This is going to sound weird, but I've been thinking about conformitygate from a scientific perspective.
There's a logical fallacy called 'argument from ignorance'. It basically involves saying that something is true because you can't prove it's false. I'm not saying this is an example of this, but I'm bringing it up so I can use a common example (this is actually a combination of several fallacies, but argument from ignorance is the main one).
If people see strange moving lights in the sky, they call it a UFO, and some people take it as evidence that aliens have visited us. But... by calling it a UFO, we've just said that it's UNIDENTIFIED. Therefore, we can't draw ANY definite conclusions about what it actually is. It could be aliens and there's no way to prove that it isn't. But it could just as easily be a drone or a weather balloon, or a dozen other things. See the problem?
I don't think believing in conformitygate is wrong or even baseless, but I think accepting it as the only possible explanation for the show's conclusion isn't logical.
Here's how I've been thinking about it:
There's a lot that's weird about vol 2 and the finale. That much is a fact. And conformitygate attempts to explain it all away by using some of the most UNexplainable things (the dial changing colors for example) as definitive proof. But there's no way to prove that conformitygate ISN'T true. By assuming that the Duffers and other people working on the show are IN on it, we're even able to dismiss them explicitly stating that there's no extra episode. This is how conspiracy theories work. There's always a way to say "well that's what they WOULD say if they were in on it".
Am I saying that conformitygate holds no water? No.
But I AM saying that there are other possible explanations.
Maybe Ross Duffer had a mental breakdown when his wife left and he dragged the plot of the show down with him.
Maybe Leigh Janiak WAS the mastermind behind Byler and took her good writing with her.
Maybe it really was the most elaborate queerbait in history and Byler really wasn't ever in the cards.
Maybe Netflix stepped in to stop the Duffers from following through on Byler.
Maybe the Duffers chickened out at the last minute.
Maybe the Duffers are greedy and chose to appeal to the general audience rather than risk alienating them.
Maybe the goal all along was for Byler to be ambiguous in the end
Or maybe this is all an elaborate plan involving a fakeout ending and a secret real finale.
Out of all these options, conformitygate is definitely the most compelling, but that doesn't make it the most plausible. The simple fact is that we don't know, and we may never know.
Am I telling you to stop believing conformitygate is possible? No. Am I telling you to stop speculating? Hell no! I love speculating and theorizing. It's what this community is built off of.
Each of the options I listed above are hypotheses. Any of them could be true, and maybe by gathering enough evidence we could prove or disprove some of them. But some can't be disproven. So... let's keep gathering evidence! Maybe conformitygate will hold up as a conspiracy involving a secret episode (and will be definitively proven when the episode releases), or maybe it won't and it'll just become an incredibly fascinating headcanon (which is how I personally view it). Either way, that process of gathering evidence is what this community thrives off of.
And a lot of people won't like this, but Byler as a concept started out the same way. It was conjecture. Over time, we gathered evidence, but there was never a point where it was 100% proven, despite how confident we were.
I guess, scientifically, you could almost classify Byler as a theory rather than a hypothesis. I'm gonna become Bill Nye for a minute here, but a theory differs from a hypothesis because it's verifyable and holds up under scrutiny. Theories are based on evidence that can be reproduced. You can make predictions using theories. That last part is why I'm hesitant to consider Byler a theory. We tried to predict where the show was going, but that obviously didn't work out (meaning there were variables we didn't account for - probably the Duffers' lack of balls).
The reason Byler was so strong was that no matter which way you approached it from, it held up. Common storytelling tropes, the characters' arcs, the cinematography, colors, blocking, music, actor statements, etc, ALL pointed toward Byler. Even now, when you scrutinize the show, even knowing the ending, all roads still lead to Byler.
Anyway, my point is that we shouldn't be treating conformitygate like the one true explanation for what happened with season 5. At least not the version of conformitygate that suggests that episode 9 is coming. Consider it an extremely entertaining possibility. Most importantly, don't get upset with people for not believing in it.
And even if conformitygate were to be definitively shut down, that shouldn't stop us from holding on to the concept.
It's not possible to travel faster than light, but we can still pretend it is. And by doing so, we can create amazing works of art in the form of media.
This is something fandom culture is built off of. Just because a ship isn't canon or even if it's explicitly shut down, we can still ship it. Because it's fun. The same is true for ideas like conformitygate.
I encourage people to continue to run with the idea of conformitygate, but to keep in mind that, like Byler, it may never be 100% confirmed to be true. Whether it's true or not isn't as important to me as the fanfic and fan art and the process of theorizing that will come from it.
AND, I personally think we should be putting just as much effort into those other possible explanations, particularly the ones where the Duffers are cowardly, greedy pieces of trash.
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