As Stranger Things winds toward its conclusion, my social media feeds are already flooded with talking heads sowing dissent about a finale that hasn’t even aired yet, breathlessly insisting it’s destined to be “worse than the Game of Thronesfinale.” A finale that, it’s worth remembering, wasn’t infamous because it was bad, but because it wasn’t what fans wanted.

Daenerys was always going to go mad—it was in her DNA. If you actually watched the show, she had a long-established tendency to flame-broil and crucify anyone who opposed her. But fandom desperately wanted her and Jon Snow to ride off together, ruling the Seven Kingdoms in blissful harmony, but if you’d seen more than one season of that nihilistic fantasy slaughterfest, you’d know happy endings were never part of the deal.

But let’s stick with Stranger Things. (Spoilers Below)

The red flags started waving for me when I saw fan reactions to a specific scene that perfectly illustrates the problem: Jonathan and Nancy, on the brink of death, acknowledging they’ve grown apart and sharing a tender un-proposal—mutually agreeing to let their relationship go. I’ve scrolled past dozens of videos claiming the scene was poorly acted (it wasn’t) or didn’t make sense (it did). The real issue is that the show didn’t deliver what the fandom wanted: a tidy pairing, just like Jon and Dany were “supposed” to have.

So instead, people complain. Loudly. Online. Using every scrap of reasoning they can muster, revealing not only how little attention they’ve paid to these characters’ arcs, but how entitled they feel to a story that isn’t theirs.

And this is where it gets dangerous.

We saw what happened to the Game of Thrones showrunners after fandom collectively lost its mind over an ending they didn’t even originate—it was George R. R. Martin’s. Opportunities evaporated, careers stalled, all because they were deemed to have “failed” an audience that had already written its own version of the story in its head. But who are we to dictate what a story should be, or how it must end?

Maybe instead of defaulting to “this isn’t fair,” our first reaction should be to rewatch, reassess, and try to understand the intent of the story—rather than lecturing the people who have been shepherding it for a decade on how to finish their own work. It’s also why we’re probably never getting those final ASOIAF books: the story was always baked this way, no matter how you slice it.

The Sopranos faced a similar backlash with its famously abrupt, WTF ending—one that has since been widely embraced. I’ll admit, it took me years and a full rewatch to come around and truly understand what Chase was doing there.

That same sense of entitlement is now creeping into Stranger Things discourse, especially with the review-bombing of season five, which currently sits at a 54% audience score compared to an 84% critic score. The Duffers shouldn’t compromise their vision to placate fans—because we’ve seen where that road leads. Just look at Marvel, now effectively rebooting Civil War in hopes of recapturing lost magic.

The Duffer Brothers have been carefully building this world for over a decade. As we approach the end, can we at least wait to see where it goes? Before the pitchforks and torches come out? It’s their story. And while it’s had its highs and lows, I’m still genuinely curious to see where it lands as it reaches its conclusion.