The Stranger Things 5 finale left viewers with a huge question mark hanging over Eleven‘s future: was she really dead, or did she manage to cheat fate? It clearly wasn’t going to give a straight answer – instead opting to leave us with more of an enigma than a clear revelation. The final scene of the show ends up turning the entire thing into a bit of a faith-based resolution rather than just spelling it out for us – leaving it to our imagination and a certain theory about what might have happened. And with that, the circle is kind of closed up nicely with some reassurance. Now, Millie Bobby Brown is effectively saying the authors really did craft a big mystery for her to unravel.
She had a chat with Tudum, Netflix‘s official site, and got a bit candid about Eleven’s fate, saying that it’s all about closure and being self-aware. The character decides to stick around the Upside Down in the last episode – and if you look closely, you can see it’s been basically in pieces for years – so she can prevent her blood from getting used to open up any more portals, and thus put an end to all the nonsense use of kids with special abilities. Brown says she thinks she can really connect this extreme choice with Eleven’s emotional journey: “When I was younger, I had a real hard time finding my own inner compass, something that I can definitely relate to in Eleven. I think this season she finds her voice and makes a real big choice, one thats bigger than anything she’s done before“. She sees Eleven’s decision to stay on the bridge for good as something really symbolic and, as a narrative, makes a lot of sense. Brown calls it “beautiful and cathartic”, noting that it’s exactly how she hoped it would all turn out. “I just think it’s really important that for Eleven, and for all the suffering and pain she’s been through, that it all just has to stop.” The idea being, it’s not so much about the survival, but about finally closing the book on all that trauma and anguish she’s been through.
Yet Stranger Things doesn’t leave all hope behind. In the final episode, Mike starts thinking about a different possibility: maybe Kali created some kind of illusion before Eleven’s demise, which would allow her to be hiding away in some kind of safe and unreachable place. A theory that Brown really ran with – “I really love this ending because there’s a good chance that there’s a far bigger purpose for the powers Kali has. Everything happens for a reason and there’s always a purpose. ” This ambiguity gets reinforced by the words of the Duffer brothers.
Ross Duffer points out that Eleven’s fate was always going to be a bit more complicated than just a straightforward ‘what happens next’. He made it clear that there was no version of the story where Eleven just tags along with the gang at the end. One reason they couldn’t just take away the character’s powers was that Eleven really does represent “Magical thinking in many ways, and the magic of being a kid.” For the other characters to move on and close the book on Hawkins and the Upside Down, “Eleven had to be gone.” This choice is more about the emotional impact than having a clear cut answer for everyone. According to Duffer, that’s because they thought it would be nice if the characters and we as viewers kept believing in a more positive outcome, even if we can’t get a clear cut answer about whether that actually happened or not.
Matt Duffer is on the same page here, pointing out that Eleven surviving can only really be shown as a belief, not a given: “if Eleven was out there, the best anyone could hope for is that they believe it’s true, but the reality is they can’t be in touch with her.” It’s this distance that actually makes the ending believable and adds a bit of depth to the whole concept of loss. “In a way, it’s the best way to keep her alive.” The mystery at the end isn’t an anti-climax, it’s actually a new growth stage for both the characters and for the viewers, where we’re all asked to accept that some stories aren’t about getting a definitive answer, but about how you feel about them being done. Did you like how Stranger Things wrapped up? Let us know what you think about the ending in the comments.
Source: TUDUM
