I cannot stress this enough. I cannot stop thinking about what Noah went through — both as a person and as an actor — just to give Will Byers a proper story. It is so cruel it honestly makes my blood boil.
• First off, Noah literally felt afraid to even ask the writers for a proper, sensible ending for his character. Imagine being the person who’s lived with this character for years, who has shaped him, who cares so deeply about the story and queer representation, and yet feeling like even asking for a decent conclusion might get you mocked, or ignored. And then even after he asks? They still fail him. They still cannot accomplish a coherent, respectful, and emotionally satisfying ending for Will.
• Then, there’s the live panels. The Duffer Brothers, in front of fans, tell him they would have “written him off” if there’d been a sixth season. That’s not a joke. That’s not banter. That’s clearly meant to humiliate him. And they did it on a live stage, publicly. Think about that for a second — the actor who has poured himself into this role for 10 years, treated like his work and input don’t matter, like he’s disposable.
• And the live panels didn’t stop there. When Noah jokingly mentioned all the ideas he’d pitched, all the things he’d suggested to make Will’s arc meaningful — things that were shut down — they responded with: “What more could you possibly want?” This is after years of being ignored and dismissed. This is blatant gaslighting.
• During the press tour for season 5, Noah was actively prevented from talking about Byler. He couldn’t defend the story, he couldn’t share his perspective, he couldn’t even acknowledge what fans cared about. And so he barely spoke at all during early promo, which people may have misread as disinterest or lack of passion — when the reality is that he was silenced by the showrunners themselves.
• And let’s talk about the actual writing. The Duffer Brothers finally gave Will a coming out scene in the final season, but they made him live through a full unrequited love arc in the same season, knowing that Noah personally related to that experience. And the scene itself? Noah filmed it for twelve hours straight. TWELVE HOURS. He cares deeply about queer representation. He put himself through months of stress and trauma, knowing how important it was to do justice to the character. And the way they handled it? It’s like they built the emotional intensity of Will’s arc around inflicting stress on the actor rather than crafting a thoughtful story.
• And then there’s the wrap gift: Will’s painting. A gesture that could have been sweet, that could have been meaningful, that should have been celebratory — but given the context, it reads as cruel, ironic, and manipulative. After months of anxiety, after having his ideas ignored, after being publicly embarrassed multiple times — the gift doesn’t land as a reward. It lands as a reminder.
• We haven’t even gotten into the emotional toll. Noah was dissociating between takes, literally needing three days of sleep after filming the coming out scene. He had to relive aspects of his own life — his own trauma — in front of a film crew, to give the fans something meaningful. And then the episode gets review-bombed by homophobes online, while the Duffer Brothers mock him in interviews and panels. This isn’t just callous. This is active psychological cruelty.
I might sound like I’m overanalyzing, but I see it. Every interaction, every decision, every “joke” and panel comment — it’s a pattern. It’s a narrative built around undermining Noah, diminishing Byler, and controlling queer representation in a way that’s harmful rather than affirming.
Noah has been fighting for this representation for years. He cared. He stressed. He advocated. And the showrunners? They treated him like a prop. Like a punchline. Like his labor, his stress, and his personal connection didn’t matter at all.
So yes. I might read too many thrillers. I might watch too many crime documentaries. But I see patterns. I see cruelty. I see a system of emotional manipulation and silencing that is frankly horrifying. And I needed to say it because nobody else seems to want to.
Noah Schnapp deserved better. Will Byers deserved better. Byler deserved better. And queer fans deserve better than a story shaped around humiliating the actor who cares most about it.
Jonathan and Nancy’s breakup was the final nail in the coffin for Matt and Ross Duffer completely dismantling Jonathan Byers as a character (and Nancy Wheeler too, but I’ll write about that in another post) in order to serve a last-minute, nonsensical narrative they thought was good.
Jonathan starts the series as a hyper-responsible teenager, essentially co-parenting with his mother and acting as the “man of the house”, not just because he’s the oldest son, but because he actually has responsibilities in keeping the household afloat, working extra shifts at just 16 years old and taking care of his 12-year-old brother due to their economic situation.
As seasons 1 and 2 unfold, we see that he’s interested in art, specifically photography; that his only friend is his 12-year-old brother who had gone missing; that he’s dealing with the trauma of an abusive father; and with a society where sexism and patriarchy affect him too, alongside a mother who is overprotective only toward his younger brother.
