i wake up slowly

24 | she/her | bi | mostly posting about byler subtext in stranger things side blog for chaotic byler/CG thoughts: @byler-blurts ps: my blog name isn't a conformitygate reference but it does fit nicely #mikewakeup

[iwakeupslowly]

Get your metaphors straight, dude

With their recent commencement speech, the Duffers confirmed what we already knew: That the monsters are metaphors, i.e. Stranger Things is about more than just the supernatural; it carries subtext about society. This is a detail of the speech that was, in my opinion, overlooked too quickly.

While this is (from what I can tell) the first time that they confirmed it outside of the show, they very explicitly told us to look out for metaphors in this scene between Dustin and Steve in season 5.

I want to use this scene as a jumping off point to illuminate how to read the subtext of their show — which they now confirmed does exist — since with that scene they basically handed us a manual for how to do just that.

First of all, why is the distinction between a metaphor and an analogy (as pointed out by Dustin) an important one? What does it tell us about the metaphors/analogies discussed in this scene?

What’s a metaphor?

A metaphor is a figure of speech which equates two seemingly unrelated objects or ideas. For example, one might say “She was a night owl” or “He had a heart of stone.” In both cases, the phrases aren’t intended to be taken literally; instead, they use creative imagery to communicate something about the subject.

What’s an analogy?

An analogy is a figure of speech which makes a direct comparison between two ideas in order to explain something in a creative way. Analogies often contain similes or metaphors, but go a step further by explaining the similarity or the parallels between the two contrasted things.

Source: Scribophile

Why it’s an analogy in universe

“A magic shield generator”

Dustin explains to the party (and to us) why whatever they’re looking for is similar to a shield generator: They found the wall surrounding the Upside Down and his math shows that a) it’s a circle and b) at the center of that circle lies Hawkin’s lab. So he hypothesizes that something at Hawkin’s lab is responsible for creating/maintaining the wall (i.e. generating the shield). This isn’t far-fetched given the relevance of Hawkin’s lab throughout she show, e.g. the mothergate being there. So Dustin uses the shield generator analogy to argue for why they should go to Hawkin’s lab to take down the wall, the way you need to get to the shield generator to deactivate a shield.

“A treasure at the deepest depths of the dungeon”

Though this analogy is bickering rather than a well thought-out plan like the shield generator one, Dustin uses it to once again argue for why they should search the basement; he’s not saying that whatever they find is a treasure in itself. Rather, it’s the key they need to carry on with their plan of saving the kids and killing Vecna (which they believe to be hidden behind the wall).

So, Dustin is right, he is not using the treasure and magic shield generator as metaphors; they’re analogies explaining where they should search for the solution, i.e. Hawkin’s lab and the basement. Both analogies are fulfilled (so to speak): The exotic matter is at the lab, and the explanation for it is in Brenner’s notes in the basement. It does give them the key to knowing how to implode the wall, except now that they know it’s a wormhole they don’t want to go through with that part of the plan anymore.

Why it’s a metaphor from a meta perspective

There is absolutely no reason for this specific dialogue to exist in universe; it’s not relevant except for the vague theme of Steve and Dustin fighting and Dustin being the ‘smarter’ one. Or at least, that’s what’s suggested to us in these moments when Steve can’t tell apart a metaphor from an analogy and can’t solve a Rubik’s cube. But in episode 7 when they reconcile, Dustin says that a Rubik’s cube isn’t a good measure of intelligence, and that Steve’s beanstalk plan is ‘genius’ — i.e., Steve isn’t actually an idiot. This is just the cherry on top as to why we shouldn’t dismiss Steve calling it a metaphor.

Because on the meta level, the language of both a shield and a treasure (hunt) relate to other themes and concepts presented to us in Stranger Things. And so here, the show is explicitly telling us that those are in fact relevant metaphors.

The metaphor of the shield

The shield makes its appearance during Will’s veiled love confession in the van scene, when he explicitly points out the heart on the shield of Mike the Brave, saying that it’s a bit on the nose but Mike is the heart, he’s what holds them together. So the shield isn’t just some random part of the painting, it’s the emotional centerpiece. And it makes its comeback in the season 4 finale when Will reminds him of his role as Mike the Brave while El is struggling to fight Vecna.

There are two important takeaways from this:

Firstly, Mike admits that he is scared but wants to be brave. This idea is introduced to us when Mike talks to Holly in episode 1 and gives her Holly the Heroic, saying that when he’s scared, he imagines his D&D character Mike the Brave who never gets scared. So the shield is a metaphor for who Mike wants to be.

Secondly, Will uses the shield to communicate his own feelings; Mike isn’t just the heart of the party, he’s Will’s heart. So the shield, too, is a metaphor for his feelings for Mike.

The metaphor of the treasure

The theme of a treasure hunt appears in the cave plot, when Max and Holly are trying to escape Camazotz. The map Max initially leaves for Holly is very much in the style of a treasure map where ‘X marks the spot’, and that spot (the treasure) is located at the cave.

Later, Holly figures out how to escape by reading a second, more covert treasure map; the cap on the spyglass that has a cut-out in the shape of the cave. Importantly, Holly points out to us as the viewer that this shape resembles the letter M, and that ‘M marks the spot’. So once again, the metaphor of a treasure hunt leads us to Mike. I talk about how Holly is a foil for Mike and what the cave plot tells us about Mike's emotional journey in my post 'The Chekhov's gun placed in Mike's hands'.

And, once more, it also leads us to Will’s feelings for Mike: Will is framed twice in Dustin’s sketch of the wormhole. His head is framed where the exotic matter is. Right below, there’s an X over his chest. X marks the spot — Mike is Will’s heart.

I'll keep it at that for now — I'm working on a part 2 for this post where I dive more into how these metaphors are interconnected and what they tell us about the bigger picture. But hopefully you can see that this seemingly random conversation between Dustin and Steve actually points us to multiple key storylines of seasons 4 and 5.

Let's move on now to what this conversation is actually setting up:

The analogy of the rainbow room

This whole conversation about metaphors and analogies — that, once again, has zero in-universe plot relevance — is followed by them discovering the rainbow room. More specifically, it’s Dustin’s “Analogy.” that’s followed by opening the door to the rainbow room.

So aside from pointing out specific metaphors used in the show, they are using this conversation to tell us about the central analogy of their show: The lab that locked up children to experiment on them. Children that are different. In a rainbow room. Does this, perhaps, ring a bell?

The Duffers are confirming what fans had already figured out before season 5; that Stranger Things and all its supernatural plot is an allegory for the queer experience (not just the rainbow room/lab, but also the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer, Henry/One/Vecna, El, demogorgons, etc.).

Not only did they speak through the screen to us using Dustin and Steve, no, with their commencement speech they outright said that the monsters represent real fears and challenges we have to overcome growing up. They didn't even try to frame ST as a horror or sci-fi show (which it appears to be at first glance), but rather a coming of age story.

