Divorcegate makes more and more sense the more I think about it...

Of course Leigh would write Jane trying to find who she is and escape from her gay boyfriend...

That's what Leigh was doing irl...

But then Leigh lost control and Ross decided to throw everything created out the window...

Wdym there's more to life than stupid boys? No... boys are life... it's that or she kills herself...

All of season 5 is heavily steeped in misogyny, racism, and homophobia. The Duffer Brothers have fallen so far down the Redpill pipeline that they're actively burning their lives to the ground. It would be sad to see if they didn't deserve it and the schadenfreude wasn't so good.

listen. i love this show. i do. i have spent years of my life thinking about children riding bikes and fighting interdimensional monsters. but if we’re being honest — and we are being honest — seasons 1 and 2 were the soul of stranger things. everything after that was… a brand.

and no, that is not me being nostalgic. that is me having EYES.

⸻

at its core, stranger things was about:

• weird kids

• outcasts

• small-town horror

• quiet dread

• government secrets

• and something deeply, deeply wrong under the surface

it was eerie.

it was slow.

it was mysterious.

it trusted the audience to think.

season 1 was basically:

what if your friend disappeared and nobody believed you but you knew something was wrong

season 2 was:

what if the kid who came back, came back wrong.

that is GOOD SHIT.

⸻

ask a random netflix viewer what their favorite season is and they will say season 3 with their whole chest.

why?

because season 3 is:

• colorful

• neon

• funny

• nostalgic

• full of montages

• full of jokes

• full of action

• and El is back to main character era

it is the most “easy to watch” season.

and here’s the thing no one wants to admit:

season 3 barely matters.

you could skip it and miss, like, three plot points and a russian subplot that goes nowhere emotionally.

the cast themselves have said it’s basically filler.

but it’s filler that feels good.

because capitalism doesn’t care about story — it cares about money.

⸻

season 2 is actually one of the best-written seasons.

it has:

• horror

• mystery

• possession

• emotional fallout

• real consequences

and it centers… Will.

and that’s why people hated it.

because Will is:

• quiet

• traumatized

• queer-coded

• not funny

• not powerful ( yet )

• not flashy

and the general audience hates that.

they wanted Eleven in her girlboss era.

they wanted cool outfits.

they wanted power fantasy.

instead they got:

a fragile boy crying and being possessed by an eldritch horror.

and people went:

ew. boring. crybaby.

meanwhile Eleven cries CONSTANTLY and nobody calls her annoying.

why?

because:

• she’s a girl

• girls are “allowed” to cry

• boys who cry are “cringe”

it’s literally gender stereotypes dressed up as fandom opinions.

⸻

this is where it gets juicy.

superfans loved season 2 because:

• it was scary

• it had lore

• it had mystery

• it built the world

they hate season 3 because:

• nothing changes

• nothing matters

• it plays it safe

the general audience is the opposite:

they hate season 2 because it’s “too slow”

they love season 3 because it’s “fun”

guess who netflix listens to?

the people with popcorn.

⸻

season 1 and 2 were weird.

they didn’t explain everything.

they trusted you to sit in the discomfort. after that i slept with a candle stick under my pillow! iykyk😉

season 3 and onward were:

here is a monster

here is a Steve

here is a joke

here are some Russians to hate

please don’t think too hard

because complicated storytelling doesn’t sell as well as:

bright colors + action + nostalgia.

the show stopped being about:

“what is happening in hawkins?”

Why are the demogorgons on a jet 2 holiday during the final battle?

and became:

“how can we make this look cool in a trailer?”

⸻

we started watching because:

• it was creepy

• it was sad

• it was about outsiders

• it felt real

now it’s a theme park ride.

Season 3 is so colorful and loud I half expect the Demogorgon to start doing the cha‑cha behind the mall.

and yeah, it’s entertaining.

but it’s not what it was.