Nancy Wheeler is, until season 4, his only other friend, and his girlfriend. With her, Jonathan finally softens. He laughs more. He allows himself to exist beyond survival mode. Their relationship is fundamentally one of equals, despite the very real differences between them in class and gender. They respect each other, admire each other, and genuinely love each other.
In season 4, their conflict isn’t a lack of love, it’s Emerson College. Jonathan doesn't apply and chooses not to tell Nancy because he’s willing to give it up so she won’t sacrifice her future for him. That’s not immaturity. That’s tragic self-denial rooted in years of scarcity and responsibility.
Argyle, Jonathan’s first real friend outside of Nancy and Will in S4 is completely erased. Jonathan no longer touches a camera. His mental health is never addressed. Joyce continues to overlook him. His one space of emotional expansion is gone. His growth is reversed.
Jonathan’s defining trait has always been self-sacrifice, shaped by poverty, abuse, and the necessity of growing up too fast. His growth was never supposed to be abandoning responsibility, but learning that he, too, deserves care, love, and a future. Jonathan doesn’t outgrow sacrifice; the writers simply stop caring about what it meant.
And on top of all of that, the Duffers decide that the “realistic” conclusion is to have him break up with Nancy Wheeler, effectively negating his entire arc and sending him back to square one.
as someone with a literal degree in this craft, i need you to understand that if byler gets a catradora coded parallel, i will genuinely cease to function. like, academically, intellectually, spiritually, i will evaporate. because that kind of narrative construction isn’t just “good writing,” it’s the kind of emotional slow burn that entire modules are built around. it’s the long game. it’s the writers trusting the audience to sit with yearning so dense it becomes its own gravitational field.
and the idea of mike carrying every feeling like it’s contraband, like he’s smuggling his own heart through four seasons of repression, only to finally break at the exact moment everything is collapsing around him? that’s not just storytelling, that’s dramaturgy. that’s the cathartic release you talk about in seminars where everyone pretends they’re not crying over animated characters or queer-coded sci-fi boys.
a catradora parallel means the emotional framework has been intentional from day one: the glances, the framing, the blocking, the pink sky (yes, i’m bringing up the pink sky again, i will never shut up about it), the way the camera lingers on mike like it’s waiting for him to catch up to his own feelings. it’s the narrative equivalent of holding your breath for four seasons and finally exhaling.
and if they actually let him crack open at the last possible second, when the stakes are life or death, when the love of his life is literally slipping away, when every unsaid thing becomes unbearable, and he finally says it? finally tells will he’s wanted and loved and seen in all the ways he’s never believed he could be? that’s the kind of scene you write essays about. that’s the kind of scene that gets dissected in lectures about emotional payoff and queer narrative reclamation. that’s the kind of scene that ruins you in the best way.
so yes. if byler gets a catradora parallel, i fear i will actually explode. academically. narratively. personally. i will be a case study.
My true gripe with byler possibly not being canon..
and wills coming out scene is that it feels like the only way for queer people to be accepted into mainstream media is for them to be queer ALONE or for their story to be a VERY SMALL part of the story (cough cough Robin and Vickie) so that it wont disrupt the straight people’s viewing of the show. I see a lot of bylers bringing up korrasami’s relationship and the way it was handled and given to the audience at the very last minute as proof that there is still hope for byler but I can’t help but feel disappointed that thats the baseline for queer ships to be represented in media. I love korrasami a lot but its very clear to anyone who enjoys the ship to know the reason why it was handled the way it did was because of the time it was released in. Now 2012 to 2014 is obviously not that long ago but its long enough to the point that now almost 15 years later I can’t help but feel disappointed that queer ships still aren’t treated with the same care that straight ships are. Queer relationships in media deserve to have fully fleshed out stories.
So, what if Will's memories already being erased one by one.
What if they just didn't show us stuff. Because he forgot about it.
What if their first kiss happened on Halloween, while Holly occupied basement?
What if Mike confessed after ep4?
What if they talk about Will's coming out speech in the UD, and Mike clocks something wrong with Will and asks him
"Do you know my name?"
"Yeah. Mike"
"Okay, okay, and I am your?.."
"You are my friend"
And Mike freaks the fuck out, because THEY AREN'T FRIENDS anymore. They are dating. But Will doesn't remember it.