I encourage you to look into the subtext of Stranger Things because it's what gives meaning to the show, and Byler is basically hard-coded into it, yet so many Bylers aren't even aware of one of our key pieces of evidence. One of the ancient texts (I believe) is this blogpost by TVmicroscope 'Stranger than you think' that was written before the release of season 5 and holds up pretty well to the events of this final season.

And, if you do look into the subtext, then you will see that Steve was right; the Duffers don't keep their metaphors straight, and the subtext can be convoluted and multi-layered at times. So that scene really does feel like a conversation between the Duffers (Dustin) and us as the audience (Steve) after all.

Lastly, I want to emphasize that I don't want to glaze the Duffers with this post — not actualizing the subtext of your show that clearly set up Mike as queer and in love with Will is cowardice. I think CG/LWG can be true without new content by looking at the explanations that the subtext has to offer, but I'm not saying that the ambiguous/open end they were going for in that case was well done.

♫ Make believe I'm everywhere I'm hidden in the lines Written on the pages Is the answer to a never-ending story ♫

[boredbylerbitch]

"There's something more powerful there than just, 'I wonder if they're going to kiss.'"

"We are allowed to exist as long as we don't do it. We can be funny, we can be tragic, we can be your best friend- but the minute we touch, the minute we kiss, the minute we become human, the screen goes dark. Making us invisible is the first step toward making us expendable."- Vito Russo

"We knew how historic it was. The network was terrified, but we pushed for it because if you don't show the kiss, you are saying their love isn't real. You are saying it's something to be ashamed of. Showing that physical affection proved to every kid watching that they weren’t wrong, that they deserved to live a full life."- Kerr Smith

"Black lesbian desire has been completely erased from cinema history. When we are on screen, we are usually just there to support a straight character’s growth. I needed to show us kissing, touching, and loving each other because our bodies matter. Showing our physical intimacy is how we say, 'We are here, we are real, and we desire each other.' It is a political act to show lesbian sex on our own terms."- Cheryl Dunye

"There's a specific corporate rhetoric that tries to tell us a love story is 'more elevated' if it stays subtle or avoids physical fulfillment. But for queer Asian people, that 'subtlety' has historically just been code for censorship. When straight characters get to have messy, loud, highly physical love stories as a default, demanding that queer stories remain quiet and chaste isn't artistic- it's gatekeeping. Real representation means allowing us to have the full spectrum of physical intimacy."- Bowen Yang

"Queer kids grow up watching heterosexual romance everywhere- every movie, every book, every show has a kiss. To deny queer characters that exact same physical milestone under the guise of keeping it 'wholesome' is deeply damaging. A kiss isn't just a physical act; it is a declaration of existence. Seeing two boys kiss on screen in a normal, sweet way tells young people that their feelings are real, valid, and worthy of being celebrated in plain sight."- Alice Oseman

"I didn't want the intimacy to be hidden or treated like a tragic secret that couldn't be realized. The physical connection between these women is where their equality lives. To remove the kiss, to remove the physical touch, would be to cooperate with the patriarchy that wanted to keep them invisible. A love story must have its physical reality, otherwise, it is just a ghost story."- Céline Sciamma

"In Hollywood, when Latina characters are allowed to be physical, it is usually hyper-sexualized and performative. I wanted to show an intimacy that was gentle, real, and grounded in our communities. A physical touch or a kiss between two young Latinas can be a profound act of sovereignty. It is a way of saying, 'Our bodies belong to us, our desire is innocent, and we are allowed to love each other out in the open.' When you reduce a queer relationship to just a 'metaphor' or a hidden friendship to avoid a physical milestone, you are cooperating with the shame that colonization forced onto our sexuality."- Aurora Guerrero

"There is this incredibly hypocritical corporate logic that says a queer love story is 'more pure' if it avoids physical intimacy. But straight characters in Bollywood get to have massive, loud, highly physical romances as a default. Demanding that queer characters remain quiet, sexless, and locked in a state of permanent platonic longing isn't an artistic choice- it's gatekeeping."- Onir

"Growing up, I never saw myself in holiday movies. I never saw two women kissing under the mistletoe or holding hands in public. If you don’t show the physical affection, the romance feels like a rumor. It feels like a secret. Showing that final, big romantic kiss in a mainstream movie tells the audience that lesbian love is normal, beautiful, and deserves the exact same spotlight as any straight rom-com."- Clea DuVall

"For Asian characters, particularly queer ones, we have spent so long being completely desexualized by Hollywood. We are allowed to be the sidekick, the funny friend, the person who doesn’t have a body. Showing two Asian women kissing passionately, showing them physically desiring one another, is a reclamation of the body. If you censor the touch to keep the audience comfortable, you are participating in our erasure."- Alice Wu

"There’s this weird industry standard where straight couples get to be messy and physical immediately, but if it’s two men, people say, 'Oh, it’s a beautiful, transcendent friendship.' I find that line of thinking incredibly insulting. A kiss isn’t just a physical act; it’s a declaration. It stops the studio, the network, and the audience from being able to rewrite the narrative as 'just good buddies.' By putting that kiss right in the middle of the story, we forced everyone to accept their love as a physical, undeniable reality."- David Jenkins

"When we filmed the kiss, we knew how much it mattered. If we had just panned away or left it as a lingering look, it would have been a massive letdown. The physical affection is the proof. It tells the audience that everything they’ve been feeling and watching for nine episodes wasn’t an illusion or a trick. It’s real. They love each other, they kiss, and that’s the story."- Rhys Darby

"And you cannot separate the spirit from the flesh. To demand that a man hide his touch, or to say that his love is 'pure' only when it is hidden, is to demand that he cease to exist as a whole human being."- James Baldwin

"Hollywood loves to use asexual tropes when they want to keep a relationship chaste and safe for the public. They call it a 'cosmic bond' or a 'higher love'. But they are just using asexual reality as a corporate loophole. If you ask them if the character is actually asexual, they say no, because they think being asexual makes a character unmarketable. They want the sexlessness when it serves their censorship, but they reject the actual identity."- Yasmin Benoit

[iwakeupslowly]

The Chekhov's gun placed in Mike's hands

One of the biggest Chekhov's guns placed in season 5 pointing towards Byler was Robin's advice to Will; the holy trifecta of

Accepting yourself

Telling someone

Dating

and we know that Will completed the first two steps when he got his powers and when he had his coming out, respectively, indicating that the next step would be some sort of confession scene between Will and Mike, the lack of which was one of the greatest letdowns of the finale.

But one major issue here is that if this is a manual we as the viewers are supposed to apply to the show, then what about Mike? He needs to follow those steps, too, doesn't he?

So, at the end of the finale, where does Mike stand? Textually, he hasn't completed any of the steps; are there at least any hints in the subtext?

