“Conformity Gate”: The Biggest Media Let Down of Our Generation

This piece is the one of the winners of the Double Exposure 2025-2026 High School Essay Contest.

A night of reflection, renewal, and celebration. For a moment, the world stood still, counting down the seconds. While many spent the last few hours/moments of 2025 making New Year’s resolutions, 31.5 million people gathered to watch the Stranger Things Finale. 

In a matter of 35 days, the record-breaking Netflix series Stranger Things went from one of the most loved shows to one of the most hated. Millions of fans raided social media platforms, expressing their discontent with the latest and final season. But where did it go wrong? How did the writing go from “genius” to “underwhelming” and “dumbed down”? What were some factors that may have gone into this dramatic shift? 

At the end of Season 4, we left off on what appears to be the beginning of a chaotic, full blown war in Hawkins between good and evil. With the Upside Down, an underground dimension inhabiting Vecna and his minions, bleeding into the small town, the audience was led to believe the following episodes would make up an action-packed season. Writers Matt and Ross Duffer claimed we’d discover the story behind the Upside Down and have all our questions answered. Instead, the new season starts off with children sliding down metal plates, or as Rockin’ Robin described them, metal bandaids, used to conceal the cracks spreading across Hawkins left from Vecna’s curse the previous season. Seeing this, I was a little disappointed, but brushed it off and kept watching; I did wait three years after all. 

What I couldn’t brush off, however, was the lazy, oversimplified dialogue we got throughout the season. From having characters finish each other’s sentences to using random objects to oversimplify their unrealistic plans to defeat Vecna, the Duffer brothers shined a light on their corny writing formula. “Serious” scenes looked like parodies, and “heartfelt” dialogue felt out of place and rushed. A prime example of this occurred in Episode 5. Lucas was microwaving popcorn when the solution suddenly occurred to him: they could electrocute a Demodog back to life and trigger the hive mind. How did he think of this? The percussive sounds of kernels popping in a microwave, of course! He takes a kernel out of the bag, which represents the unresponsive demodog they have laying outside, and explains that they could turn up their color changing electricity dial, the microwave radiation, and revive it! Simarily, in Episode 7, Steve uses a slinky and flashlight to represent the bridge and radio tower. It may sound excessive to us viewers now, but the popcorn kernels and slinky were necessary for us to comprehend the storyline, considering that we’re suddenly incapable of sitting through authentic layered dialogue due to our low attention spans. Thank you, Duffers! Seriously though, the amount of times viewers had to hear “This is insert character or interdimensional entity” as they dramatically slam the most random object they could find onto the table they’re all huddled over is tiresome. 

Aside from the poorly written dialogue, many viewers believe the greatest mistake of the entire season was the lack of consistency–––the plot holes. The most discussed plot hole was Joyce and Henry’s familiarity with one another. Prior to the release of Season 5, the Broadway play Stranger Things: The First Shadow premiered. In this play, we–––or the small percentage of fans who were able to watch it–––got to learn more about Henry’s backstory and how he came to have powers. Whilst this information seems critical to the plot of the show, the Duffers claimed fans didn’t need to watch it to understand the new season. This, of course, was proven to be wrong after fans were left confused after watching. Back in Episode 4, Max travels through Henry’s memories and finds a flyer promoting their rendition of the play Oklahoma, exclusively starring not only Joyce and Henry, but Ted and Karen Wheeler, Patty Newby, and Hopper. Upon watching this scene, I had many questions and was eager to learn more about Henry’s backstory and connection to some of the characters. Unfortunately for me and many viewers who were curious about this storyline, that 29-second scene of Max treading through the school hallway was all we were given. Even later on in Episode 8, when Max guides Eleven and Kali through Henry’s memories, we get zero scenes of the characters back in high school, only brief mentions of “Hop sneaking a joint” and Mr. Wheeler “feeling up Mrs. Wheeler” as they sped through the hallways. Max even states that she wished they had time to “sight-see” but they needed to catch the play, a sly way of the writers excusing their lack of context. 

When confronted about Joyce and Hopper’s undiscussed connection to Henry in a Variety interview, Ross Duffer stated “Yeah, I’m sure there was. We had a walk a fine line with the play — we don’t want to frustrate, because so much of our audience is unable to see it. To have them start talking about it would have been confusing in the context of someone who hasn’t seen the play. But I’m sure they did have that conversation.” So those who weren't able to watch the play weren’t given the full storyline to avoid stressing us out? Sure. Although this was a major plot hole, it was only one of many throughout the season. 

Another plot hole is in the finale, when the party successfully infiltrates the Abyss and kills Henry in about 6 minutes. Despite his sustained connection to the Upside Down over the past 5 seasons, when Vecna is thrown around by Eleven and ultimately killed by Joyce, Will is left unharmed. Moments prior to Vecna’s anticlimactic death, Will is seen in excruciating pain as Henry relived his deep-rooted trauma, being shot in the hand by a paranoid government scientist as a kid. For someone who goes on to brutally murder dozens of innocent people, I don’t quite understand how that moment is what continues to haunt him, but that’s besides the point. Once again, when asked about this inconsistency in an interview with Collider, the Duffers gave an illegitimate excuse, claiming they "aren't showing him when the Mind Flayer is being attacked" and "just wanted to focus on the final battle with our heroes." While the Duffers participate in these post-finale interviews to answer lingering questions, they only seem to be digging themselves a deeper hole. Moments like these truly make me question the credibility of the show as a whole. 

A show that should’ve been celebrated and rising in popularity due to its unique storyline is now gaining traction for its flaws. As someone who grew up with Stranger Things, I can’t help but feel disappointed at the manner in which the writers concluded the once incredible show.

Queydalyn Taveras is a senior at Community Health Academy of the Heights and an incoming freshman at Columbia University. She’s always had a passion for the arts, especially writing and film. In her free time, she enjoys watching teeny bops, editing, playing volleyball with her friends, and scrolling on Pinterest.