Creelby is the key to Byler Endgame... just not in the way you're thinking (what I'm calling #BobGate)
Part Fifteen: "We Can Be Heroes"... Until Midnight
PART 1 HERE | PART 2 HERE | PART 3 HERE | PART 4 HERE
PART 5 HERE | PART 6 HERE | PART 7 HERE | PART 8 HERE
PART 9 HERE | PART 10 HERE | PART 11 HERE | PART 12 HERE
PART 13 HERE | PART 14 HERE | PART 16 HERE | PART 17 HERE
PART 18 HERE | PART 19 HERE | PART 20 HERE | PART 21 HERE
PART 22 HERE | PART 23 HERE | PART 24 HERE | PART 25 HERE
PART 26 HERE | PART 27 HERE | PART 28 HERE | PART 29 HERE
PART 30 HERE | PART 31 HERE
**If you notice any changes, that's because I'm updating/tweaking things as they come to me!**
Now, I know you all must be sick of me. See, *my* fatal flaws are my hubris and that I literally can't help myself when it comes to exploring every possible lead (which in a way is due to my hubris), but in my defense, you guys encourage it!!!
Bobgate is nothing if not a team project.
@whieen and @overclowning both brought to my attention the Captain Midnight of it all that comes from TFS. As of now, I had not addressed it whatsoever, and honestly hadn't paid attention to it.
Which was a big mistake. Up until recently we thought Bob was a nothing character added to the show, and look how wrong we were about that. Again, the writers prove there is no such thing as coincidences, and that details are added for a reason.
Bolstering my Captain Midnight/TFS knowledge, I found these Tweets by Twitter user @tigerlilly_cos (again, sent by @overclowning):
"Captain Midnight is a leader of a secret ring of spies working for a better tomorrow".
Hold onto this thought because I *will* be returning to it before the end of this post.
Also, not only do I happen to agree with OP here, I also think this motto applies to the Party's mission too. However, this Tweet by Twitter user @ode_to_icarus also brings up a great point that has made me rethink some elements of my theory:
How old is Henry? Bob? Everyone?
I won't lie, the mind f**k that is the ST/TFS timeline is where the Bobgate theory potentially falls apart. Because, per the Weekly Watcher article Nancy and Robin read in S4, the Creel murders did happen in March of 1959 when Henry was 12, meaning he was born in 1947 (meanwhile Alice was older, aged 15).
But as Henry's own recollections can attest, Alice looks much younger when they move to Hawkins and later, when the murders happen. Additionally, Henry would've been way too young to be in HS with "Patty", Bob, Joyce, Hopper and the others for the events of TFS.
But at the same time, Henry's own memories (witnessed by Max) place him in Hawkins High in 1959 around Nov. 6th of that same year, the night of Joyce's play. After the murders.
Math and science are not my strong suit. I am also fine admitting that I have no idea how the writers are going to make the wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey #birthdaygate/time travel stuff work. I have faith they will have an explanation for the ages and stuff.
Unfortunately, I've been going on the assumption that Bob and Henry are of similar, appropriate ages. I hope that is the case for the sake of my theory, but I also see a world where maybe "Henry's" memories of 1959 are actually the memories of one of his older victims ie. his HS-aged sister Alice, or even Bob.
However, I will say that if the Party's parents were all in HS in 1959, that'd make them pretty old (for the time) to be having their kids.
Ie. If Joyce was born in 1941/42, she wouldn't have had Jonathan until she was at least 25 (same with Karen with Nancy), which seems late given their circumstances/social norms of the age.
But if Bob, Hopper, and Joyce were actually born later than 1942, the timelines would make more sense re: the Henry of it all.
And if that's true, that means Henry's distortion of the timeline, and specifically placing himself in HS in 1959 has some significance that I assume will be explored in Vol. 4.
Going off this assumption though, and I admit this is me veering dangerously close to fanfic now, there could be a world where the events of TFS were conflated to the brief window of Fall 1959 (for the sake of simplicity in the real-life play), and are in fact representative of a much longer period of time where Henry did in fact manage to go to HS with our characters (after all, Henry has always had a knack for warping time).
