The Sauna Test: Non-conforming Wins!
Billy is shirtless throughout the whole scene, he’s exposed, vulnerable. He has a skull tattoo, possibly foreshadowing his death.
No shirt -> Exposed, vulnerable
After falling for the trap, El flings him against the wall smashing the tiles (a common parallel in the ST universe).
The Party traps him in the sauna with a rod and chain.
Chain -> Oppression, restraint.
Billy talks to Max, telling her that he’s done terrible things, that he made me do it. He meaning the Mind Flayer. Billy is crying, letting out emotion. The Mind Flayer is dormant. But while Max is telling him that they are gonna help him, Will can sense the MF, he knows Billy just got activated. Billy picks up a shard of tile and lunges at the window to the sauna. Lucas shoots with his slingshot and hits Billy right in the forehead.
Billy lays on the floor and coughs up water (aka feelings/emotions) before the Mind Flayer really takes over completely.
Billy expressing emotions (water) -> MF dormant. Billy rejects water (emotions), violent -> MF activated.
Billy rams open the blue door, exiting the yellow sauna, and collapsing into the blue gym.
Blue -> Repression, fear. Yellow -> Honesty, emotion
Rephrased, Billy leaves the sauna (yellow: honest emotions), and enters the gym (blue: repression, fear, anger…).
El pins Billy against the wall using a dumbbell. But it doesn’t work, and he breaks free, which results in him gripping her neck.
Gym -> Conformity (gym culture is peak typical masculinity)
In other words, El tries to defeat Billy using conformity (dumbbell) but it doesn’t work and ends up hurting her (conformity doesn’t just hurt the subject but the enforcer).
Mike is nearly taken out after he hits Billy over the head with the metal rod, El saves him. She wins the fight when she throws Billy through the wall. The MF goes dormant after he lands, and he runs away.
Wall -> Conformity
Stranger Things has used walls as a symbol for conformity many times. When El throws Billy through the wall she breaks the wall and Billy lands on the other side. Billy is on the other side of conformity. El wins when she frees him from conformity.
It’s only when our heroes break out of conformity do they win. They need to be honest and embrace their emotions. If they don’t, they loose, hence why ST5 is fake. Love wins, folks!
Bonus: This funny pattern on the tiles that mean something…