1. Accepting yourself

Holly is a pretty obvious foil for Mike in season 5: He gives her Holly the Heroic for her to turn to when she's scared the way he turns to Mike the Brave. And they even make the parallel between the two characters explicit by having Max state that 'You don’t remind me of your brother. You are your brother!'

The cave Max and Holly are stuck in is supplied with subtext by Hopper's letter at the end of season 3, where he describes having been stuck in a deep, dark cave for so long that he forgot what feelings even were, i.e. being in a cave represents repressing one's feelings.

The cave is also shaped in a way that resembles the letter M, something that Holly kindly points out to us with her 'M marks the spot'. Not only that, but the M-shape can be mapped pretty neatly onto the M on Mike's D&D binder.

But the true key to escaping Camazotz isn't the cave where Max has put up her sanctuary. 'M marks the spot' where the true cave can be entered, i.e. the cave with Henry's most traumatic memory.

Ok I know that I just reheated a lot of conformitygate/byler nachos, but when Max and Holly do escape is when it gets interesting:

Because while Max' connection to the outside world is Lucas, what ends up opening a portal for Holly is that she believes in herself; that she thinks of herself as brave, as Holly the Heroic.

Will gets his powers when he recognizes that he's not just a victim and that he shouldn't be scared. He remembers the power he had as a carefree child. And he visualizes it as being a wizard, i.e. what would later become his D&D character.

And Holly manages to escape the cave and Camazotz when she realizes that she can actually be Holly the Heroic who is brave and saves others, not just Holly who stands there frozen in shock.

Do you see how these two storylines actually parallel each other?

So, is Mike out of that deep, dark cave now? We need to backtrack a little further to answer that question:

Max tells Holly that there are three options when being stuck in Camazotz (read: in the cave/closet): Take your own life, accept your fate, or escape.

Holly chooses to escape -- but she isn't successful. And, technically, she doesn't manage to escape again but is instead rescued by the party in the finale.

At the beginning of the epilogue, Hopper presents Mike with two options for how to deal with El's death: Keep blaming yourself (take your own life) or move on, i.e. accept what happened (accept your fate). There is no third option presented, and at first glance, no sensible third option appears to exist in this scenario.

That is until Mike realizes that El's death doesn't make sense. That what they saw might have been an illusion and that El might have escaped. So, he recognizes the third option (escape) himself. And he chooses to believe that she did escape.

This helps fulfill another step required to fire the Chekhov's gun that I haven't mentioned yet because it isn't part of Robin's manual to find queer love: What about El? Getting Byler endgame would have required some sort of heart-to-heart between Mike and El. We know that Mike believed he had to focus on fighting Vecna and worry about his other problems later on, since that's what he tells Dustin.

El dying means that he never got that closure and instead had to deal with immense grief and guilt. Hopper's advice is valuable in that regard, reminding Mike that El would have wanted for him to move on, to stop feeling guilty.

But actually believing that El could be alive allows him to move on without having to choose between Will and El the way we saw it in seasons 3 and 4: Being close with one of them always meant fighting with the other; ignoring Will and hurting his feelings while being obsessed with El; having the 'I love you' fight while fixing his friendship with Will on the Cali trip. And even in season 5, El and Mike seem to be on good terms but still distant while his friendship with Will seems to be thriving.

El having to die for Mike and Will to confess/get together would have been very dark, and I think even most Bylers wouldn't have been happy with that ending. And it would be a very cruel climax of Mike having to repeatedly choose between Will and El, feeling like he has to trade one for the other. Believing in El's escape solves this dilemma.

So, to finally answer the question, has Mike completed the first step of accepting himself? While we obviously can't answer it definitively, I would say there is reason for hope by the time of the epilogue.

2. Telling someone

Prior to the final fight, the most obvious way to fulfill this step would have been a break-up scene between El and Mike where he opens up about his feelings for Will or at least his sexuality in general. We obviously didn't get that and El isn't around any longer to confess to, so who could he tell instead?

The writers, in my opinion, point us to Karen (which actually parallels Will initially sitting down with just Joyce to tell her). It is hinted that Karen might have her suspicions (and Ted, too, but that doesn't really matter right now) about Mike's sexuality/feelings for Will as early as season 1, when she sits him down to tell him that she's not mad at him and that he can always talk to her, paralleling Jonathan comforting Will in season 4.

Both times that Mike loses Will -- when his body is found at the quarry, and when the Byers' move away -- Mike turns to Karen for support. At the graduation, we get another such moment between them, Mike admitting that he panicked, and Karen reassuring him that he doesn't need to explain and that she's proud of him.

So has Mike told someone? No, not really. But he's on the right track. And if we substitute 'explicitly coming out to someone' with 'feeling loved and accepted unconditionally by those closest to you', then I would argue that the conversation with Karen kind of ticks that box, actually. If we take it a step further, El's 'I love you' in the void actually might have been an expression of unconditional love and understanding, too. One that Mike definitely would not have been able to accept while blaming himself for her death.

3. Dating

In conclusion: Byler was set up throughout season 5 from Mike's side as well. Though, as usual, through subtext rather than text, and at a slower pace than on Will's side. Mike is ready to fire his Chekhov's gun towards the end of the epilogue. But, there's another Chekhov's gun that needs to be fired first, and that one is pointed at the elephant in the room: The painting lie.

So the remaining question is: Why didn't we get Byler in the epilogue? Or rather: When will you wear wigs we get Byler?

[iwakeupslowly]

[iwakeupslowly]

Lyrics for

Common Side Effects

by Finn Wolfhard

CG people stay with me there’s a reason I tagged this

I can't feel it fully Or anything that's in between

I am sinking slowly And soon I'd rather just hang it

I saw the light And the light is blinking(?) in and out Of my room Until the final time I finish and go back to bed

I took boomers Just to feel like George Clooney After dinner I walk home amid some pain again

Turn on commercials And flush with water Watch for common side effects

I feel drowsy Aggressive, angry Difficulty with speaking

Excitation Hives, itching or a rash Loss of pleasure Shaking, acute restlessness With some paleness and some nightmares and a higher risk of death

I feel better I feel better

Transcribed from promo for the CD and merch.

Notes:

Boomers is apparently slang for LSD which is why I settled for it (George Clooney apparently did quite some drugs back in the day)

I can’t figure out that one line after “Turn on commercials” for the life of me, but I did learn that there’s an animated series called Common Side Effects that’s about drugs, so I feel like it might be a reference to that show [edit: I think it might say "And flush with water" so I've changed it to that]

Pretty sure the ‘light’ lines refer to smoking (weed)?

The very last two lines might also be a repetition of the ‘I feel drowsy’, but visually it looks more like ‘better’ to me

edit: the 'blinking' could also be 'clinking' or 'clicking', but it doesn't really change the meaning anyways

So now for the CG truthers of us (just ignore this part otherwise): It’s a song about drugs… Referencing a show about drugs, more specifically mushrooms with healing effects that big pharma and the government try to keep secret. Do with that what you will — #trippygate?

