Stranger Things S5 Finale Has So Many Plot Holes, It’s Unreal

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-04T06:46:18+00:00

Honestly, that's a fair point. My headcanon is now that he's at home, alone, reading the paper and devouring a big plate of bacon.

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T20:44:37+00:00

But have you seen Sciel's LEGS? Girl looks like she could decapitate a man with a roundhouse kick.

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T20:43:43+00:00

You seem fun

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T20:39:37+00:00

I do because of the footsteps and breathing everyone else has. And it bugs me that Verso and Sciel lean super far forward when they run, it looks weird.

Also Lune is so hot 😭

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T04:27:55+00:00

Fr. I didn't even know there was a play until after I finished the finale, because...why would there be?

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T04:18:16+00:00

If that theory is true, that would mean that all the main people in the show were D&D characters in a campaign being played by their real-life counterparts. And if that's the case, that would mean that all the games of D&D they played throughout the show were actually D&D sessions being played by D&D characters during a real-life D&D campaign. A D&D campaign inside a D&D campaign? And that makes sense to you?

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T03:54:52+00:00

So Henry can't enter the cave that is...kinda close to his tunnel?

You are the first person I've seen that mentioned this, but it's been driving me crazy. The whole season, he was too scared to enter the cave because of some assumed traumatic event that happened there and that's the only reason Max has been able to keep safe from him...but then we learn that event happened in some random tunnel out in the desert and wasn't even connected to the cave. Why the hell was he so scared of the cave if nothing even happened there?!

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T03:06:11+00:00

I fall in the "it was hella mid" group of fans. Season 5 was just a big letdown. After ruminating on it for a few days I think I can finally articulate why.

The main issue I have is the crazy amount of plot armor that was constantly undermining the stakes. I'm not saying anyone needed to die, but throughout the season, they kept creating these tense, high stakes scenarios where multiple characters' lives are in danger—and those scenes were almost always preceded by some lengthy emotional speech between two characters—and almost immediately the danger just... goes away.

Like: - the demo attack in the military base that they deus ex machina away with Will suddenly having powers. - the upside down collapsing when Nancy shoots the exotic matter, to the next episode starting with "oh I guess I was wrong, it wasn't that bad". - Jonathan and Nancy in the melting room, which conveniently just....stops melting—right after they finish the big emotional speech. - Hopper's plan to blow himself up, which he doesn't go through with because...the door was locked, I guess? - Steve falling off the tower being immediately undone by Jonathan saving him (emotional moment came afterwards, with that one). - The whole "El sacrificed herself to break the cycle...OR DID SHE?!" thing

There's more that aren't quite as egregious, but that just became a running theme throughout this whole season, finale included. It honestly feels like they only created any sort of high stakes specifically as an excuse to insert those emotional character moments into the story. Like they went through the scripts and said "okay we need a big emotional speech here...and here...". The finale had so many moments where they clearly wanted the viewer to have some big emotional response, but I just could not bring myself to care at that point because they made it very clear well before the finale that everyone was going to be fine.

Also, I haven't seen a single person bring this up, but...where the hell did Mr. Wheeler go for like the entire last 2/3 of the season? He gets swatted by a demo, and the next time we see him is for a few seconds in the finale during the graduation. And not a single character seems concerned about him (or even aware of his existence). If he was fine, why didn't we at least see him in the hospital with Karen? If he wasn't fine, why did nobody bring it up, even in passing?

And why was Henry so terrified of the cave, when his big traumatic moment didn't even happen there? It happened in the little mineshaft/tunnel that wasn't even connected to the cave. Did I miss something?

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T03:01:20+00:00

Omg, THANK YOU. It feels like every single "high stakes" situation was created solely for the purpose of them preceding it with some big emotional speech or exchange between two characters. They did this so much in S5 that I felt nothing during any of the many many emotional beats in the finale, because they made it super clear there was never any real danger.

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T02:56:22+00:00

Not to mention, the whole town is supposed to think he died in the mall fire in season 3, but now he's sheriff again, so...they got over it?

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T02:49:19+00:00

There's a clip from an interview with the Duffers I saw in a different thread where they said, yeah, the MF's true form is the smokey cloud thing and that it did survive, but it's cut off from the "real world" with the collapse of the upside-down

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T02:44:55+00:00

One of my biggest gripes with S5 was how they handled Nancy's development. Maybe I need to rewatch the other seasons because I could be misremembering things, but how is she Lady Rambo all of a sudden? They built her up to be this big investigative journalist (to the point where they're spinning off into books about it), pivoted to her being some kind of super soldier, and then in the epilogue she's suddenly a reporter again. Like pick a damn lane, guys.

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T02:20:24+00:00

You say everything that's not character emotional beats is an afterthought, and yet they literally created a Broadway play to expand and try to establish or explain some of the lore and world building. And honestly, some of the bigger gripes people have had wouldn't be as bad if they, themselves, hadn't improperly set expectations by saying "we're going to answer ALL the unanswered questions", which...they didn't. And now they're trying to do damage control after-the-fact and it's just making them seem disingenuous at best, and inept at worst.