⸻

stranger things didn’t get worse because the creators got dumber.

it got worse because:

capitalism hates subtlety.

it hates:

• slow burns

• queer sadness

• mystery

• emotional complexity

it loves:

• action

• nostalgia

• easy heroes

• simple stories that hints lmbtq because of ✨money✨.

and somewhere between season 2 and season 3, stranger things stopped being a story

and started being a product.

anyway.

i’m right.

reblog if you agree.

go cry about will byers with me.

"Byler was never in the cards" and you never saw a problem with creating a Cyrano trope with the painting if you weren't ever going to fulfill it, nor saw the issue with creating a beautifully shot scene with romantic lighting and one of the most beautiful soundtracks ever produced for the show for a scene where Mike literally calls Will innately magical and Will flirts back with him, nor saw the issue with making Will's self-acceptance involve him not being able to access his powers until the life of the boy he's been in love with for years was threatened where that could be interpreted as the ultimate romantic action that converted several GA members and even some Milevens to Bylerism because the scene literally recreated the Lego Bruce Wayne starstruck in love scene instead of having him save his mom where that action could not be interpreted as romantic because it's his mom

These subpar white men are bringing up Byler too often and protesting too loudly for it to read as anything but deflection. If Byler truly had never been considered, we would have only heard about it once. Likely by way of the Duffers being asked about it, and them giving a single diplomatic response:

"Mike and Will could have made a nice pair, but that was not our intention. We always meant for Will's arc to be about independence and for Mike to remain with El. But we love fan theories, and we appreciate the dedication our fans had to these characters!"

There is no reason for anyone to bring up Byler unprompted if it was never a consideration. And there would be no malice if it were a harmless fan theory. It's extremely poor form to mock and show outright contempt for fans - it's the quickest way to ensure your show and future projects have a much smaller audience and subsequently generate less profit.

They're attempting to belittle the ship and fans because it was planned. It was both in the cards and the clear endgame during S5 V1. The problem is that the plans were scrapped last minute, the show fell apart, and the finale was extremely poorly received across the board. And Bylers are the ones best equipped to both call this out (while furnishing hundreds of examples to back up their stance) and tank the careers of everyone involved. So they're attempting to scapegoat and discredit us. Which, ironically, is not working. It's simply making them look dumber as they continue to dig their own graves.

They've realized that this one decision not to go through with Byler tanked their ENTIRE SHOW and made it a titanic failure simply because they not only reverted back to the safety of Mileven that they decided to give absolutely no romantic chemistry for the last couple seasons - especially this one to the point that even the GA was generally wondering if they were even still together - and actively made every character hate on them, then built up Mike and Will having so much in common and the love Will expressed for Mike making Mike feel loved and appreciated for the first time, and even by Sorcerer started converting most of the GA and even some Milevens, but they also okayed Kate Trefry to create Patty Newby, a love interest for Henry Creel, both of whom paralleled Byler in the play and a whole ass article got published talking about their parallels before the rest of the season even dropped which called attention to it, only for the Duffers not to indulge in that backstory on the show because then they would also have to address the Byler connections and that effectively ruined the supernatural side of the plot, too. People can tell the direction the story was going was changed. It was a hard left turn from where Sorcerer left us, and then they almost got borderline homophobic with it because they started directing Finn not to touch Noah the way he's been doing all these years when playing Mike's character and cutting around the times when he did. And now the entire general audience was in with us on conformitygate because the finale was so fucking bad from all the clear rewrites they did that people hoped it was fake, and because the finale flopped, they're blaming us, deflecting, and trying to make us look stupid instead of taking any responsibility for their cowardice. Like- oh, I'm sorry, don't use mutually romantic tropes and parallels from within your show AND outside of it if you don't want the fans to expect more than the same fucking rejection and 2.5 seconds of epilogue boyfriend that we've all been accustomed to for years. It's not fucking rocket science.

They also got some of the actors to rally to their cause, putting their careers in jeopardy as well.

