My Vietnamese immigrant mother just said to me,

"yeah the ending was alright, pretty good... but... I thought those two guys were gonna end up together" 😭

"I thought at the end they were going to say something" talking about them in the basement 😭

You can end the cycle El! You don’t have to kill yourself to release yourself from the trauma of abuse!

Kills herself

Look for these signals! Complete these steps! You can love yourself AND be loved! You’re not “different” and you WILL fall in love!

Literally nothing happens

“Mike is a skater rockstar boyfriend!” he’s a league of legends player that has d&d sessions over on discord and would probably break all of the bones in his body if he ever decided to get on a skateboard

Will became orange

queerbaited so hard i cried to my mom about it

How does a beloved show lose its soul? How can a decade-long anthem of outcasts become a Marvel Endgame cash grab catering to the GA? How can you fail your audience AND your characters in only one season?

The answer to that is simple: we have largely overestimated the Duffers. They have never cared about us. They lied to us and we believed them. They wrote the show about themselves and for themselves but WE, real outcasts, gave it meaning, soul and LIFE.

1. Since the conception of Stranger Things The Duffers have talked about how much the show mirrors their experiences.

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In their childhood/teenage years they felt like outcasts who "did not belong", so they wrote a story reflecting on that and empowering the feeling of being different and not conforming.

This sentiment was passed down to the actors who actively preached this idea to the masses.

In the 2017 Sag Awards speech David Harbour emphasized this point and promised that the show's core theme is protecting and fighting for the marginalized groups.

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And we believed them. Oh how we wanted that to be true. We, freaks, nerds, queers, neurodivergents, outcasts, those bullied, ostracized and othered, were relieved that we finally have a show representing us, protecting us, sympathizing with us.

And that was our downfall.

2. The Duffers weaponized bigotry under the guise of protection.

Based on their own lives and experiences, they wrote a story that is deeply personal to them: a story of boys who were bullied for their looks and playing DnD, a story of boys whose crushes didn't love them back, boys who hated school and dreamed of showing a middle finger to their principal.

It was never meant to be bigger than this.

Female characters were used to motivate the core four, traumatized victims were never meant to heal, queer characters were never supposed to get flashed out interests.

Because that has never been the Duffers' priority. They wanted to create a coming-of-age narrative about themselves.

Why did Henry, El and Kali get these horrible devastating endings? Because they were a means to an end. The supernatural aspect of the story had to be left behind in order for the boys to "grow up". These characters became sacrificial lambs. They were slaughtered because they have always been plot devices.

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Byler didn't happen for the exact same reason. It was never meant to be considered more than just a macguffin.

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3. We cared so deeply for these characters that we gave them meaning. We developed them more than the writers.

We were so attached to them that now these post s5 interviews feel like a slap in the face.

Misogyny, ableism, racism, homophobia. That's what the fans are facing now. Those nerds and freaks that you're supposed to fight for are being bullied online for caring about the characters the Duffers created. For looking for details and clues in the show that tells us 'I don't believe in coincidences', 'pay attention'.

And the worst thing? They encourage this behavior.

They literally admit that – the plot is there for shits and giggles. Nothing matters. It’s not that deep.

The decapitation of the first victim of the Mind Flayer was a fanservisy 'fuck yeah' moment. Yes, the main characters reflect on their trauma there. What about Henry Creel though? Is his trauma not important enough to show explicitly? Should we not sympathise with him at all?

"I guess so!" Whose show is that, Matt Duffer?

They even laughed at theorists and fans in the goddamn show.

Where does it leave us?

Henry Creel enjoyers, El and Kali fans, Bylers, Mike Wheeler has character development truthers, time travel theorists, inconsistencies are not production errors believers, we were not delusional. We just interpreted the show differently, and frankly, quite better than the actual writers.

It’s a shame the show didn’t live up to its full potential and turned out to be an incel escapism fantasy. I hope one day we’ll get to see an actual media designed to stand for the outsiders.

"I mistook  stars reflected in a pond at night for those in the sky" Andrzej Sapkowski, The Time of Contempt 

Why the Duffers are bad Writers?

They had a really good concept, very interesting characters which a lot of people could relate to, and they are really good at taking cool shots, they know how film making works, they can make a scene look really good & epic.

Despite all this, I don't know how they managed to fuck up so bad. There are so many mistakes in their writing:

Season 1:

• How the hell did Will communicate with Joyce in S1. We understand how the light communications work & that upside down is stuck in Nov 6 is S4. Given that, it is impossible for Will to use the lights to talk with Joyce. How did Will know where exactly were the letters written on the wall by Joyce. They could have tried to make this make sense in S4 but they didn't.
• Who the hell opened the lock of the door when kidnapping Will. We know it wasn't demogorgan (because Duffers said in an "interview") I know we can tell it was probably Vecna but they could've at least shown that as a 5 second recap at the end of S5 Ep4.

Season 2:

• They didn't address what happened to Will's dog (I know this is not important but it shows that they didn't pay attention to a lot of things while writing. They said they just set up a little gravestone in the Byers yard, which idk if it's even true.)

Season 3:

• There was a big ass monster running around the town & somehow nobody saw it. You're telling me everyone was busy celebrating 4th of July.