(anyway, I want a fic like this, and that's why Will was so hopeful, Mike did kiss him couple days before vol.1, that's why to date not make out, and yeah, this is callback to "my friend...Mike", and he doesn't remember that El and Mike broke up too)
Some thoughts about Stranger Things (minus the finale, of course)
I was going to stay away fom the Discourse on here about Stranger Things, but I found that I really, really wanted to write this. In part, I think it's because I'm an older queer person, by the standard of this platform, at least. In part, it's because I spent ten minutes in the Stranger Things tag after I watched Ep. 7, looking for gifsets, and all the discourse made me so sad and upset, when this show has given me so much happiness. It took fandom discourse to put a dent in that, and so I want to talk about a few things, so that those ten minutes can stop haunting me like something Vecna would pull out of my head.
Much of the fandom argument I saw was about Will's coming out scene. I watched it, and I cried. It was so beautiful. Some people were angry because it didn't happen the way they wanted. Some people were angry because they felt like it was unnecessary and detrimental (and maybe that's true in some way in 2025, but it absolutely isn't for a show set in 1987. More on that in a minute.) Some people were upset because they felt like Will came out under pressure or through fear, but I didn't read it that way at all.
Let's address the 1987 question first. Remember that even with all of the supernatural hell these teens have been through, for someone who is gay, it is smack in the middle of the AIDS crisis. Gay people were told they were going to hell, that they deserved to die from AIDS, that it was God's judgement on them for being gay. Why do you suppose Will spends seasons so terrified to say anything? Why he doesn't let even a little bit of that out until Robin? Why it eats him alive for years? Because everything around him, culturally, tells him that he is sinful and perverted and damned for daring to love another boy, and that if he dies, he will deserve it for being such a sick individual. All of those fears he sobs over during the coming out scene *are so real.* They happened to so many people. People lost whole families and communities after coming out. They lost jobs. They were refused housing. All of those fears are so powerful in Will's mind, and Vecna is determined to use them against him, *because they were all real, in history.* And almost NO ONE had a coming out like Will's, where his closest friends and family embrace him unhesitatingly, where they all reaffirm that he will be loved and cared for. Almost NO ONE had that.
Is it any wonder I cried so much?
It should be said that the Byers' family and the Party's response to Will is very much a product of the last forty years of fighting for queer equality. It is very much the response that we would hope for and expect *now,* and that almost never happened *then,* and the Duffers know that. Of course they do. (They're younger than me by just a couple of years, so they won't have lived in the middle of it, just as I did not, but I'm sure they know. I certainly do.) They are giving Will those minutes of beautiful affirmation and support *because they want that for him.* Because *that's how it should have been,* in 1987, and never was. (I'm sure they wanted to give that to Noah, too. More on that as well, in a bit.)
Robin is an important part of the portrayal of '80s history, also. A lesbian, slightly older than Will, who supports him, listens to him, befriends him, loves him just the way he is, and shows him that he can be happy and healthy as a queer person. I saw another post on here that pointed out all the ways lesbians supported and cared for their gay friends during the AIDS crisis, and that is absolutely true. They did, and they were crucial to the queer mutual aid networks of that time period. So many queer people lost their biological families, so they made their own (and to a large extent, that's still true). I loved all of the Robin and Will friendship this season because Will needed that, so badly. He needed someone to tell him he wasn't a terrible person, wasn't evil, wasn't wrong for existing. Jonathan has always done that for him (and I love their relationship as brothers so much), but Robin isn't Will's brother, or his family, and she didn't have to befriend him or support him or care for him, and she does anyway. That's *so* important. I also love that she has Vickie, that she can be that healthy model for Will, and that Vickie isn't afraid of who she is, either. They *don't* live in terror, and that's so important for Will to see.