The Ned Flanders lookin' ass that plays Mr. Clarke is a nobody. He was barely in the show to begin with and he has the charisma of a sweaty jockstrap. Everyone in the world was going to forget he existed a month from now anyway, including his own mother probably.

Gaten, however, is sticking out his neck for absolutely no reason. The last people on this earth that I would fall on the blade for would be Matt and Ross Duffer, and I'd sooner defend maggoty roadkill than that shitshow of a finale.

The duffers tried so hard to be revolutionary writers that they ended up butchering their show in the process. They needed to have “crazy, out the box” ideas. They needed an ending that NO ONE would predict. They relied solely on shock value and innovation to carry their names throughout history, and sacrificed their storylines to do it.

They set up foreshadowing that never came to pass. They implemented common storytelling tropes, only to go against them in the same breath. They asked us to analyze the very details that actually meant nothing. Why? To “trick” us into guessing the wrong ending. They were the storytelling geniuses, and no one saw it coming.

But tropes are popular for a reason. Foreshadowing happens for a reason. Filmmaking works the way it does for a reason. Because it does work. It’s been proven for centuries. The duffers wanted to revolutionize television by destroying the foundation that it was built on

It's wild because they dug their own graves. No one finds what they did "subversive." Their final season ended up being boring, flat, pointless, and stupid. It destroyed everything they'd built up over the last decade and tanked the entire series.

There is no rewatchability. There is no purpose to any of the foreshadowing, plot points, or character arcs. Everything got thrown out the window during the final lap. The finale was nothing but nonsensical slop.

I know there are going to be people who are going to get all up in their feelings about this. "bUt ThEy ArE pOpUlAr wRiTeRs!!!11 SoMe pEoPlE wiLl WaTcH tHeIr SpInOfFs!!!1 And I liked when they took a steaming dump directly into my mouth." That's true. Some people will still watch any garbage they come out with. There are people who suffer from extreme FOMO and have zero standards.

But they are now associated with tanking one of the most popular shows in the final season - just like Game of Thrones is. People's expectations for them are literally in the gutter. When people watch their show, it's going to be with the assumption that it's trash and that they'll lose braincells watching it. It'll be a guilty pleasure like Jersey Shore or Honey Boo-Boo; something you watch for the sake of making yourself feel better because at least you're not as embarrassing as the people on your screen are.

Which is really sad. They had all of the tools necessary to stick the landing and ensure that their show had real staying power in pop culture. Oh well.

"Byler was never in the cards" and you never saw a problem with creating a Cyrano trope with the painting if you weren't ever going to fulfill it, nor saw the issue with creating a beautifully shot scene with romantic lighting and one of the most beautiful soundtracks ever produced for the show for a scene where Mike literally calls Will innately magical and Will flirts back with him, nor saw the issue with making Will's self-acceptance involve him not being able to access his powers until the life of the boy he's been in love with for years was threatened where that could be interpreted as the ultimate romantic action that converted several GA members and even some Milevens to Bylerism because the scene literally recreated the Lego Bruce Wayne starstruck in love scene instead of having him save his mom where that action could not be interpreted as romantic because it's his mom

These subpar white men are bringing up Byler too often and protesting too loudly for it to read as anything but deflection. If Byler truly had never been considered, we would have only heard about it once. Likely by way of the Duffers being asked about it, and them giving a single diplomatic response:

"Mike and Will could have made a nice pair, but that was not our intention. We always meant for Will's arc to be about independence and for Mike to remain with El. But we love fan theories, and we appreciate the dedication our fans had to these characters!"

There is no reason for anyone to bring up Byler unprompted if it was never a consideration. And there would be no malice if it were a harmless fan theory. It's extremely poor form to mock and show outright contempt for fans - it's the quickest way to ensure your show and future projects have a much smaller audience and subsequently generate less profit.

