Stranger Things Season 5 Spoilers!

[Loopytiles]

So excited about this! Can’t bear to watch without spoilers first.

God I must be so slow because I didn't even think of 8 nor half the stuff you guys have spotted. Loved it though and cannot wait for the next instalment.

I can’t remember a tv show that as a family we have obsessively dissected and eaten up all the theories, until this. Ike of the things I’ve adored about it is how we’ve loved it so much together. That feels very rare these days ❤️

But another huge girl fan of Pissed Karen taking on a demegorgan. Those Wheeler women kick ass 😁

I always assumed that when he killed his family and dr brenner took him, that he was only around 11/12? He certainly didn't look old enough to be going to high school, which starts at age 14 or 15. I find it confusing that suddenly he went to high school with Joyce and everyone when previously this was never even hinted at. How come Joyce or hopper never mentioned knowing him? This seems like a massive plot hole

I’m not sure on the timescales and they do seem a little disjointed for sure, but in the stage show they’re all at school together. Henry is much younger and in the lower year group with Patty, Bob’s younger sister. Joyce, Hopper and Bob are all older and in the older years at school. He of course was never referenced as Vecna or 1 in his school years as this was all before that. He was just Henry and obviously their lives were intertwined but Henry was with Patty, he didn’t hang out with Joyce, Bob and Hopper because of the age difference and not being in the same stage of school with them.

I can't believe I needed to watch the stage show to get so many references. I also wish it was filmed, shows are not accessible for many.

I haven't really been in a ST discussion before as I was late to the party- I didn't know that Henry's dad was Freddie in Nightmare on Elm Street. That was my first ever horror, I can see the room I watched it in and the friends I was with as if it was yesterday.

I found some of the dialogue annoying (heart to hearts when lives are at risk) but agree with loving Karen Wheeler- she has also had the best outfits.

Interesting about 008, as like others I disliked the sister side plot, hopefully this will tie it together.

Why didn't vecna kill Joyce (just tossed her to one side) but more importantly Will when he had the chance? Do we think that there is a Harry potter-voldermort thing going on where if one dies the other has to as they have the connection?

This is what I’m trying to understand. He appears, kills a load of soldiers and leaves the main characters alone 🙄

@MatchaLatteTastesLikeCrapwe said the same about Harry Potter similarities, we think Will will have to die for vecna to die.

The soldiers were mindless killing - Vecna sent the Demogorgon's to kill/collect Mike, Lucas and Robin, I think he had plans for them. Doesn't explain Joyce

Or will....

Exactly. The main characters and his main threats

I think there's a 'neither can live whilst the other survives' vibe going on. Is the idea of the doppelganger/double a common theme in sci-fi?? I feel like it's fairly common idea in horror with the good v evil self. I just don't know much sci fi!

I don't think he wanted to kill Joyce because he needs will's help ("one last time") which correct me if I'm wrong, but we didn't see in the episode?

In the play Henry Creel was much closer in age to Joyce, Hopper, Ted, Karen and Bob, at the youngest 5-6 years younger. There’s a much larger age gap in the TV show, so it’d be tricky to carry that part of the plot in.

I don’t think they’ll do the ‘will as horcrux’ or ‘only one can survive’ thing. Perhaps vecna / henry wants people for his world building and/or the mind flayer will re appear as the main villain

Ah just remembered … when Henry goes to Dr Brenners lab, Brenner makes him forget he killed his parents. Will this memory coming back be a turning point in the next instalment?

Dr Brenner was the one who encouraged him to kill. Showing him every time he did his powers got stronger.

& it’s always good to remember. The upside down wasn’t created by Vecna. It existed long before he was alive (hence Dr Brenners dad went there, as per my pp). I think we’re going to see an innocence to Henry/Vecna. Him accidently going to the upside down as a child because he found equipment in a cave (hence being scared of Max’s cave) and that experience changing him. Dr Brenner extensively used him for his own worth. I think we’ll see an arc where Henry is deep down innocent and has been used and abused by the world to become Vecna. I think the true ruler/creator of the upside down will be defeated by Vecna/Eleven/8/Will.

I encourage you to read the full synopsis of the play which is online if you haven’t seen the stage show xx

I have to say, assuming we are headed down the route of the play storyline being essential to understanding this series, I’ll be very annoyed.

Theatre is so much more inaccessible than tv (and I say that as a theatre person). Limited tickets, high costs, specific locations.

If a recorded version of the play was available on Netflix that would be good. And ideally it would have been available before this series if the story is going to lean into elements from the play. A synopsis isn’t the same as a script, which is also not available to buy.

Hopefully they have written S5 well enough knowledge of the play storyline isn’t assumed. Or perhaps we’ll see some of the play storyline as Vecna flashbacks in the series so the TV only watchers understand.

ETA a better conclusion to my post!

I assume they will - they'd be very foolish not to. The stage show was written so it didn't matter if you'd seen the series (albeit with a few nods and Easter eggs). I would have thought this would be the same - there'll be far more people who haven't seen the stage show than have!

Just read the plot of the stage show, interesting! Binge watched the new episodes last night and I loved episode 4, can’t wait for the next episodes!

I think they’ll play on it and use that storyline (since it already exists) to build more background to Vecna but it will all be explained in the show. For people who didn’t see it it will appear as new information and an “ohhhhh” moment, which I think we’ll be nice. People who have seen it won’t experience that feeling of “revelation “ , but the little details will make sense. (Ignoring the plot holes of course)

I would be disappointed for them to go down the Harry Potter route.

There’s a Netflix show about the play if anyone is interested.

I’ve been on Reddit!… the theory over there is that possibly Joyce was the only person nice to Henry in School and he recognised her in that moment.

Yes this was definitely a nod to Alice in Wonderland and the next clue was her looking ‘Through the Looking-Glass’
which most commonly refers to the 1871 children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. The story follows Alice as she navigates a world she enters through a mirror, which is structured like a giant chessboard where she can move from a pawn to a queen.

During the third episode when the Demogorgan was in flames and jumped back up through the hole in the floor, Lucus said ‘get him Mike, Mike get him’ (or similar). And it sounded exactly like a line Corey Haim says in Lost Boys. Same manic tone and structure! Same words!

I think it was fairly subtle. My DH had forgotten that detail about going missing in Nevada and he’s normally really good at remembering stuff like this, but he went and checked a summary of the play online and it is in there!
I didn’t remember too much of the story after, I was just blown away by the amazing special effects (and regretting not buying a plushie demagorgon in the lobby)!

ahh same here! And yes I’ve looked at clips and can actually remember it … it was quite a quick moving part and I wonder if this was deliberate so those who who saw the play may not recall too much so those who haven’t aren’t too disadvantaged IYSWIM?

We were also so blown away by the effects and I think I squealed like a 5 year old when I saw the demegorgan! 😁

DD Is desperate to see it again!