I was unable to make it past the halfway mark in the first episode but still curious about the finale. So, I had Grok AI put together a comprehensive spoiler overview of everything between S01 - S07 to prepare me for the final episode.
Starting on a positive: the young girl playing Holly was a great wee actress.
As for the rest:
- First off, if you want to ape Return of the King's ending, be as good as Return of the King. You were closer to Battle of the Five Armies territory here.
- Steve died. Oh wait, he didn't! Reminded me of Rise of Skywalker's equally toothless Chewbacca fake-out.
- What the actual fuck happened to the Upside Down - we're on the planet of the piss filter and the Mindflayer is a giant, meaty crab thingy? And he went down like a punk. They were playing that final boss in story mode.
- The actor playing Will isn't that good.
- And unfortunately, I have to say the same for Millie Brown.
- Eleven's death. From a narrative standpoint, I guess I see what they were going for. But it needed reworking. It's too much of a cake and eat it outcome.
Overall, not without its moments, and certainly not a GoT-level disaster (not that I can fully judge). When I think back to the charm of the first couple of seasons, and then back to where it ended up, I can only wish of future showrunners who happen upon a quality product and success to begin devising their exit strategy sooner. This went one - maybe two seasons more than it needed.
