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Stranger Things S5 E8 "The Rightside Up" * FULL LENGTH REACTION (Patreon)

Published:
2026-09-07 15:00:17
Imported:
2026-09
Tags:

Content

This is the end... 😢

Overall, a really enjoyable series. It's not perfect, but there are so many amazing moments and characters throughout the series.

I forgot to rank the seasons in my video so here we go:

1) Season 42) Season 13) Season 24) Season 35) Season 5

Season 4 was an emotional one (which I LOVE!)

Season 1 was an amazing introduction to the world and the characters!!

Season 2 had Bob 😢But also expanding on the baddies from the upside down

Season 3 was really good. It had Billy (a good story, imo), it had relationships (a negative for me), Argyle (BIG negative), Robin and Steve (positive mostly). There were just a lot of negatives in this one that bumped it below Season 2.

Season 5 had some GREAT moments, I really loved them. But the cast was way too big by this point, we didn't really get to focus on many people, especially since Holly and other kids were really important/prominent. Now that I think of it, what the heck happened to Dr. Kay 🤔 I don't think that part of the story was wrapped up 🤣

I'm very glad to have watched it though! There are a lot of characters that I really enjoyed seeing on screen, there are some really solid actors throughout the series and I hope their career grows!

Thank you for watching with me, and I would love to know your season rankings and if you have a reason for it :)

For this style of reaction, you need your own copy to watch the movie.  You can set picture in picture by right clicking twice on the video and selecting "Picture in picture". The right clicking twice is a bit tricky, because you have to right click, then move your cursor so it's not on the menu, then right click again

- Vero 🥰

Thank you so much everyone for your support, you are the best!!

Files

FULL LENGTH - Stranger Things Season 5 Chapter 8 - The Rightside Up

You need your own copy of the media to watch along with me though since this is solely my reaction. The video is there so you can have an idea when the scene changes in case you need to sync up, but it is HEAVILY blurred so I don't have any copyright issues. Enjoy!!

Comments

James Leighton

Mostly agree with your rankings, but personally I'd put 3 above 2. Probably mainly because 2 felt like a downgrade from the amazing season 1, but watching it on subsequent runs it does have some great points, and introduces Max and Billy, which pays off big time in Season 4. 5 started off well, but ultimately I think the writing was so much weaker than 4. Compare Will's coming out in 5 to his speech about it (without revealing it) in 4, with Jonathan in the front of the van clearly knowing what he's saying. Everything just felt so much more impactful in 4s writing. And the actual finale itself, what a letdown, it just feels rushed and half baked, and too much of a desperate effort to tie everything together with a neat bow so they can move on to other projects.

todd beebe

One correction season 4 was the one with Argyle not 3

James Leighton

Also re: the end - she did not survive, Mike just wants to believe.

Amos T Fairchild

Ends are hard. And I think the intention was always to lose Eleven in the show. Just like in season 1, but with a hope she may have survived. The rankings are hard, but Season 4 is so very good that 5 had no hope of competing. Season 1 is always separate and hard to rank. And season 3 is a fave for me that got better on rewatches. And the more I watch the series it's actually season 2 that I feel like watching the least and takes the most getting into. At least Bob helps carry it a bit. So I put 2 at the bottom rather than 5, but they are pretty close. My Rank being 4, 3, 5, 2, with 1 almost as a separate show, lol. And I think Mike's final expression gives away what he really feels happens to Eleven. He hopes, but knows she's likely gone. I think the biggest fail on season 5 was not having the other government agents like Owens in the show to balance that side of things and give some resolution to the Dr Kay thing. More people, sure, but I think we needed those.

