5 Stranger Things Storylines That Got Closure & 5 That Were Left Unresolved

5 Stranger Things Storylines That Got Closure & 5 That Were Left Unresolved

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at the longstanding questions that were and were NOT answered in the final season of “Stranger Things.”

Major spoilers ahead for all 5 seasons!

Relationships

Resolved

One of the first “Stranger Things” romances we see develop is the love triangle between Steve, Nancy, and Jonathan. The latter mutually break up in Episode 6, and in the finale, the former couple are single and Steve is dating. While Robin doesn’t explicitly state she was talking about Vickie when she mentioned “overbearing partners,” there’s no reason to assume they broke up. Hopper and Joyce got their happy ending and finally went to Enzo’s! As for the youngsters, Max and Lucas are still going strong. Dustin’s overwhelming grief for Eddie affected his closest friendships, so it makes sense if he and Suzie broke up off-screen. Unfortunately for Byler shippers, Mike doesn’t get together with Will after El’s sacrifice. However, we love that Will is comfortable with himself enough to start dating.

Misadventures in Russia

Unresolved

Many viewers found Season 4’s “escape from Russia” storyline to be uninteresting. And even in Season 5, there are still parts that are unclear. While imprisoned at the Kamchatka Facility, Jim Hopper gets out of his shackles by asking another inmate to break his ankle, of which he seemingly recovers from rather quickly (xref). Before he “perished” in the Starcourt Mall explosion, Joyce promised Hop she’d protect Eleven. But as soon as she hears he’s alive, she teams up with Murray to break him out, leaving the kids on their own. When Joyce and Murray crash a plane in Alaska, they don’t sustain any substantial injuries either (xref). These aren’t actual plot holes, but the overlooked details left some scratching their heads.

Season 4’s Upside-Down Escape

Unresolved

In the Season 4 finale, Nancy, Steve, Robin, Eddie, and Dustin bring the fight to the Upside Down. But after Vecna opens the fourth gate, we don’t see how they escaped. We know what happened to dearly departed Eddie Munson, but how did the others get back to the real Hawkins? The episode jumps ahead two days where they are helping the residents of Hawkins heal after the “earthquake.” Season 5 begins with Rockin’ Robin explaining the state of Hawkins under military quarantine as we catch up with the characters. However, how they all managed to escape is never addressed.

Dr. Kay & the Military

Unresolved

After El sacrifices herself and closes the last portal, Dr. Kay and her army simply vanish from the story. Hopper, who’s later reinstated as police chief, and the others don’t face any legal consequences after taking out multiple soldiers. The pregnant women being injected with Kali’s blood were more than likely killed in the explosion. It makes sense that they’d leave Hawkins, since the person they were hunting just died, especially given their mission wasn’t exactly public knowledge. Many fans agree that Dr. Kay wasn’t an interesting or well-written character. But after the suffering she caused not just our heroes but her own soldiers, viewers would’ve been satisfied to see her get a not-so-happy ending, like Lt. Akers.

Will’s Connection to Vecna

Resolved

The inaugural season of “Stranger Things” centers on Will Byers’ disappearance. He spends season 2 being tormented by the Mind Flayer, and when he moves to California at the end of season 3, he no longer feels the connection. But by the end of season 4, he’s back in Hawkins and senses Vecna. In Season 5, Vecna tells Will he was chosen for his weak mind, revealing how he unknowingly helped build the tunnels that formed in season 2. Will has a lot of epic moments in the final season: saving friends by tapping into the hive mind, Vecna-ing demogorgons, invading Henry’s mind, and coming out to his loved ones. After the absolute hell he’s gone through, he deserved every one of them.

Dr. Owens’ Whereabouts

Unresolved

Dr. Sam Owens played a major part in Season 2 as Dr. Martin Brenner’s colleague and eventual successor. He made a cameo in the Season 3 finale and returned in Season 4 in a prominent role. But the fate of the Hawkins National Laboratory director-turned-ally remains unknown. He was last seen in Season 4’s penultimate episode, restrained in the lab, imploring Lt. Colonel Jack Sullivan not to kill Eleven. Of course, we know Sullivan’s men fail to take her down, but what about Owens? Did he escape and go into hiding, or was he ultimately killed? We’ll just never know.

Kali, a.k.a. Eight

Resolved

Season 2’s infamous penultimate episode, “The Lost Sister,” saw Eleven going rogue and running away from Hawkins. She ends up in Chicago, Illinois, where she meets her sister, Kali, aka Eight. While many viewers maligned the episode for taking a pointless detour before the season 2 finale, people still wondered if she would return, or at least get a mention. In episode 4 of season 5, El finds Kali in the Upside Down lab, where Dr. Kay extracted her blood for years, infusing it into pregnant women in an attempt to create more kids with powerful abilities. Despite her long absence from the series, Kali plays a big role in the final season, revealing Henry as the source of their powers and influencing El’s sacrifice.

Henry’s Time at Hawkins High

Unresolved

When Vecna was introduced in Season 4, we got glimpses into his backstory as Henry Creel, a young boy with abilities who moved to Hawkins, Indiana in 1959. After he kills his mother and sister and frames his father, Dr. Brenner takes him to the Hawkins Lab, where he stays into his adulthood. But in Season 5, Max learns that he attended Hawkins High School with the parents of his victims, including Joyce, Hopper, and the Wheelers. However, it’s never really been implied that the adults knew him at all, which begs the question: Did they ever find out that Vecna was actually their old classmate? The origins of Henry, aka One, aka Vecna, are explained in the Broadway play, “The First Shadow.” But not acknowledging this in the show is…an odd choice.

Upside Down Origins

Resolved

Over 5 seasons of “Stranger Things,” the Hawkins crew discovered quite a few different realms, mainly the Upside Down. Season 4 already confirmed that Eleven unintentionally created the Upside Down on November 6, 1983, when Dr. Brenner told her to make contact with a Demogorgon in the Void. This is why it’s frozen on that specific day, which is also the day Will went missing. But Season 5 adds to the lore, revealing that what they thought was an extra-dimensional realm is actually a wormhole used as a bridge between Earth and the Abyss, where the Mind Flayer resides. Still confused? You’re not alone.

Henry & The Mind Flayer

Resolved

In episode 6, Max and Holly find Henry’s traumatic memory in the cave that he’s too scared to relive. As a kid, he found a scientist wounded in a cave, and in trying to help him, got shot in the hand, prompting Henry to hit him with a rock. In the finale, Henry forces his way into the cave to capture the children and we see the full memory. The briefcase held a mysterious glowing rock housing Mind Flayer particles, which made its way into Henry. When the scientist tells him to resist being consumed, he flexes his new powers and kills him instantly. Henry didn’t create the Mind Flayer; he was its vessel, and the two essentially became one humanity-hating entity.

Were your lingering questions finally answered in Season 5? Let us know in the comments below.