They're attempting to belittle the ship and fans because it was planned. It was both in the cards and the clear endgame during S5 V1. The problem is that the plans were scrapped last minute, the show fell apart, and the finale was extremely poorly received across the board. And Bylers are the ones best equipped to both call this out (while furnishing hundreds of examples to back up their stance) and tank the careers of everyone involved. So they're attempting to scapegoat and discredit us. Which, ironically, is not working. It's simply making them look dumber as they continue to dig their own graves.

so why is there no farewell press tour with the cast. why is it so quiet.

ChatGPT is shy and didn't want to appear in public.

Big respect for my boys Finn and Noah for making Byler canon despite what the script says and being stubborn punkasses determined to be gay or go home

Round of applause for them please

standing ovation 👏🏻

the fact that kali was viewed as entirely expendable.

the fact that when both el and kali collapsed, hopper grabbed el and left kali on the floor, giving us that gutting shot of her all alone in pain - and there’s no way of knowing if hopper would’ve gone back for her, had el not begged him.

the fact that in mike’s epilogue about el, he couldn't even imagine kali going along with el to see the waterfalls; that she's not even seen as important to el, just 'the mage's sister'. instead, her last bit of free will is used to help el escape, but she doesn't get to go with her.

the fact that no one thought to even carry kali out of the lab after she'd died, so they could at least bury her properly, instead of leaving her there, alone, on the lab floor in the fucking upside down.

the fact that so many people were there to help look out for el, but no one was there to look out for kali.

killing the duffers with my mind.

“does finn know he’s not supposed to be in love with will?”

no. no i don’t think he does. particularly after watching the doc. it’s so incredibly clear no one knew what was happening, even while filming, that i BELIEVE (no pun intended) that at this point they just Assumed that was the intention while shooting. like, possibly through 5e4.

Stranger Things Ending Betrays Its Own Values — and Its Fans

I’ve been thinking a lot about why watching V2 and the finale was so emotionally difficult for many of us. While the handling of Will, Mike, and El is a major part of it, the issue runs much deeper than any single storyline.

From the very beginning, Stranger Things has presented itself as a show that “shelters freaks and outcasts.” For years, it genuinely seemed committed to that mission and to the core values it claimed to uphold.

The final season, however, erased those values almost entirely. Instead of subverting tired, harmful tropes, as the show once promised, it doubled down on them. The ending stands in direct opposition to the principles the story was originally built on.

Despite claiming they didn’t want to cater to audiences, the creators ultimately did just that — only not for the fans who had spent years analyzing the narrative and engaging deeply with its themes. Instead, they catered to the general audience. Steve almost falling from the tower, his dynamic with Dustin, crude jokes, an overload of action scenes, and preserving “the main couple” despite their relationship having been intentionally non-romantic since the start of S4 — these are just a few examples.

Even setting aside the plot holes, contrivances, and unanswered questions, the season felt shallow for a show that once insisted every detail mattered. What we thought was a thoughtful, niche sci-fi horror story for nerds and outcasts was reduced to a cheap blockbuster imitation, stripped of its depth and meaning.

What’s even more troubling are the “lessons” the creators chose to convey through the story:

These messages were delivered through some of the show’s most prominent characters — characters whose arcs required genuine growth, payoff, and subversion of expectations. Instead, they were denied the very things the writers repeatedly told us they wanted most.

These are deeply harmful messages, especially given the show’s massive influence and the current state of the world. The creators chose shock value over care, regression over growth, and — ironically — conformity over integrity.

It’s also worth noting that the writers chose to introduce love triangles that did nothing for the overall plot but succeeded in dividing the fandom and fueling ship wars. That conflict wasn’t necessary for the story at all — it feels like it was added purely for spectacle. And that choice is exactly why they later claimed the ending wouldn’t satisfy everyone: they ensured it wouldn’t, and in doing so, managed to disappoint almost the entire fandom.