Edit before people get mad: This is obviously a very personal song about his experience with (prescription) drugs and I want to emphasise that I don’t think those lyrics should solely be attributed to CG theories. I’m assuming those are still his own experiences and if there is any meta stuff involved it’s more vague (like the general theme, name of the song, merch etc.)

[iwakeupslowly]

April Fools, Finn's new music, and the WSQKsync

Ok I might have lost it... I might have entered Stranger Things induced psychosis or something...

So, I was thinking about the WSQKsync for the finale again, trying to figure out if there are any hints about what is to come with regards to CG (rather than hints that something is off/that CG is real). Since new content might very well be some sort of continuation of what happens after the final basement scene, I went back to the sync for that part.

The very last song playing is Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel. Thing is, it's sexual af; kind of difficult to interpret in a CG sense. But that's when it hit me:

Sledgehammer.

Where have we seen the theme of a hammer (and nail) recently?!?

On April 1st, Finn Wolfhard posted promo for new music (single? album? nobody knows). The album cover (that now is also his pfp) shows him holding a hammer.

There's more to it, though: The same day, Noah Schnapp posted a fake boyfriend story for April Fools. Now, this prank didn't help at all to dispel rumours of Finn and Noah dating (I promise Foah is not the topic of this post), and so after the prank people noticed that the two of them now had 'matching' pfp's because Noah is wearing a nail bracelet in his.

So...

They both announce something (music/boyfriend) on April 1st

The boyfriend looks like Finn, paralleling Will's epilogue boyfriend looking like Mike

The boyfriend turns out to be fake = epilogue boyfriend is fake?

The hammer/nail motif connects not only Finn and Noah's actions on April 1st, but also connects to the last WSQKsync song of the finale

April 1st is an interesting date to announce music (it wasn't dispelled as April Fools)

So, could this all be part of the ARG? Could Finn's music somehow be connected to Stranger Things/Lovewinsgate?

Just saying, the promo for his music is very vague and secretive so far; aside from the cover, we don't have an album/single title, no exerpt(s) from the track(s), no announcement on Spotify, etc. We just got a date and 'sign up here' link, and we don't even know what we're signing up for (people are pointing this out in his comments as well btw).

Returning to Sledgehammer again, while it doesn't directly reference CG/LWG (imo), it gives us very interesting context to Will and Mike putting away the binders and leaving the basement. Just like Noah confirming 'ambiguous' Byler on his panels these last weeks, Sledgehammer is doing something similar by recontextualizing the last moments of the show.

Here's the part on Sledgehammer from my WSQKsync finale analysis:

Note: My theory is that WSQKsync, like the subtext of Stranger Things in general, gives us Mike's POV, so that's the angle of my analysis.

This song is so sexual and has so many phallic references, omg. Like, I can’t make any excuses for it. There are a two interesting moments though:

Show me 'round your fruit cage 'Cause I will be your honey bee Open up your fruit cage With that fruit that is sweet as can be

…While showing the two waterfalls and a rainbow in Mike’s vision of El. Fruit imagery has already been established for Mike and Will in seasons 3 and 4, and the fruit/rainbow combination speaks for itself, I think.

I get it right I kicked the habit (Kicked the habit, kicked the habit) Shed my skin (Shed my skin) This is the new stuff (This is the new stuff) I go dancing in (We go dancing in)

This part plays while the party (except Mike) puts away their binders (Will being the last one). They’re grown up now; they’re saying goodbye to their childhood by putting away the binders. Mike has shed his skin of repressing his sexuality and is coming to terms with growing up.

Oh, won't you show for me? (Show for me) I will show for you (Show for you) Hey, show for me, huh (Show for me) I will show for you

And then this plays when Will walks up the stairs (hesitating a bit), and while Mike is putting away his own binder, blatantly staring at Will’s binder. Those feelings still linger in the air. It’s hard to tell who is directing the question at who here; but it can also just be read as a confession of their feelings for each other.

[inky-squid-art]

happy birthday, mike <3 don't worry, there was never a chance things could go any other way :]

[iwakeupslowly]

Item: A Shield Rarity: ✦ Uncommon

What video game will you defend forever?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

bus simulator lmao (in a different life i'd love to be a bus driver)

[iwakeupslowly]

did el watch the van scene from the void?!

this thought crossed my mind last night – in season 4 (episode 8), we see eleven in the void looking for her friends in hawkins, but we don't see her checking in on the cali crew. so i was wondering, if she had checked in on mike and will, which scene would she have seen?

and it's the freaking van scene omg. it's literally

van scene -> scene with brenner, owens & el -> el entering the void -> scene of the hawkins crew + el observing them in the void

a lil compilation of the scenes:

now el is obviously focused on finding out whether the hawkins crew is save because of vecna and all, but she literally sees them trying to call the byers' house in lenora, that they haven't been able to reach them for days, that something's wrong. so surely, el would check if they're okay, wouldn't she?

yes, the van scene was shown before this, but at the end of the day we have like 4 pov's playing out simultaneously, so things might happen in parallel even if they're shown sequentially to the viewer. and we don't get another cali scene for ~20 mins after this, so from what we know as the viewer, her being there for the van scene with the damn painting lie is more likely than whatever cali scene comes next.

el seeing the van scene would also support another byler theory: at the end of that same episode, we get those final moments between el and dr. brenner, where he begs her to say that she understands. she looks to the side for a moment, in the direction where mike and will are presumably waiting, and then doesn't say it. people have previously pointed out how this might be the moment where she understands that mike can't say 'i love you' because it would be a lie, the same way she can't tell dr. brenner that she understands what he did because she doesn't.

[iwakeupslowly]

The field scene and the tower changing colors

By now we've all noticed how the tower repeatedly changes colors from red to grey/green and back during Mike's and Will's conversation in episode 4. But why does the color change multiple times?

If we assume that changes in color are hints towards something being off - maybe a memory maybe being manipulated - then the pattern of color change could tell us which parts are altered.

During the group shot, we start off with the usual red tower.

(...) Joyce: “Sometimes people need someone to believe in them. And then they can do amazing things.”

As soon as we get the close-up, the tower is grey/green and stays that color until this part of their conversation:

Mike: “Your mom and Robin are getting along better.” Will: “Well, it didn’t hurt that Mom scared off that Demo. Saved Robin’s life, everybody’s life.” Mike: “So, when your mom, when she had her axe, you could see her? Like, through the Demo’s eyes?” Will: “Yeah. And I was so close to the hive, it’s like I could feel what it was feeling, like this anger. That I was still in there too. And I was afraid. I was afraid for my mom.” Mike: “You wanted to protect her.” Will:“Yeah. But I… I just couldn’t. It was like this scary movie you just can’t turn off.”

After this line, there's the "open sesame" interruption by the party, and when we get to see the tower again it's red now.