Now let's talk about how and when Will comes out, because there was a *lot* of discussion about how people felt his coming out was pressured, that it came from trauma, that all of his fears and the upcoming battle with Vecna forced him into it. I don't think that's what was happening, at all. We saw Will finally tap into his powers in "Sorcerer," and when he's taken again by Vecna, he says that Vecna was making all of his fears real in his head - watching his family leave him, watching his friends drift away. He doesn't want Vecna to be able to do that to him again, and so he tells the truth about himself, and his family and friends *take those fears away.* They tell him that they will always love him, that they will never leave him, and so when Will goes with El and Kali, he can face Vecna knowing that he is loved, and that any vision of abandonment Vecna conjures up is a lie. Will came out for himself. He came out because he needed to acknowledge the truth of who he is, face his fear, and know that he was still loved unconditionally, by so many. He can face Vecna now with that love in his heart - not fear, not self-loathing. Just love. And we all know that is the source of his power. He has his mother. He has El, who loves him like a brother and who is his Wonder Twin. He has Mike, and Max, and Lucas, and Dustin, and Jonathan always. He has Robin, and Steve, and even Erica. He has a *family,* both biological and chosen, who will love him forever and go into hell and back for him, and he needed to know that, down to his bones. *That* is what the coming out scene was about, for me. As well as about giving Will a beautiful moment of affirmation, and about writing hope into a decade that was often hellishly hopeless for queer people.
I came out in the early 2000s, and by all measures, my experience was pretty easy. *Wildly* easy, compared with my spouse's experience and those of some of their peers, who came out right around the same time Will does, in the late '80s. They knew earlier in life, and had earlier significant others, and some of them had absolutely awful experiences. My parents were shocked, and it took them some time to adjust, but they didn't hate me. They didn't put me in therapy. They didn't tell me I was a terrible person. They voiced their worry over what it would mean for me, but also their love and support, and they were glad I was happy. My extended family was supportive, if not the most vocal about it (except for my Nana, who was in her eighties at the time and overjoyed for me, and ready to fight anyone in the family who wasn't supportive enough by her standards). But it was still incredibly stressful, and scary, and there were a lot of tears. And I still lost a dear friend, one who I still miss. She didn't like that I was queer, didn't like who I was with (the same person who later became my spouse), and didn't even invite me to her wedding. And sometimes I still think about the girl who was my dear friend, and I still miss her, and it still hurts. I still would have given a lot for that beautiful scene of support that Will had, for those unhesitating affirmations and vocal declarations of love. Even though my family was mostly supportive, it took some time, and it was still very difficult.
I would never want that for Will. The Duffers didn't, either. And I am 1000% sure that they didn't want that for Noah, and that Noah didn't want that for Will. He has poured so much of himself into Will, and he *came out* during the show that made him an international phenomenon, and I can't *imagine* how stressful that was, even with the family support he received. He has made Will into this character we all love, who is so extraordinary, and we got to watch Will face his fears, have his family's love reaffirmed in the best and most important way, and see him come into his full self. And that's so incredibly beautiful. (And you can bet everything in your wallet that it's going to matter in the finale! Will is a sorcerer. His powers are innate - and they just got so much stronger.)
On a final note: It is also incredibly important that, in this political moment, the Duffers decided to have not one, but *two* queer characters be so visible and so important, and have such beautiful moments *together* as well as individually. We are (back) in an anti-queer hellscape of a country, in a way that has the potential to get just as bad as the '80s were, and be just as terrible for queer people if we don't fight back, and Noah and Maya and the Duffers and the entire ST cast basically just gave every anti-queer bigot in this country a two-fingered salute. We should be celebrating that, not criticizing it. Representation matters. Stories matter. And so do the voices of powerful people in our culture, who are refusing to capitulate to the Orange Menace and his goons.
I reblogged a lot of stuff about the coming-out scene but I think I do actually want to talk about why it resonated with me a lot. It's far from perfect, but some of the writing choices did hit home for me, so I figured I'd talk about them to bring some positivity in this conversation (and to get the thoughts out of my head).
Note: coming out is a deeply personal topic, and everyone is entitled to their feelings on this scene. There's a reason scenes like these are usually controversial, so don't take this as a "this is how you should feel" thinkpiece, it's simply my opinion on it.
For some context, I'm a twenty something woman who likes women and doesn't like men, without having always clicked with the term "lesbian". It fits for sure, and I do use it sometimes. But it's never my particular go-to when I speak about my sexuality if I'm being honest. I think that's why I wasn't too bothered by Will not using the exact label of being gay, it's not something I do either. My main criticism of that choice is that it's another sign of the writers being somewhat cowardly with the topics they discuss on the show, but I wouldn't say it was worse than when they did it with Robin, or worse than any of their other stunts of refusing to use definite words when it comes to speaking of marginalisation (see: racism or classism existing as background details, but rarely if ever being discussed textually). I think "I like boys" should have present though, that's one criticism I do very much have of the scene considering their choice to bring back "I don't like girls".