Ventena

POSITIVES: I like a lot about this season, but I really like the epilogue. For the most part, I found it really beautiful and satisfying, and I also appreciate that they didn't feel the need to kill off a bunch of characters just for the sake of making the ending feel more impactful. I know you didn't feel the same way, but I actually really liked Dustin's arc this season. Throughout the previous four seasons, Dustin has always been one of the rocks of the group. He's reliable, usually pretty reasonable, and has this really positive energy that helps keep everyone else going. So I really enjoyed seeing what happens when that person is forced to deal with a level of grief that he doesn't know how to process. Having his best friend die in his arms was already traumatic enough, but then seeing Eddie's memory get completely vilified afterward made it even worse. I thought it was interesting to see how Dustin's grief and anger actually changed him instead of having him just go back to being the same person he was before. His fear of losing someone else, his anger toward people who didn't understand Eddie, and the way he became more reckless all felt like believable consequences of what happened to him. I especially liked how that affected his relationship with Steve. Their friendship has always been one of the best relationships on the show, so I thought it was interesting that something as traumatic as Eddie's death could actually create tension between them. Dustin is trying to deal with his grief while Steve is trying to protect him, and neither of them really knows how to communicate what they're feeling. I think that gave Dustin a more emotionally complicated arc than we've gotten from him before, and I liked that the season actually allowed him to be angry, scared, and messy rather than always being the funny, optimistic voice of reason. I value conflict and drama in tv shows as long as the conflict feels earned, there is a good payoff, and that conflict doesn't get rehashed later like drama for drama's sake. I also enjoyed Johnathon and Nancy's dynamic too because it felt very real; people aren't honest when they should be. Also, they have a lot of baggage and history that made it hard and scary to open up and say the truth about how they felt. Overall it didn't feel unearned to me, and it also made their emotional carthasis/honesty dump during their breakup more impactful.

Ventena

CRITICISMS: Personally, I love a lot of the moments and choices in Season 5, but I also think there are quite a few decisions that are either weak or just don’t make much sense. I honestly think the season could have been significantly improved with one more mini-arc—maybe three additional episodes—and restructuring some of the existing material around that extra time. That is if they wanted to keep their full cast and use them better. But in general you are correct; this season didn't have as smart of a script. (The NEXT PARAGRAPH ONLY includes very MINOR VAGUE SPOILERS for the STRANGER THINGS STAGE PLAY and its connection to season 5.) One thing I really would have liked to see more of is Max exploring Henry’s past. *Stranger Things: The First **Shadow *stage play gives us a much more detailed look at Henry Creel as a kid, including his time at school and his connections to characters like Joyce and Hopper, the events of the cave, and even how Brenner was connected to the Abyss before he even met henry. Since that material is now part of the broader Stranger Things story, I think there was a really interesting opportunity to incorporate some of that into Max’s storyline and actually let us experience more of Henry’s past on screen rather than relying on the audience to know about it from the play. Then they could have paralleled that with more present-day Hopper and Joyce because news flash for everyone who didn't see the play: they knew Henry. {NO MORE SPOILERS BELOW) I also think the extra episodes could have been used to properly develop the military, which is probably my biggest issue with the season. They often seem almost completely oblivious to what the actual threat is, despite everything that has happened, with Dr. Kay being the one possible exception. And even with her, that storyline ultimately doesn’t go anywhere particularly satisfying. Giving the military another episode or two could have made them feel like an actual faction with their own goals and understanding of the situation instead of mostly just being an obstacle for the main characters. And honestly, I think the final battle with Vecna could have been 10x better in my opinion if the gang had been fighting through waves of Demogorgons, Demodogs, and Demobats while trying to reach him. I don't even mind having the Kaiju-like creature there as part of the battle, but I think it would be more satisfying to see how they handle those past creatures.

Ventena

FUN FACT: at Graduation Dustin Flips a principal. Higgens the bird and snatches his diploma just like Eddie said he would at the beginning of season 4, and Dustin also ends his speech with "this is our year," like how Eddie told him with his last words, "I think this is my year... I'm finally going to graduate." FUN FACT: Hopper suggests to Joyce they move to Montauk, which was the original title and town for Sranger things.

Ventena

Also, you keep saying you didn't like Steve in Season 1, and for some reason everyone says that when they get this far into the show. But as someone who watched all of your reactions very recently, you actually did in fact like Steve for most of Season 1. You talked about liking Steve and were completely on board with him until the episode where his friends spray-painted the theater and he ended up fighting Jonathan. You didn't like him in that episode, but then literally the very next episode, he broke away from his friends, went back and cleaned up the theater, and you were praising him for recognizing that he had messed up, changing his behavior, and learning from it. That being said, you did mention being unsure about him earlier when he seemed more concerned about getting in trouble with his parents than about Barb. But even then, once he came to apologize to Nancy for how he'd treated her, you seemed pretty much back on board with him. You were even scolding Nancy for not telling Steve the truth about what was actually happening. You also thought it was too far for Steve to break Johnathon's camera when he caught him taking pictures of Nancy undressing but then praised the show for your ability to see both sides of the situation when Nancy and Johnathon were talking about it in the woods. Also, if you look back, I'm not sure if you noticed at the time Steve looks visibly uncomfortable with his action directly after dropping the camera and, of course replaces it with Nancy at the end of the season. So I think it's interesting that you remember yourself as not liking Steve in Season 1, because watching your reactions back, it seemed more like you disliked him at really one short specific point.