Mike: “Are you positive you didn’t?” Will: “Didn’t what?” Mike: “Turn off the scary movie. Protect your mom, not the other way around. No offense. I know she’s badass and everything, but you know.” Will: “Yeah, she’s 5’3”.” Mike: “Yeah! And Vecna likes to control the hive mind like a puppet master. So maybe when you tap into the hive, you can pull the strings too.” Will: “Except I’m not Vecna.” Mike: “You sorta are.” Will: “You’re trying to say that I’m evil and hell-bent on destroying the world?” Mike: “Totally! No, I’m just saying that, you know, you’re like a wizard like him.” Will: “In D&D, Mike, not real life.” Mike: “True. In real life, you’re more like a sorcerer, because your powers don’t come from a book of spells. They’re innate.”

But after the shot of Robin noticing them, the tower is once again grey/green.

Mike: “... Listen, as far as crazy theories go, I’ve had crazier. And with Eleven in the Upside Down, we really need some magic up here.”

And then Will pushes Mike, and Mike walks away.

If we assume that not the entirety of season 5 happens under Vecna's spell, then the tower should be red and so red would represent real memories, while grey/green would be altered memories.

Altering that last part makes sense to me - maybe Mike did reciprokate the push/flirting, and so that's what was altered. But why would the first part of their convo be altered? People have pointed out that Mike might have thought that Will and Robin were dating, and that he was jealous of that. He does mention Robin at the beginning, so maybe what's missing here is him asking about whether or not they are dating or something? Who knows...

This is just one potential interpretation - I'm sure the color switch can be interpreted in other ways, too.

Also, I've conflated the tower being grey and green - to me it looks grey after the first 'switch', and kinda greenish after the second one. But I don't really know, so...

[vidsul]

Memories

[thebestofmyrmidons]

On Finn on SNL...

Before we get upset, let's have a think and digest. Some initial thoughts I had - why were there so many queer/gay jokes about Finn/Mike? Every. single. skit.

Many of the writers of SNL are queer themselves, and it would be odd for them to make fun of people thinking a character (i.e. Mike) is gay and shipping him with a canonically gay character (i.e. Will).

Especially considering that yes, while Bylers are a loud part of the fandom, we're still in the minority compared to the GA.

So, why do an SNL sketch that, on the surface, seems to be 'mocking' Bylers (i.e. mocking the idea that anyone could ever interpret Mike as being queer). Feels weird right?

And they also didn't outright mock Byler - they just made fun of the length of Will's coming out scene and how it dragged on because Will seemingly kept dancing around the word 'gay' and convincing everyone he was just a normal dude.

If they were really going to 'mock Bylers', gayness wouldn't have been the core theme of the whole SNL show. It would've been an offhand jab or one scene. I'm sure that, if S5 was true queerbait, adding fuel to the fire in this manner wouldn't bode well for Netflix, the Duffers and even Finn himself in the long run.

To me, the fact that every single skit and every single joke was somehow related to Finn being queer (or portraying a queer character) felt like they were intentionally making fun of the GA for not picking up on the queercoding of Mike Wheeler.

He's queercoded to different degrees in every skit and the writers are literally asking us - how obvious does it need to be before people catch on?

Heated Wizardry - this speaks for itself (explicit)

Boys day - this is a jab at Mike and El's relationship. Finn is portraying a 'straight' character who has a tomboy girlfriend and clearly doesn't realise that the only reason he's into her is because he perceives her as 'one of the boys'

The dark orbit - he's literally erotically being spoonfed syrup by a man who he then kisses on the cheek

Mike Wheeler as Carrie Bradshaw aka the stereotypically 'fruity' gay who gossips, sniffs coke and loves cocktails. 11 being portrayed by a man at the end... (bonus point: Ted Wheeler mention using blue and yellow text)

Finn's monologue joke about being scared of demos who look like female genitalia (we were literally making the same jokes about the huge CGI monster in the finale)

The podcast skit - "I'm not trying to walk around all thick scaring the huzz" - mocking the chronically online redditors/podcasters who make blatantly homoerotic comments (but no homo though!)

There's probably more I'm missing but I mean... come on ...

I highly doubt this was supposed to be a homophobic campaign, as people are making it out to be - 2026 is bleak, but it's not THAT bleak!!!

(remember that Heated Rivalry, of all shows, has hit mainstream media and is thriving!!!)

EDIT: to add to this, I think the ultimate message is: which gay stereotype do we need to adopt for people to get the message?

Season 4 OBVIOUSLY depicts Mike as being in love with Will's feelings - shouldn't that be enough? Why do we need to shoehorn him into a box for people to UNDERSTAND?

[iwakeupslowly]

I will never understand how this fandom sees Mike's repressed queerness and sympathises with him, defending his queerness even though it was canonically never confirmed by reading between the lines and pointing out the subtext (rightfully so). But then the fandom defaults to "The Duffers and Finn are homophobic" just because they don't explicitly state their sexualities when clearly their show/skit is queer-coded.

It's such a double standard to fight for a society where queer people don't feel the need to 'come out' because in our ideal world being queer isn't deviating from the norm, yet no nuance is granted in situations like this, reinforcing the mentality that heterosexuality is the norm and that you're not queer and you're not part of the community unless you explicitly come out to millions of strangers.

Stranger Things has had intentional queer subtext since season 1. Do you really think a complex queer character such as Mike could have been written by straight people? Do you really think it was all Leigh Janiak from the very beginning? I think she has more self-respect than to ghostwrite the subtext of an entire show without getting credited, let's be real. And that SNL skit was just gay af. And it's not even the first time Finn has clearly been ambiguous about his sexuality.

So, do we really want these people to have to expose themselves to the hate bombing episode 7 received just so we stop calling them homophobic, or are we willing to read between the lines? Personally, I prefer to choose the latter and give them the benefit of the doubt.

[iwakeupslowly]

WSQKsync and the finale's timeloop

I know this might be a bit farfetched, and I'm not fully convinced myself - but I think the WSQKsync of the finale might actually prove that the ending isn't real, that it's a timeloop - because the WSQKsync itself is a timeloop. Let me explain:

A while back, I started looking into the WSQKsync of the finale. I posted timestamps and a very brief synopsis here and have since written a 10k word long analysis on how it relates to the ST subtext, though I haven't posted that yet. To sum it up: I believe that the sync tells us the story that Mike could never tell, i.e. the real story about the mage (that he didn't actually love her romantically), and his feelings for Will (yes, he is in love with Will). You can find clips with highlights of the finale sync here and here, I highly recommend watching them if you're not (yet) convinced of WSQKsync being real.

In that first post I made, I also asked if anyone had thought to sync the WSQK tower going down on New Years on the broadcast with the tower being hit in the finale (someone has since posted a synced clip, see here). I've been circling back to this point because I was thinking to myself - aside from the very general 'be kind, rewind', the WSQK tower incident is by far the most obvious fourth wall break; the most obvious event connecting the broadcast to the show. Like, why create that connection if it's meaningless?