I've started watching more clips from TFS with Louis McCartney's performance, and his characterization of Henry is not what I expected (the actual performance I saw had an understudy in the role of Henry, which was good but different). He's a sweetie to be sure. Awkward. But there's something so childlike to his behavior: his Captain Midnight radio that he carries with him to school, some of his mannerisms (ie sucking his thumb). Granted, this could be simply be chalked up to neurodivergence (FYI, I am onboard with autistic Henry Creel!), but what if these acting choices were because Henry technically is a child during these events?
Excerpt from the Broadway TFS transcript:
Sue: “You’ve got your creeps, you’ve got your children, and you’ve got your morons.”
After Henry decides to take a flyer for Joyce's auditions --
Sue: "Joyce exclusively goes for bad boys eighteen and over." (rips flyer) "So if you don't have hair on your balls, keep walking."
And then, a few moments later --
Patty re: Henry's Captain Midnight radio: "Aren't you a little old for that?"
That's to say, that some of the memories Henry places in HS are actually from his childhood, when he first moved to Hawkins.
Presumably, if Henry actually was 12 in 1959, he would have been attending Hawkins Middle. And, if Bob was also in attendance at the time, this would have been right when Bob founded the Hawkins Middle* AV Club.
*As specifically referenced by Mike in S2. Although he doesn't distinguish whether it's middle or high school AV, with Mike and the younger Party members being in middle school at the time, let's assume the former.
This would've not only been the perfect setting for Henry and Bob to bond over radios, but to bond over the codes and ciphers of their favorite radio show/comic book hero Captain Midnight. And what if, like Miwi/Byler, the two developed not only a friendship, but romantic feelings for each other in that time?
Simultaneously, the events we saw in "Massacre of Hawkins Lab" and TFS could have been going on, with Henry (under the influence of the MF) torturing animals, terrorizing his family, and eventually killing them.
Then, what if, when Henry was locked away in Hawkins Lab, he'd somehow kept in touch with Bob in secret via the radio/Void (which we see Henry and Patty doing in TFS)? What if their connection only grew stronger?
As for what I think happened next? I'll elaborate on in Part 16, since what I *really* want to focus on is --
Captain Midnight and how that'll play a significant role in ST's endgame.
Again, I turn to @aemiron-main, who has an incredible Captain Midnight meta that centers on a real-life Captain Midnight's 1986 hijacking of HBO's broadcast signal, which he did to protest how expensive HBO's rates were for customers. This was how the stunt was received:
The "guy" in question was American electrical engineer/business owner John R. MacDougall who took on the pseudonym "Captain Midnight" when he performed this harmless act of rebellion (against a for-profit network, not a public/government-run one). For this, he literally got labelled a terrorist, was arrested, and then prosecuted. He pled guilty and was sentenced to probation and the suspension of his amateur radio license (albeit for a year). Still, in the eyes of the public, he became something of a folk hero.
This Captain Midnight interrupted the broadcast of what, you ask?
The Falcon and the Snowman
Based on a true story, The Falcon and the Snowman was a 1985 spy flick starring Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn (who also starred in Milk!) about two Americans selling state secrets to the Soviets.
The film was directed by John Schlesinger -- who also happens to be gay. Keep that in mind as you keep reading.
The trailer's narration starts like this: “They were best friends from boyhood. Then they committed a crime against their country. Within 18 months they became the two most wanted men in America.” The subtext is already subtexting, guys.
I'll give you a brief summary:
The protagonist Boyce (Bob x Joyce lol?) is a good American son: His dad was a former FBI agent, he gets a job as a civil defense contractor, he has a loving girlfriend, and a passion for falconry. However, he becomes disillusioned with the American government's actions and decides to sell intel to the Soviet Union to fight against it.
His childhood best friend Lee, a drug dealer and addict known as "the Snowman", has since been ostracized by his family. Lee is able to use his drug connections to help Boyce communicate with the Russians and even get them an out to Costa Rica once all is said and done.
The pair get deeper into their espionage, but Lee's drug use drives a wedge between them. Meanwhile Boyce starts getting cold feet, wanting to go back to his "normal life" with his girlfriend (sound like anyone we know?).
Eventually, both of them get caught, with Boyce setting his pet falcon free before he's arrested. The movie ends with Boyce and Lee escorted to an American prison.
