i can’t find the original post but someone pointed out that finn tagged his latest single with #paladin on spotify, so i went and checked if it was on mine too and sure enough here it is:
this plus dnd binder font plus snow(ball) plus byler vinyl (website claims it’s blue and orange but even so we know orange = conformity and orange guy kills blue guy/mike on the cover aka conformity is killing the kids) plus some song titles that could mean nothing plus matthew modine posting a pic of a statue with a hip on fire with like no context is all INSANE.
like what are you doing, buddy. i want to believe your solo work has nothing to do with stranger things but PALADIN??? maybe it’s not conformitygate but at the very least it has to be referencing the show in some way. if anything maybe it’s all a commentary on how the show ended and his role and what he thought should’ve happened (the paladin and the cleric aka byler) but still. c’mon finn.
Disclaimer: This is a post in a series of collaborative posts that provides evidence that the next piece of Stranger Things content is going to be an interactive film using Episode 2 to 8 as the base. Welcome to Bandersnatchgate
An exciting revelation has been made by a group of conformitygate theorists. At the center lies #copyrightgate. Anticipate a thorough and well-substantiated post by @thebestofmyrmidons For now, I present a sypnosis:
The type of delay of copyright registration by Netflix that has been witnessed for Episode 2 - Episode 8 of Stranger Things Season 5 has only happened for interactive shows and movies.
There have been multiple fourth wall breaks throughout Season 5 that we fans have noticed. But what if those fourth wall breaks were essentially an indirect instruction manual to helping our heroes escape camazotz. What if they're actually transition points; similar to the branching choice moments in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch?
There were many times when the characters were speaking indirectly to the audience. The most famous one being:
We believe these moments that felt very out of place on first watch are actually hidden clues to solving the interactive film. In fact, we were literally given the framework by Max. Remember?
Door 1: Take your own life.
Door 2: Accept your fate (the conformity epilogue)
Door 3: You escape.
And that is what we believe this interactive experience is going to do. Give us a chance at door 3, escaping. This fits in with the symbolism of Derek playing Ghosts 'n Goblins in episode 3. The game you literally have to beat twice to truly win (and the second time is much harder). We have to "play" Season 5 twice. We have to earn the real ending.
What's the Goal of the interactive film?
It's been established in Season 5 that the way to escape camazotz is by travelling through memories to get to when Vecna first cursed you. We believe that's how we "win". We have to get to the first memory of Vecna cursing a character (our guess is either Mike or Will). TW: image of implied CSA
And in order to travel through memories, we have to keep an eye out for things that seem out of place i.e: look for changes in colours/objects. We may be required to spot the key differences in order to verify if something is a true memory or not. They've been giving us clues/instructions to help solve the interactive film all throughout Season 5.
This scene between Max and Holly acts as a "playthrough", if you will. When they couldn't find anything out of place with respect to colour. They tried to look for something that could link to another memory.
And we are expected to retrace our steps. We will probably get things wrong and get stuck in a loop but each wrong turn just amplifies the psychological horror that season 5 has been exploring.
And there CAN be more than one path. But we believe that the end goal is still the same i.e: get to Vecna's first memory of Will or Mike.
We were told time and time again that music is one of the keys to escaping Vecna's Curse along with anything that connects you to the real world. That hasn't changed. Music is still very important. We have to make sure we pick the right record.
However, there's about 45 hours worth of content to revise and it is impossible to remember every detail from every scene! But, thanks to @fixthehyper we have a spreadsheet compiling all the questions (and answers) from the (now privated) Jan 23rd Quiz!
We can all agree that that quiz was very weird, with only 5 questions to do with season 5, drawing attention to the missing characters such as Dr.Owens/Susie/Argyle etc. They even answered a question incorrectly!
Question 60: Who does this item belong to? [Michael Myers Mask]
Answer: Eddie
Eddie borrowed the mask from Max, who wore it in season 2, so the answer should've been Max!
We believe that we'll need our knowledge from previous seasons to escape Camazotz and that these questions are giving us a clue to what we should be looking out for in the interactive film i.e: dialogue, belongings, logos, locations to name a few. Basically we need to be looking for missing pieces of the puzzle.
And to wrap it up, Finn once said in an interview that Byler "wouldn't feel that earned". Maybe that doesn't just apply to the characters and storyline but to us as well. We (the audience) have to work for it. And if that's true, this could open the GA's eyes to Byler.
Thank you @thebestofmyrmidons for literally 70% of the screenshots!
