and what if i said steve, nancy, and jonathan might actually all be dead by the time mike wakes up?
saw a tiktok that noted that maybe, everything started going weird after nancy shot the generator and the blast went out across the upside down
what if this is where things become unreliable?
jonathan and nancy - in hawkins lab, they're trapped, then saved by a miraculous deus ex machina. an unexplainable save
later, it seems that the jopper proposal ring was the exact same one. in the last shot of one of the jancy scenes, the ring on the hardened floor of the room... but what if that visual was actually all that had remained?
final battle - jonathan (with love) doesn't have a big role, whereas nancy is the bait, the hero, everything mike could see his big sister as being. she's then saved at the last minute again
steve - new popular realisation that after steve fell off the tower, the screen went black for seven seconds. maybe this is another error, and no one caught steve (especially since, in this scenario, jonathan is dead)
another video pointed out the duffers love for stephen king - and in The Dark Tower series (in book seven), there was a fakeout ending where all characters had delightful endings. if you kept reading, you got the real ending, where a lot of the characters are massacred
if it follows, it stands to reason that episode 9 could see a number of the core 12 characters killed, and this would just be the start
seemingly forgot that Will had had a vine down his throat when she found him - doesn't bring it up despite Will's explanation of where Holly and three others are and what's happening to them, doesn't mention it when she sees the other kids with it
is a generally forgetful character
forgot she had an eldest son
what if something happened way earlier, maybe even pre s1 between her and the lab/henry etc that made her forget some things?
i struggle to believe the duffers could make the show they made for four seasons
and then literally say 'i don't know' when asked about no demos in the Abyss, why 12 children, and what the mind flayer actually is. a bad answer would be different, 'i don't know' is a really fucking weird thing to say three times
okay kinda can't believe i haven't seen anyone else say this
we all know that final fight was ass right? it was so quick, way too easy, no real depth to it. but i feel like i've barely seen anyone say how stupid steve's plan was?
like yes, it worked, but???? why did NO ONE think: 'hey, if this doesn't work and the signal tower collapses, everyone up there will plummet to the ground.' they instead went: 'yes! let's ALL go.'
or: my main fucking query: how did they know that the dimensions weren't going to slam together instantaneously? because that would have been my first thought, if you're fusing something together you tend to need a bit of kinetic energy. to me, it's pure luck that the sky moved at 1mph
but why have none of the cast or crew addressed cutgate or conformitygate? like, not a peep, right?
respectfully, i don't take mr clarke's word as gospel at all because that's absolutely not his rumour to dispel, and the duffers saying they've not seen the petition is ??? almost 400k people signed a petition demanding answers to your flagship work and you... haven't seen it?
have they been told to be quiet? and if so, for which reason?
WHY did they make mike of all people react to max noticing her vecna symptoms?? WHY did fred have a scar in the same place as where mike got sliced in s3?? WHY is mike under lightning bolts in the s5 poster? WHY is mike under vecna's eye in the s4 poster??WHY is mike drinking so much coffee? WHY does mike keep disassociating?? WHY does a distorted clock chime play when mike sees vecna for the first time?? WHY has mike been filmed through stalker shots since literally season one?? WHY does the pattern on mike's sweater look like the creel window?? WHY is mike the only wheeler family member who hasn't been attacked yet?? WHY has the cliff jump STILL not been brought up?? WHY does mike have a full scene in the first episode explaining how and why he masks his emotions?
WHY DOES FINN CARRY A LOT OF "EMOTIONAL WEIGHT" IN SEASON FIVE??
okay so, i've seen a lot of edits of Byler to 'The Hand' by Annabelle Dinda, and I had immediately felt that it was such a good song to visualise Mike's internal ramblings and internal world
I love analysing that little freak and this just sounds like Mike panicking to himself
then, realised it would be a FANTASTIC frame to help build conformitygate - lyrics and matches to Mike's story below the cut (so much matches in such a juicy way)
Okay!
Every time a guy writes a song he's a cowboy, a sailor: Mike the writer, writing about Mike the Brave
Playing with the world in his palm like the first pioneer: he’s notoriously blase with the rules
Every time he opens his mouth, it's a loud movie trailer: speaks for itself
Clipping every image and sound he thinks proves he was here: could be either Vecna piecing things together in Mike’s mind to make him believe he’s there, or could be about Mike’s need to be needed
A hand, a spike, a physical fight: nuff said. This is how Vecna ‘died’
A flash of light, a curtain: Jonathan rearranging the curtain in the epilogue?
