“Stranger Things” has been one of the most influential shows of this generation. It had fans sitting on the edge of their seats for the release of season five. After the release of the last episode of the entire show, fans flooded social media with their opinions: unexpectedly bad. A billion-dollar show that has been rated among the best of the best for years, now had a different reaction from the fans.
One of the biggest reasons why the show was so disappointing to the viewers was the plot holes. The writers of the show left dozens of plot points and story lines unfinished and left people with more questions than they answered.
During the promotional period, the writers and cast said that the final season would fill in any gaps in the storylines: spoiler alert, they did the opposite. Because the writing was so sloppy and rushed, the storytelling became unclear and left most viewers confused. After watching the finale, the story felt far from over, despite having a run-time of over two hours. The last episode is as long as an entire movie and the Duffer Brothers still couldn’t write an ending to the show that answered the very questions that the show had been encouraging viewers to ask since episode one.
The show’s writing was even more disappointing because the beginning of the fifth season was very promising. It was so well written that they became some of the highest rated episodes of the show. It gave the viewers hope for the rest of the season to include more high stakes situations with plot twists and shock value but the fans were left with the most predictable show ending: the protagonist wins and they live happily ever after.
Before the release of the finale, many fans even came up with alternate storylines and theories that produced better endings than the professional show writers. Some of these theories caught a lot of attention online, and it made fans excited for the release of the final episode. The Duffer Brothers were keeping up with the fan theories and claimed that no one had guessed the ending correctly. This spiked interest in guessing the ending, and fans started to get more and more creative with the theories. This excitement only added to the dissatisfaction once the finale came out because people’s expectations were so high. However, after the release of the finale and fans expressed their disappointment, the theories shockingly didn’t stop.
One of the theories that caught the most online attention was “conformity gate.” It would have been ground-breaking for television. This theory stated that there was a secret finale that was to be released after the ‘real’ finale that would actually fill in all of the plot holes and provide a better ending. It set out to break the fourth wall by suggesting that the viewers were also under Vecna’s curse. Fans came up with this because they believed that the ending was ‘too normal’ and for a show that preached uniqueness, it seemed almost too real. The plot holes and unsatisfactory epilogue were hoped to be fixed by the supposed ninth episode.
Fans began to think that the ‘bad writing’ was actually just a ploy and all the viewers were conforming to what Vecna wanted them to think, just like in the show. They didn’t accept the ending of the show, and they shared hopes that the last episode would in fact be a fluke.
A craze set in where fans searched for clues posted by Netflix and the Stranger Things TikTok account that seemingly hinted at something else being released. Thousands of people were invested in this theory and would hope for updates every day on if it was true.
Unfortunately for the fans that believed in “conformity gate,” the rumors were dispelled by members of the cast and the writers themselves. The writers could have implemented one of the most creative endings of a show that would disrupt the entire television industry. Instead, the ending of a show that millions of people were invested in was written in the most predictable way. Stranger Things fans from all over the world were let down not only just by the bad writing and poor ending, but also by the hopes of “conformity gate.” This show is still a masterpiece of cinema, but it will forever be underwhelming compared to what we could have gotten with the ninth episode.
