Stranger Things Season 5 Officially Ends The Netflix Show’s Worst Trend

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As a huge fan, I’ve been watching Stranger Things since the beginning, and I’ve noticed a certain cliché kept popping up in the first four seasons. But honestly, the first part of season 5 feels like the showrunners finally figured out how to move past that! Season 5, Volume 1 just dropped, and after waiting so long, it was absolutely worth it – a fantastic start to the final chapter.

While the first four episodes don’t reveal everything about Vecna’s plan for season 5, Will’s developing abilities, or how Kali—Eleven’s sister—fits into the story, they do bridge the gap between seasons 4 and 5 and build towards a thrilling conclusion, and that’s the most important thing.

The upcoming Stranger Things spinoff will explore what happened between seasons 4 and 5 in greater detail. However, the show has already demonstrated positive change in its latest volume. For years, Stranger Things relied on misleading viewers with fake character deaths to create drama, but that practice seems to have stopped with the first part of the final season.

Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1 Avoided A Fake-Out Death

Image via Netflix

Towards the end of the fourth episode of season five, titled “Sorcerer,” Eleven successfully entered the hidden laboratory that the military had kept secret within the Upside Down for a year. With Hopper assisting her, she fought off Dr. Kay, played by Linda Hamilton, long enough to reach the lab’s main holding cell, believing Vecna was being held inside.

In the fourth episode, with just ten minutes remaining, Hopper went into the lab’s containment room wearing a suit packed with explosives and shared an emotional farewell with Eleven. When Hopper called her “Jane” – her actual birth name – it immediately made me think something bad was about to happen. This heartfelt goodbye, combined with the explosives, strongly suggested he was sacrificing himself to protect Eleven and defeat Vecna.

It wouldn’t have been upsetting to see Hopper die, but that wasn’t my main concern. I was actually worried that Stranger Things would fall into the same pattern it has before: killing off a major character, only to reveal they weren’t actually dead in the next episode. It’s become a surprisingly predictable trick.

It was a relief to discover Hopper was actually alive just five minutes later, but the surprise came when it turned out the person inside the unit was Kali, a guest star from season 2, not Vecna. This unexpected twist was a clever move that makes the ending of season 5 even more unpredictable.

I was really impressed the showrunners didn’t drag out the suspense until the final part of Stranger Things season 5. The series has a habit of misleading viewers with fake deaths, as I’ll explain next, and they could have easily done that again.

Stranger Things Has Overused Fake Deaths

A particularly devastating scene in the first season of Stranger Things is when Will Byers’ body is found. Accompanied by Peter Gabriel’s emotional rendition of David Bowie’s “Heroes,” the moment feels intensely sad, almost too much for the show’s overall atmosphere, and remains especially impactful even when revisiting the series.

The scene feels awkward because Will isn’t actually dead, a reveal that comes very late in the season. By that point, viewers probably won’t be concerned. And before the first season ends, there are two more moments where characters appear to die, one right after the other.

In the first season’s finale, both Dr. Brenner and Eleven seemingly sacrifice themselves, but both characters surprisingly reappear later. Dr. Brenner is attacked and thought to be killed, only to return in season 4. Eleven also appears to destroy herself to protect her friends, but it’s quickly revealed she survives.

So it wasn’t surprising when Hopper’s apparent death in the season 3 finale turned out to be a trick. While season 4 revealed he was actually alive, the show repeated this tactic with Steve, making it seem like he died in the mid-season finale as well.

During the final scenes of the first part of Stranger Things season 4, Steve was swarmed by terrifying bats, and it looked like he was going to be killed before his friends could save him. While Joe Keery’s character is a fan favorite, I was still disappointed by how that scene played out.

It’s Too Late For More Stranger Things Season 5 Fake Out Deaths

The show keeps faking character deaths to shock viewers and keep them watching, but this tactic actually weakens the impact of any real danger. Because deaths are so easily reversed, it makes it hard to feel invested in the characters’ safety or believe the stakes are truly high.

Thankfully, the show Stranger Things is nearing its end, so it likely won’t use the trick of seemingly killing off characters just to create suspense anymore. With only two parts left, unless the final episodes feature a death that’s quickly reversed, the series can finally stop with this frustrating practice and truly conclude.

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2025-12-09 20:19