Stranger Things began with the simplest of hooks. A little boy named Will Byers didn’t come home one night after playing games with his friends. From that premise came a vast story about everything from demogorgons to the psychic kid Eleven to all manner of military personnel, American and Russian, invading Hawkins. As high stakes as the storytelling in Stranger Things could sometimes get, it worked best when it remembered that it remained grounded in its humble Indiana setting.
The Stranger Things finale is no exception. The first half of the 128-minute episode features all of the high stakes storytelling that one would expect. Creel combines with the Mind Flayer to become a giant rocky monster, Hopper and Murray prevent the Abyss from combining with our world, and Dr. Kay and the American military essentially enact martial law in Hawkins. But after Vecna finally dies and El sacrifices herself to cut off the Upside Down, the last 45 minutes focus on Midwestern life, giving us the Hawkins High graduation ceremony, Joyce and Hopper getting engaged, and more.
More than tying up loose ends and giving our favorite characters a happy ending, the extended closing reinforces the central theme of Stranger Things. All of these strange things happen to the most normal, default kids in the United States of America. You could find a quartet like Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin in any American town. Everyone can relate to harried single mom Joyce, to disappointed blue collar guys like Hopper, and the middle class ennui of the Wheelers. So when Vecna and the U.S. military attack the Hawkins crew, it’s like they attack us all.
That’s a distinctive difference from most stories about superweapons. No, most of the crew people on the USS Nostromo were not intentionally looking to capture the Xenomorph for Weyland-Yutani Company, but they are truckers in deep space, inherently doing dangerous work. The Hulks and U.S. Agents and Abominations made through Marvel’s supersoldier program involve scientists and military personnel who know that they’re courting trouble. The hobbits explicitly leave the Shire to carry the One Ring away, hoping that they can keep their idyllic home safe from the forces of Sauron.
Outside of brief excursions to Chicago and Russia, the Stranger Things cast stays in Hawkins. They don’t go on quests, they don’t seek excitement. They didn’t sign up to explore deep space or take on a potentially deadly assignment. They’re simply trying to live their lives when the problems created by the power-hungry people invade their lives.
That distinction helps Stranger Things stand out among stories about the dangers of superweapons. Instead of following the Frankenstein model of punishing those who dabble in domains not made for them, Stranger Things shows how regular people suffer from the decisions made by governments and militaries—who claim to need superweapons to defend those people.
