Whether you’ve finished the Stranger Things Season 5 finale or not, you might be wondering what exactly happens to Robin’s (Maya Hawke) girlfriend Vickie (Amybeth McNulty), and a hidden detail might just provide the answer you’re looking for.
After a decade of epic sci-fi TV, Stranger Things has drawn to a close, wrapping up the story of Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin), and the rest of the Hawkins gang.
In Season 5 Volume 2, they discovered that the Upside Down is actually a portal to the Abyss, the true origin of the monsters and the place Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) wants to merge with the real world.
The finale, which is now streaming on Netflix, sees the gang band together for a final showdown, and they need everyone on board to stop Vecna – including Vickie. Warning: spoilers ahead!
What happened to Vickie in Stranger Things Season 5?
After defeating Vecna and helping to save the world, Vickie is nowhere to be seen in Stranger Things Season 5 Episode 8, sparking questions about what happened to her. However, a hidden detail suggests she’s still in a relationship with Robin.
You see, the final scenes of the finale jump forward in time by 18 months to show Mike and co. graduate from Hawkins High School. Meanwhile, Steve is now teaching baseball, and the older crew visit home during their break from college.
Robin, who is studying at Smith College in Massachusetts, joins Steve (Joe Keery), Nancy (Natalia Dyer), and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) on the roof of the radio station, where they devise a plan to meet up every month to keep their friendship alive.
As they cheers to their new plan, Steve says, “To nothing ever keeping us apart,” to which Robin says, “Including overbearing significant others.”
Some fans have taken this to mean that she’s referring to Vickie, as she was always a little overbearing (but only because she cares so much about Robin).
In a Reddit post asking what happened to Vickie, one viewer replied, “She’s still with Robin, implied by her ‘overbearing girlfriend’ line.”
Another explained, “Same thing that happened to all the other kids trapped in that military base; detained, probably interrogated, and eventually released because pressing charges in court would risk revealing their operation to the public.
“Vickie was probably released earlier than the others too, since she didn’t do anything except exist in the SQWK station.”
Did Vickie die?
One thing we know for sure: she didn’t die in the chaos. When the gang makes it out of the Upside Down after killing Vecna, Dr. Kay (Linda Hamilton) and the military are waiting for them on the other side.
At this point, Vickie and Max (Sadie Sink) have already been intercepted and they’re seen at the sidelines looking concerned. But ultimately, Dr. Kay wants El, and she doesn’t get her, as El seemingly sacrifices herself by standing at the gateway as the bomb goes off (more on this shortly).
The show jumps forward in time after this incident, meaning we don’t actually see what happens next. But it’s presumed that since the government no longer has access to super-powered beings, they simply have no choice but to let them go – Vickie included.
If Robin and Vickie really are still together, there’s all the chance that she now works as a nurse at a hospital closer to where Robin is studying. Or, they simply catch up during the holidays.
Either way, the pair, along with all the residents of Hawkins, wouldn’t be free if it weren’t for El’s sacrifice.
Eleven’s fate explained
Eleven’s fate is one of the most ambiguous elements of the Stranger Things Season 5 finale – and that uncertainty is entirely intentional. Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide whether El died or not.
On the surface, the show presents her as having sacrificed herself by standing at the gateway as the bomb detonates, convincing Dr. Kay and the military that she’s gone for good.
However, Mike explains to the rest of the group during their final game of Dungeons & Dragons that El’s apparent death was an illusion created by Kali (Linnea Berthelsen) in her final moments, designed to protect her sister and finally sever the government’s interest in super-powered children.
He suggests that El escaped before the explosion, choosing to disappear completely rather than return to Hawkins. The cost of stopping Vecna and ending the cycle of experimentation is that El can never safely exist in the open again, at least not in the world she knew.
The show never confirms whether this is all just wishful thinking on Mike’s part, or if this truly is what happened. The Duffer brothers have since told Netflix that they’re leaving it up to viewers to decide.
But Ross Duffer did tell the streaming service that at least for the Hawkins crew, “she lives on in their hearts, whether that’s real or not.”
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