Rewriting Stranger Things 5

In my previous post, I discussed many of the issues concerning the final season of Netflix's Stranger Things; how abysmal they were, and the level of betrayal (for lack of a better term) the Duffers exhibited towards their fans.

I wouldn't, however, be a true writer nor critic if I didn't propose my own solutions to the flaws of season 5, and that is exactly what I have set out to do. These are only subjective ideas on where the story should have, logically, progressed.

But enough chitchat. Let's begin.

Opening episodes

Max should have died in Season 4. This is more important than one might think.

The Duffers are famously incapable of killing off characters, in fact they've admitted to perpetuating their existence, like Steve Harrington's, because they either liked the actor or the ideas they brought to the table. They've also admitted to not wanting to deal with the repercussions a character's death would have on other personages. This affected many moments in Season 5 when, even if the setup was frustrating or stupid, characters should have perished. Ergo, with Max's death, and what was a natural completion of her arc, another character will finally have a purpose and a motive in the story again, this time against Vecna: Lucas. It sets the stakes for what was originally marketed as a 'dark' season, and establishes one of the major themes going forward: how to move on in the face of loss.

We'll further resolve some four issues simultaneously: the patching up of the rift, nobody in Hawkins acknowledging Hopper's 'resurrection', Jason/Andy's bullies, and Chief Powell and Deputy Callahan. Andy's gang - the school bullies who rallied the community against the supposedly satanic attacks happening within Hawkins - have been proven 'correct' in their suspicions. Furthermore, Jason's death, and the manner of it, would be discovered, turning the populace against itself.

The Mr. Whatsit plotline could be retained, and while Vecna is weak he sends his Demogorgans after the children he needs for the ritual. Only this time, he tries to do it all at once, and no time is spent on their residence at the Creel house. They are simply in a trance within the Abyss. Full stop.

Hopper's return would confound the population of Hawkins, and contribute to another core theme of the season: putting aside one's differences in the face of an existential threat that renders our petty disputes pointless. Game of Thrones set this up for its final season but, like Stranger Things, never delivered. Hopper, as former police chief, would encourage Andy's followers and Powell's officers to work together and escape a crumbling Hawkins overrun by deadly monsters. After suiting everyone up with firearms, Hopper recalls his military experience in Vietnam and leads one of the many groups - others can be led by Powell's men - out of the town.

The military has been called in after receiving calls of a glowing red tear in the earth; they know it's the Upside Down. Our other heroes, meanwhile, have sought out their families to help them evacuate. But now that the Demos are running amuck, the stakes on who lives and who dies are dire.

Ted and Karen Wheeler finally reconcile the woes of their marriage by perishing while saving their daughter, Holly, from a Demogorgon. This now gives Mike the drive he needs against Vecna, and further reinforces the stakes. Holly will have a much smaller role to play throughout the season and won't have a separate storyline dedicated to her. There are enough characters as it is.

Murray, a near pointless character since season 2, can have one final role to play in driving our heroes to the safety of the military's protection while avoiding Demos, not dissimilar to what he did in the actual final season, providing an exciting action sequence. Perhaps he sacrifices himself to let the others get away, leading to another character death, and further stakes.

Hawkins is nuked in an effort to destroy the rift, what the American military would naturally resort to when faced with interdimensional portals and monsters of unknown strength. We get a poignant montage of memorable locations throughout the show, now empty and still before the storm. The nuke would destroy the remaining Demogorgons, for now, but have only a temporary effect on the rift, which begins to regenerate.

Let's not forget a cold open

It only makes sense, as already mentioned, to stick to the theme of putting one's differences aside to combat a greater, global threat. For this reason, the Soviets and the Americans would collaborate on what each side has learned about the Upside Down in order to save the world and, implicitly, resolve the Cold War.

Yuri, a traitor to the USSR for his smuggling and the significant role he played in season 4, is tracked down and assassinated by the KGB, who then continue searching for Enzo (Dimitri), as well as Hopper and Joyce, given what they have learned about the Soviets' experimentation on Demogorgons. The Americans, with Dr. Kay, are also aware of Enzo's asylum within the United States and, intercepting the KGB agents who are led by... let's call him Sovetin..., strike a deal to work together against the threats of the Upside Down. Dr. Kay, meanwhile, and as is in the actual season, is still searching for Eleven.

The Rift spreads across the United States

We have a time skip to account for the actors' growth, perhaps several months. The Rift has spread across the United States, leading to mass migration to Canada and Mexico, global sickness and food shortages as the smog from the Upside Down pollutes the atmosphere and environment.