That aside, I really, really liked that what Will feared wasn't a simple "everyone will hate him for being gay". It wouldn't necessarily have been unwarranted for him, considering the context he lives in, but I love what it says about his dynamic with the people he loves. Will has had to deal with hateful behaviour before (his father, his bullies etc.), so it wouldn't be out of place. But there's something almost... sweet about it not being his primary concern. Will trusts the people he loves and he knows them enough to realise that this kind of outwardly hateful behaviour would be out of character for them. After all, they've protected him and stood by his side for years against people who were hateful, why would they suddenly act the same way those people did?
Instead, Will is afraid of the distance that could be created if he told them the truth. The slow creeping kind of distance caused by lacking understanding and by overwhelming worry, not a "bandaid being ripped off" kind of distance the way hatred for his identity would cause. The kind of fear that is talked about a lot less, but that feels more relatable to me personally. Obviously, I'm informed by my own experiences, where I didn't grow up in a hateful environement when it came to queerness. The most I saw as a child was discomfort, so that was what I was scared of when I fully realised what was so different about me. People would feel uncomfortable with who I was, thus creating distance between them and me, maybe even enough distance that I would lose them altogether. That's the feeling Will's coming out brought back for me.
Will is scared that they (the frame chosen seems to imply Joyce especially) would worry so much that he would feel like he has to distance himself from them. It's deeply in character for both sides and that's exactly what hits for me. In the context of the 80s (AIDS epidemic, homophobia), how could Joyce not worry, how could she not believe that his life will be too hard if he fully embraces his sexuality? And how could Will not bristle against it, when that's been established to be an issue in their dynamic since S2? It feels real despite that feeling not being talked about as often in media. Having people who worry about you is not a bad thing, but sometimes it feels stifling, like they think you can't handle anything at all, which doesn't feel good. So you stop talking to them about the thing that makes them worry, but then how can you never mention your sexuality without needing to distance yourself, without needing to avoid and brush off conversations that would veer too close to it, to the point where you have little left to talk about? To the point where you feel like you can never tell them anything without them worrying? So you push them away, and little by little they drift away until you completely lose them. It's a devastatingly realistic slippery slope.
It reminded me of this experience I had as a teen, where I first mentioned relatively off-handedly to my mom that I didn't think I would ever have children and that I wasn't sure I would ever be in a relationship (without her knowing that it was because I just couldn't imagine myself with a boy). She was almost sad at the idea and started asking if it was because of something she did when I was young, if it was because of her relationship with my dad, worrying that I would end up sad if I were to be alone forever; that reaction stuck with me for a long time, and I even now kind of avoid breaching the romance topic with her because of it. I could vividly imagine that same type of reaction from Joyce, that worry about how hard it would be for Will to be gay and out, where she means well but her worry simply makes Will too uncomfortable to talk to her about it much afterwards. It gutted me to imagine because of how close it hit to home.
The other idea he mentions, that of your loved ones slowly but surely pulling away because you can no longer relate to each other is also one I've personally been scared of before, especially when it comes to friendships. That's actually a massively important part of why I clicked with Will so much, especially in season 3.
There's something insidious about how slowly you can begin to feel isolated when you start growing up and love and sexuality become an important topic even in friendships. Suddenly, the fact that you don't have the crushes your friends have always had feels realer, more important. It feels isolating, because they'll start talking about who's dating who, who they want to date, worse they'll start dating people too! So you're left on the sidelines wondering why that didn't happen to you, why the people that you used to share everything with feel like they're not like you anymore. They'll start talking about their celebrity crushes, but you won't be able to relate because guys are meant to like Phoebe Cates and girls should like Ralph Macchio (celebrity crushes are a detail present in the background that I really like about season 3 because it was a very isolating experience as a child when my friends would ask me which actors I liked and I couldn't answer). You want to go back to when friendships were about the things you had in common, but now that you've grown up, there's this huge topic where you can't help but feel how different you are whenever it comes up.
That was a big part of why I truly felt for Will in S3, that feeling that everyone is slipping away from you because they start moving towards things you'll never understand the way they do, things you may even think you'll never get to enjoy at all (see: "I'm not gonna fall in love"). That's why I did actually like that Will starts by reminding himself and his friends of everything they do share, everything he cherishes about his friends, everything he doesn't want to lose. Because that's ultimately what Will is scared of: losing his friends because of this one topic where he knows he can't relate to them. This idea that "not liking girls" could be enough that everything else you do like and have in common isn't enough for them to stay is what Will is so terrified of, and that's a feeling I can relate to deeply.
