some random things i’ve considered for a stranger things rewrite bc of whatever the hell the finale was 😀
disclaimer: she’s kinda long gang. and she’s definitely not chronological or too too thought out, but here’s some things i would have done differently
establishing this off the cuff, season 5 would’ve been a couple months post vecna opening the gates AT MOST
also. since apparently the clock symbolism with Vecna/Henry/One/Mr.Whatsit DOESN’T MATTER (the suffer brothers pissed me off with that ?!), i would have it to where he sticks with taking four more people in s5 bc of a fixation around the four horsemen of the apocalypse (something vecna wanted to bring to the world to “save” it)
vecna needs four vessels to TRULY bring about the apocalypse to the world like he envisioned. bc after the end of s4, he was significantly injured and needed time to heal himself before continuing to execute his plans for the end of the world
that way you could scrap the whole children/pied piper storyline they tried to go for and bring more focus to some main characters
also would’ve axed the wormhole theory about dimension x/the abyss and the upside down. probably would’ve scrapped dimension x/the abyss in general bc it made the story so convoluted imo
instead of the vanishing of holly wheeler, it should have been mike vanishing as per nancy’s s4 vecna vision. this way, it gives mike some more depth which was desperately missing from him, explain his internalized homophobia which would then explain why he sucked at being a good boyfriend to el/jane, why he’s been a sucky friend in general but especially to will in the past
“you think a couple months of kindness would fix what you’ve done? no one wants to be associated with… someone like you and william. you were so bad that even william wouldn’t want to be around you. even eleven can’t stand to be around you anymore.”
^^^ this highlights a couple things for me: a) obviously doing the vecna thing of turning his support system against him, b) bringing to light the fact mike is gay himself and refuses to acknowledge it in that moment which would then give mike an incentive to come out to will eventually and maybe nancy first, and c) a subtle but IMPORTANT depersonalization of el/jane and will. only vecna still calls el/jane eleven, not seeing her past her time in the lab and only vecna calls will william to establish a lack of true understanding and interpersonal connection to him despite constantly seeking to hurt will alongside el
speaking of hurting will and el, the vanishing of mike would have made for some AMAZING core party moments: a) it would hurt dustin severely, who’s already grieving the loss of eddie and feels sick at the thought of losing mike, the one who stuck beside him, b) lucas, who cannot bear the thought of having one of his best friends AND his girlfriend potentially dying at the hands of vecna. c) despite them having a somewhat strained friendship at this point, eleven and mike are trauma bonded ultimately, and mike was the first person to show her kindness and affection and humanity. she’s determined to find and save mike from vecna bc she’s so scared of losing his presence in her life. d) most importantly, it would deeply affect will in more ways than one. his first best friend, his first crush, someone he loves very dearly is experiencing the same trauma at the hands of the same abuser. and will is so empathetic, it would break him when he realizes that mike had been taken and would light the same level of determination that el has to find him as well, but he would clearly be the most into it because of his romantic feelings
before delving into resolving the whole mileven versus byler PROPERLY, i just want to reiterate how well mike being vecna’d would reestablish party dynamics. there was a lack of that for the past two seasons and if they really wanted to bring that s1 feel again, they would have focused on the core party dynamics. i would highlight lucas primarily because it would give him some agency and some meat to his character outside of being max’s boyfriend. that same determination and skepticism and caution lucas had when finding will would increase tenfold with mike after a) already going through this with will and b) not wanting mike to suffer the same fate max is going through right now
also speaking of establishing lumax outside of lumax, i would have had max and mike try to help each other out of vecna’s mind. i really liked what they did with most of the things revolving around vecna’s mind in s5 and would keep most of this. but the big difference is that a) the children scenes wouldn’t be there, b) the max and holly scenes would be replaced for max and mike scenes and c) i would have max and mike separated and sort of lost in different memories before finding each other
i feel like having madwheeler stuck in vecna’s mind together would help them bond more, but also make the “took you long enough” comment from mike land better and be a lot more comedic
i feel like having that scene where max gets holly to open her own portal back to reality would be replaced by max helping mike, only for one of the memories to mirror the first one will had (that helped him siphon vecna’s powers) where him and mike became friends, like would that not be very sweet and beautiful byler setup 🥹
