My thoughts and theories going forward with the finally in the series SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY
First off this is a pre-written blog written the December 25 fresh after watching all of volume 2 and was continuously updated from the past three days, so if this conflicts with anyone’s opinion or the majority’s opinions the as Derek says “SUCK MY FAT ONE!”
Okay thoughts, I think Kali is gonna be the traitor not just to eleven but to Vecna and the military; she is a person that’s been through a lot and makes her character arc will be one of destruction and hate but in the end she’ll find peace in eleven finding love. Better way of explaining is her character arc will be a lot like terra from teen Titians were she betrays her friends but in a final confrontation she finds it in herself not to hate other but let that hate die with her in a self sacrifice moment concluding her arc and her finding peace in a world that was against her.
Kali being a negative force on Eleven i think its intentionally this time around, season two it was unintentional and also a way to give audience an idea for a spin off series so i don't think it was intentional, her saying theirs no other way than to die in dimension X/ the abyss, i think its a fear of dying alone on Kali's part she knows Eleven has a good and loving found family. Kali had a found family but it was driven by angry and rengance and so her response to their deaths was negative but she did care and love them and so her saying they should essentially die in the other dimension is her way of killing herself and taking the one thing she loves with her, her sister just how hopper had that bomb for a possible heroic suicide bur Kali is doing it for a selfish but understandable reason she is in mourning of a dream revenge, family and her future she no longer has hope or love and with the upbringing and people she surrounded herself with i don't think she understands the concept of loving someone is considering their happiness. (okay wow that was a dark turn i came up with)
Eleven I still believe she is gonna die but I also think she could be on the run and be sort of an on foot traveller and she’ll be with hopper when doing this until we get a time skip of hopper returning to Joyce without eleven. Concluding monologue about how she is spreading her wings and finding herself now on her own and maybe a postcard from Niagara Falls maybe living in a cabin near the falls. The military thinks she is dead or still searching for her. Probably thinking she’s dead.
Nancy and Johnathan, mwah chefs kiss; I did see some issues in their relationship so ending it with a break up but not framing it as a messy negative or selfish thing it’s viewed as them needing space and their relationship was fading in the romantic department and how Nancy mentions how she isn’t interested in Steve and how she doesn’t know what she wants makes it even better cause we forget their relationship still young and don’t have things figured out and that they both need to figure things out before having a serious relationship so it’s quite lovely seeing that they communicated this so well and that this doesn’t change how they care for each other only that their romantic relationship has concluded but their friendship and shared trauma is still strong. (after all that went down with the cuts this one is still fine this kinda needed to happen after season 3 and the awkwardness between them in my opinion)
Max, Holly and the others; wow… Just wow it’s crazy. I love how Max and Holly brought the best out of each other and that the reason they got out is because of their new found friendship, and how Max calls out Holly for being pushy like her brother was funny. Sad to see Holly the heroic being ganged up on and how easily the others were manipulated, Derek knowing they could easily get taken down too and cowering into the shadows accepting what the majority think is honestly sad but realistic in how human nature can be. I can only hope that Holly and Derek can put differences aside and both try to escape with their lives and warn the others of Vecna's plan.
The whole upside down being a bridge to the abyss just makes sense I don’t want this ‘oh it’s boring writing it seems” blah it fixes what I notice last season with the setting of when Henry was first sent to the other dimension when the scene was yellow but all the previous season it was blue/red. And holly wouldn’t have made it since she fell from the sky so it would have been a good call she didn’t make it down, but sad she couldn’t escape but I think holly and Derek are gonna have a massive beat down on Henry or the other kids just cause Henry was right they are easily molded cause the which up was crazy, and makes sense since holly remembers Max and the other kids don’t so hearing that a random ass stranger is planning harm you guys is and considering they were all taken by a stranger makes it ironic.
Dustin and Steve finally getting along is great but worrisome in the long run cause one of them could get killed off but I hope in the end we didn't hate each other in the end.
