How the ‘Stranger Things’ series finale turned the Upside Down ‘Rightside Up’

Linnea Berthelsen and Millie Bobby Brown in "Stranger Things" Season 5. (Courtesy of Netflix via CNN Newsource)

With a giant evil spider monster, mysterious briefcase and a whole lot of teary characters bidding adieu, “Stranger Things” has now become a thing of the past.

The Netflix series that capitalized on ’80s homages and synth notes mixed with pop hits ended its fifth and final season with a 2-hour-plus finale that debuted on New Year’s Eve, in which no one (really) died, lifelong friendships were reforged in fire, and a bunch of Dungeons and Dragons nerds finally graduated high school (even though they all look old enough to have college under their belts by now, too).

The first two chunks of the season – unceremoniously released smack-dab on Thanksgiving and Christmas – set up this last adventure, putting in place the pieces for a climactic showdown in an episode titled “The Rightside Up” that summoned essentially every surviving member of the extended cast (even Mr. Clarke!) to defeat Vecna, a.k.a. Henry Creel, a.k.a. One.

In a behind the scenes clip released before the episode, “Stranger Things” co-creator Ross Duffer said that since it was the last hurrah for the show, they wanted to “make it as big as possible, and I don’t think we could put another character in, I think the whole thing would break.” That felt true in this final stretch – some characters barely uttered a word of dialogue in the last episode, not for lack of urgency, but simply because there was no space or time for them to do so.

Still, the stakes were set high, as Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) wrestled with a fateful choice of what to do at the end, since even if the Upside Down were to be irrevocably destroyed, her sheer existence could leave a door open to a new version and a new threat like Vecna. Ironically, her conundrum was not dissimilar to that of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator in that film franchise’s second installment, which costarred Linda Hamilton. In Season 5 of “Stranger Things,” Hamilton’s Dr. Kay came to represent the shady and evil militaristic organization that, like Skynet in the “Terminator” films, would stop at nothing to get a hold of Eleven and use her to reproduce the madness of the Upside Down.

Ultimately, Eleven employs a strategy that was seen in a much more recent film franchise, namely “Wicked,” with the magically powered girl intentionally letting everyone – even those she loves most – believe she’s dead, when really she’s off discovering new and distant lands.

As for Vecna’s final demise, it turns out that denizens of the theater had the upper hand going into the finale, since clues to Henry’s inception as Vecna that were presented in the West End and Broadway production of “Stranger Things: The First Shadow” were heavily referenced at the end.

For the many who have not seen the Tony-winning Broadway show, it explores Henry’s origins as they connect to his repressed childhood memories that were gradually revealed in Season 5. It all revolves around a briefcase that young Henry encounters in a cave, the contents of which begin his descent into the Upside Down. Helpful context via Nerdist and Reddit: The briefcase holds a sample of Dimension X particles, stolen from a lab, that invade Henry’s body and start the process of him becoming Vecna, opening the door to the Upside Down and the creation of Eleven and her “siblings.” Make sense? It’s ok if the answer is not a resounding yes.

Instead, it’s fun to get lost in the awe of the Mind Flayer, connected to Vecna, which in the finale episode is finally shown in all its glory as a Kaiju-sized spider. It bores down on our Hawkins heroes in Dimension X, but finally dies when they demonstrate how teamwork really does make the dream work. Special props go to Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) pulling gun-toting Sigourney-Weaver-in-“Aliens” duty, and Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) again wielding his newfound sorcery.

But, if you pressed pause as that final showdown unfolded and were surprised to see at least 40 minutes of runtime left, you most likely weren’t the only one. The denouement of this movie-sized episode was an inflated one, with lots of screen time devoted to wrapping up various characters and their storylines, like Hopper (David Harbour) finally getting his long-anticipated date night with Joyce (Winona Ryder) and jumping right to getting down on one knee and proposing, and an uproarious high school graduation sequence that showcased the rebellious brilliance of Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) paying tribute to dear departed Eddie (Joseph Quinn).

There were also some delicious needle drops, the most prominent being two Prince megahits “When Doves Cry” and “Purple Rain.”

After this strange year, making sure everyone got their happy ending on “Stranger Things” was more than welcome.

Dan Heching, CNN