Spoilers Stranger Things Season 5 - SPOILERS

[payn]

Cool - so worth doubling up on what Morrus already said.

p.s. It is ok not to read the whole thread.

Oh man, they came after me about "party Super Girl" for not reading a long ass thread in totality. That is not a safe assumption.

 

[Morrus]

For those with a spare 5 mins, Jess and talked about the Stranger Things finale on our weekly TTRPG podcast (it was a bit of an off topic segment, but I thought I'd share it here). No spoilers in this video.

 

[payn]

For those with a spare 5 mins, Jess and talked about the Stranger Things finale on our weekly TTRPG podcast (it was a bit of an off topic segment, but I thought I'd share it here). No spoilers in this video.

It says "processing video check back later."

 

[Morrus]

It says "processing video check back later."

OK, so check back later.

 

[TheSword]

So are a lot of TV series! In fact most are longer!

Sure. Personally, I started to get bored. 5 minutes, maybe 10 would have been more than enough for me. I was looking at my watch after 15. After an hour I was just glad it was over--though I did really enjoy the D&D-themed end credits art pieces.

Each to their own, I guess!

It was a little over 30 minutes or so from the upside down collapsing to the credits.

5 minutes in total on the kids each saying goodbye to their significant others, 5 mins on valedictorian speech. 5 mins on the on the older group, Nancy et al, 5 mins on Joyce and Hopper. 10 mins on the final D&D session.

I don’t know, I felt pretty invested in all the characters and it would have been a downer not to have closure for each of these groups. I’m not sure I would have cut anything out of that.

 

[TheSword]

So seems the Mind Flayer particles were the big bad end guy all along and touching them was what gave Henry and by extension everyone transfused with his blood the psychic powers. Did not expect that. I thought Henry was the prime mover. I like the neat explanation. Also that Vecnas voice was actually the mind flayers voice.

- I loved the planes coming together, that looked very cool. Very Bytopian

- I loved every single character that was introduced in later series which is really rare for me. I found Derek’s comic timing excellent. Who are we going to cut out? Murray? Over my dead body.

- I really like the pacing of the final fight, Vecna linked to the fortress monster fighting everyone. All making a difference. All very well choreographed.

- I was happy that the cast survived. Killing characters off for the sake of it can feel manipulative. The sacrifices have already been made. The horror already experienced. Great axe work from Joyce bringing that back.

All in all, very satisfied. It felt like a fitting closure to a great show that never outstayed its welcome

 

[pukunui]

So give Mind Flayer particles were the big bad end guy all along and touching them was what gave Henry and by extension everyone transfused with his blood the psychic powers. Did not expect that. I thought Henry was the prime mover. I like the neat explanation.

I guessed that after reading about the prequel stage play's plot.* So that particular reveal wasn't a surprise for me. However, I was satisfied with Henry choosing to own his past decisions and not pull a Vader-style heel-turn. He remained the villain to the end. I also found it satisfying that Joyce was the one who actually killed him.


*While most of the play's pertinent plot points were revealed on screen this season, the play provides more background so may still be worth checking out for those who can. As I mentioned upthread, the play makes it clear that it was Dr Brenner all along ...

 

[wicked cool]

I have one huge gripe with the finale - Mike undermined his players' agency by having an NPC finish off Strahd! Yes, they had to remember a poem to summon her, so it's not a terrible move, but it still left his players watching someone else win the fight!

The anachronisms around D&D don't bother me. For something like that, getting a resonant reference to D&D as people play it today was probably a lot more important than getting the details right. The Demogorgon miniature from season 1 was not available IRL at that time, so it's something the show has always played with.

Overall, a good send off to the series. Easily the best part for me was the second half of the episode, where we got to say goodbye to everyone and see them get their happily ever after.

Their version of d&d was just terrible. I was watching with non gamers and I was explaining it’s barely anything like that including 1st edition

 

[TheSword]

Their version of d&d was just terrible. I was watching with non gamers and I was explaining it’s barely anything like that including 1st edition

Well they were just kids…

Not to mention that summoning the sorceress was more like bringing back a ex player character as an NPC for one last hurrah. I’ve seen worse.

 

[pukunui]

Yeah, I can’t say my D&D games were any better when I was their age.