So much has been written about the last season and finale of Stranger Things. Season 5 brought excitement and sadness to many diehard fans , myself included.

Within hours of watching the final scene of Season 5, my algorithmic-fueled feed on X was filled with endless clips, meme and AI videos with alternative endings. It was a very strange thing indeed.

I’ve decided to distill my thoughts and feelings into a handful of emotions and themes.

Sadness that the 10 year journey has come to end. I will miss these friends and their strong sense of loyalty to each other.

Inspired and impressed with the courage and strength of so many of the characters:

• Eleven- running and jumping into the belly of the beast with a fearless sense of determination.
• Nancy- standing up to the Vecna/Henry monster with just an M-16 rifle and a few magazines of ammo.
• Mike-supporting El with love, encouragement and gallantry.
• Max-going back into Henry’s mind to rescue the kids.
• Holly- facing her fear and taking the lead to save her friends.
• Will- coming out and fighting back against Henry in his mind.
• Mrs. Wheeler- wielding an ax with a vengeance for all the pain and suffering that Verna caused..

The finale of ST5 was a mix of so many things it made my head spin. The good, the bad-the great, the annoying,- the amazing and the frustrating- I prefer to focus on the positive elements I liked and loved.

The music of Prince (When Doves Cry and Purple Rain) truly captured how many of us felt in the 1980s.   Triumph mixed with melancholy.  (In fact as I type these words in my iPad on a plane to my home state of New Jersey, I am playing  Prince and The Revolution’s Purple Rain album). 

“ I never met to cause you any sorrow..
I never met to cause you any pain.
I only wanted, one time, to see you laughing….”

Hearing these songs brought forth such powerful feelings and emotions.

The power of David Bowe’s Heroes in the ending credits hit hard and made me cry. So many displays of fearless action, gallant strength, and passionate loyalty,.

The class of ‘89 graduation scenes personally impacted me since that was the year of my college finale. Saying goodbye to friends and knowing that life would never be the same again. The magical time was over. Nothing lasts forever.

The final D&D scene in Mike Wheeler’s basement combined with the sad and powerful placement of the characters’ binders on the shelf was equally moving for me and felt very authentic. It brought me back to the downstairs rec room of my teenaged friends in 1983 where I watched them roll the dice to determine their characters’ fate.

Especially poignant was the rooftop scene with the older characters- Steve, Nancy, Robin and Jonathan. You could see, hear, and feel the raw, real, and true emotions they were experiencing. They displayed the powerful bonds of friendship and loyalty. Having had similar gatherings and discussions with my college ROTC friends after our Army commission ceremony, I remember the unsettling mix of excitement, fear, and sorrow knowing that I would never see any of those peers again.

The 1980’s were a truly magical decade to come of age in. So inspired by the analog memories of adventurous freedom, creative play, and Crazy Glue-strong bonds of friendship, I enthusiastically included my reflections of the first 3 seasons of Stranger Things in Chapter 5 of my book Strong Words and Simple Truths.

Although I am a big Sci-Fi fan and love a good alien and/or monster slaying, this is not what I will remember of the Stranger Things series. What I will remember are the powerful emotions that the characters and their experiences made me feel.

My Top 10 list of emotions/themes of Stranger Things Season 5 (listed in order of the bolded words in this article):

• Sadness
• Inspired
• Courage
• Strength
• Triumph
• Heroes
• Friendship
• Loyalty
• Freedom
• Bonds

Much will continue to be written and opined about Stranger Things and I hope that my 1980 memories and GenX perspective gave you sense of the magical time where heroes walked the land and were not afraid to show it.

The sadness of the end of an era has inspired me to share the stories of courage, strength, and triumph through the acts of heroes whose loyalty to the bonds of freedom and friendship will never die.

If you made it to the end of this article and understand the significance, structure, and special meaning of the previous sentence, you are a gifted, creative, and talented person. Please leave a comment if you figured it out and wish to claim your prize ( first 5 people only).

Below is an AI generated statement:

Even in the face of sadness, we are inspired by the courage and strength that heroes show, turning adversity into triumph. Through friendship, loyalty, and the unbreakable bonds they share, they remind us that true freedom is found in standing together.

Long live Stranger Things.