After all, once your friends start figuring out you're not interested in the "dating" topic the way they are, they might start to exclude you from those conversations, not even in an intentionally mean way, but because they know you can't relate and they don't want to make you uncomfortable. But the "safe" vs "not safe" conversations to have with you are not always easy to determine, so they may just talk to you less and less in general, until they pulled away so much you may as well have lost them altogether. That's the feeling Will's coming out brought back for me and it was very cathartic to see it adressed, at least for me. Being hated isn't the only reason someone may pull away from you, even if media doesn't always talk about it. Sometimes, that isolation can come from a good place, and perhaps that's what makes it even more frightening to me and why seeing people assure Will that they won't let it happen was heartwarming.
So yeah, I did really like his coming out scene, at least on his side of it. I do think the reactions are lackluster, which is not helped by the size of the group, but I can't exactly say I hated or even disliked the scene in itself when most of it did hit for me. I do think not actually showing the visions was a big mistake on the writers' part, because I can remember that it took me until the second half of the scene to really get into the scene the first time I watched it, since it's a bit hard to get into his headspace without that context. The first half did work much better for me the second time around, so I think the scene would have worked a lot better if the viewer had been clued in on Will's fears earlier on.
This is a bit of a word vomit, but in case anyone made it this far, I hope this gave you some perspective on this scene! I can totally get why it might not have worked for other people, but I felt it was worth putting thoughts on paper, even if just to get it out of my head.
It’s really weird to me that everyone on TikTok and some on tumblr too think Will’s story is one of tragedy simply because byler may not happen. Will’s story is, first and foremost, one of self love and acceptance, which is arguably more empowering than getting into a romance will ever be.
I understand that byler not happening can be sucky but I urge you to understand that not getting Mike-fucking-Wheeler does not reduce will’s importance or ruin any chances at happiness for him.
Byler tumblr has collectively spent the last three years making Will Mikesexual and rejecting any stories of him exploring his sexuality with other men. This is why everyone thinks mike is the deciding factor for Will’s happiness. Will has way more personality and worth in himself than byler will ever give him. As many others have stated before, byler is the cherry on top.
I agree that the narrative has always pointed towards byler. But FIRST, Will was always meant to have a self acceptance arc because he has had names/ definitions/labels forced onto him since he was a child. Him being able to identify himself how HE wants is important for his character. And recieving love from his friends is important. It saddens me that bylerblr somehow lost track of the importance of will’s friendships with the party along the way. One of the few things that season five has done right is reinforce how much friendship bonds like byclair and madwise and willel and Jonwill and joycewill and even Byerson matter to Will’s character as they are literally the driving force behind the events that kickstarted the series.
YOU as an individual may be on a level where you are secure in your queerness and are ready for a relationship but there are so many queer kids out there who need this story. (Again not saying that byler could not have happened simultaneously but you all are undermining the importance of will’s primary arc).
This is perfectly cohesive with the show’s theme that love saves btw. Self love, especially for queer people and other marginalized groups, is one of the most important kinds of love. And it’s sad to see it undermined over a ship.
Even if byler doesn’t happen, Will’s story is not one of tragedy or complete sadness. It is quite literally the opposite.
“the last episode tells a story of what the whole show was”
i have so much faith now. the story was always about outcasts for outcasts. a story, a place for us to shine. a story about people who feel different finding their best self through the support of loved ones and found family, and finding a place to belong with the people that matter.
and especially if noah, a gay man who has openly shipped byler, is happy with the ending, i have a lot of faith that we will be too
Even though I'm extremely salty about Vol 2 and especially the goddamn interviews, I've spent so much time trusting the Duffers, so I'm writing my last hopeful post before the finale.
Pink Floyd - The Wall, A.T. fields and the (in)ability to connect
Many people have mentioned Pink Floyd's influence on the season and the show in general.
Ross Duffer's Instagram
Pink Floyd's The Wall is about building a shield to protect yourself, an inner barrier that doesn't let you connect with people and live a full life because you're shaped by your trauma and can't overcome it. The main character does break the wall at the end, symbolizing his growth.
It plays a very important role in the season where all barriers are broken and lies are exposed.
In the Jancy breakup scenes the walls are literally melting.
