Stranger Things: 5 Things That Still Make No Sense About the Upside Down

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Last year marked the end of Stranger Things, with the fifth and final season concluding its run on Netflix. The show wrapped up with a clever release plan over the holidays: new episodes dropped starting on Thanksgiving and culminated in a two-hour finale, “The Rightside Up,” on New Year’s Eve. This strategy worked perfectly, making Stranger Things the most-watched show on Netflix. The finale wasn’t just an ending; it was a heartfelt goodbye to the characters of Hawkins, and an 18-month epilogue showed them adjusting to life after finally escaping the threat of the Upside Down, with scenes featuring characters like Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard).

Even though Stranger Things had impressive production and broke viewership records, the ending left many viewers confused about what actually happened. This confusion sparked a popular fan theory called ‘Conformity Gate,’ which suggests the happy ending was a deceptive illusion created by Vecna. Fans pointed to plot holes and inconsistencies, believing the final victory wasn’t real and a true ending is still to come. While there isn’t a hidden ninth episode to address these concerns, the strong reaction shows the show didn’t fully explain its own rules and world-building. Specifically, even after five seasons, the workings of the Upside Down remain unclear and often contradictory.

5) What Exactly Created the Upside Down?

The latest season of Stranger Things tried to explain where the dark dimension, known as the Upside Down, came from. It revealed the Upside Down is a connection between Earth and a chaotic realm called the Abyss. The show claims Eleven accidentally created this connection on November 6, 1983, while using her powers against a Demogorgon. However, this explanation doesn’t quite align with what other characters have experienced throughout the series.

The show has already revealed that Eleven sent Henry Creel into the Abyss in 1979, but this didn’t create a lasting portal. It also doesn’t explain why Will’s extended connection to the Mind Flayer – another creature from the Abyss – didn’t open another gateway like the Upside Down. The story suggests Eleven is the only one who can create these rifts, but it doesn’t explain why other psychic connections to the Abyss didn’t have the same effect.

4) How Does Exotic Matter Work?

The latest season of Stranger Things tried to explain its supernatural events using complicated physics, specifically by introducing something called “exotic matter.” The show revealed that Dr. Brenner had been studying this substance for years, hoping to find a way to keep the gateways to the Upside Down open and stable. However, while the show uses the term “exotic matter” to give a scientific-sounding explanation for the Upside Down, it never actually explains where this substance comes from or what it is. It’s unclear if it naturally exists in the Upside Down, was created by the scientists at Hawkins Lab, or is a result of Eleven’s powers. The characters act as if it’s a crucial element that holds the portal open, but the show never tells us why it appeared in the first place.

3) How Could Will Communicate With Joyce Through Lights?

A major inconsistency in the first season of Stranger Things involves how Will Byers communicated with his mother, Joyce. The show later revealed that the Upside Down is a frozen moment in time from November 6, 1983 – meaning anything that changed after that date shouldn’t exist there. However, Joyce didn’t put up Christmas lights or paint letters on the wall until days after Will disappeared. Since these things weren’t present when the Upside Down “froze,” they shouldn’t have been visible in the version of their house where Will was trapped. This means Will would have been in a dark room with no way to signal his mother with letters. Despite this, he was able to spell out complex messages. The final season of Stranger Things never explained how Will managed to do this without a visible alphabet to guide him.

2) Why Does the Upside Down Mirror Hawkins?

The latest season of Stranger Things showed that the Upside Down links Earth to a dangerous place called the Abyss, but it didn’t explain how the version of Hawkins within it changed so drastically. We learned in season four that the Upside Down is like a copy of Hawkins from November 6, 1983, which fits with the idea that it’s a wormhole – a kind of shortcut through space and time. But the show never explained why this copy is always dark and has a blueish color, instead of simply being a still, frozen point in time.

The confusing nature of the Upside Down is made worse by the introduction of the Abyss, the original prison of Henry Creel. The Abyss looks nothing like the Upside Down – it’s a rocky, yellow world, while the Upside Down resembles a decaying version of our town. If the Upside Down is just a connection between our world and the Abyss, it doesn’t make sense for it to be a completely separate place. For five seasons, the show focused on creating a scary look for the Upside Down, but never explained why this connection between worlds would change the appearance of everything it pulls in, making it dark and decaying.

1) Why Are There Vines in the Upside Down?

As a huge fan of Stranger Things, I’ve always been a little confused about the vines in the Upside Down. They were such a defining visual from the very beginning, but after Season 5, they just don’t really make sense with how the show explains things. At first, it seemed like they were just part of the Upside Down’s natural environment, like plants. But then the show revealed the Upside Down is basically a snapshot of Hawkins, connected to this awful place called the Abyss. And the Abyss? Totally barren, no plants at all! That means the Demogorgons and the Mind Flayer, who came from the Abyss, wouldn’t have vines to begin with. It feels like those creepy vines were just a cool visual effect the creators liked, but they never really bothered to explain where they came from within the story. It’s a bit of a loose end, honestly.

Stranger Things is available on Netflix.

What unanswered question about how the Upside Down works was the most annoying part of the Stranger Things finale? Share your thoughts in the comments and join the discussion in the ComicBook Forum!

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2026-01-18 00:13