Stranger Things Season 5 viewers left confused by intense scene in latest episodes

Warning: This article contains spoilers of Stranger Things

Fans have been left fuming at the 'evil' writing from the creators of Stranger Things, as they were bemused by one particularly intense scene.

The penultimate episode of the fifth and final season of the show was released on Boxing Day (December 26), and while Matt and Ross Duffer's exemplary work has inspired 12 Primetime Emmy Awards, a scene with fan-favourite duo Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers, played by real-life partners Natalia Dyer and Charlie Heaton, caused fury online.

The pair find themselves stuck inside the Upside Down’s Hawkins Lab, with a gooey, paint-like substance slowly flooding the room. Fully believing this is the end, secrets start spilling.

Nancy admits she can’t stand The Clash, Jonathan confesses he hates reading her journalism, and then drops the biggest bombshell of all - that he never actually applied to Emerson... something Nancy had already figured out.

That’s when Jonathan pulls out an engagement ring.

"I figure that I have screwed up enough with you that it’d be nice to get something right for once, in the end. Nancy Wheeler, will you not marry me?" he says.

Nancy accepts, tells him she loves him, and just as emotions peak, the strange liquid around them hardens, meaning they survive after all.

While it appeared to many that the pair had rekindled their relationship, the Duffer brothers have since confirmed that the scene was meant to signify the pair splitting.

"That's a breakup," Matt told PEOPLE. "They are broken up."

Before adding: "It's hard to recall when exactly that idea came, but I think us - and the writers - all felt that Nancy needed to end up on her own and be independent and have an opportunity to find herself."

However, it left fans online fuming.

"Duffer brothers are f***ing evil for this…whole time jancy was breaking up while the fandom thought they were finally fixing their relationship .. F*** THAT," one user wrote on X.

"One of the best scenes in stranger things just for it to be a breakup scene. i’m irritated as hell," another fan typed.

Fans were outraged that one of the most romantic scenes in the entirety of 'Stranger Things' was in fact a break-up (Netflix)

A third penned: "Not sure now if it was bad direction or bad writing or a combination of both bt [but] istg [I swear to God] if it wasn’t fr [for] the article, I would have never known this was their freaking breakup scene."

It garnered dozens of tweets on the platform, with the overall consensus being: "How tf this is a breakup scene."

But the writing didn't go over the heads of everyone.

"Breakup scene was so easy to understand, and yet people blame the Duffer Brothers saying 'the script is so badly written.' do you guys watch the show with the TV off? Not understanding that scene just shows your own stupidity. It was so EASY to understand," one user blasted.

While another fan came to the Duffer's defence: "I can’t believe people didn’t understand the Jonathan/Nancy break up scene in Stranger Things. It was all pretty clear if you listened to what they were saying. They didn’t need to say 'hey, we are breaking up'."

Added another: "They have broken up. I mean even after hearing words like 'unproposal' 'no marry me' in the scene if you still couldn't figure out then...."

The finale is set to be released on Netflix on New Year’s Eve (December 31).