Stranger Things conformitygate: an ARG on steroids
The ultimate conformitygate promotional timeline analysis
Edits in green and the word plant(s)
Disclaimer: This is a post in a series of collaborative posts that provides evidence that the next piece of Stranger Things content is going to be an interactive film using Episode 2 to 8 as the base. #bandersnatchgate
An exciting revelation has been made by a group of conformitygate theorists. At the center lies #copyrightgate. Check out the thorough and well-substantiated post by @thebestofmyrmidons . I present a sypnosis:
The type of delay of copyright registration by Netflix that has been witnessed for Episode 2 - Episode 8 of Stranger Things Season 5 has only happened for interactive shows and movies.
Posts on this topic from me:
1. How promo leading up to "Bandersnatch" and "Kimmy vs the Reverend" followed the same patterns, just on a smaller scale.
💬 0 🔁 27 ❤️ 95 · Stranger Things conformitygate: an ARG on steroids · How promo leading up to "Bandersnatch" and "Kimmy vs the Reverend" f
2. The Netflix and DONTNOD 2025 collaboration and the Life is Strange parallels hiding in plain sight.
💬 2 🔁 4 ❤️ 18 · Stranger Things conformitygate: an ARG on steroids · The Netflix and DONTNOD 2025 collaboration and the Life is Strange pa
3. The ultimate conformitygate promotional timeline analysis
My final post on the promotional timeline and my last theory post on conformitygate (CG). It's here. Let's walk through the dates one last time. I leave out all the minor promotions, but realize we did have lots of social media buzz, Jimmy Fallon Show and other cast interviews and hints for CG almost daily since Jan 1 (2026), even though Stranger Things is supposedly "over". I recently realized that every 5/6 days we did not just get major promotional drops, but also there was a purposeful cycle of positive and negative press that played with the emotions of the fandom. That was completely calculated and predetermined by the Stranger Things social media team. Edit: I forgot to mention why. If you read Post 1, it will dawn on you that the current promotional timeline is very similar to what happened the two months leading up to Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. CG is just the new, improved and far crazier version of that. Plants also changed behavior cyclically before, during and after promo drops, but that's neither here nor there.
Dec 25: Stranger Things 5 Vol 2 drops
(negative reaction after E7, review bombing IMDB, change.org petition)
Dec 26: birth of cutgate, a major clue for conformitygate (CG), beginning of the Stranger Things ARG
(positive anticipation of the finale)
Jan 1: The finale drops 💥 birth of #conformitygate
(extreme negative crashout)
People started theorizing about CG, it spread on social media, mainstream media reported on it. People were speculating about a Jan 7 date.
Jan 6: Jamie Campbell Bower posts a video on instagram, counting up from 1 to 12, saying "It's Time".
(positive anticipation of new release)
Jan 7: The Netflix crash
(extreme negative crashout)
Here, I entered the scene, most fans left the CG bus at this point.
(positive anticipation of "documentary fakeout")
Jan 12: The documentary drops 💣
(negative crashout)
The remaining fans realize the documentary is satire. I prove that CG is real with some logic and probability:
💬 11 🔁 35 ❤️ 183 · "Season 5 and the finale of Stranger Things, the documentary and other press surrounding it are all part of a larger me
(positive anticipation for announcement at SNL)
Jan 17: Finn's SNL performance
(negative crashout from parasocial freaks)
(positive responses from CG theorists)
At this point, I created my promotional timeline, I predicted the following pattern based on the previous dates and my little research on the life span of news stories:
Jan 23: The YouTube Quiz ✅
(neutral response, loss of interest)
Now with bandersnatchgate, we know this was indeed a major drop, because the questions and answers are a tutorial or guide for the interactive puzzle that's to come.
Jan 28: Purposeful negative reporting on Nikki Baxter ✅
💬 20 🔁 41 ❤️ 154 · The curious case of Nikki Baxter · A story about a potential Netflix plant, misinformation on a Family Guy fanon Wikipe
(negative reaction)
(positive anticipation of CG clues)
Feb 2: Tales from '85 trailer drops ✅
(negative reaction)
Many speculations about a Super Bowl announcement started popping up during this time. This was obviously to generate hype again. Reminiscent of Jan 1 - 6 period. Recycling strategy.
Feb 8: The Super Bowl hell ✅
(extreme negative crashout)
Feb 9: ...
Feb 10: The First Shadow ProShot announcement ❓
(positive hype)
This is where I noticed that two big promo events occurred in the span of two days. One very negative, one pretty positive. I was confused. Did my promo timeline fail me? I gave two routes, because I was expecting the 5/6 days cycle to resume.