Aside from the clear Creelby/Byler parallels (Bob/Mike being Boyce and Henry/Will being Lee), here's an additional reading of the film that no one asked for:
"Spying for the Soviets" = '80s America's peak idea of transgression
Another "transgression" in America's eyes in the 80s? Homosexuality.
Ergo, "spying for the Soviets" = "homosexuality"
UPDATE 2/9: The link between homosexuality and espionage -- specifically for the Soviets -- isn't as random as you would think. It's a history that actually runs quite deep. And we can thank the UK for sharing this information, since the US isn't as forthcoming about these things.
Per Raz Ion's Gay45 article "Gay Spies in Intelligence", before the Cold War, the UK's MI5 and MI6 habitually hired gay spies: "As journalist Richard Norton‑Taylor observed, espionage was ironically suited to men ‘used to hiding their personal proclivities’: they ‘could keep secrets, and tell lies’ almost by default."
Ironically, one of the most well known spy rings was the Cambridge Ring, due to a major scandal: They'd been caught passing state secrets to the Soviet Union. Two members that stood out from the Cambridge Five were Guy Burgess and Sir Anthony Blunt*: Both upper-class. Both Cambridge-educated. Both gay.
*A third member of the ring, Donald MacLean, was bisexual.
It was this last commonality that created a fear amongst intelligence agencies during the Cold War that the gay spies they'd been employing were now a liability. That their enemy (the Soviets) could blackmail their agents -- use their spies' secrets against them-- and get them to betray their countries. I could go on about the heartbreaking stories of gay spies who were caught in these webs, but Ion's article is a great launching pad. I recommend reading it.
This almost certainly contributed to the "Lavender Scare" of the 50s, where queer individuals working for the US government, gay men in particular, were fired en-masse for their sexuality. The UK and other Western governments did the same. This period was the backdrop for the novel and miniseries Fellow Travelers; coincidentally, one of the main characters is named Hawkins.
One of the most well-known targets of the Lavender Scare was Alan Turing, who was also the subject of Will's "hero project" in Lenora*. A mere months after the Cambridge Ring scandal came out, Turing was prosecuted for his relationship with a man, stripped of his security clearance and good name, and chemically castrated. His death was two years after the ordeal; ruled a suicide.
Alan Turing: The father of theoretical computer science (a language both Bob and Mike are said to know), but more importantly -- the Hero of Bletchley Park. The codebreaker who helped take down the Nazis in WWII by cracking the German Enigma cipher.
Who was also really good at cracking ciphers and codes?
Henry Creel who won his Captain Midnight radio that way. Who, in TFS, told Patty he was so good at them because he himself had to write everything in code in order to protect his thoughts from his mother's prying eyes. Protecting his own secrets.
Secrets Patty wanted to know. Since, after all, Patty is said to know everyone's secrets.
Throughout the play, Patty wants Henry to not only to find her mother (@henrysglock's #pattyflayer metas do a better job of explaining than I could), but to open up to her. Get him to open his locker. To participate in Joyce's trust exercises. To share his sins.
Patty asks Henry in TFS, "You want to confess?"
Is it possible these secrets were the same ones Vecna thought to use against Will, forcing him to come out to the Party?
Will, who was also known as the Spy*, only to be used by the Mind Flayer to "spy back"?
*Note that Mike uses that title in a complimentary way, as a means to comfort Will through his possession.
I rest my case: "Spying for the Soviets" = "Homosexuality"
Now, there are darker implications to this metaphor:
The cave. Henry's worst memory. The one he was too scared to face.
When Henry was exploring the caves in Nevada, he came upon someone "spying for the Soviets". Someone we know shot Henry, the bullet penetrating his hand.
An encounter that left him "infected" by the MF, irrevocably changing him. Causing a sweet little boy to disappear and something monstrous to take over.
Similarly, as I discussed in Part Four, Bob's childhood bogeyman Mr. Baldo can be seen as a representation of his own CSA at the hands of his father (again, this was @aemiron-main's reading).
And let's not forget what people thought happened to Will when he went missing all the way back in S1, and what the opening scene in S5 implied. In fact, the way Vecna caresses Will in that scene is very similar to how Brenner treats Henry in TFS (when he's not yelling or generally violent with him).