So I looked at the entire finale using this new sync that I'm calling the tower sync (vs. the live sync). I feel like there are multiple anchors for the tower sync to the finale, so my sync likely isn't perfect and might be off by around 5-10 seconds, but whatever. My assumption going into this was: Either only one of the syncs is true, or they need to convey two different messages. If both tell us the same thing about the subtext, that's kinda pointless and tells me that one of them is a 'false positive' (erroneous) sync.

There is one issue with this sync in case you haven't noticed: Since on the broadcast the tower went down at midnight on January 1st, and the live sync starts at 1am on January 1st, we get a period (around 40 mins) of overlapping broadcast. So the last 40 minutes of the tower sync use the same broadcast as the first 40 minutes of the live sync. (That's one of the reasons I was thinking that both of them shouldn't be true at the same time if they tell the same story.)

Okay, so when does this overlap start? You're not gonna believe me, but it starts when Eleven is about to die. It's not a perfect sync in the sense that it 'loops' the moment she dies, but the overlap starts while she's talking to Mike in the void, and the following moderation aligns with the shot of her dying:

And lastly, the town is dealing with a major new years day shortage of waffles and chocolate pudding cups.

Aka a direct reference to El. Made me raise my eyebrow for sure...

This means that the overlap includes both El's death and the entire epilogue. So if we assume that both syncs are valid - one essentially giving us the internal monologue of characters, especially Mike, and the other being the actual fourth wall break/conformity gate - then we basically get a WSQK timeloop, if that makes sense?

You can find my entire tower sync with timestamps here, but for now I want to focus on the most obvious stuff because there are So. Many. Fourth. Wall. Breaks. that I don't even know where to start. Maybe let's start with the most explicit one in the moderation telling us to pay attention, just like Lucas telling us he doesn't believe in coincidences:

I don’t know if it’s just me but the songs right now, they’re hittin’ different today. And I checked, and I’m definitely not playing the 45s on 33 or the 33s on 78. It just feels like there is a hidden meaning in each and every single track I play.

That same moderation is interesting because it ends with this:

It means that WSQK won’t be no more after 11pm tonight. But in true Sqawk fashion, we ain’t leaving quietly! No, no, no, no, no, Surry(?). So crank this one up to eleven - if we’ve got enough power. Which we do - for now!

I realized that I had noted a similar moderation for the live sync - both of these lines happen around minute 58 in their respective sync.

We got plenty of time left to crank it up to eleven. If you don’t know by now, our volume always needs to go up to eleven, in fact I think it starts and ends at eleven. But that may be because it’s broken. But it’s good, though! ‘Cause eleven!

Uh, excuse me?! It might be a coincidence, sure, but my hypothesized timeloop is centered around El and her death; references to El are one of the frequent fourth wall breaks; and then they literally tell us that it starts and ends at (read: with) eleven? All of this is telling me that El 'sacrificing' herself is a mistake. That we end up in the wrong timeline because of it (or that it's at least one of the deciding factors).

During the moderation constituting the beginning/end of the loop (i.e. 1am broadcast time when the live sync starts), we also get some interesting lines:

Stay right were you are because I’m about to hand over the mic to the Hawkins Update guy who can shed some light on all the goings on across Hawkins and, uh, man, it’s been… eventful, is one of the words I’d use, uh, some of the other ones you can’t really say on the radio. But anyway, don’t touch that dial, Hawkins, more hits are queued up now.

Don't think I need to comment on the dial one - but it's also interesting how he says he can't describe what's been going on in Hawkins because it would be censored/inappropriate? That same moderation is the one playing during El's death and the aforementioned waffle/pudding reference btw.

When Joyce chops off Vecna's head, we also get this nice lil moderation:

So let’s celebrate with your last shoutouts. Starting with a big one from Natalie, she wants to dedicate the airwaves to Joyce Byers, leader, legend, mom. She is quite the lady allstar(?). Natalie says Joyce reminds her of the saying - and I quote: ‘No matter how dark things get, your people will always find you.’ That’s pretty deep stuff there, and an honor to pass that message on. This next tune is for you, Natalie and Joyce.

Sure, just another coincidence I guess. Also, no idea who Natalie is, and the dedicated song is Shout by Tears for Fears:

Shout, shout, let it all out These are the things I can do without Come on I'm talking to you, come on Shout, shout, let it all out These are the things I can do without Come on I'm talking to you, come on

Matches Joyce's mood in this scene for sure, but that "I'm talking to you" feels like a fourth wall break in its own right tbh, especially with that quote "your people will always find you".

At midnight, we also get a countdown from eleven (while El is trying to stop Henry, mind you), and after the tower is struck, we hear the grandfather clock (Henry escapes before Kali can stab him).

And, lastly, there is a very strange moderation where Vance talks very slowly. It's pretty eerie, and it reminds me of the strained way Will talks through Vecna in that one scene.

Heyyy hold on Hawkins, 2 seconds - nope, 2 - Vance - Goodman - play that song at least one - more - time - before - W-S-Q-K - WSQK - goes - kaput - at - eleven - p.m. (normal voice again) Yes, yes I think I will.

It also parallels Will controlling Vecna in the finale to stop him from getting to El. It's never said which one is "that song", but the following song is Hold the Line by Toto.

Taking a look at the tracklist, the opening track sure is interesting.

Everyone's watchin' to see what you will do Everyone's lookin' at you, oh Everyone's wonderin', will you come out tonight? Everyone's tryin' to get it right Get it right Everybody's workin' for the weekend Everybody wants a new romance Everybody's goin' off the deep end Everybody needs a second chance Oh-oh You want a piece of my heart? You better start from the start You wanna be in the show? Come on, baby, let's go Everyone's lookin' to see if it was you Everyone wants you to come through Everyone's hopin' it'll all work out Everyone's waitin', they're holdin' out — Working for the Weekend (Loverboy)

I feel like the Duffers are really talking through the screen with us here, you know. And simultaneously, it could also be interpreted as being directed at Mike, especially with the second chances, and we get some Byler crumbs with the piece of my heart/from the start stuff.

