The Stranger Things Series Finale Features The Show's Wildest Stephen King Homage Yet

Beware the Mind Flayer; spoilers ahead for the "Stranger Things" series finale.

This was how "Stranger Things" was always going to end, wasn't it? No, I'm not talking about the unflattering optics of Kali's (Linnea Berthelsen) heroic but heavily telegraphed death in the series finale. I'm not even referring to Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) maybe or maybe not sacrificing herself in the episode and the problematic implications of her fate in either of those scenarios. No, I mean the giant spider.

In the blockbuster streaming series' final hour, fittingly titled "Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up," we learn that Henry "Vecna" Creel's (Jamie Campbell Bower) fortress in the Abyss — which (probably not accidentally) bears an uncanny resemblance to the Skeksis' castle from Jim Henson and Frank Oz's cult 1982 fantasy movie "The Dark Crystal" — is really the Mind Flayer in the flesh. (That explains its gooey interiors and beating heart.) Thus, it falls to the various heroes of Hawkins to do battle with this arachnid-like Kaiju, recalling how the climax of Stephen King's 1986 novel "It" culminates with the plucky Losers Club taking on It (aka Pennywise) in the form of an enormous spider-like creature.

Again, in hindsight, this might've been inevitable. The Duffer Brothers not getting to direct an "It" film adaptation led to them creating "Stranger Things" instead, so why wouldn't they bring their small screen pastiche of all things Stephen King (plus a whole lot of John Carpenter, Steven Spielberg, and other assorted 1980s pop culture; again, see "The Dark Crystal") full circle with a no-holds-barred homage to possibly the wildest ending in King's infamous oeuvre of bizarre endings? Besides, it's not as though that was the only way that King's touchstone coming of age fantasy-horror tome clearly shaped and informed the Duffers' Netflix sensation.

Good artists copy, but great artists steal, right? To their credit, the Duffers have never even tried to deny that "It" heavily influenced their own story about young, small-town outcasts being terrorized by inter-dimensional monsters (make that a singular monster). So, why should they change course now?

Take Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), who is to "Stranger Things" what Bill Denbrough is to "It." Just as Bill grows up to become a novelist and leaves behind any romantic feelings for his fellow Loser Beverly Marsh, "Stranger Things" ends with Mike pursuing his calling as a storyteller and accepting that he and Eleven can't be together. Similarly, like Beverly, the show's own red-haired heroine with an abusive family member, Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), eventually finds herself in a loving relationship and happier than ever.

That doesn't mean the "Stranger Things" and "It" properties also have the same overall strengths and flaws. Say what you will against the former's coming-out arc for Mike's buddy Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), but it works better than the way "Chapter Two" of the "It" film adaptation presents the wise-cracking Loser Richie Tozier (played by Bill Hader and, amusingly enough, Wolfhard at different ages) as a closeted queer man. And while "Stranger Things" became more inclusive than "It" over time, the latter franchise continues to be more thoughtful with its critiques of the U.S.'s historic societal failings and white small-town Americans' habit of ignoring the evil in their backyard (as seen recently with the prequel series "It: Welcome to Derry").

When push comes to shove, though, "Stranger Things" still carved out its own identity separate from "It" ... even with a giant spider that would make Jon Peters squeal.

"Stranger Things" is streaming on Netflix.