will’s coming out would have been towards just joyce and jonathan for me personally. and it wouldn’t have been from a place of feeling forced, but joyce AND jonathan clearly notice how determined he is to find mike (so much more than the rest of the party). it would be a sort of confrontation after a big blowup argument with the party where he says something along the lines of “i know what it’s like to be there and we need to save him because i can’t lose him!” but instead of feeling forced, he just sort of says it while breaking down in front of the two of them. joyce would comfort him, saying that she had a feeling and still loves him all the same. jonathan (while comforting him and bringing back that eldest brother energy we’ve been deprived of from him) would bring up that “i’m different” speech during s4 to tie it back for the general audience lol. but not only would it be a more natural coming out, it would contrast the more forced coming out moment mike would have
that whole bullshit “vecna showed me a vision” justification of will’s damn coming out party would actually have some payoff with mike after ACTUALLY being vecna’d and being shown visions and fed insecurities by him as well. mike would feel almost forced to tell el/jane that he’s gay out of fear of the insecurity and doubt that vecna planted in his mind being true. and mike sort of frantically asked to talk to el RIGHT after he gets out of the trance and they leave with him and the other 3 vessels he took to the upside down
“i’m sorry i was such a shitty boyfriend, el. i didn’t mean to hurt you. i desperately wanted to be good, to be a boyfriend but i couldn’t because i like boys and i shouldn’t have done that to you and i understand if you never want to talk to me again because i used you el and i shouldn’t have. i could only love you as a friend and i shouldn’t have tried forcing it when i knew it wasn’t working and-“
“what do you mean you like boys?”
“i… i like a boy in the same way lucas likes max, el… i’m sorry.”
“is that why you lied?”
“yeah… i… didn’t want you to see me differently or stop being my friend-“
“i will always be your friend mike… i had an instinct.”
“i know… i think you knew before i did.”
“this boy… i hope you are happy with him.”
mike’s coming out to el would tie in the symbolism from s4 that el knew that will had feelings for mike and that it was at least somewhat reciprocated at that point in time
would still have will’s powers be a thing and directly connected to him accepting who he is as a gay boy. but, i would have them strengthen to the point of being able to seize control of demogorgons to weapons against vecna after he ends up coming out so him admitting it wouldn’t be for no reason (in terms of plot and not character development). and then when they destroy the upside down forever, it’s assumed that vecna is fully dead and is fully and completely severed from the hive mind and he can’t siphon powers anymore. that would also help the inconsistency and plot hole regarding how the whole siphoning works. will does feel vecna’s pain, and he does temporarily die, but he’s brought back quickly and fully disconnected from the hive before they destroy the upside down
big byler moment: mike panicking and again paralleling the feelings and fear will was feeling about him when he temporarily dies due to them killing vecna. and when will wakes up again, mike cries into a tight hug with him while they hurriedly get out of the upside down
also obviously replacing will’s fuckass imaginary epilogue boyfriend with mike.
my shayla, you would’ve survived the cycle of abuse and have had a beautiful self love and self acceptance arc in the epilogue LIKE HOW DID THEY LOOK AT HER AND KILL HER OFF🥹😭🤾🏽
EL WOULD HAVE ALSO SAVED KALI FROM ATTEMPTING SUICIDE IN THE UPSIDE DOWN IDC KALI DESERVED BETTER TOO !!!
however, instead of either of them dying, i’d have the deaths of the finale be steve, murray, ted, and potentially jonathan (on the fence with him dying but it would be good for emotional impact)
steve dies saving mike, dustin, and nancy, his selflessness finally getting him killed. dustin desperately trying to save him, nancy crying that he wouldn’t have his six little nuggets, even joking towards the end that the party were his kids 😭🤾🏽
also this would really hit robin deeply as well. while she’s seen people die at the hands of vecna, it was always a bit removed from her. but it’s the first time he’s taken someone she loved and trusted. this would draw dustin and robin closer to each other and have this dynamic of them grieving together in the epilogue bits
murray dies helping the group in some way. if the military were still hunting el in the way they were, i would have had him dying from the bomb exploding (he felt too close to it to not have at least been critically injured imo, he didn’t even walk away with burn marks ?!)
an: this is all i’m doing for now, but i might expand even more upon this at some other time. i just had to get these ideas of what could’ve been off of my mind