I found the finale considerably more watchable than Volume 2, but I would never treat it as anything above "somewhat passable." With how the previous episode left off, this felt relatively satisfying. Here are a few details that stood out to me.
Pros:
-The cast mostly receives fitting endings.
-I appreciate the fakeout redemption for Henry. I was half-expecting them to pull a Steven Universe with this supernatural child predator through the nihilistic "shades of grey" morality plaguing modern fiction, and I have to give the writers props for acknowledging that bad people exist and make bad decisions.
-The final battle is fun, and I'm glad that Joyce got the final blow. (Admittedly, everyone else just standing around when Vecna was breathing was incredibly contrived, though.)
Cons:
-Will still acts flamboyantly, which hurts every scene he is in.
-Where's the Mind Flayer's army? Aside from the Mind Flayer, there's no Dimension X wildlife in Dimension X or the Upside Down, when they would be a huge asset for the bad guys. It makes me wonder if they cut some action scenes for time or budget.
-Splitting Jonathon and Nancy makes their portrayal in the past four seasons feel like even more of a waste of time than it already is.
-Once the children escape, Vecna never recaptures them, which places a dampener on the stakes.
-There's no real resolution for Dr. Kay and these corrupt psychic children programs. No change of heart or ongoing campaign to change the system. She could still be killing people with blood transfusions, for all the audience is shown.
-The epilogue meanders. If everyone simply reunited and caught up at the graduation ceremony before closing with the D&D scene to tie up loose ends, it would be great, but the writers didn't do that.
Overall, I actually felt something while watching it, but I believe that stemmed from a fondness for how this show started and the potential it once had.
