This Season Wasn’t for Everyone And That Was the Point
⚠️Season 5, Vol2 Spoilers⚠️
By the way, I was a bit surprised to see that some of the things I mentioned in my post turned out to be accurate. You can read my predictions in here.
I feel like I might be one of the few people who genuinely enjoyed most of the narrative turns the Duffers made in Vol2. And if we take in account that they said that Stranger Things isn’t really aimed at the general audience (GA), but at a more specific kind of viewer, it finally clicked for me.
A lot of the backlash seems to be about ships. Which I get, shipping is emotional.
But if you zoom out a little, there’s so much going on here that clearly isn’t written to please everyone.
This season leans hard into ideas, symbolism, science fiction, and mythic structures. It feels like a mix of Coraline, Alice in Wonderland, A Wrinkle in Time, Peter Pan, and even Naruto, which are stories about fate, identity, alternate paths, and growing up too fast.
If the show were really trying to satisfy the GA, the safest option would’ve been obvious. Jancy is popular, it’s familiar and has being a thing since S1.
But then deciding for them to break-up.
That’s not exactly mass-appeal, and I kind of love that!!
And yet… they decided to go that route. And we get something so much messier and bittersweet. That alone tells me the intent isn’t fanservice.
It’s part of what the story wants to convey, and I have being saying this for a long time now.
Take Byler, for example. I still believe it’s very likely canon, but not necessarily in a neat, explicit 100% at the end of the series. The Duffers loves open endings and metaphors. I can easily imagine something bittersweet like Will ending up with someone else while Mike grieves El, if she dies. A kind of young Jopper situation (from “The First Shadow”) separated by circumstances, trauma, and timing, with the quiet implication that maybe, in another life, they could find their way back to each other. You don’t need a kiss to make that legible, the show has never been subtle about Mike’s feelings toward Will, it just refuses to rush them into a fairytale resolution, that is my take.
What also makes sense now is the structure of the final episodes. With around 40 min epilogue, some arcs are already basically resolved. Lumax is done, Jopper is almost there, honestly, all they need is that Enzo’s date. Steve and Dustin’s relationship is solid again, so narratively, they’re free to explore other dynamics.
That leaves the emotional core still in motion: Will, Mike, El, Nancy, Robin, Jonathan, Steve, and yes, Dustin, but in a different way.
And this is where things get really interesting to me.
Jancy’s breakup in ep 6 feels intentional in how specific it is. They don’t just drift apart, they decide to open.
They deny door 2 (Accept your fate) and chose door 3 (Escape).
And as I said before in others post, like this one, this one and one:
Jonathan’s interrupted confession in ep 6 was likely about the fact that his S1 photos of Nancy were never really about Nancy in the first place.
I have talked about it here.
Nancy can’t stand Jonathan’s MUSIC, while Jonathan explicitly says he hates PINK.
That’s such a strange detail to include unless it’s doing narrative work.
Because Robin loves pink (and nurses and girls with dreams).
One of her defining songs is “Pretty in Pink”, which she literally dedicates to Vickie. That’s not accidental, that’s on purpose.
WOW the accident, again!! As pointed out by @bylerlipglances and @strange-anni in this post: “Accidents don’t happen, they are caused”.
They both are amazing at analyzing the show please check their posts, you won’t regret it!!!
Picture from @bylerlipglances amazing post!! And the fact that they decided to include that in THIS scene…
In the same way, Nancy saying she hates ”The Clash” feels like it’s pointing somewhere else. Music has always been emotional connection in this show, especially for Max, Will, Holly and Jonathan. These aren’t random dislikes, they’re foreshadowing, same as with the pink.
Steve and “The Clash” clothes
I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that Rovickie and Jancy mirror each other so closely. Like the way Vickie thinks Robin takes drugs to not stay with her is almost the same argument as when Jonathan and Nancy talk about drugs and alcohol in ep 6, they don’t have dates anymore. And chooses to lie and distance themselves, even after Robin telling her everything she chooses to sit next to Nancy!!