Verowak

I could be mixing up the order of things in Season 1, but the most prominent thing that I remember Steve doing that I really didn't like was him breaking Jonathan's camera and the fight with Jonathan. I'm clearly giving more importance to those actions and duration of it. When I think of Season 1, I think of that, and Steve with a baseball bat/barbed wire. Chalk it up to not having seen the show multiple times, but certain things are more easily remembered than others to me. With what you said, his "redemption arc" really isn't a redemption arc then since he was always showing signs of regret/remorse. I completely forgot about the spray paint and theatre sections (I just remembered the fight). Thanks for pointing out that I actually mostly liked Steve aside from a few of his actions in Season 1 :D

Verowak

I'm sure on rewatch, I'll have a different ranking. I was debating between season 2 and 3's position. I completely forgot about Owens! And I agree, having a few more people but being able to give resolution to the Dr Kay storyline would have been good to have. What's a few more people in a cast of nearly 20 anyway 🤣

Verowak

I don't envy writers having to come up with an ending for a TV series. It seems insanely difficult. Season 5's writing felt very different from the rest of the series. I have half a mind to attribute it to "second screen" watching, but I can't be sure. As for the ending, I think it's ambiguous and will probably have half the fan base convinced she died, and the other half convinced that she survived 😅

Verowak

Oh yeah! Argyle WAS in Season 4. I mainly attribute the green/dark blue colour grading with season 4 (for Max's storyline) and equate the bright and colourful colour grading to season 3, so Argyle fit into the season 3 colour grading in my mind. I clearly need to rewatch it to remember when things happen 😅 Thank you for that

Verowak

I do agree that Dustin's change is completely believable. On paper and in a book I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more since I would be imagining the characters in a way that doesn't annoy me 😅 I'm glad they wrote a more complex range for Dustin, but it's probably one of the few moments that I will want to skip through on rewatch. I love being sad, I love being happy, I love crying when watching a series, I don't like being annoyed. This is my enjoyment time, and being annoyed is not what I want to do. I'm happy that you really enjoyed it though! I love seeing different opinions. I'm really happy about Jonathan and Nancy's outcome, and I'm with you, it felt very real! I loved having them finally be honest and learn so much about themselves and each other and love/relationships. I think they really nailed the writing for that section of the season.

Ventena

By the way, I hope you didn't take that as criticism, but it's actually a funny phenomenon of stranger things that on the first watch, me and you and most other people remember Steve as a bully, but upon rewatch, he really only has a few questionable moments and bad friends, but I don't think that takes away from his arc and growth in the show. But anyway, the point is you are far from the only one who remembers season 1 that way.

Verowak

You bring up something that I thought of while watching, but don't think I expressed. Max going through a memory and seeing Joyce and Hopper clearly means Henry was around, and that they could have known each other yet we didn't get anything out of it. I would have loved to have seen Hopper and Joyce talk about Henry and how he was when they knew him. It connects the characters even more!! I am interested in the stage play, thanks for mentioning it! I'm with you, the military just seems like an extra obstacle for the main characters. They don't really have much of anything to do except be the human baddies. They've been looking for Eleven since Season 4 (I believe?), and thought it would be a way more impactful and important storyline. The season does feel rushed, and I think it would have been nice to have the changes that you mentioned. That's where fanfiction can come in now! 🤣

Verowak

I will say, I much prefer "Stranger Things" than "Montauk". Stranger Things has a certain creepy and intriguing vibe to it. Dustin did have a very "Eddie" feel to him at graduation, and it makes sense now 🤣

Verowak

Oh, not at all! I'm glad you pointed it out since I didn't remember most of Season 1 Steve it seems 🤣I tend to remember specific aspects or moments of characters in each season (usually my highlight or lowlight of them), especially on first watch.

Ventena

David Harbour (Hopper) would disagree with you. He has always thought that Stranger Things was a dumb title and Montauk was cooler. However, I do agree with you. Stranger things is cooler, but if it was going to be a one-season show like the orignal plan, I see Montauk working.