secretly judging finns acting when they were watching the finale together.. like that must’ve been awkward as hell right
— ɐᴉɯ | mia | st spoilers (@m1anme) January 2, 2026
Some fans joke that Wolfhard might have just been sick and tired of Stranger Things after what they’re calling a lackluster final season, but looking at the promo tour, the cast’s reactions to the final season have faint echoes of the way the Game of Thrones crew talked about the notoriously maligned eighth season before it aired, with some seemingly struggling to keep a straight face when asked if they were happy with the finale. So hey, maybe the Stranger Things kids, too, were suffering at the table read.
YOU GUYS ARE BETTER WRITERS THAN THE DUFFERS IS SO SHADY ACTUALLY LMFAOOOO pic.twitter.com/61PCsM55JR
— ‘ (@mayajoes) January 1, 2026
Congrats to Netflix for pulling a Game of Thrones season 8 on their two most popular shows in the same year. pic.twitter.com/5ZKr4mNcHW
— Rick (@RickDaSquirrel_) January 1, 2026
— SB (@SeriesBrasil) January 1, 2026
They should start a podcast pic.twitter.com/dAweybv1ue
— Someone’s failed-clone’s daughter/granddaughter (@MarienneMaid) January 2, 2026
While those criticisms of writing, performance, and SFX are more pointed and specific, the Stranger Things finale also has a lot of the baggage any long-running series that generates fan theories has because some of those hopes and theories didn’t pan out. The “Byler” community, which has been shipping Mike with his gay best friend Will for years, is having an especially hard time. Though hilariously enough, the writing had become so predictable that even before the episode aired on December 31, fans saw one of the pair’s final exchanges coming in which, asked by Will if he still wants to be friends, Mike predictably responds that no, he wants to be best friends.
EP 8 LEAK
will : can we still be friends ?
mike : no…
will : oh ok
mike : I don’t wanna be just friends*will makes a shocked face and blushes*
mike : I wanna be BEST FRIENDS
— kelly (@kellysbyler) December 29, 2025
#byler #StrangersThings5 pic.twitter.com/P7Urarx33f
— somaliaa (@somalianpearl) January 1, 2026
They said Will’s sexuality will be important to the plot of the final season but… it wasn’t though. He could’ve been straight and the plot wouldn’t have moved at all. pic.twitter.com/zaTNwSfqgP
— cee | byler endgame (@bedrot_barbie) January 2, 2026
dgaf about the finale#byler #bylerENDGAME pic.twitter.com/jkfoSDobho
— fish⁸¹ (@lebermer) January 1, 2026
and no matter how hard they tried to make byler bones they still shine brighter than anyone pic.twitter.com/u2ZMe12CvS
— ɐɥɔᴉɯss (@sssmichaa) January 1, 2026
i’ve been on a journey to try to understand why the shipping community for stranger things genuinely believed all their ships would be true and i’m realizing it’s because the actual writers of the show encouraged them to this point the entire way lol https://t.co/7rlIr5B191
— onion person (@CantEverDie) January 2, 2026
A lot of this noise might just be kneejerk reactions to a finale that didn’t align with expectations, so it’s entirely possible that in a few years time, when folks have chilled out, Stranger Things might get a reassessment. If not, it might go down alongside Game of Thrones and How I Met Your Mother as another modern show with an infamously disappointing finale. I guess we’ll see if people show up for Tales from ‘85, but hey, people still loved House of the Dragon despite their issues with Game of Thrones, so maybe there’s still hope for future Stranger Things, too.
Stranger Things will be the perfect property to study for years to come.
It perfectly encapsulates the decline in storytelling & MCU/Marvelization across Hollywood and Western media over the past 9–10 years. https://t.co/8RRSTlZxVD
— An Average Gamer – N (@AnAverageGamerX) January 1, 2026