Now, I think I noticed the beginning of a new phase of promotion in the Stranger Things ARG: rapid fire! The hints and clues have become more cryptic, information and ragebait from unverified sources has increased, it is brazenly spread by plants and the rest of the social+mainstream media apparatus. These promo drops mostly illicit a negative response or create a state of confusion.
Feb 11: Caleb McLaughlin commented on CG in a negative way
The well-reviewed animated film marks his first project since the Netlix series wrapped — and generated a strange theory from fans who weren
Feb 12: Empire Magazine published an item on Tales from '85 with CG clues.
💬 5 🔁 17 ❤️ 74 · Yet another Nikki Baxter (curse her name) Update · Yes we are still not done with her...
The vague reporting on her has
(confusion)
Feb 13: Trailer for Something very bad is going to happen ✅
Edit: The movie GOAT, starring Caleb McLaughlin, and the movie Cold Storage, starring Joe Keery, came out on this day. Both of them had CG clues and some ST nods, according to @vanillajunmyeon . Confirm yourself though :)
This one is technically not Stranger Things related, but as a Duffer Brothers production, it still serves its purpose of keeping the attention on the show.
💬 3 🔁 5 ❤️ 44 · Many "coincidences" in the teaser of Something very bad is going to happen. I'm not saying it's not real, and this is from
Small promo point: Is this article below made to put SNL and the Duffer Brothers in a bad light? Why would Finn Wolfhard need to notify Daniel Radcliffe himself?
💬 0 🔁 15 ❤️ 90 · Stranger Things conformitygate ARG · Stop falling for misinformation and believing unverified sources!!!
Two Stranger Th
(confusion)
Feb 16: More Nikki Baxter Bullshit (see below), unverified reporting on The First Shadow changes (see above)
💬 16 🔁 7 ❤️ 76 · Nikki Baxter keeps haunting my narrative... · I was just minding my own business, working on my upcoming #bandersnatchgat
(confusion)
Feb 17: @HawkinsHappenin starts vagueposting about Feb 20 again and shared multiple live streams from YouTuber q. One is still running (Feb 18/19) and has (morse) code messages related to CG. Information+screenshots from @arubikhandy0707 , @avbyler and @livinglikelarries , they'll probably want to share full details of their findings, so I am not giving spoilers :)
(positive anticipation for...?)
Feb 18: (negative, misdirect, attempt to make people lose hope) Screenshot by @biigiiiii
There has been so much more weirdness happening in between Feb 10-18, even more unsubstantiated rumors on Nikki Baxter from unverified Twitter accounts I haven't reported on, plus slither.io and @HawkinsHappenin conversing in code...? Not touching that, but feel free to attempt some code cracking.
Feb 19: ...
Edit: More Randy Havens ragebait
One of Stranger Things' most beloved supporting characters returned for the show's final season.
Feb 20: ⏰⌚ ✅
Notice how Feb 20 was in both my promotional timeline routes btw. Feb 20 will be the end of this phase of the Stranger Things ARG. Why?
- CG is real. Interactive content is coming. #bandersnatchgate
- It's been two months and attention span is dwindling, even among the strongest CG bus drivers
- Any real promo for Stranger Things has been shared by now: the documentary, interviews with producers and cast, trailer for Tales from '85 and the announcement of The First Shadow proshot.
- CG clues have become more erratic, nonsensical and outrageously unverified, with a focus on Nikki Baxter. There is so much, in particular on Twitter, it's hard to keep up!
- @HawkinsHappenin is putting his yearslong reputation as a trusted plant on the line by claiming something is happening on Feb 20, multiple times! Check the date of the tweet below, he keeps bringing it up (also, playing into time shenanigans). You can check my posts on plants where I show he is one, but this Twitter account has a long history in the Stranger Things fandom and is undoubtedly connected to the Stranger Things social media team.
- Feb 20 does not only fall on the promotional timeline, it also should be positive promo, considering the pattern I have outlined above. We are coming out of a negative slump, and before all this we had a consistent postive-negative cycle.
- Feb 20 is the ONLY DATE that has actually been shared with us. All other dates were fan speculations. I'm talking about Jan 7, Jan 12, Jan 17, Feb 8, Feb 14, Feb 15, Feb 17. All of those were predicted by fans on hopium.
Do I think we will get new content on Feb 20? It's not... impossible? What I am pretty sure about is that we will get answers on that day, whatever they are.