Season 4:

• They set up that songs are therapeutic and very important to escape Vecna's mind prison in S4 & then threw that out of the window in S5.
• Does Vecna have a connection with his grandfather clock or was it just for the aesthetics? That was such a big thing in S4 & now it's just nothing.
• The Gate by Russians was closed at the end of S3 (July 85) and the next time a gate opens is after Chrissy die (Mar 86). How did in between these times did the Russians have living Demogorgans/Demodogs? How were they still alive even after the Gate closed?

Season 5:

• I don't know a single person who knew Jancy brokeup until Duffers said it.
• Max had no reaction to Hopper being alive.
• Bffs El & Max reunion was shit.
• Joyce forgot that Will was 12 when he was kidnapped not 11.
• There is no follow up on the painting Will gave Mike.
• The Duffers forgot Will's birthday in S4 (RIP birthdaygate)
• According to them, a strong female lead can't be independent and also have a good romantic relationship.
• They ruined Mike's character.
• Will's coming out scene. Joyce, Jonathan & Mike should have been the only ones in that scene. At most, Dustin, Lucas, El & Max. Everybody else was unnecessary.
• Comparing Mike to Tammy which is such a bad comparison.
• They didn't show us what happened after El disappeared. Did the millitary just let everyone go? Why didn't they question the group about what was happening?
• So Kali was injured, lost a lot of blood & then El went to the Abyss to fight with the others for Idk how long. It was at least 30 minutes (AT LEAST) & then they came back. Somehow she was conscious through all this time & managed to make El vanish.
• Also El didn't give a fuck about Hopper. He still doesn't know she could be alive. She could have also told Hopper something like she told Mike.
• We still don't know the motive behind MindFlayer's plan to collapse two worlds. They said in, I think S3 or 2, that it was "a monster from an unknown dimension whose ultimate goal is to spread & take over other dimensions" but this was in DnD game. They didn't give any explanation for it's motive or goal in the series. And Duffers said it themselves, it's not a DnD campaign. If I had to guess, I'll say it's because Mindflayer wanted to... Idk eat people on our planet because the Demogorgans/dogs/bats weren't tasty?
• Which reminds me that there is not a single Demogorgan, the main villain of S1, or any Demodogs/bats to seen around. Not in the upside down, not in the Abyss. They just disappeared because they were not needed for the plot anymore.
• The military didn't give a shit about the supernatural things happening in Hawkins? They just wanted to get El's blood to create more like her & fight the Russians. Millitary still has no idea about the existence of Vecna.
• What was the reason behind 12 kids? How is the no. 12 significant.
• The main Fight scene of S5 was not creative at all. They just copied what they did in S3.
• The Mind Flayer was also very disappointing because it looked just like the one in S3.
• How the hell did all the characters climb up the canyon in a few minutes.
• Joyce, Hopper knew Henry but this was never talked about.
• All this time, were the Turnbow family just chilling in the barn? And did they not sue for being kidnapped, held hostage. Also their home was destroyed. Nothing about them was shown.
• Byler Bones, Jancy Bones, Mileven Bones, Stancy Bones, Rovickie Bones, Duzie Bones.

The First Shadow:

• Any person who hasn't seen the play, doesn't know who the person with the suitcase in the cave was or how & where did that person found that stone.
• When that person was scared & accused Henry that, "They sent you." The general audience still has no idea who 'they' are.
• What was Brenner's motive? Why did he start this project? Only people who saw the Play would know answers to these. At least they could have given us a little summary about the play in the series. Or just release the damn play on Netflix.
• Also the First Shadow & Series are contradictory. In the play Henry was transported to dimension X (the abyss) for 12 hours & got his powers. Nothing like that happened in the series.
• In the play, Henry was (16-17) in highschool when he killed his mom & sister. In the show he is 12 when this happens.

The use of plot armour was over abused, which is just bad writing. They gave plot armour to every single main character.

• In S1, Hopper infiltrates the lab and gets caught but instead of killing Hopper, they bugged his house, safely put him back & called it a day. They killed Benny without any reason & hesitation. They could make a fake body of Will. You're telling me they couldn't have faked Hopper's death or faked him moving away from Hawkins.
• Our main characters had no idea about how much time it would take for the merging or how it would even happen. Yes, they have a lot of nerds in the group but the thing they are talking about is totally theoretical & they have nothing or no time to even check if their plan would work. And for some reason, everyone agrees with this plan & thinks it's genius. But it all worked out because the writers wrote it like that.
• And I'm not a science freak, but even I know that if two planets are that close to each other, it will disrupt the gravitational force & magnetic field of both of them. Nothing like that happened because it's magic or was needed for plot convenience.
• Let's not forget how Joyce & Murray just went to Russia & rescued Hopper from the KGB!!
• Mike was hit in the head in S3. He looked like he broke his arm & was blasted away by Vecna in S5 . And for some reason he is still fine. Does he have super healing abilities?
• Same for Joyce, she was thrown away by Vecna & she seems fine a few minutes later.
• Will is only hurt by the Hive Mind when needed by the writers. He felt it when Henry's hand got shot. He didn't feel anything when the whole thing got blown up with fire & died.

Props & other Problems:

• Dial changed from grey to red.
• All the blue & yellow symbolism.
• What was the significance of Nov 6?

After writing all this, I feel stupid to think that the Duffers were geniuses.

Duffers can't write good characters, relationships & even plots. They drew parallels from so many different shows & movies for a lot of emotional scenes. Every good plot that they have written was a copy of some 80s movies or shows.

This show may have started for outcasts, minorities & freaks like us but in the end we all lost.

anyway, don't be a stranger

.

willel and mitski? oh just kill me