Evolving Folks Project

Stranger Things is one of Netflix’s most popular and celebrated original series. It spawned a vast franchise that includes a cartoon prequel, a Broadway show, comic books, and a book series. Now, the final season of the hit show will premiere on Thanksgiving 2025, and Netflix is milking it for all it’s worth. We fans won’t get a conclusion until New Year’s Eve 2025.

So, how will it all end? Will Bob and Eddie come back to life? They didn’t have to die. Will Hopper ever get that date with Joyce? Will 11 finally stop crying? What the hell happened to 8? And is Vecna the big bad or a pawn of the Mind Flayer? How the hell didn’t World War III start after season 3, since the Soviets had a secret base under a mall in Middle America? Will Ted Wheeler actually be useful this season, or just finally get eaten by one of those Upside-Down creatures? Well, folks, we will all find out by the end of 2025.

It’s crazy that a show that has been on the air for the better part of a decade only has thirty-four episodes. The days of network television are over, a time when a show season lasted 20 to 25 episodes. Streaming services have ended that old-school era of television. Nowadays, it’s multi-year gaps before your favorite big-budget show airs, unless the streamer cancels it before it gets a new season. The kids from Hawkins, Indiana, are all grown up now. They have back pain, divorces, mortgages, and toothless kids of their own, and now play bingo. I just binged all the past four seasons with the wifey. With all that, here are my big three thoughts on Stranger Things.

The Treatment of Lucas

In season 2, they introduce the character Maxine, aka Max. Max started crushing on Lucas. He is the only black kid in the Hawkins D&D party. Max’s older brother, Billy, warns Max to stay away from Lucas. Then, towards the end of season 2, Billy physically assaults Lucas. Black fans of the show recognized this for what it was and that Billy was a bigot. Even though he hated his literal “redheaded” stepsister, he still couldn’t tolerate her crushing on a little black kid.

Season 4 also featured avenging basketball team members attacking Lucas and his baby sister, Erica. The white teammates slammed Erica to the ground and put their knees into her back. While Lucas has a gun pointed at him by a fellow teammate. Both instances are very reminiscent of actual police brutality cases on real-life black people that resulted in the deaths of countless innocent men and women, all at the hands of police who abused their power.

It’s a sci-fi and fantasy show, so why the need for blatant acts of racism in a fake world where interdimensional monsters exist? Are the Duffer brothers trying to make a point? Or does Hollywood rely on portrayals of Black pain and suffering to elicit sympathy in a show that never mentions race? The show takes place in the 1980s, and it’s obvious that Will is gay in small-town America. However, no one has bullied or attacked him for that. It would be weird if that happened, so why does this happen to Lucas and his sister?

On a side note, the show has treated Max pretty badly, too. El used her powers to knock Max off her skateboard. The Duffer brothers implemented a kiss scene without warning the Max actress Sadie Sink. She endures mistreatment from her stepbrother, Billy, and the family faces financial hardship following a divorce because of Billy’s demise. Finally, Vecna assailed Max, the only main character to suffer such a fate.

The Love Triangle

On a lighter note, we all know the biggest love triangle in the series. No, it’s not between Jonathan, Nancy, and Steve. Screw that, and no one wants Steve to get back with Nancy. Let her stay with her stoner, Johnny boy. Nope, I’m talking about the love triangle between Will, El, and Mike. The Duffer Brothers need to stop being cowards and let Will confess his love for Mike. I’ve felt since the first season that Will was in love with Mike. Look at how Mike treated Max in season 2 when she was trying to get into their party. Then, in season 3, Will was pretty bummed that Lucas and Mike were girl crazy over their respective love interests, leaving the Byers boy all alone. Then, in Season 4, Will seemed annoyed at having to play third wheel in California with El and Mike, until El smacked a bully in the face with a skate.

They’re all Zoomers. They’re definitely into alternative relationship types if they’re not trying to be young Republicans. But Mike and the gang are extremely nonconformist in their little Midwest town. Let them end the series with all of them being in a happy polyamorous relationship, raising superpowered kiddos. Since they raised El to be a weapon in a research lab, she is used to the unconventional. Will survived in the Upside Down for months while being hunted by beasts. These two characters, Will and El, have had out-of-this-world experiences. Making the love connection is all too obvious! Both she and Mike love Will, so let it be a triad. I say that would be the boldest ending for those three little potential love birds. The Duffer brothers should take note from another hit Netflix show, Sense8, and go full on poly and queer!

Hawkins, Indiana…For Real?

Finally, the show is set in Hawkins, Indiana, a fictional town in the Midwest. It’s been four years in the show timeline, and they’ve never shown one cornfield. I was born and raised in Chicago. I’ve driven through Indiana many times, and Hawkins looks nothing like it. There are too many trees, and the rock quarry looks nothing ones the Midwest. Plus, I know the difference between pine trees near my birthplace, the Midwest, and the South. The pines up north look like Christmas trees; the ones in the South do not, for one. They could have done overhead shots of the Hoosier State. Even Smallville had some scenes in cornfields, despite the entire series being shot in Vancouver, Canada, not Kansas. Plus, there’s been like zero episodes where Hawkins was snow-covered. It definitely snows in the Midwest, even with climate change. The upside isn’t in Indiana; it’s in freaking Georgia.

These are my three big thoughts about the hit show Stranger Things. I hope the show ends with a bang. Also, congrats to Netflix for not canceling the show before its third season. Despite the issues I have with the show, I, like millions of fans around the globe, can’t wait to take our last visit to the Upside Down.