If this date is a fakeout again, I won't understand the point of the Stranger Things ARG anymore. Why let a confirmed plant hint at a specific date and not make anything happen? Why have this very calculated promotional timeline for weeks on end and there be no payoff? Just to string people along? That seems needlessly cruel, a puzzle is supposed to be fun and solvable too.
Edit: It's not a puzzle, it's a social experiment.
Despite that bleak possibility existing, I stay optimistic. The optimism remains that made me and many others believe and ultimately prove the existence of CG.
I feel like the wait is almost over considering my and other people's analyses, but I can never be certain. Gg everyone, thank you all for the laughs, the crash-outs and the theorizing. Final 🫂 before the chaos ensues.
I have been on a roll with making fancy styled essay PDFs and so I've decided to make one that introduces the reader to conformitygate. If you've seen the theory but aren't that sure what it's about or maybe think it's interesting but pretty obscure or delusional, have a read!
This is split into a few pngs because I couldn't resist making it really really pretty, but there is a text version below the cut!
The links to the entries of the doc's bibliography have been left out. I'll include the bibliography at the bottom, though. Some footnotes have been shortened to not disturb the flow of reading.
Conformitygate: An Introduction
by Luminescentlama on Tumblr
Maybe you've seen a lot of posts about conformitygate (negative or positive), maybe you haven't. Maybe you think all the people who believe in it are just a little off the rails. \ But this post serves as an introduction to get you started in case you want to look into this whole thing more. Please keep an open mind and, who knows, maybe this will make sense to you as well.\ You can share this, just credit my tumblr!
[The table of contents from the PDF has been left out here to not make the post longer than it already is]
A quick preamble
I'm trying to not make this longer than it has to be, trust me, but I want to mention some things first.
Firstly, please go into this with an open mind. If you're convinced I'm talking shit, I won't convince you of the opposite. And be respectful. If you disagree, that's fine, but shouting at each other how stupid we are gets us nowhere.
And also: if you don't feel like getting that involved in a theory of a TV show, that's okay! Not everyone can or wants to dedicate this much time or energy to something. You can read this, think "ah neat" and then go back to other stuff if you want, or engage in more theories.
It's the same, basically
ST fans have always theorized and a few have taken a liking to reading the subtext, analyzing the sets and finding out everything the first look doesn't tell you. This isn't new.
So, what's changed?
Well, I think the striking difference is that this is the final season of ST. Usually, as far as I know, all of the evidence that was found for byler or for other theories like Will creating the upside down was seen as foreshadowing for a final resolution.
And now, well, this is supposed to be it. There can't be a future resolution because it seems as though this is all we got. But the clues are still there. The pages of byler proof from previous seasons still make sense given the source material, the unresolved threads still aren't tied up like how the Duffers said they would in the documentary. Stuff like Will's disappearance or why El recognized him in season one is still unresolved.
And that's where conformitygate comes in. Everything below the text points to new content and a different ending, even in season five, so this theory states there is more content (meaning a proper resolution, not some cheap rip off like Tales from '85), even if it doesn't seem like it.
What even is conformitygate?
Well, it builds on the idea that this ending is Mike (and the others) conforming to society's standards instead of following their true wishes.
'It's forced conformity, that's what's killing the kids.' as Eddie puts it. This is mostly about Mike not confessing his love for Will and staying in his closet for (presumably) his entire life, so it should be noted this theory heavily builds on byler.
But how is this not the true ending? Well, one consensus of conformitygate theories is that Mike or even everyone is trapped in a trance or dream by Vecna in which they conform. Them conforming is what keeps them trapped there, unable to realize the truth.
Of course, there are many different theories for how exactly this looks and what exactly happened (or will happen), but in general, it can be narrowed down to:
What was presented on screen is not what actually happened
The characters' -- Mike's -- conformity is what is keeping them from finding out the truth
There will be more content to unravel this (This point can, of course, be debated (especially since it has been a while), but I would say it doesn't make sense to prepare this intricate illusion and tension between what's shown and what's real and then not resolve it.)
Seriously??
And this theory, at first, sounds… outlandish, really. But please consider it with an open mind as I present one piece of 'evidence' to pique your curiosity. This is not everything (far from it) and I will link more posts if you're interested, but just to give you an example:
Milkshakegate
In Will's coming out, he mentions 'biking to Melvald's to get milkshakes.' This is odd, firstly because we don't ever see that happening but especially since Melvald's is a general store, not a place to get milkshakes. This is highlighted over and over through different shots in season 5 which linger on the 'Melvald's General Store' sign.
Explanation 1: The Duffers messed up and no one pointed it out. Possible, but if you read more and more of these theories it gets more and more improbable.