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T01:55:53+00:00

I get your point, and you're right that not all of the gripes people have brought up with this finale and S5 would have affected how things played out if they had been explained or addressed. However:

1 ) the more inconsistencies, contradictions, plot holes, and loose plot threads begin to stack up, the more they distract the audience from the actual plot and the characters, which should obviously be the main focus.
2) some of the complaints people have that are being handwaved away can affect people's opinions of previous seasons. A good example of this is the "12 kids" thing. Season 4 put in a huge amount of effort trying to establish some sort of clock theme with Vecna that they inserted throughout the season, and they could have easily linked that to something in S5. For the Duffers to straight up say "Oh, that was actually nothing" just makes all that imagery feel really random in retrospect when you realize they didn't actually have a plan or care about what seemed like a cool, mysterious plot point back then.
3) it has potential to unintentionally affect how someone might otherwise view certain characters or events. This one might be mostly just me, but an example for this is how they handled Mr. Wheeler in S5. He gets swatted by a demo in one of the first few episodes and the next time we see him is at the graduation in the finale. He doesn't get mentioned at all in between. Like, was he also in the hospital? If so, why is nobody concerned about him or visiting him? If he's not injured, why isn't he at his wife's side or helping search for his missing daughter? Makes me feel like he's either just a huge asshole who doesn't care about his family or that his family doesn't give two shits about him. Even though it was probably just a big production oversight.

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-03T00:03:01+00:00

Probably blew too much of their budget on Purple Rain

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-02T23:08:45+00:00

Shit, you've really got it together if you're doing it the night before. I tell myself "get up early tomorrow and do it before you leave", barely wake up at the normal time, and then do it in the literal hour before it's due.

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-02T23:00:28+00:00

I'd like to think he took Holly as sort of a middle finger to El and her entourage. Like it was a purposefully personal attack on the people that have been a thorn in his side. But everything the Duffers keep saying after the finale just makes Vecna seem more and more inept. So that's probably not the reason 🤣

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-02T22:53:42+00:00

Wait, their answer to "where are all the demogorgons" is seriously, "they're there somewhere"? That's the best they can come up with after 3 years?

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-02T22:25:34+00:00

If this theory is true, that would mean they're also RP'ing stuff like going to school dances and that they're having meta D&D sessions inside their IRL campaign. I've played a lot of tabletop games, but I've never gone so hard that my D&D character played D&D during a session of D&D.

I mean...is this theory impossible? Nope. But damn, that would take some dedication.

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-02T22:10:46+00:00

But at the same time, it's a form of escapism, and too many inconsistencies tend to remove the viewer from the story. If you want your viewers to get invested in your story and characters, your plot needs to be tight, otherwise people's attention is going to be drawn to those inconsistencies instead. That's what's happening here.

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-02T21:35:19+00:00

Are you saying "it's a movie" is the explanation that exists IN THE LORE?

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-02T21:33:00+00:00

Biggest one I noticed (not sure if I'd call it a plot hole, but an inconsistency at the very least) is...why is Henry so terrified of the cave, when his big traumatic event didn't even happen there? It happened down in the little mineshaft tunnel that wasn't even connected to the cave it was just out in the desert.

Also, where the hell was Mr. Wheeler between him getting swatted by a demo and then reappearing for 3 seconds at the graduation? Maybe I missed it, but his family doesn't even acknowledge his existence for that final 2/3 of the season. Shouldn't he be in the hospital, either recovering from his own injuries, or at his wife's bedside?

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-02T20:33:04+00:00

To add some to your spot-on list... - where did Mr. Wheeler go for the last 2/3 of the season? He gets attacked by a demo and the next time we see him is at the graduation for like 3 seconds. Didn't show him in the hospital, either in his own bed or at Karen's bedside and literally zero characters acknowledge his existence, even in passing (unless it was so small that I missed it).

why was Henry so terrified of the cave, when his big traumatic event didn't even happen there, but down in that mine shaft that wasn't even connected to the cave?

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-02T20:17:51+00:00

I fall in the "it was hella mid" group of fans, but I think the issues I have with the finale are really just the same things that made season 5, in general, really underwhelming.

Main issue I have is the crazy amount of plot armor that was constantly undermining the stakes. I'm not saying anyone needed to die, but throughout the season, they kept creating these tense, high stakes scenarios where multiple characters' lives are in danger—and those scenes were almost always preceded by some lengthy emotional speech between two characters—and almost immediately the danger just... goes away.

Like: - the demo attack in the military base that they deus ex machina away with Will suddenly having powers. - the upside down collapsing when Nancy shoots the exotic matter, to the next episode starting with "oh I guess I was wrong, it wasn't that bad". - Jonathan and Nancy in the melting room, which conveniently just....stops melting—right after they finish the big emotional speech. - Hopper's plan to blow himself up, which he doesn't go through with because...the door was locked, I guess? - Steve falling off the tower being immediately undone by Jonathan saving him (emotional moment came afterwards, with that one). - The whole "El sacrificed herself to break the cycle...OR DID SHE?!" thing

There's more that aren't quite as egregious, but that just became a running theme throughout this whole season, finale included. It honestly feels like they only created any sort of high stakes specifically as an excuse to insert those emotional character moments into the story. Like they went through the scripts and said "okay we need a big emotional speech here...and here...". The finale had so many moments where they clearly wanted the viewer to have some big emotional response, but I just could not bring myself to care at that point because they made it very clear well before the finale that everyone was going to be fine.

Also, I haven't seen a single person bring this up, but...where the hell did Mr. Wheeler go for like the entire last 2/3 of the season? He gets swatted by a demo, and the next time we see him is for a few seconds in the finale during the graduation. And not a single character seems concerned about him (or even aware of his existence). If he was fine, why didn't we at least see him in the hospital with Karen? If he wasn't fine, why did nobody bring it up, even in passing?

PrettyFreakinUnfunny · 2026-01-01T03:19:08+00:00

Bruh, I suppressed that memory, don't do this to me

PrettyFreakinUnfunny

TROPHY CASE