But what brought Bob and Henry together? What allowed them to bond?
Their shared love for Captain Midnight: a *superhero spy* trying to do some good in this world.
“Justice through strength and courage.”
Together, it seems Bob and Henry were at least beginning to re-empower themselves and each other after their traumatic, violating experiences -- through the power of media, of storytelling, and of friendship.
Now, if this is the correct interpretation of their story, then the Duffers aren't just commenting on the AIDs crisis and the fight of the queer community, they're also shining a light on queer CSA victims* and how, even after trauma, they are deserving of healing and of experiencing love without stigma.
*This isn't the first time someone is making this reading -- I've seen several analyses about Will come to similar conclusions.
Some other random connections that feel weirdly relevant:
The title of the movie reminds me of another popular modern (non-canon) yaoi ship: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (that has to be pure coincidence, but WTF!! Are you kidding????)
The film also featured Pat Metheny Group + David Bowie's song "This Is Not America". Here are the lyrics if you're curious:
Again, we have talk of "miracles", and the idea of America in practice being the opposite of that.
What "piece [peace] of you" and "me" is dying, per the speaker?
The imagery re: the characters' personal talismans implies a spiritual death. What aspect of the spirit is being killed? Again, I think it could be read as queerness.
The idea of the biggest sky implies beautiful possibility, but is marred by "bloody red" clouds.
As I was reading through the transcript of TFS, I found that whenever there were power surges in the play, they'd occur during the attacks (which we can now assume were the Mind Flayer's doing), *Bob's* broadcasts, and major Creelby moments (ie. when they meet, whenever they kiss).
If the MF was hijacking the signal in one case, let's assume she was hijacking the signal in all other cases too.
Of course, the stories of TFS, Pagliacci, Mr. Baldo, and now The Falcon and the Snowman remind us that, for Creelby, the power of the MF was too strong.
Patty: “We’re superheroes, Henry, but only together.”
Henry: "But we can’t be together."
Like the title of this post implies, "Heroes" (also by Bowie) is just as much a Creelby song as it is a Byler one. Perhaps more so, because Bob and Henry really could only "be heroes" together for a brief time before they were separated.
But maybe they'll get another chance.
Going back to Captain Midnight "hijacking the signal."
I do think that, while it can represent Vecna hijacking the story through #conformitygate and #playgate, Captain Midnight represents something more pure and essential to the endgame.
Act Two of The First Shadow starts with a literal film reel of Henry's 7th birthday party, where he receives his Captain Midnight spyglass* as a present. He then proudly shouts Captain Midnight's catchphrase to the camera: "Justice through strength and courage!"
*This spyglass is said to be the one he lost in the cave during the attack (perhaps a symbol of Henry's lost innocence). This is also the spyglass Holly uses later to "find the M".
Just like El was able to use her memories of her mother's love to defeat Henry/the MF during the Massacre at Hawkins Lab --
Like Will was able to tap into his sorcerer abilities with his own "film reel" of childhood memories --
I think Henry will somehow be able to tap back into his erased memories of Captain Midnight and therefore, Bob Newby. I also have a feeling it'll be achieved through El's powers*, his and Bob's "love supreme".
That "signal" -- again that love -- will prove to be stronger than the MF's hold and finally, finally free Henry.
His memories of Bob will be what brings him back. And hopefully, allow him to help the Party stop the MF once and for all.
*Small aside: I'm hoping that if El is able to restore Henry's mind through "love", she'll also be able to restore her mother Terry's and go on to reunite with her somewhere peaceful (three waterfalls or no). That's my wish anyway.
Thanks again @whieen and @overclowning for bringing the Captain Midnight of it all to my attention!
I did a Part 2 to this post, but it's mainly me filling in the gaps of Creelby's story through an old love story that felt strangely relevant: The Little Mermaid.
My prediction remains that we'll get Vol. 4 tonight, January 16th at 3am, but we'll just have to see.
Disclaimer: I'm going to break my evidence for this theory into different posts under #BobGate (also #PuzzleGate), but if possible, let's keep this contained to Tumblr because I think there are folks who might care about being spoiled for what I think is going to be an amazing twist (if #conformitygate is in fact real)
**I haven't come across a theory like it, but in case someone else also had the thought -- lmk!