Explanation 2: In the play 'The First Shadow' detailing Henry's aka Vecna's backstory, a diner is shown which just so happens to be Melvald's, but in the 50s. A diner is a place you could get milkshakes at.
This could be a coincidence, but it could also mean that Vecna is influencing what the characters are saying.
This is just one of those hints, buried barely beneath the surface text waiting to be uncovered. Or it could be a coincidence. The reason I think that's improbable is because this is far from the only thing. There's the Vallaki line in the finale, there's the milkshakes line and a lot of other stuff that you can't pinpoint that exactly but it just feels… off. Eerie, in a way.
Now what?
You know the gist of conformitygate, maybe even think the points I've brought up are plausible-ish. Or maybe not.
It's up to you whether you want to believe or not, but I still want to point out a few things. Firstly, it's quite impossible to grasp the scale of this in one PDF (especially since I do NOT wanna compile every theory out there into this) so the easiest way to find more (besides reading my further reading section right here) is to go on Tumblr or Twitter, but be careful, there are a lot of people spreading hate there as well!
One more thing I want to address: the biggest counterargument against this is not based on the individual pieces of evidence in the show, but instead it's the absurdity of it all. A big, popular show which apparently hides clues about its fake finale in set design and weird one-liners?
But… well, yeah, that's the idea. I know it's difficult to believe that, especially with our current film industry, but then again, isn't the other option just as absurd?
The Duffers suddenly not caring about their characters or story or bringing an awesome finale to their series when they've executed it all (mostly) brilliantly in the previous seasons? Them using CGI for the final, most important fight while having a whole set built for a seemingly less important one (the MAC-Z fight)? The fact that all these little pieces scattered throughout just should be ignored now when they've had such cool secret meanings in previous seasons? And the fact that all of them line up to form one coherent-ish theory which is supposed to mean absolutely nothing.
That doesn't make sense to me. And paired with all the stuff hidden in the season… it makes me believe that there's a logical explanation for all this. (Please don't mention divorcegate as a logical explanation. It's quite parasocial and also assumes Leigh Janiak would let other people copy her work without crediting her.)
And if you think that could be something too, you might enjoy reading more posts or watching videos about it. If you're half-convinced, but one piece of evidence isn't enough (of course), you might too and see if it resonates with you. If you don't, you can write a nice, respectful and objective comment on why you don't believe in conformitygate (or you can write comments if you do, of course!)
One important thing is, though, that conformitygate takes being critical and taking a step back, analyzing and judging the quality of things. Especially if you get into what the ST channels are posting now, after the finale, there's a lot of ragebait and half-truths around. This includes being critical of the production team and the Duffers as well. Just because they haven't fucked up doesn't mean this social experiment is okay or something good. I myself believe in conformitygate but I think the structure of it and the choices made are bad and twisted.
And a lot of rumours have spread, too. The Duffers' 'noise' comment was taken out of context, for example, so it's important to always check sources especially with such a heated topic of debate like conformitygate.
But also… just as important: have fun with it! Come up with theories, share and enjoy yourself and check out the section below!
Further reading
I've linked a few of my favorite theories with summaries here! These are meant as a sort of 'read these if you don't know where to start' ideas for engaging with the fandom!
Dicegate, a short, old post showing that in one of the promos, Mike is shown rolling a 20 when he rolled a 1.
byler: movie is real, Byler's outfits being paralelled to those of couples who forgot each other (multiple times).
My top 10 bits of conformitygate evidence, A really long list of proofs by Atsadi (definitely worth the read!)
What is WSQK sync?, An explanation of WSQK sync (their whole channel is about WSQKsync and has a bunch more posts on it)
wsqk sync is starting to get scary, a summary of many cool wsqk sync finds.
Why MWTFDYDgate = conformitygate, One part of a genius series by upsidedownlurker explaining Vecna's illusion and the regressing character arcs (byler especially). A long read, but SO worth it!
conformitygate an ARG on steroids, a theory stating that the upcoming content will be interactive.
El and Will are made to resemble each other, them looking alike is intentional.
The epilogue sunglasses, The meaning of glasses and sunglasses in the finale (connection to Matrix and They Live)
Will is being forgotten, a post showing how birthdaygate continues in season 5.
Footnotes / Bibliography
"byler is endgame", a youtube essay on byler.
"the queercoding and internalized homophobia of Mike Wheeler", another youtube essay.
Eddie's "conformity, that's what's killing the kids" quote on IMDb.
A tumblr post explaining the mention of Vallaki in the final D&D game and its meaning.
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.
