We’re coming up on the time when it will have been one year since Stranger Things Season 5 was unleashed upon the world last fall. It’s been almost a whole year, but Susie, do you copy? Because it would appear that the fan base is hardly holding on.
Just one year ago, stores blanketed items and products with Stranger Things! It was everywhere.. a dream come true for fans..
Since then it silently has vanished from even discount racks..
The entire final season of the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things series has been divisive. And despite the brothers publicly talking about wanting to deliver a finale that would complement the entire series, they kind of really didn’t. A
s a matter of fact, people have joked that the ending was so bad it forced an entire conspiracy theory to form, known as Conformity Gate, in which fans convinced themselves there was a hidden series finale, or perhaps even a secret season, that Netflix was just bound to unveil any day now.
But as we get closer to Stranger Things Day on November 6, what seems more likely is that any big surprise will be another advertising deal, some product placement, or perhaps, if we’re lucky, another spinoff series.
But how will it do?
Did Stranger Things simply hit at the right time? Was there a generation of people who reached that magical age when the 1980s were still nostalgic, but they were also young enough to enjoy the show and introduce their own kids to the decade through it?
There was something about that first season that worked almost perfectly. The kids were perfect for their roles, the storyline was simple enough to follow, and the mystery was something we all wanted to solve.
But as we wound down to Season 5, we ended up with what felt like triple the cast, no major calamity for almost anyone in it, and a meandering storyline in which we just kept imagining different ways to defeat Vecna, planning it out with various groups of friends, and waiting for everyone to finally get together and do something about it.
So many have not gone back to watch Season 5. But perhaps even more telling is that they haven’t gone back to watch any of the other seasons either..
Some tried the cartoon, but couldn’t do it. The Broadway play was fine, but that’s not the show.
As time goes on, and as we approach one year since the final season began, there’s no real urgency to celebrate or mark Stranger Things Day, except perhaps among the fan base that still hopes there’s some secret season waiting to be discovered.
This was one of the top shows that defined a generation, and in many ways helped define Netflix itself for the generation watching it. We were all invested in these kids. We watched them grow up, we waited years between seasons, and we wondered how the story would eventually end.
But now where are we?
Just a loose group of misfits who might still watch here and there, but mostly don’t.
At least that’s how it feels. The possibilities don’t seem nearly as intriguing anymore because the series has wound down, the story has ended, and for some of us, there’s just not much desire to go back and watch it again.
And besides the occasional group of fans still discussing theories, or the people holding out hope that Conformity Gate was somehow real, how often do you really hear people talking about Stranger Things anymore?
Maybe that’s the natural life cycle of a television show.
Maybe when something becomes so enormous, with so much anticipation and so many expectations, there’s simply no possible way to end it without disappointing a significant portion of the audience.
But it’s still strange.
When we look back, there was so much hope then. So much enjoyment that was still coming. We couldn’t wait to get back to Hawkins. We couldn’t wait to see what happened next. Even the long waits between seasons seemed to make the excitement grow.
And now, almost a year later, perhaps we should just count Season 4 as the true ending. Because for some of us, Season 5 didn’t just end the series. It seemingly destroyed the very excitement that made us love it in the first place.
Somewhere, somehow, Eleven is still sneaking Eggos in a forest.. and maybe a new generation one day twill discover her.. until then the AV club room is larked and dark.. and the upside down is sideways..
Somewhere out there, there’s still hope that a new generation will pick up their ham radios and try to find a voice in the wilderness. Maybe they’ll discover Hawkins for the first time and experience that same magic we did all those years ago.
And maybe somewhere out there, Eleven is still wandering through the woods, free from everything, with her Eggos, while someone desperately tries to make contact.
But so few people seem to be listening anymore.
Perhaps nobody will hear her.