Purple Rain Is Actually an Incredibly Fitting Choice for Mike and Eleven on ‘Stranger Things’
Season 5 of Stranger Things has come and gone. But fans are still talking about the final moments of the hit Netflix series. And that includes the sweet goodbye between Millie Bobby Brown’s Eleven and Finn Wolfhard’s Mike Wheeler.
In the series finale, titled “The Rightside Up,” the kids from Hawkins head into the Upside Down to finally take down Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) once and for all. And when they finally finished him, they think their fight is over. But Eleven knows better than that. She knows that the military are never going to let her go and she decides to do one last act for her friends.
But before Eleven traps herself in the Upside Down (or so we are led to believe), she allows Mike into her mind so the two can say goodbye to each other. She asks Mike to explain why she’s doing this to the others and in a sweet montage of their time knowing each other, we get to see just how much Eleven and Mike meant to each other.
The scene is set to the Prince song “Purple Rain,” made famous by the dual release of Prince’s album Purple Rain and the film that came out shortly after. It is a song that is about the end of the world and letting your faith and love guide you when everything else feels like a disaster. Chaos can be surrounding everything but you still have those you love close to you and that’s why, in a lot of ways, “Purple Rain” is a perfect song for Mike and Eleven.
Together through it all
From the start of Stranger Things, Mike and Eleven have had feelings for each other. And for the most part, the world has been on the brink of ending for each and every season. So their final goodbye being set to a song that is all about faith and love in the end of times is more than fitting.
The final moments of Stranger Things poses the idea that Eleven isn’t really dead and didn’t sacrifice herself to the Upside Down. Mike tells his friends a story within their game of Dungeons & Dragons. Each player knows he is sharing his theory on Eleven.
Mike tells them he thinks that in Kali’s (Linnea Berthelsen) final breath, she projected an image of Eleven to look like she was standing at the gate to the Upside Down. But as it was happening, Eleven was escaping so she could leave Hawkins behind. Was she really looking at waterfalls in the end? We don’t know but it did all lead to a beautiful hope for Mike Wheeler.
The use of “Purple Rain,” is incredibly fitting for the two characters, just as “Running Up That Hill” was for Max (Sadie Sink). It tells their story and while there is hope for them and their love, it was always set in the midst of the world coming to an end and there is something poetic about that.
(featured image: Netflix)
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