Henry’s hinted at backstory is wild, spoilers to first shadow stage play; the hints and direction the play goes through is really interesting but I feel it conflicts itself but I still don’t really understand his motivations that well. Possibly I don’t find it a strong enough motivation; that the world is imperfect with liars pretending to “normal”; it’s lacking but I know the stage play makes Henry sympathetic and tragic but seeing that kind of side of him makes it odd and out of place but knowing the duffers their gonna make it work. I think eleven is gonna pull a Billy and use his past memories to sway his morals for a moment to defeat him not redeem him but in a ‘do you want to do this Henry?’ And Henry response with ‘uh that’s is my tragic backstory but yeah yeah I do want to be evil hell bent on destroying our world for a better tomorrow
Now the one I’m dreading because I might stir up shippers of the fandom, Mileven and Byler. Well well well
I save this for last cause this one I have mixed feelings and differing opinions to the majority
Let’s start with Mileven, I don’t thinks it’s endgame; the spark is gone and their character arcs are going in different directions or rather their arcs don’t have anything to do with the other that much
eleven is becoming more independent and she is more focused on defeating Henry and helping her sister. All three of them being super invested in their plans after the defeat, Eleven/Jane wants a normal life were she isn’t on the run, hunted or hiding from anyone and kali is a future were she tried to go out for revenge and be free but failed and she projects that future Eleven/Jane wants with the one she lived filled with revenge and angry with eleven filled with support and love. Mike in here mind is a constant and an end goal for that future as far as we’re aware their still dating (speculations and theories doubt it right now), their meaningful conversation where Mike mentions in the end of a campaign they move forward and find peace or a place to settle is where she wants to end up, but like Mike said they can’t go back to their old village cause they the “players” have seen and experienced too much to go back to how things use to be so maybe their relationship has and will continue to change but not towards a romantic way. Like Jancy (Johnathan and Nancy) they’ll have a heart to heart break up with not hurt feelings but a resolve with understanding that their won’thard feelings.
but i do sympathise that they both want the same thing and that they want a happy ending but Kali is putting it in Eleven's mind that they can't be happy which I can see from her POV there could be ways around it. Mike is just tired and probably full of stress and he just needs a break from everything.
Mike, my man.. that one who is the center of all these shipping wars and dealing with so much without saying a word or expressing any emotions, before I mention any words of the shipping words I would like to share some theories or opinions on his character arc alone.
Mike Wheeler is repressing so much just to be brave and encouraging to the others, Will called him the heart is trying to be the heart of the group by being the one that never changes or wavers and that is killing him. I’ve mentioned this to a friend but there hasn’t been a moment since season 2 where Mike Wheeler just let all his emotions out and let the ugly side of himself; the sadness, anger and frustration of that season was just released. In season three, and four he hadn’t communicated well to his friends being a douche and lashed out at them in little ways like the rain fight with Will in season 3 and with Eleven and the letters in season four. It’s the little things, time isn’t spent evenly or communicated and vulnerable moments aren’t shared with people who care about him.
The last time Mike has been vulnerable was in season 2 when everyone finds out Eleven was hiding out with hopper and returns just arriving to the Byers house, Mike lashes out his frustration, anger and sadness out on hopper cause he was mad and he needed that moment to let his emotions out. Since then (in my opinion) he hasn’t done that since on his own volition the last time he was vulnerable was when Will gave him the okay to motivate Eleven in the mind fight with Venca and the fight for Hawkins, he only did it cause it was expected of him.
What is currently going on in season 5 is more torturous but mike doesn't show any strong facial expression of worry or sadness compared to Nancy (which isn't a good comparison since their two different people with differentiating personalities), his family has been attacked, his sister is being held prisoner being used to destroy the world and he made a promise to his mother that he’ll get his sister back. The world is ending (again) he doesn’t show it but everyone is scared, and I think he’s the most scared of all.
Whatever happens in the end I want Mike to FINALLY JUST DO OR SAY SOMETHING!