We also get some other general fourth wall breaks such as:

Rockin' Robin (Robin reference; birds singing might also relate to the signal theme)

Upside Down (when they party starts seeing the abyss in the sky)

The Final Countdown (when they enter the abyss/El attacks Henry)

Master of Puppets (basically a Vecna reference plus Eddie callback)

There are also some tracks centered around dreams, illusions, memories, etc.:

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go

Neverending Story (during Hopper's illusion scene)

99 Red Balloons (balloons in the sky are mistaken for some sort of airstrike)

Dream A Little Dream Of Me

Sunglasses at Night (if you wear sunglasses at night, you won't see anything)

Cloudbusting (being about childhood memories)

Sweet Child O' Mine (making some references to childhood)

And again, love is an important theme, especially hints towards the fact that love is the solution:

Don't, don't you want me? You know I can't believe it when I hear that you won't see me Don't, don't you want me? You know I don't believe you when you say that you don't need me It's much too late to find You think you've changed your mind You'd better change it back or we will both be sorry — Don't You Want Me (Human League)

Prove your love Got to prove your love If you want to be with me tonight Show your stuff 'Cause words are not enough I wanna hear your body talk to mine Boy, I can feel a love's on the rise A message revealed in your eyes You know I can't wait to know your passion It's not too late, so take some action — Prove Your Love (Taylor Dayne)

What you gonna do when things go wrong? What you gonna do when it all cracks up? What you gonna do when the love burns down? What you gonna do when the flames go up? Who is gonna come and turn the tide? What's it gonna take to make a dream survive? Who's got the touch to calm the storm inside? Who's gonna save you? Alive and kicking Stay until your love is alive and kicking Stay until your love is, until your love is alive — Alive and Kicking (Simple Minds)

It's been a mystery And still they try to see Why something good can hurt so bad Caught on a one-way street The taste of bittersweet Love will survive somehow, some way — Who's Crying Now (Journey)

When your world is full of strange arrangements And gravity won't pull you through You know you're missing out on something Well, that something depends on you (All I'm saying) It takes a lot to love you (All I'm doing) You know it's true (All I mean now) There's one thing Yes, one thing that turns this grey sky to blue (That's the look, that's the look) The look of love If you judge a book by the cover Then you judge the look by the lover I hope you'll soon recover Me, I go from one extreme to another And though my friends just might ask me They say, "Martin, maybe one day you'll find true love" I say, "Maybe, there must be a solution To the one thing, the one thing we can't find” — The Look of Love Pt. 1 (ABC)

As well as general hints that this isn't the real end, that someone is pulling the strings:

Turn around Look at what you see In her face The mirror of your dreams Make believe I'm everywhere I'm hidden in the lines Written on the pagesIs the answer to a never-ending story — Neverending Story (Limahl)

Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams Blinded by me, you can't see a thing Just call my name 'cause I'll hear you scream Master, master — Master of Puppets (Metallica)

When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful A miracle, oh, it was beautiful, magical And all the birds in the trees, well, they'd be singing so happily Oh, joyfully, oh, playfully watching me But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible Logical, oh, responsible, practical And then they showed me a world where I could be so dependable Oh, clinical, oh, intellectual, cynical There are times when all the world's asleep The questions run too deep For such a simple man Won't you please, please tell me what we've learned? I know it sounds absurd Please tell me who I am — The Logical Song (Supertramp)

Hold the line Love isn't always on time, oh, oh, oh — Hold the Line (Toto)

Lastly, the song Kyrie parallels two very interesting scenes.

Kyrie eleison, down the road that I must travel Kyrie eleison, through the darkness of the night Kyrie eleison, where I'm going, will you follow? Kyrie eleison, on a highway in the light

"Kyrie eleison" translates to "God, have mercy". In the live sync, it plays when Hopper is confronting El about her suicide plans. In the tower sync, it plays during the final basement scene when Mike puts away his binder and goes up the stairs.

In the live sync, this scene is about a difficult decision El has to make; sacrifice herself for the greater good or fight for the happy days on the other side of this? In the tower sync, Mike is faced with a difficult decision, too, because realizing that he lives in Vecna's illusion would be painful, and the escape would not be easy.

I'm gonna stop quoting lyrics to you now; I hope you get my point. Personally, I feel like this tower sync is telling us the ending is not real* and even has some lines that are directly addressed at Mike. The live sync focuses a lot more on subtext with regards to the characters, leaving a lot of ambiguity surrounding Kali's and El's deaths and whether what we see is real or not.

It makes sense to me this way because when watching the finale premiere live, you would have no way of doing the tower sync because you wouldn't even know yet that the tower is going to be hit in the show. So the live sync theoretically accompanies your first time watching it, letting you know how Mike really feels and maybe giving you the first clues that something is off (e.g., the rickroll). And then, when you're finished and you start noticing all the inconsistencies, that's when you would connect the dots and be able to watch the tower sync, as in, you have to unlock it.

*'not real' doesn't equate to getting new content in my opinion - just that the epilogue is indeed some sort of illusion.

Thanks for reading and sorry for the wall of text. I'd be interested to hear what you guys think! :)

[wsqksync]

Hello! :)

So I started looking at WSQKsync mainly with regards to the finale, but now I've been looking a bit into the other syncs of season 5 and I'm not sure if this has been discussed before but:

I feel like flickering lights repeatedly line up with the WSQK (the sorcerer scene being the most famous example). I randomly looked through the first volume (Side A sync) to find scenes with flickering lights, and for all of them they at least somewhat match the rythm (offset could be explained by small syncing mistakes, and sometimes it's difficult to hear/see when there's a lot of action going on).

The ones I've looked at:

The attack on the Wheelers' house

The attack on the barn

Max waking up in Henry's memories

Hopper and El in the UD military base

It could just be easter eggs and/or serve to anchor the WSQKsync, but it made me think back to how Joyce communicating through the lights with Will is, like, at the very core of Stranger Things, and how that theme was even picked up in season 4 again. So, is Mike communicating through the lights/music with us? As in, could it serve as some sort of code? Idk

Also, iirc, in the documentary they talk about how there was an entire science to making the lights flicker in the 'right way' or something (arguing it had to be random but not overwhelming to watch or sth?). So we know they spent a lot of time thinking about how the lights should flicker.

I would be interested to hear what others think/if this has been considered already? :)

hey, awesome observation, this is exactly the sort of thing i made this blog for!!

i don’t think i noticed this myself or have seen others mention it before so i think you caught something new:) i’ll keep an eye out as i go through side C (which i will start posting highlights of shortly!)

it definitely sounds like we should keep an eye on the lights 👀

[iwakeupslowly]

Hopper's letter spells out the subtext of Stranger Things

Alright, hear me out: Hopper’s letter in S3E8 is basically a plot summary of all five seasons of Stranger Things, largely through the lens of Mike Wheeler and his emotional journey. To me this underlines the setup of Byler even more and shows that they kept all the other foreshadowing consistent, with the exception of Mike's arc - or, well, at least they didn't make it explicit. Byler is alive and well in the subtext, in my opinion. But anyways, let's have a look at the letter:

Feelings. Jesus. The truth is for so long, I’d forgotten what those even were. […] And then, I left some Eggos out in the woods, and you came into my life and for the first time in a long time, I started to feel things again. I started to feel happy.

(Note: We'll get back to the part I left out here later.)

Mike realized how important Will was to him when Will vanished, coinciding with El’s appearance in the woods. His feelings for Will drive Mike all throughout seasons 1 and 2. He pushes the party to keep searching for Will and to not give up hope. And when Will returns, he is so happy. Even while Will is still suffering and is possessed by the Mind Flayer, we can see how much Mike cares about him; it's when Mike tells us that asking Will to be friends with him was the best decision of his life.