Our heroes reside in a refugee camp not far from a military site by the Rift, because, as the only few people knowledgeable about the Upside Down, they will be cooperating with the Soviets and the Americans. Characters like General Stepanov and Commander Ozerov, from Season 3, will return, cooperating with Lt. Colonel Sullivan from Season 4, and with Dr. Owens. On the ground we'll have our new characters Sovetin and Dr. Kay. The only exception here is Eleven, who is training in hiding to defeat Vecna and the Mind Flayer.

Hopper and Joyce reluctantly, but wisely, realise the need to cooperate. Our other heroes, like in the actual Season 5, will perform their 'crawl' operations in search of Vecna.

The Soviets, who were seen experimenting on Demogorgons in the previous season, have discovered their connection to a hive mind. Wounding one or two might only feel like a nail prick to the Mind Flayer and Vecna, but attacking many at once, or using a powerful weapon, can significantly hinder the main antagonists. Given Vecna's incapacitation in season 4, and the nuke that the Americans drop, several months of time has been bought for our characters while the enemy recovers. Dr. Kay is experimenting with different methods for hindering or stopping the Rift; burning, chemical reactions, controlled atomic explosions etc. The Soviets and Americans, separate from our young heroes, are also searching for Vecna within the Upside Down.

As mentioned, the Mr. Whatsit storyline is the same as in the current show; Vecna continues hunting down the rest of the children with Demogorgons, the military tries to protect them, Dipshit Derek tries to get them out, and a revitalised Vecna arrives to showcase his power against the Americans and Soviets. He takes the rest of the children, and Will unlocks his superpowers. The difference: it is during this conflict that Nancy and Jonathan perish, after ending up under debris. Jonathan proposes, Nancy accepts - their shared trauma actually strengthens their love, Duffers, it doesn't destroy it - and they perish under the debris.

Steve reaches them too late and is spiritually broken, giving him a drive against Vecna. The stakes are further raised in all of this, indicating the futility of our heroes' former hubris when trying to face a threat that nobody can face alone. Joyce becomes inconsolable after losing her son, which gives Hopper the drive he needs against the enemy. Mike and Holly, orphans who have lost a sister, are broken as well.

Volume 2 and lead up to the battle

But our heroes' time during their crawls have not been for naught. Like in the real show, they will discover the wall of the Upside Down, Dustin calculates the dimension's centre where exotic matter is discovered. Dr. Owens is brought in with Brenner's notes, which are not discovered within the Upside Down but had been granted to him in Season 4, to explain the exotic matter.

Furthermore, the group had provided Derek with a tracking device right before he was taken. Mr. Clarke is called in, like in the actual show, to create a telemetry tracker, only this time for Derek and not Dustin. Our heroes, Clarke, and Owens calculate that the children are in another dimension above the wormhole: the Abyss. Like in the show, the characters deduce that the children's special psychic abilities will be used to generate energy, moving the Abyss to merge with Earth, destroying human life and bringing about a new age.

Dr. Kay would gradually discover that Hopper is hiding Eleven at the refugee camp over the season, confirmed during the heroes' plans when Hopper urges Eleven to remain on Earth under the military's safety while the others travel to the Abyss and defeat Vecna; he can't lose another daughter.

Will's coming out scene can still occur within this rewrite, but it should happen between moments of conflicts, not right when the world is about to end. Perhaps after the first time skip and before Vecna kills Nancy and Jonathan. Enough time after Hawkins' destruction would have passed for Will's confession to be processed, any moment after when more characters are killed off would be tonally inappropriate. Will is afraid of losing his friends because of his identity and the threats of the Upside Down, he's felt alone and afraid ever since his disappearance in Season 1. His coming out will strengthen the heroes' camaraderie going into the final battles of this season.

A climactic finale, unlike the actual show's

Using the information about the hive mind and the children's' location, Will and Eleven become very important. Will plans on drawing as many Demos away as he can while the military and our heroes enter the Abyss, but even then he has limited control, so many of them will still attack our heroes. Eleven attempts to enter Vecna's mind palace to break the children's trance, and only after they are out of the Mind Flayer can the heroes unleash all firepower on the Kaiju. It is within the mind palace that she discovers Vecna's backstory with the Mind Flayer which the stage play, but not the show, elaborated on (the man with the suitcase, the Mind Flayer meteorite, etc.).

