okay. i need everyone to gather around for this. i need every byler and non-byler alike to take my hand and sit with me. (non-toxic milevens are also welcome, but don't even look at my blog if you're going to be homophobic or anti-byler).
almost every stranger things fan - bylers, the general fandom, and even the GA - have talked about the show no longer making sense after s2. s3 is often touted as the worst season, an opinion shared by most everyone. the end of s2/beginning of s3 is when things started going downhill. characters lost their nuance. bonds, whether romantic or otherwise, became unhealthy and skewed. narratives and plot points became surreal, more like a fever dream than a supernatural show. sure, there were times where the writing from s1 & s2 shone through, like robin's coming out, but a majority of the writing became illogical and poor. tl;dr: after the end of s2, stranger things became a confusing, poorly-written mess. this is an opinion held by most every fan.
coincidentally, the end of s2/beginning of s3 is when vecna "activates" will. we know the mindflayer was simply an extension of him - we know what vecna did to will in the UD, at least to an extent. we also know that will has a direct connection to vecna by s3, able to sense him (and creatures from the UD) at essentially any moment in time.
we also know that vecna has the ability to completely alter people's minds. their memories. their feelings. their thoughts. the way they see the world. so, what i'm proposing is this: we have been viewing the show from will's perspective, only skewed by vecna's connection to him, since the beginning. this would make the reason that s2 was the last time things made sense is because it was the last time will was thinking independently, without vecna tainting his mind.
there are actually several signs of this:
will is the main character. we have been told this point-blank. if he is the main character, it only makes sense that the story would be told through his perspective. the issue is that his perspective has been permanently altered by vecna's connection to him; by vecna forcing him to see things that aren't real. again, another thing we know factually about vecna is that he can cause hallucinations.
s2 is the last time mike's character made sense. it was the last time we had any outlook on his thoughts, his motives, or his feelings. vecna preys on weakness - will's love for mike is a weakness. it could also explain why he refers to mike as "his tammy"; not because he feels that way, but because vecna is influencing him to. it would also make sense as to why will's coming out seemed so strange, why everyone and their brother was there.
during the pre-watchparty for volume 2, a question that sticks out to me was asked. it was, should we believe in coincidences at all? or is the devil in the details? and the answer was pay attention. this is not the first time the duffers have urged us to pay attention to the finer details, nor is it the first time they've told us nothing is a coincidence in stranger things.
moreover, the duffer brothers (+ shawn levy) have only seemed to lose their luster in volume 2. they have only started spouting confusing nonsense that is turning fans upside down (pun not intended) since the release of volume 2. is it not realistic to think they are doing this on purpose? they LOVE huge plot twists. they've said it before - they've DONE it before. do you really think tricking us into suddenly thinking their writing has gone downhill is out of their wheelhouse? because i don't believe it is.
volume 1 made more sense than volume 2. again, coincidentally, the last episode of volume 1 is when vecna "activates" will and he is able to tap into their shared powers. during their discussion in the field, will asks mike, "are you saying i'm vecna?" and mike responds, "you kind of are." again: nothing is a coincidence. do you think this line was added in for shits and giggles, or do you think it was trying to tell us something? we have been told to pay attention to finer details, to things that seemingly don't matter.
we know for a fact the date in the ROM episode was march 22nd - will's birthday, confirmed by his own mother. so how did everyone forget? joyce, jonathan, mike? why were el and mike so mean to will at ROM? why did they exclude him? that doesn't seem like something either of them would do. they both care about will. el not only sees will as her brother, but she is generally very perceptive ("el's not stupid"/"not stupid") and kind to boot. how wouldn't she pick up on will's mood? why would she purposely leave him out despite the fact that we know el goes out of her way to be a good friend - a good sister?
i suppose we've all forgotten about the white board of inspirations for s4, but i haven't. here are some of the films listed on there with plot points that heavily point to something being off, likely due to vecna altering will's perception of reality (and therefore making him the unreliable narrator):
the devil's advocate: an aspiring lawyer takes a position with a high-powered attorney who turns out to be the anti-christ. the lawyer is, in essence, a vessel for him.
inception: a thief has the unique ability to enter people's minds and steal secrets from their subconscious.
the shining: a man falls into insanity while working as the caretaker at an isolated hotel in colorado. he is plagued by prophetic visions that eventually unravel his mind.
blair witch: told through found footage, three college students embark on a quest to find the mythical blair witch. as they travel, they devolve into insanity, their minds becoming altered and controlled.
the cell: a trip is taken through a serial killer's psyche in order to find the key to save his final, trapped victim.
pan's labyrinth: a troop of soldiers are drawn into pan's labyrinth, a magical but brutal world of mystical creatures.
independence day: a strange phenomena surfaces around the globe, leading to total destruction of the world. the last hope to stop it is a group of people united by fate and unimaginable circumstances.
the truman show: he doesn't know it, but his entire life is actually a television show that has been viewed by millions worldwide. eventually, he catches on and escapes this world and returns to reality.
let the right one in: a sensitive, bullied 12-year-old boy makes friends with his new neighbor. when a string of murders begin, it becomes apparent that she has a secret tying her directly to the murders.
bram stoker's dracula: count dracula, a 15th-century prince, is condemned to being a vampire. when a lawyer is sent to his castle to finalize the land deal, the count sees photos of his fiancée, who is the spitting image of his dead wife. he imprisons the man and sets off to track her down.
the beauty and the beast: an arrogant prince is turned into a monster and forced to live as a terrifying beast until he finds someone to break the curse (his true love, in this case, but it would obviously be different in stranger things).
there may easily be more, but the board is hard to read and i've been staring at it for a good 15 minutes now looking for examples.
in conclusion: does nobody else find it strange that the writers seemingly lost their touch after s2, the moment will became intrinsically connected to vecna? does nobody else find the way they talk in constant circles strange?
we've been told the UD is not what it seems. we've been told to pay attention. i think fans are so blinded by hate at how poorly-written volume 2 is that they might not be considering it was done with purpose - and the duffers are purposely feeding into it by lying in interviews. to me, it's more logical that the duffers (+ shawn levy) haven't magically lost their writing abilities, but are purposely throwing us off the scent.
[matpat voice] but that's just a theory. a FILM THEORY.