But in season 3, their dynamic changes. Mike withdraws and obsesses over El instead of spending time with Will. We get the infamous Rain Fight where Mike clocks Will ("It's not my fault you don't like girls"). But what's not said explicitly here is that Mike is weird about it because he is confused about his own sexuality and his own feelings for Will. That's the part that lives in the subtext.

But, lately, I guess I’ve been feeling… distant from you. Like you’re… you’re pulling away from me or something. I miss playing board games every night, making triple-decker Eggo extravaganzas at sunrise, watching westerns together before we doze off.

Playing boardgames is a direct callback to Will's and Mike's fight - "I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlsfriends? That we were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?" It's telling us that Mike does miss this and wants to go back to it, which is consistent with him going full-on nerd in season 4 with Hellfire and choosing a D&D session over a party with popular girls in the epilogue.

But I know you’re getting older. Growing. Changing. And I guess… if I’m being really honest, that’s what scares me. I don’t want things to change. So I think maybe that’s why I came in here, to try to maybe… stop that change.

Mike is scared of his feelings for Will, of his sexuality. So he tries to stop that change by distancing himself from Will and by trying to be a 'normal' teenager obsessing over his girlfriend instead of D&D. During this part of the speech, we also see Mike looking back at the Byers' house. He looks upset, but also confused. Mind you, this is right after El's love confession and their kiss in front of the closet. I don't think I need to spell out the subtext any further, do I?

The rest of the speech is essentially foreshadowing seasons 4 and 5.

To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were. But I know that’s naive. It’s just… not how life works. It’s moving. Always moving, whether you like it or not.

Mike continues being a terrible best friend in season 4, but on top of that he becomes a terrible boyfriend. He cannot turn back the clock, he cannot go back to when they were children and he could just be with Will without worrying about what his feelings might mean. And so regardless of how hard he tries to be 'normal' - ignoring his feelings for Will and pretending to be happy with El - it doesn't work. His feelings don't just go away. He doesn't just become straight.

And, yeah, sometimes it’s painful. Sometimes it’s sad.

Aside from Max' arc in season 4 clearly being foreshadowed here by showing her being sad/depressed, there is also foreshadowing of Vecna (and, though I won't dive into it here, his villain origin story): The clock imagery is central to season 4, and we get to see Henry literally turn back the clock. The theme of clocks/time is also continued in season 5 with the twelve children he abducts, and even this theme of turning back the clock to stop growing up, to be a carefree child again is picked up because he's choosing children for his plan in season 5.

And finally, returning to Mike's emotional journey, it very vaguely foreshadows his loss of El.

And sometimes, it’s surprising. Happy.

Max' depression from before is contrasted with a shot of Dustin and Lucas handing Erica Will's donation box with the D&D stuff. We get a shot of her door opening, which has a rainbow drawing taped to it. In my opinion, this basically foreshadows Byler, with the exception that they ended up not making it explicit (ugh).

Life is full of surprises: Erica denied being a nerd throughout season 3 but in the end, she surprises herself by embracing it. Mike is in denial about his sexuality. Ending up with Will instead of El might be surprising, but it is what would make him happy. And this is underlined with rainbow imagery. And, arguably, another callback to the rain fight, because the reason they fought in the first place was because Mike and Lucas were annoyed by his D&D campaign.

There is one line at the very beginning that I left out, and I want to get back to it now:

Feelings. Jesus. The truth is… for so long, I’d forgotten what those even were. I’ve been stuck in one place, in a cave, you might say. A deep, dark cave.

So, Hopper's speech also foreshadows the cave plot in season 5. And it gives us important subtext regarding the meaning of this storyline.

So you know what? Keep on growing up, kid. Don’t let me stop you. Make mistakes, learn from ‘em, and when life hurts you, because it will, remember the hurt. The hurt is good. It means you’re out of that cave. But, please, if you don’t mind, for the sake of your poor old dad, keep the door open three inches.

Mike does make mistakes; he hurts Will and El. And at the end, he hurts because of losing El. That's when he's finally out of the cave. We get nice foreshadowing of this with Max. She pushes away Lucas just like Mike pushes away Will (and El). When she finally manages to escape Camazotz, she says that it was never about the music, but always about Lucas, basically giving us a Byler blueprint.

We already see part of this being mirrored when Will finds his powers because he accepts himself and because of his love for Mike; and on top of that, him being able to communicate in morse code in season 2 after Mike touched that hand.

The other half, unfortunately, is not made explicit, but as I said at the beginning I believe it is alive and well in the subtext of season 5, especially the finale - but I won't go into detail regarding this here, as I'm already writing another post with a detailed analysis of the finale.

The bottom line is: Hopper's letter pretty much spells out the subtext of Stranger Things for us. And that subtext is heavily centered around Mike and his emotional journey; his internalized homophobia and him repressing his queerness. And it tells us that you can't repress these feelings forever. That learning to accept them might be painful, but that it's worthwhile because it also allows for good things (*cough* Byler) to happen.

[iwakeupslowly]

Detailed WSQKsync doc of finale (s08e05)

Hello tumblr!! I'm not sure if this will reach anyone, I haven't used tumblr in close to a decade lmao.

I've been lurking on ST reddit (mostly byler) and was made aware of #WSQKsync so I hopped over here to learn more :)

Now, I am a believer in "Do not trust any statistics you did not fake yourself", so I sat down and synced the finale myself. I immediately noticed discrepancies when comparing it to the sync available here. This is because I synced the WSQK audio starting at exactly 01:00:00 am (GMT), including the Hawkins Update playing at the very beginning. This was cut out by the person uploading to the dropbox, and I honestly don't get why because it creates a time difference of around 2:30 minutes and (imo) defeats the entire purpose of synchronizing by the logic of release dates and times.

This does creating meaningful differences: In my version, during the Mileven talk in the void, I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For by U2 is playing throughout the entire scene. Meanwhile, in the dropbox version, ads(!!!) are playing during this scene (a fact that I believe has been made fun of).

I will say that I wasn't really able to see meaning in every song, in case WSQKsync is actually true I believe some scene-song combos have meaning, but some just felt... random. But then again I didn't look at all the lyrics in detail, so idk.

Another discrepancy is that in my version the rickroll starts playing when Nancy is backed into the corner and the Pain Tree is then attacked by the party. In the dropbox version, I believe the rickroll plays while they're chopping Vecna's head of? (Not sure tho)

Here you can find my PDF with all the timestamps (they're all likely off by a few seconds but you should still be able to sync it well), song names and notes on which scenes are aligned with which song (though this isn't super detailed, some smaller scenes might be missing, etc.). Also, the notes are messy af, bare with me, I don't have time to organize them but I wanted to share already. :)

Something else I was thinking: Has anybody tried syncing the finale with the tower crash on WSQK?

[filmaticbby]

Thirteen (2003) dir. Catherine Hardwicke