December 31st, 2025, Stranger Things, episode eight, season five was released at 8 p.m. EST. This episode was the season finale. Long awaited and anticipated. Since 2016 we have witnessed the growth of the actors as well as the show. The Duffer Brothers amazed us all with their cunning writing, twisted plots, and incredible 80’s themes. But season 5 disappointed most devoted fans. The writing wasn’t up to par, there were countless plot holes and even the theming felt off. Many fans rushed to excuse this by making up theories that would prove the Duffers knew what they were doing. Little did we all know this infamous season was just a product of generative AI and lazy writers.
With the sequential releases of the 8 episodes, fans were slowly fed the new unraveling plot. However, upon the release of episodes 5-7 (volume 2) people started to worry for the finale. Viewers agreed that there were too many plot points left untied, there was too much to do to save Hawkins and there was no way everything that needed to be shown could fit within 2 hours and 8 minutes. And they were right.
It was widely agreed that the season finale fell short on all fronts. Many fans and theorists pointed out the massive plot holes and hypocricies of the episode. In fact, the episode was so disappointing to so many people, fans decided there MUST be another, secret, episode. This theory was coined “Conformity Gate.”
Conformity Gate originated on TikTok, gaining widespread support and agreement, fans began making videos compiling all the evidence, they believed that the show was a trick of the mind from the “genius” Duffer Brothers. Viewers believed the new “secret” episode would debut on January 7th and it would be revealed that we all were under Venca’s spell. The theory originated from Dustin’s graduation speech at the end of the last episode where he speaks on “forced conformity” (hence the name conformity gate) as well as Max’s outrage on the group’s final D&D campaign she says “thats it? Everyone lives happily ever after?” fans compared this outrage to the outrage they felt when it seemed that all our beloved characters lived happily ever after. Fans argued this “conformist,” “sunshine and rainbows” ending was not what the previously emotionally turmoiled plot should’ve led to.
Well, January 7th came and went and no secret episode was released, in fact, the Duffer Brothers said nothing about the theories.
On the 12th of January “One Last Adventure: The Making Of Stranger Things 5” was released. It was a tell all documentary of the making of the show. When viewers watched they were enraged. It was revealed that the Duffer Brothers started the filming of the last episode without having the script fully written, while yes this is the case for some shows, the Duffers said that the whole show was planned out from the beginning, meaning they obviously lied.
Another thing that angered fans about the documentary was that in a clip of the Duffers drafting the script, Chat-GPT, the generative AI site, was clearly seen in an open tab. Viewers were incredibly disappointed in the Duffer Brothers. Of course the show was so disappointing because Chat-GPT had written it! The Duffers were quick to respond to this, saying it was just a stray tab and had nothing to do with the script but fans brushed this off as an excuse.
Overall, Stranger Things Season Five was a sore disappointment in many viewers’ eyes. It came as an even worse disappointment due to the success and well reception of all the previous seasons.
The Duffer Brothers made an incredibly successful show and carried it for 10 years and while the ending may have been disappointing to most, we have to acknowledge how ingenious this show had been up until the last season.
