Guts and Glory and the Stranger Things Finale (with Spoilers)
"One last adventure" Netflix promotional image for Season 5
Like the Hawkins kids comparing their reality to Dungeons and Dragons, I find myself comparing reactions to the Stranger Things finale to the gaming community. And I've noticed fans split across some familiar divides: namely, how much presence death and destruction should have and what makes a satisfying end to a campaign.
If you haven't watched it yet, turn back now - there will be spoilers ahead.
The First Divide: Joy and Pain
Many gamers need decent risks of loss for sessions to feel exciting. Possible risks aren't enough, either: the party must eventually struggle for their wins. Major battles drain resources and time, but that's what sets them apart and makes the rewards twice as sweet. And the clear and present threat of player character death is essential. In short: no guts, no glory. Given how most TTRPGs are designed, this makes sense.
But for other gamers, blood doesn't make the grass grow. Some games and campaigns are based around nonviolent interactions. Some groups avoid certain types of conflict or injury. NPCs may be granted plot armor; player character death may be eschewed entirely. Interactions and gains feel rewarding because of player investment in the journey.
Given how different these positions are, their disagreements make sense.
Some Stranger Things fans feel let down by the finale because it just isn't fraught enough. Where are the hordes of enemies seen in previous seasons? The Hawkins crew walk away with minor cuts and bruises, and no death among them clearly happens. For these viewers, the final battle just isn't epic or brutal enough, and talk-heavy scenes take too much time. I can see how and why they feel that way, and I'm not here to convince them otherwise.
Other fans are glad the final battle doesn't cost more. By then, everyone has suffered enough, as the flashbacks remind us. For these viewers, the dearth of blood isn't a failure, it's proof that the team has leveled up and gelled together. Everyone plays their part and shares in the victory, and after fighting and suffering for years, everyone has earned their measure of peace. These fans relish watching the characters finally move on with their lives.
The Second Divide: Sunshine and Rain
The Duffer Brothers clearly decided on a happy ending, and they were aware some fans would be disappointed. They show us as much in the final scene of the show, in more ways than one.
During the last D & D game, we find the group on the verge of a TPK. Dustin's bard is taken out of the fray, leaving Will the Wise on his own. Trouble is, he can't cast magic from his position and even if he could, it wouldn't do enough damage. No one can think of a winning move, causing Max to walk away from the table in frustration with, "This game is bullshit!" After investing so much time, so much loss leaves them bitter. Everyone but Mike is visibly demoralized as Lucas urges Will to roll and get it over with. This is how many fans would have felt if the ending had come down too heavily.
But The Duffer Brothers weren't going to allow that. Will is about to roll when Dustin suddenly remembers a summon he can use. On Mike's face, we see the moment he decides to reward them for remembering the incantation. Can the summoning work despite the magic nullification zone? Mike doesn't complicate the issue; he pretends it doesn't work at first so the mage can dramatically appear and save the day. And even though Strahd is defeated by a deus ex machina, the table erupts in cheers.
Mike rushes through the resolution next. He skips over the characters being healed to the dispensing of medals and gold. He declares, "Flush with wealth and honor, you live out the rest of your lives in comfort and in happiness," leading Lucas and Will to smile and say it was a great campaign. But once again, Max isn't satisfied: "Wait, that's it? Comfort and happiness? Could you be more trite? I thought you were some kind of master storyteller or something." Here, Max is clearly speaking for viewers who will demand the same about the end of Stranger Things.
So Mike elaborates on the kinds of happiness they seek and find in the years to come. And then he relates the story he can't tell anyone else: how El could have survived. The situation they faced was similar to the game: all seemed lost and abilities were suppressed, but "magic" was cast regardless. For Mike's theory to work, a number of things must be true: Kali and El's prior planning, Kali surviving long enough, and her power reaching both sides of the gate. There was no storyteller to fudge rules or rolls on their behalf - except there was, in the series' creators.
"And this is just a theory, right?" Max - and much of the audience - demands to know.
"How do we know it's true?" Will asks.
"We don't," Mike answers simply.
He makes it clear that believing in a happy ending for El is a choice each of them will make for themselves, and he's already made his. That decision has no bearing on the ultimate truth, but it does reveal powerful things about who they are and what they want.
Real life intervenes in the form of Mrs. Wheeler calling them to supper. One by one, they fight back tears as they put their gaming folders - and the youths they represent - up on the shelf and go upstairs to rejoin the everyday world. But they remain united in their belief, love, and friendship.
Is the happy ending hopelessly trite? Should it have had more nuance and gravitas? Perhaps. But I believe The Duffer Brothers' choice echoes the end of IT by Stephen King, which was an inspiration for the series: "Best to believe there will be happily ever afters all the way around—and so there may be; who is to say there will not be such endings? Not all boats which sail away into darkness never find the sun again, or the hand of another child; if life teaches anything at all, it teaches that there are so many happy endings that the man who believes there is no God needs his rationality called into serious question." As jaded as I can be, I've always accepted that bright sentiment for Derry and I can accept a brighter ending for Hawkins.
In The End
The series finale was never going to satisfy everyone; that was never in the cards. It's hard enough to get a handful of people to be satisfied with the end of a campaign. But you can get more out of the ending, whichever way you feel about it, whether you're a gamer or not.
Figure out where you fall on these spectrums of taste - between struggle and peace, total loss and happy endings - since they influence your reactions to art, events, and games.
Develop visions and values for your projects and when in doubt, stick to them. Your work will grow and change along the way, but knowing what you stand for can get you across the finish line.
Decide what worked for you in the finale - and what didn't - and apply what you learn to the things you seek out and create. There's a wide world of stories out there, and you can add and find what you like.
Don't forget your audience but know that you'll never please everyone. Offer the best you can and leave others to make up their minds about it, because they will anyway.
Spend your time with people who accept and respect you. You can find - or make - your circle of friends, and being in good company is its own reward.
And most importantly, cherish the people you enjoy your time with. How long your friendships will last, no one can know, but they'll make the best and worst times better. In gaming as in life, no matter how your adventure ends, if you're glad for the friends with whom you shared it, you win.