Their hearts are open. They confess their deepest secrets and desires. They are no longer burdened by their relationship. They are free, there are no walls.
The same setting is used in the scene where Dustin confesses to Steve that he's afraid of losing him.
In Henry's cave there was a wall blocking the exit.
Representing Henry's worst memory and trauma, the cave was sealed just like Henry was inside his own mind/ the Mind Flayer. Now there is an opening in the wall. There's light. There's hope.
Another instance of a wall breaking happened in the Wheelers' house.
On the one hand, it might be symbolic of the destruction of innocence. Neither Ted/Karen nor Holly knew about the dangers of the Upside Down. So now they are plunged into this world, their safe space destroyed.
On the other hand, it was Mike's room that got destroyed. His closet. Are his secrets going to be spilled? Is he no longer safe? (Take this with a grain of salt, it might turn out a nothingburger)
The Upside Down is a shadow world where characters meet their fears, they meet their shadow selves.
The Wall in the Upside Down functions as a boundary preventing the collapse of the wormhole. It is what stops the characters from freeing themselves.
However, the impenetrable wall is starting to collapse. Right in the moment where Hopper, El and Kali's tension reaches its peak.
We know that they're planning to destroy the Upside Down. They are planning to break down the wall.
The bridge collapses, and with it, your fears, your insecurities, your anger, your secrets, all of it, gone.
It is essentially the same concept as the A.T. field from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
In the End of Evangelion Shinji Ikari was the center of the Human Instrumentality Project, a complex plan to merge all human souls into a single, unified consciousness, ending individuality, suffering, and loneliness by dissolving AT Fields.
All characters were exposed to each other, nothing to hide anymore.
I believe that the finale is going to achieve the same thing: all characters are together in the Upside Down.
Even those who have never been there. Even those who have but don't want to return.
Ep 8 might finally show us what's going on inside Mike Wheeler's head (not byler related though, this train is gone). I don't have much faith now, but we'll see.
X/“M” marks the spot. Mike the Brave being the heart. A shield with a heart on it. A shield generator.
Dustin believes that a shield generator is what is responsible for creating and maintaining the wall within the Upside Down. It’s Mike’s wall. He’s going to drop the truth bomb, and his emotional breakdown is going to cause the destruction of the wall.
@eeriesilkworm’s collage from It’s All Relative post (an ABSOLUTE masterpiece).
The Cell was one of the ten movies mentioned by The Duffers as an inspiration for Stranger Things 5. It follows a child psychologist who goes into a comatose serial killer’s (Carl) mind to locate his most recent victim before she is killed in a cell by his automated drowning system.
When Catherine the psychologist dives into his mind, she finds the child version of Carl who is willing to help her in her journey. But he is unstable and frightened, and the mindscape is ruled by the Devil Carl who represents the monster he became.
Parallels between Henry and Carl are clear. I do unfortunately have to make this post shorter than intended due to the holidays taking up my time, but here are my main observations.
1- For Carl, there is a core memory of trauma that is the most hidden and repeats itself constantly in motifs around his mindscape: that being water and drowning. We often either see water, or the complete absence of it in desert locations which the movie is set (Reno Nevada, California, and the desert inside another child's mind).
When Carl was young, he was baptized by his strict religious community (implied to have been cultish) and drowned temporarily sustaining damage for which he was beaten by his father afterwards.
The connection with the water motif intrigued me because in my opinion it is something that tends to be reversed within Stranger Things where water is healing and protective. El uses floating tanks to help people, Karen and Holly are able to evade the Demogorgon under the bath, water is used to symbolize the growing tension between Will and Mike, etcetera. Noticeably there is a lack of water in dangerous places like The Upside Down and in a desert environment like Nevada where Henry's core traumatic memory took place.
Watching the movie reinforced my belief that there is something going on with water.
2 - The Cell is significantly more explicit than anything Stranger Things would ever do - while there is sexual abuse subtext in Stranger Things, it is explicit to a grotesque level within this movie. However I do think the relation is apt and there is likely going to be significant sexual abuse subtext within Henry’s story as well, particularly in that same core memory I mentioned. The Boy Scouts connection with his past already draws some of that subtext up. This was an organization infamous for CSA within it's ranks.