Love language: Jonathan and Steve mirroring each other.
And the lingering and delicate touch…
Loving someone doesn’t mean you work together!!
Sometimes the most mature thing is ending something before it turns into resentment. That’s exactly what Jonathan and Nancy do, and it wouldn’t shock me if Robin and Vickie end up in a similar place. Loving each other, but choosing to let go. It is healthy and the best decision they could have taken!!
Now, if someone dies, I honestly don’t think it’ll be one of the core kids. Vickie feels far more narratively vulnerable, or maybe she doesn’t die but I feel she and Robin could break up in a way that mirrors Jancy. Either way, the symmetry is there.
And that’s really what this season feels like to me, parallels, metaphors, rhymes… not answers shouted at the audience, but subtext has always being a thing here.
This isn’t a story trying to please everyone.
It’s a story that trusts some of us will recognize what it’s doing and actually enjoy it. You don’t have to love every choice or outcome, especially if it doesn’t match what you hoped for, and that’s completely fair. But a lot of the elements people are criticizing now have been part of the show since the very beginning, even if they weren’t always obvious at first. For me, seeing how everything finally connects makes the writing feel intentional and consistent rather than messy.
It might not work for everyone, but it does make sense, and that’s why it works for me.
Byler, Ronance and Stonathan:
And Steve and Nancy has feelings for Jonathan and Robin. As I analyzed here.
Jonathan’s almost confession in ep 6 also mirrors Robin one.
I can hear Robin “signs” from here. The look, the touch…
Will: "How did you know Vickie wanted to date?"
Robin: "...Y'know there were, like, signals. Like a brush of the knee, a bump of the elbow and a shared look.”
This works for all of them, Byler, Ronance, Stonathan, Lumax and Jopper.
Please check this amazing Ronance post about this made by @bl00dofgrapes, here. And this other by @dyermenace, here
It could also mean that he is versatile because he wears it around his neck (there are two interpretations as you see, either “female part” or versatile), but the point is that it is part of the Handkerchief Code.
Source: https://www.thesaintfoundation.org/community/hanky-code-bob-damrons-address-book
And Stonathan is a lot like Jopper as I analized here!!
To Joyce: “Yes, he's a brute, I know. Probably reminds you of a bad relationship, and gosh, you’d really like a nice man to settle down with (...).” So Steve reminds Jonathan of Nancy and their bad relationship. And Steve trying different relationships to find the right person and thinking of his future perfect family with 6 kids.
To Hopper: “And you! HA! Well, you're just a big man-baby who’d rather act tough, than show his true feelings (…)” So Jonathan suddenly being kind of a dick to Steve. Jonathan always lying to Nancy and avoiding his own feelings.
I also analized Coltrane’s song here if you are interested!!
The version Murray gives Jonathan only can be seen parts 1 and 2 (the other 2 parts are on the back of the tape (this is side 1), but this are the two we see):
Acknowledgement and Resolution.
In other words, Jonathan hasn’t fully acknowledged his feelings for Steve yet, and the deeper struggle and prayer are left open. The show might leave this entirely ambiguous, similar to how it handled young Jopper.
Interestingly, Murray literally says he knows Jonathan doesn’t like jazz, but maybe that could change.
He also seems somewhat confused by Jonathan’s indecision about Nancy, which adds another layer, is Murray aware of the subtext between Jonathan and Steve, or is he just responding to the practical problem of helping Jonathan and Nancy?? Either way, the scene leaves it wide open.
So first things first, Jonathan is basically developing the first two “parts” of his emotional journey before ending the season.
The remaining two parts, Pursuance and Psalm, remain unwritten, waiting to unfold at their own pace.
Meanwhile, the ring, quietly tucked inside a jazz tape, becomes both a literal and symbolic marker of Jonathan’s path.
The fate laid out for him vs. the desires he has yet to admit.
