By Emily Hilliard
SPOILERS AHEAD
After nine years, the cultural phenomenon Stranger Things finally came to a.. less than climatic end, with its season 5 staggered releasing of episodes. There has been a divide within audiences’ reactions. Whilst some find the ending a satisfying conclusion, many feel it felt rushed and overly simplistic. This disappointment has made many fans go through the new season meticulously looking for any foreshadowing or reasoning for the underwhelming ending. This has led to the theory “Conformity gate”, but what is this theory?
Conformity gate is the theory that the overall “ joyful” ending is actually an illusion by Vecna and that one if not all characters are trapped in his trance. The evidence for this is the minor details that are inconsistent with the plot and the overall character arcs for the characters this season not being in line with how they usually are. The outcome of this theory led fans to believe there was a secret episode releasing on the 7th of January that would be the epic conclusion desired. As January 7th passed however, the theory was debunked with no episode release and actors from the show like Linnea Berthelsen, Kali/08, confirming they had not filmed a secret episode.
So why is this a big deal and what does it teach us for screenwriting in the future? From the first season, Stranger Things became a massive success with billions of streams across all seasons, hundreds of collabs with big brands and even a cinema release for the finale in selected theatres. This is because of the strong plot, complex characters with individual arcs and relationship dynamics with one another, and the overall nostalgic feeling it gave. With this massive support and love for the show, came a massive expectation.
After three years to create a script and perfect it, there was a major assumption for something mind blowing that was completely new, consistent to the previous plot and still gave that nostalgic feeling. What was released fell flat for many viewers though. The decision to add new characters to the already big cast left other original characters lacking any substance and little time for proper plot lines that were relevant and cohesive. The major plot holes such as the demogorgons not being present during the final battle were confusing and frustrating as an audience. All these negatives led to a current audience score of 53% on Rotten tomatoes for the overall season.
The newest update to this was the stranger things documentary showing the making of season 5, where it was speculated from a laptop screen shown within the piece, that Chat GPT was involved in the making of season 5. On top of this, it was also confirmed at the beginning of production, they didn’t have a completed script for the end. The backlash from this season can show any future screenwriter what not to do, especially with such a beloved show. Any AI generated material should never be used within script writing. Continuity should always be a major priority and there should always be script supervisors and others to collaborate with so there is more than one opinion that is listened to.