Speaking on that, the movie focuses on an outsider trying to go into Carl’s mind who understands nothing of his situation besides being a child psychologist who knows about trauma responses. One of the uncomfortable things about the link between child abuse and pathologies like this is that the vast, vast majority of victims do not go on to become monsters. While it's more common for serial killers to be victims of severe child abuse than the general population, the number of people who become serial killers (or abusers/ rapists) is extremely slim.
This is acknowledged within The Cell, but is not explored in depth enough to be a truly responsible depiction. The male deuteragonist implies that he knows this to be true because he is possibly also a victim, but this remains implied and nothing further is elaborated.
An important focus of Stranger Things is Will Byers being a victim who is placed within the same shoes as Henry was (abused, possibly sexually, violated by the Mindflayer, outcast, etc) but chooses good and love and kindness. The person to reach out, the person to become a hero, should also be a victim.
And on that note: any other narrative suggesting it was completely against Henry’s control and he is fully innocent for his crimes as Vecna undermines the message that people must have some responsibility for their actions. Nature versus nurture in Henry’s story is invoked by Kate Trefry and that is realistically a debate where truth lies in the middle. Life throws circumstances at us that we cannot change, but as human beings in a functioning society we have the reponsibility to not harm others. It is made obvious that Henry was not born evil. Through life circumstances he was given the option to retaliate, and he chose that option. Supernatural forces like the Mindflayer are simply a metaphor for internal darkness. This is the same tone The Cell takes with it's villain. It acknowledges the child within, but still holds the man he became to justice.
Speaking of Will also being a victim; this scene stood out to me. I found young Carl (the serial killer in the film) here to have a striking resemblance to Flashback!Will's tank top outfit and hair cut. His father catches him playing with dolls and lambasts him for being a 'faggot', beating him with his belt and a hot iron.
JCB said in an interview that he took a costume piece from set; saying it was a belt and that we would understand after Season Five. There is a brief moment you can see what appears to be a golden colour belt on Mr Whatsit in the Volume II trailer, and I believe (with the help of someone on Reddit) that it may be a Boy Scout belt. Just adding a little breadcrumb to the idea that he was victimized during his time in the Boy Scouts and/or the Boy Scout stuff lead to him entering the cave in the first place. Since the show likes to keep these themes metaphorical I'm not sure how explicit it could get. (Vintage Boy Scouts Belt 1960s - these seem to be ).
Jamie talked about going back to Primary Caregivers in his character work for Henry Creel / Whatsit / Etcetera, saying he noted how in the First Shadow Henry was hit by his mother Virginia.
He implies that his connection to certain characters is based within their shared experiences with their families - for example both Henry and Holly had parents who were alcoholics. Character(s) meaning there is more to it than just her. Given Noah's mentions of Lonnie at very recent panels, I just have to believe he will be at least mentioned within the Season. The scene in The Cell is just so strikingly similar.
3 - The focus of the movie is on Catherine, the child psychologist who is the first (and last) to enter his mind and her goal eventually becomes empathizing with child Carl and healing him. The male deuteragonist, an FBI detective, joins her with the goal of finding out where Carl is keeping his latest victim and develops no personal connection. This might hint to us where El and Will will come into play in the finale; likely with the genders reversed. El’s strength is physical powers like telekinesis while though Will does have powers, his strength is in a personal connection with Henry - including a shared backstory which the season focuses on and has been hinted to become a major part of the second half of Season 5. He is the "key to the darkness".
"I can feel what he feels, think what he thinks"
If their characters split like this, I see El’s mission being to physically rescue Holly and get the information she needs from Henry, while Will stays back to empathize and connect with him as Catherine does.
Ultimately part of Will's trauma will be healed by stopping the cycle himself and reaching out to someone that once was him in order to stop the current danger (Vecna).
4 - While Carl gets a redemption, it is only for his younger self. Like I mentioned previously it is against any kind of message for his actions to be forgiven as an adult. But it is human nature for us to connect and emphasize with the forgotten, the lonely, and the abused. There was once a time where this was true for Carl, and the same goes for Henry.
At the end of The Cell, Catherine re baptizes child!Carl in a healing manner, releasing him from his Inner Demon and letting him pass on peacefully knowing that there was someone who understood him. All of this buildup of Henry's arc and backstory is painting a clear path for forgiveness (to an extent) and understanding, from the person who parallels him the most and can navigate his truama.
It's when Mike tells Will "no homo, but you'll always be my bro, dude" and Will replies with "thanks, good thing I just met a guy to be my boyfriend this afternoon."
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