ive aways thought that recurring use of the word “ghost” in the show was odd. its a word that doesn’t seem to fit for it come out in dialogue as often as it does.
(and this isnt everything, references to ghosts appear in s1 and s2)
max also says to vecna, “you’re not really here.”
and… what if he isn’t. at least, he's not really in the material plane. vecna is a master of lies and secrets. so is it a stretch to say that his only power is controlling people through the lies/secrets they are keeping?
When I first saw mike say this:
 i got a super weird feeling. like it was too much, too laden with significance to just be thrown in here. like it was begging to be looked at a second time. mike's been sitting there with some henry ass smiles on his face, roleplaying a vampire, a term which the party has already used to refer to vecna, saying to will, paraphrased, “I’ve got the rest of your friends”?
and i puzzled over how it could be that will is the only one free of vecna right now, but then i remembered that awful coming out scene. it could be that this scene HAD to be here, to explain from a plot perspective how will could be free from vecna’s influence. he’s already released his lies and secrets.
even nancy said to jonathan, after they confessed to each other, which helped but didn’t fully save them, “Got any more confessions?”
and i think it's likely that all of the characters do have more confessions, more processing of their trauma that they need to do in order to sever vecna’s ties to them.
[and anyway, maybe all they need to do in the real world is go to the creel house and destroy that grandfather clock. vecna's a lich, so ive always thought that his soul was in that damn clock]