underneath the purple rain

Spoilers for Stranger Things 5 ahead!

Over my winter break, Netflix’s Stranger Things released its final episode. Titled “The Rightside Up”, with a runtime of two hours and eight minutes, it was the perfect ending to a show I have been watching, rewatching, and obsessing over for the past seven years.

I distinctly recall a memory I have of my close friend and me, sobbing our eyes out in our before-and-after school program’s van, our counselor frantically asking if we were okay, to which we replied, “No.” We were left in this state by the final few scenes in Season 3. Billy sacrificing himself in front of Max, and seeing her reaction to it all. The letter that Hopper writes to Eleven before he presumably dies, with “Heroes” by Peter Gabriel playing along with. I had thought for a long time that these were the saddest scenes we were going to get in Stranger Things. Last week, I was proven horribly wrong.

When the first chord of “Purple Rain” by Prince played, my heart dropped to my stomach. I let out a guttural and painful “NO!”, and my friend turned to look at me with concern in her quickly watering eyes. I collapsed onto my couch and sobbed hysterically. I am still recovering, and honestly, I’m not sure if I ever will, fully. The needle drop happens as Mike and Eleven are sharing one last moment. Eleven explains that for them all to be done with everything having to do with Vecna, the Upside Down, and anyone in the government, she would have to sacrifice herself. She explains that she has a choice to make, and the choice for her is to stay behind while the gate to the Upside Down closes, and this is prompted by the bomb Mike creates. She tries comforting him to the best of her ability, reminding him of the importance he had in her life.

“You understand me. Better than anyone. You always have. From the day we met… you’ve seen me. The real me.”

Mike and Eleven saying goodbye for the last time

When the song starts, the flashback does too. It cycles through all of the touching moments Mike and El have shared over the past four years. The first time they meet, in the rain. This is no coincidence; this has to have influenced the creators in their pick of the song. The first few lyrics of the song are as follows:

I never meant to cause you any sorrow/I never meant to cause you any pain/I only wanted one time to see you laughing/I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple rain/Purple rain, purple rain

This fit absolutely perfectly. Eleven has to say goodbye to Mike, and she never wanted him to be hurt by her decision with this, but she also never wanted anyone to be hurt by any Vecna, Upside Down, or government-related issues again. She chose what was best for her and for the well-being of everyone. I liked that she was given a choice, instead of the creators just killing her off in the final battle. It felt more powerful that way.

“Purple Rain” has been the best song they’ve ever needle-dropped, in my opinion. Here’s why. For starters, it’s one of the best songs of all time. So incredibly awesome, and it’s so sad. I love sad music. Prince was very strict with the usage of his music in movies and TV, and it was a really big deal that the Duffer brothers were able to get the rights. It made the scene all the more jaw-dropping. All the more important and critical. “Purple Rain” is a song about the end of the world, and all one has is love and faith. It has a tone of acceptance to it, with the line, “It’s such a shame our friendship had to end”. He wants to see his partner dancing in the purple rain, called that because it’s a mix of “blood and passion, and sadness”, the red and blue that make this iconic purple. He is acknowledging that their time is coming to an end, and all he wants to do is make peace, and to bathe in the purple rain, to savor this time he has with his partner. This song makes me ache, makes me feel really, really sad, because it’s raw and vulnerable, and that electric guitar is just screaming at you. It’s beautiful and life-changing and very fit for the ending of a show, for a scene between the two most pivotal and important characters in the show. One of the longest-lasting relationships, from young children to adults. From Eleven just learning to speak and never getting to fully experience all that the world has to offer, or live a normal life like the rest of the kids, to the idea that Mike will have to live with this event for the rest of his life, makes me hurt a lot when I think too much about it. Don’t even get me started on the fact that I grew up with these characters; I am the same age as them now. I could continue to go on and on about this show, but I’ll save you from that.

I was not ready to say goodbye, and I don’t think I ever will be. But for now, over & out.

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