A toll, a tithe: an (emotional) payment, a literal tax for living
The passage of time: California plotline, the 18 month gaps
A height, a dive, a burden: please. Still can’t believe there was no follow up to the fact Mike jumped off the fucking quarry
A girl, a night, a typical type: El as his beard / Stacey inviting them to the party
A siren in the water: finding Will’s body in S1
A scroll, a nod: painting, encouragement to believe he loved El
A message from God: his whole fucking arc
A Son, a Holy Father: Will / Vecna? Can obvs be many things
Every time I open my mouth I think, wow, what a loud noise: Classic Mike
Still on the soapbox, just hoping I seem underwhelmed: no reaction to anything this season. Mike could have been orphaned, both sisters went missing from his perspective. Also trying to underplay how much Will means to him, in general and in Cali
The hand, the pen, the writing again: you’re going to write DND campaigns in your basement for the rest of your life, Michael?
The wind around the willow: eerie wind blowing in trees in UD when Will was flayed and yelling for Mike in S2
The felt, the ice: various things, UD is cold, false confession in a pizza dough freezer
The passage of time: repeated
The melting down the window: the UD Hawkins lab just fucking melting
The now, the then, the thinking of when: Mike internally trying to piece his feelings for Will together (bc he had to have done pre-epilogue) - when did it start, will Mike act on it? OR. I believe epilogue Mike would be wracked with thoughts of: 'maybe if I could have told El the truth, she'd still be here'
Forbid she shows emotion: same again - Mike shows NO emotions to traumatising and directly personal events in S5
This isn't rage, it's worth a mention: he’s not angry, he’s confused / scared
This is a fake internal tension: scared because his internalised homophobia is so deeply entrenched, when he should know that his people will have his back when he faces his truth
Sometimes I spread out one opinion, And stand on its back to gauge attention: fourth wall break, one opinion = Mileven ending. Gauging opinion first.
This isn't rage, it's too specific: the same rage we all feel about queerness still being explicitly mocked and belittled after all this time
I like to hate symbolic limits: ‘you see what happens, Michael?’ Ted reinforced this in him
This is no statement, I'm complicit: it’s not my fault you don’t like girls. We’re friends, we’re friends.
This is a dream, God put me in it: literal. Vecna’s put him in a trance
The strike, the pause, the message from God: this gave me imagery of Will’s abuse from his father in his youth, as I can’t imagine Mike wouldn’t have known about this. I can't imagine he wouldn't have worried about the same thing happening to him
Does that make me his daughter?: dressing and acting like Ted in the epilogue
A hand, a shove, a valley, a jump: quarry flashbacks / parallels - something forces him out? There’s the prospect of losing Will, which Mike realises would always be a million times worse than swallowing his fear and telling him he loves him
A score under the wire: implying that they’ll just make it out? Real final battle will be much more catastrophic
Just sweep me up, Just sweep me up, And take me somewhere higher: symbolises both Mike’s desire for this to just be over - Vecna says: it will be easier if you don’t fight it. Maybe Mike submitted (almost definitely not knowingly, though). Also repeated audience beliefs post-finale that Mike’s suicidal
I unfortunately don't think conformitygate is real because I really don't trust them enough now, and because a lot of the show was still just bad even if this is true
doesn't mean we can't write our own ending
please share thoughts im forcing myself out of writers block post-haste
the thing i struggle with in the epilogue is... you waited 18 months for all these things to wrap up nicely in one night?
18 months post battle for jopper to get engaged, the teens to agree that they'll catch up soon, the young ones to finally theorise that El might be alive? none of that happened in that time??? in a year and a half????
team just in case this conformitygate doesnt work out i'm making a thorough list
pls can yall comment all the egregious plot holes of v2+finale? I'm talking the truly staggering stuff like: Will has been connected to the hivemind this entire time, yet when Vecna/Henry dies, Will barely blinks and feels none of it
that sort of stuff please and thank you I will be making a google doc for evidence !
