Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Stranger Things finale
That's it then. After five seasons and nine years, Stranger Things has come to an end.
The show, which started out as an Indie 80s-inspired horror fantasy, has established itself as one of the biggest in TV history, with millions tuning in for the finale, which dropped in the early hours of New Year's Day here in the UK.
Fans wanted a lot to be explained in the final season (that dropped in three instalments during December), such as why Will Byers had initially been targeted all the way back in season one, and how Vecna originally got his powers.
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Social media has been rife in recent days with elaborate theories on how Vecna has been present throughout the show and exactly why he couldn't enter the cave but while the two-hour long finale was able to wrap up some of those questions, many more have been created following a somewhat controversial ending.
Throughout the series, we've seen main characters come extremely close to death without ever dying, as it's only really been newly-introduced characters such as Billy, Bob and Eddie who have been officially killed off, which left many fans expecting a bloodbath in the final battle with Vecna and the 'mind flayer'.
However, as the final episode saw the gang take down the monsters on enemy territory in the Abyss, the only notable death was that of Eleven's sister Kali, who had only been reintroduced in the final episodes of season five, having played a slightly more prevalent role all the way back in season two.
Many online had speculated that the bromance between Dustin and Steve would be broken up, Max would finally succumb to Vecna's powers, or Will would die in the ultimate showdown due to his connection to the 'hive mind' - but in the end, none of that happened.
After fire destroyed the mind flayer and Joyce fittingly chopped Vecna's head off, there wasn't much in the way of drama in the final hour or so of the finale.
Of course, you'll know by now that Eleven wanted to sacrifice herself in the Upside Down to ensure that her blood couldn't be used by the military to create more monsters similar to Vecna, but the emotional final Dungeons and Dragons game suggested that even that might not have been real.
It was left to the audience whether Mike's story, suggesting Kali had cast one final spell on Eleven to help her escape, was real, and she had truly survived, but if she did, then we really didn't see any significant deaths whatsoever in the final season.
And this has left fans a little confused, especially after the Duffer brothers alluded to 'serious and irreversible consequences' for some of their characters. But in reality, everything seemed to work out alright for everyone.
One fan wrote: "They didn't even kill Murray. Genuinely no one important died. El is alive and in hiding. What serious and irreversible consequences were the duffers talking about. Even Karen and Ted are still alive. Like what. Okay."
Another said: "Five seasons and not ONE major character dies."
The Duffer brothers had previously suggested that we wouldn't see a Red Wedding-style finale and that anyone expecting some of the main faces to die would be left disappointed.
Ross Duffer said: “I mean, obviously, it’s (an) emotional ending to the show for a variety of factors. But I don’t want to say too much.”
“I want people to brace themselves as they go into the finale,” Ross Duffer continues. “But I can promise you it’s not a 'Red Wedding' situation, like from ‘Game of Thrones.’ We’re not gonna wipe out eight of our characters.”
Matt Duffer adds they’re 'not doing anything for shock value.'
“It’ll be easier to talk about once it comes out," he added.
It will be interesting to see what the creators have to say about the finale now that it's available to watch, but it seems lots of fans have been left a little underwhelmed by the ease with which the main characters succeeded in what had been built up as an epic battle.
Topics: Stranger Things, Netflix
James Moorhouse