Eleven and Will remain on Earth, where an army of Demos emerges from the Rift for a climactic showdown in a recognisable location (e.g. New York, the Rockies, L.A., Yosemite, the Grand Canyon... somewhere cinematic). Lt. Sullivan and Commander Ozerov direct their forces against the monsters. Dr. Kay will assume to help combat them with her aforementioned methods for burning the Rift, but will use the pandemonium to get to Eleven, with a plan of kidnapping her once Vecna is defeated. Dr. Owens will stall her for as long as he can, arguing for Eleven's role in saving the world and her traumatic upbringing.

In the Abyss, the Americans and Soviets use ultrasonic projectors on fighter planes to drive away the Demobats, and eventually a Thessalhydra that the Mind Flayer births, from the scene of the battle, speeding through the canyons of the Abyss in an exciting action sequence reminiscent of the 80s classic Top Gun. Sovetin and Enzo are in one of the jets, with Sovetin commanding the Soviet air fleet. Other military forces try to get close enough to the Mind Flayer so that our young heroes can enter its ribcage and defeat Vecna.

The Demos overrun the military base with Sullivan and Ozerov, killing them both. Dr. Kay chooses not to jeopardise saving the world and, while Owens escapes with Eleven and Will, blows up the facility with herself and the Demos.

When this affects the Mind Flayer within the Abyss, our cast realise that in order to significantly weaken it and bring it down they should target the Thessalhydra. Sovetin and Enzo, making peace with each other, kamikaze themselves into the Thessalhydra. Lucas, with nothing to lose and the true Rambo archetype from Season 1, distracts the Mind Flayer by firing a rocket launcher and driving away not on a bicycle but a motorcycle, signifying his journey of maturity and a reference to Terminator 2 (which is a 90s film, but owes its existence to an 80s film so we'll let it slide). His heroic sacrifice buys our team enough time as he perishes from the Mind Flayer. His character has been given a purpose again.

Lucas' sacrifice brings the Mind Flayer close and long enough for our heroes to enter its ribcage, finding Vecna and the children. Eleven has already freed them, and in the chaos while the soldiers fight against Vecna the children try to navigate to safety. But Vecna is winning, and when all hope is lost he is incapacitated by Eleven, who has been flown into the Abyss. Will controls the Mind Flayer outside its ribcage, bursting its heart. Vecna, absolutely weak, is defeated by Eleven's powers.

Everybody flees the Abyss, the children are safe. Using an ingenious explosive system developed in the previous episode by Mr. Clarke, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will, the Upside Down's exotic matter is blown up and the wormhole collapses.

Endings

Another time skip takes us to the characters' graduation in 1989, like in the real show, only now we're in Indianapolis. Like in Rocky IV, the Cold War has implicitly ended after an event that brought both sides of the world together, with diplomatic negotiations occurring between the U.S. and the USSR regarding the future. Furthermore, Eddie Munson receives a posthumous Presidential pardon, absolving him of the allegations of murder from Season 4 now that Vecna is known to have been the culprit.

Will, Dustin, and Mike drive to a family celebratory dinner at Joyce's new apartment. Here the gang reflects on how far they've come with a toast from Will, whose pain and suffering has ended in redemption for a better life. They remember every one of their friends and family that have passed in this and former seasons.

Hopper secretly proposes to Joyce, and she accepts.

Steve, Robin, and Dustin - the iconic trio - part ways as they head for work on different coasts, but agree to meet in the middle once in a while: in Chicago. In this version of the story, Dustin has not forgotten about Suzie. Steve and Robin reflect on the strength of their friendship despite everything that has happened, and they remember Nancy and Jonathan.

Eleven, or as she is really known, Jane, is alive and well in this ending. She meets Mike at the end of the dinner and they drive off into a peaceful life organised by Dr. Owens; the government will never bother them again after saving the world. But not before, like in the real show, Mike observes the next generation of D&D players. Derek, Erika, Holly, and others, gather for a campaign in the living room. Mike acknowledges this with a bittersweet smile, and closes the door of the apartment behind him.

Closing words

This might not be a perfect ending, but I believe it's an improvement on what was provided within the Duffers' final season. The stakes are higher, cliff-hangers are resolved, and more questions are answered. I followed some of the plot points from the show for simplicity while introducing new ones that should have been addressed. Perhaps the creators never really knew where the story was going to go, but even if they didn't care enough to meet the expectations of the fans, we have the power to do so ourselves with a simple rewrite.