Fans are overwhelmingly disappointed by the penultimate episode from season five of the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things.”
Complaints about the episode titled “The Bridge” range from bad acting to tired plot lines, but the scene catching the most attention is the awkward moment when one of the main characters, Will (Noah Schnapp), decides to come out as gay to his friends before gearing up to battle the show’s mythical monster villain, Vecna.
“Woke ruins EVERYTHING,” one X reaction said. “Netflix decided to RUIN their most popular show of all-time, Stranger Things, by focusing their final season on Will coming out as a homosexual, promoting the propaganda that Will’s superpowers are because he’s ’embraced his sexuality’ & the villain telling Will that his friends won’t like him if they find out he likes dudes.”
“How did Stranger Things go from such a great show to the only way they could defeat Vecna is if Will tells everyone he’s gay first,” another person agreed.
During the scene in question, Will gathers his friends together and admits, “I don’t like girls.” They proceed to form a group hug and seemingly downplay the upcoming battle to save the world. Will explains that the monster convinced him to keep his sexual identity hidden all this time.
Season five of the series initially had a 73% rating on Rotten Tomatoes before the release of the latest episode. Now it’s dropped to 56%. The episode also has a record-low 5.4/10 rating on IMDb, which is even lower than the notoriously despised season 2 episode, “The Lost Sister.”
Schnapp had an emotional reaction to the scene he revealed during an interview with Tudum.
“I was really nervous to see how [the Duffer Brothers] would write it, because it was obviously so important for me. And I remember when they sent out the script for Episode 7 for that scene. I read it alone in my room, and I was crying, and it really resonated with me,” the actor said of his character coming out.
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“I texted them, and I was like, ‘This is great. This is awesome.’ I didn’t know if they were ever gonna write that story for Will. They could have just left it up in the air, so getting to finally see it happen was amazing.”
The “Stranger Things” actor, who is also gay, said he felt the scene on a personal level. “I hope it touches everyone — not just queer people — and makes them feel emboldened and empowered to be who they are and be proud of who they are,” he told Tudum. “That goes back to the heart of our show: What makes you unique is your superpower.”
The two-hour series finale of “Stranger Things” premieres on Netflix and in select theaters on New Year’s Eve.
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