Strangers Things season 5 resolved its love triangle in the best possible way

Throughout Stranger Things season 5, Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) and Steve Harrington (Joe Keery) have gotten competitive whenever they’re around Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer). It’s a classic love-triangle dynamic, putting Nancy in the position of choosing between her current boyfriend or her ex, who’s grown a lot as a character since season 1. Writer Kate Trefry and the Duffer brothers settle the matter decisively in episode 6, “Escape from Camazotz,” in a deeply satisfying way that bucks clichés to give every character what they need.

[Ed. note: The following contains major spoilers for Stranger Things season 5, episode 6.]

Episode 5 ends on a cliffhanger, with Nancy impulsively shooting the “shield generator” Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) said would break down the walls around the Upside Down, even as Dustin tried desperately to warn her to stop. What she’s actually shooting is exotic matter, and the impact causes it to melt the walls, ceiling, and floor of the Upside Down version of Hawkins Lab.

As Dustin and Steve try to rescue them, Nancy and Jonathan first attempt to escape from the room they’ve been locked in, then seek higher ground to buy enough time for help to arrive. But as the goo pools around them, they accept that these might be their final moments, and start just trying to do right by each other. That involves a set of funny confessions about the music and books they pretended to like, but also more emotional confrontations about their substance problems.

They finally circle back to the strain on their relationship that’s been showing since Nancy got into college in season 4. They acknowledge that their relationship is built on a shared trauma that binds them together, but is also an oppressive weight they both wanted to escape. Nancy admits she wanted space from Jonathan, but reassures him that she doesn’t want to be with Steve either.

Then Jonathan makes one last big tearful confession, pulling out the engagement ring he’s been carrying around all season. I’d been dreading the ways this prop could be used. Maybe he’d propose in a moment like this, Nancy would say yes, and she’d spend the rest of her probably very short life with him. Maybe he’d be injured and the ring would spill out of his pocket, spoiling the surprise and adding urgency to the situation by showing how his future dreams were on the line. Maybe he or Steve would die heroically and the whole love triangle would be rendered moot, with Nancy finding comfort in the other man’s arms.

Instead, Jonathan admits proposing would be an attempt to fix a broken relationship, and that he doesn’t want her to marry him at all. They love each other, but it’s a love sealed in a tearful embrace and a chaste kiss on a head rather than a passionate smooch. When the crisis passes, they have come through yet another traumatic experience together, stronger for choosing their happiness over the easy path of clinging to the safety of a relationship that was suffocating them.

Image: Netflix

Many coming-of-age stories assume that their young protagonists will find the love of their lives in their teens, a trope that’s especially unfair to the women whose happy endings are often more tied to starting families than saving the world. The epilogue of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows doesn’t even mention what Hermione, the most brilliant wizard of her generation, did with her adult life besides marrying Ron and having two kids. After teasing fans with a possible Katara/Zuko pairing in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Katara winds up with Aang, and her most important contribution to the world is ensuring he’s not actually the last of his kind.

Nancy admits she doesn’t even know what she wants — though she knows it’s not to have six of Steve’s kids — and that’s very reasonable for a teenager! She doesn’t need to marry a guy she dated in high school. And for fans who do love a big young-love story, Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink) realizes Lucas is just as strong an emotional link as Kate Bush, and escapes her psychic prison to be with him. They might also have to deal with their shared trauma at some point, but for now, they deserve a happy reunion.

Steve gets his big emotional catharsis too, and it comes from the person who’s proven to be most important to him — his best friend Dustin. Like Jonathan and Nancy, Steve and Dustin have a lot of unresolved baggage from season 4. While Steve blamed Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) for getting himself killed playing hero last season, he’s just as reckless when he tries to save Jonathan and Nancy.

Image: Netflix

After saving Steve’s life, Dustin breaks down in tears, admitting he can’t handle the loss of another friend. As Dustin lets down the barriers he built after Eddie’s death, it reaffirms how much Steve means to him. Their heartfelt hug reinforces a bond that’s been one of the anchors of the series since the two became unlikely buddies in season 2.

While Stranger Things season 5 has significantly ramped up the stakes and the action, the Duffers understand that the characters are really the heart of their show. The care they took in resolving the relationship dynamics in “Escape from Camazotz” make it the strongest episode of the season’s volume 2 episode drop. Whatever happens to the characters in the finale, at least they’ve been honest with each other and themselves about what a happy ending looks like for each of them.

The first seven episodes of Stranger Things season 5 are available to stream on Netflix now, with the finale airing on New Year’s Eve.