TV Obsessive
This week, on The TV Obsessive Podcast Episode 136, Caemeron and Ryan discuss the Stranger Things finale (and the series as a whole). But first, in the news:
- There is a release date and teaser trailer for the Malcolm in the Middle revival
We also chat a bit about The Traitors and Hijack. It’s a light news week. Happy New Year!
On the Stranger Things Finale, S5E8, “The Rightside Up”
Written and Directed by The Duffer Brothers
In their mission to destroy the Mindflayer and Vecna, the team is divided into two groups. Hopper, Eleven, and Kali go to Hawkins Lab in the Upside Down to try to enter Henry’s mind. The rest make their way to the radio tower to wait for the Abyss’s descent onto Hawkins.
Eleven, Kali, and Max enter Henry’s mind, but he escapes and tricks Hopper into breaking the connection his team has to Henry. The military tracks the team to the lab and kills Kali, but Eleven kills them all.
Holly leads the escape of the other 11 children out of Henry’s mind, causing the Abyss to stop descending further towards Hawkins.
In the Abyss, Will sees into Henry’s mind and learns that Henry turned evil when he was exposed to something belonging to the Abyss while he was a child. Will tries to persuade him to fight it, but Henry has fully accepted his fate as Vecna.
The Mindflayer rises up as a giant monster in the Abyss, but the kids and teens are able to destroy it, while Eleven defeats Vecna in a battle. The group rescues the captured children, and Joyce beheads Vecna, killing him once and for all.
Hopper and Murray escape with the group, but leave explosives to destroy the Upside Down when they are out. When they are accosted by Dr. Kay back in Hawkins, Eleven decides not to let them capture her and stays in the Upside Down while it is destroyed.
In an epilogue 18 months later, the older teens reunite and vow to stay in touch, Hopper proposes to Joyce at Enzo’s, and the five friends graduate and play a round of D&D that night. As it ends, Mike imagines the group’s individual futures and provides a theory of how Eleven might still be alive.
- Quibbles, complaints and responses to them
- Reflections on the horrors of puberty
- Thoughts about the stakes
- Eleven’s fate
- Spinoff plans?
Next Time on The TV Obsessive Podcast…
We begin our coverage of Hijack on Apple TV.