Honestly I think Mike will get possessed, the world is ending (again) and he just learned his best friend for over a decade is gay, it could play a role in his possession because he might remember his argument with Will in which he lashed and accused him of "not liking girls!" and I think the moment Will comes out Mike might have doubts about whether or not he's a good friend. His realization might stir up other incidents making him feel insecure and that all his mistakes could be pushing others away and now everyone is finding themselves so he thinks to himself are 'they better without me', it turns into those late night thoughts at 3am where are you think everybody hate you and that could lead into a possesed/tranced state mike right before vecna's defeat and the group think they can't kill Vecna until mike is out of the trance. i don't know i'm throwing theories on the wall and the base is mike gets possessed.
Will’s journey has been so beautiful and seeing him overcome his shyness and realizing he needs to accept himself rather than look for acceptance in another person is great.
The one final thing I think Will might have to do to get his confidence to defeat or confront Vecna is to confess to Mike one-on-one; just as a die without regrets kinda confession not expecting yes but expecting an answer.
Going off movie troupe it could happen but knowing how self aware the show can be and how off script of movie tropes it probably won’t happen but I’m just throwing things at the wall.
I still hope Mike and Will end up together but with little time they have it might not happen, maybe in an epilogue they'll end up together but I still feel like they need a build up rather than subtle glances and it's mostly to do with Mike. Will just went on a journey to discover himself and love himself and Will subtly called Mike "his tammy" in that he protected the solution to his self-acceptance. Mike yes has issues with his relationship with Eleven but I think that needs to be resolved before anything happens.
Mike and eleven have their issues and that first needs to be resolved like Jancy. They need to talk about the issue and move forward with a solution whether that's communicating and breaking up or communicating and mending things. There needs to be a moment where they put everything on the table, this is why the confession in season 4 didn't work. They saw a problem they tried to fix by themselves or with a third party and tried to work at it on their own. An issue I noticed is that Mike says "I love you" but eleven and Mike don't say it at the same time. I personally believe they'll break up in the end eleven would be alive (still think she's not making it out), if eleven dies Mike will just stay in this slightly problemed relationship and grieve a relationship that still had his issues.
If Mike and Will end up together it would be a while after Mike's break-up with Eleven, Will is so kind and selfless and said it himself he wants to date and have a meaningful deep connection rather than have a relationship that's mostly hot and spicy like a fanfic; and i love that Will just want's a relationship like Lumax.
If we were given Will moving on and a hint to an epilogue boyfriend that isn't nice I can live with that (plus there will be fanfic) cause Will's journey is seemingly over. Mike needs to pull through with some character development and quickly!
Anyways I'm hyped for the finale and hope to god that it will end with a banger, I've been seeing a lot of people hating on the last few episode but I like to think of it as build up for the finale and I feel like I'm going crazy for not hating it. I think it was a good move on the duffers for getting the little things out of the way and having some character get some closure and resolve to their arcs early before a possibility of dying on this mission to save the world, they don't know if their gonna see each other again so why are they gonna die with regrets.
For example Nancy and Johnathan, they were being jerks to each other and wanted answers before they died so they have closure so they don't die mad. With Dustin and Steve, Dustin can't handle the grief of losing and losing a person they cared for, he said what he said with worry and Steve brought it back up out of concern and closure not for himself but for Dustin's sake so he knows it's okay to be not okay.
EDIT: I was gonna end this with an optimistic ending that the duffers know what their doing and that in the end it build up to a good ending, but this being written over multiple days i learned about the cut footage from this volume which makes me very frustrated, The duffer brother do know what they are doing so i don't understand the how or why the editors of netflix or maybe the executives of Netflix would do this in the first place. I could go on for a larger rant on why this was an odd choice but to complete this for time sake, please to do your own research and do spread the word; the duffer brothers haven't said anything just yet but i don't think they had a say in this decision or were aware of what happened. So please spread the word to get an answer and get released footage, personally i would like for netflix to go back, correct it and re-release the episode.
(p.s. here is the case for the cut scenes from volume 2 of stranger things)
Thank you for reading my ted talk (lol)
ellievsbear
stormborns
yousharknotpass
tangentwithtanner
kianamaiart
jacobvanloon
turnnoffyourmind
janainaart