On top of that, the Duffer Brothers openly disrespected their most invested fans by dismissing them as “noise,” making promises they didn’t keep, and attempting to gaslight the most vulnerable portion of their audience — the ones who trusted them and believed in the arcs they themselves established.

The final season, particularly the last episode, turned our understanding of Stranger Things completely upside down. We believed in this show because we never expected its creators to become the villains of their own story. Our analyses and theories weren’t delusional — they were narratively sound, built from the groundwork the writers had laid themselves. We expected them to stay true to their story instead of retconning it. We expected the season to live up to its own hype. Most of all, we expected basic integrity.

Instead, they betrayed their values — and with them, our trust. They broke our hearts and turned a once-beloved story into something many of us can no longer even watch.

It’s devastating, especially because they had every opportunity to create something bold, meaningful, and genuinely revolutionary. They wasted that potential entirely.

No matter how compelling the plot once was, what they ultimately did to these characters and how they treated their fans makes it incredibly difficult to engage with this story anymore.

I truly hoped to part with Stranger Things on a good note. Maybe one day I’ll be able to look back and appreciate what it once was. But for now, it’s been fundamentally altered for me.

One thing that really bothers me as well is how they continued to push the fantasy of heterosexual romantic relationships to audience members who are desperate for romantic love but unlikely to ever receive it.

It is currently estimated that by 2030, half of American women between the ages of 15-55 will be single by choice, with Gen Z women representing the largest demographic within this figure. An estimated 80 percent of cishet Gen Z men will never pass on their genes due to their inability to find anyone interested in coupling with them.

The male suicide rate and depression levels are at an all time high. Redpill content is spreading like wildfire, further alienating these men and destroying them mentally and socially. There are over 7 million NEET males in the US alone. These are men who are unemployed, uneducated, isolated and living a frankly pathetic existence.

These men don't need to hear that they're owed relationships with women. They don't need to see male characters whose entire storylines revolve around having girlfriends. Most of these men are never going to be able to even befriend women in their current state. They will not have girlfriends. They will not get married. They will not have children.

What they needed to see was men improving their circumstances. Maintaining healthy friendships with other young men, learning new things, building communities, and growing mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Things that the young men in their audience could actually strive for and reasonably obtain.

Instead, they played on a fantasy that is completely out of reach for the majority of their cishet male fanbase. And real women are going to end up receiving the violence and backlash from the men who did not receive the relationships they were "promised" by the media.

Can't he just shut the fuck up?Is it that hard?

If someone who looked like Ned Flanders and had the personality of sentient jock itch liked me, I'd assume I'd fucked up in every aspect of my life and just commit suicide.

they rendered themselves incompetent

this has to be career suicide, right?

RIGHT????????

Paul Ditcher (who wrote the entirety of Sorcerer) making suggestions because there were a lot of plot holes and Duffer Brothers didn't gaf. Paul should've written season 5 on his own.

The leaking pipe innuendo is extremely distasteful towards Will (and Noah) if Mike is straight. Do they not realize that once again, Will is the butt of the joke?

We all saw what happened: two boys caught in a bathroom in a compromising position, a leaking pipe that won’t stop, and a washroom called Dick..... We are expected to laugh at the implications of being “caught in a bathroom,” suggesting that something improper is occurring. If the story were leading towards them ending up together, this could be interpreted as a chaotic romcom moment. However, since Will’s love remains unacknowledged and disrespected, the writers are simply adding another moment to laugh at Will’s unresolved desire, turning it into a gag.

For Will, the implications of this scene are not abstract; they reflect the very real fears, shame, and dangers associated with being queer in that era. Say what you want, but this scene does echo the experiences of queer people who were caught and exposed in private spaces during the 1980s.

Thus, the humor relies on the visual language of queer danger and intimacy, while the overall story fails to provide proper closure and resolution for Will’s longing and pain over multiple seasons. Since Mike does not reciprocate Will’s feelings, the use of this innuendo feels distasteful towards both Will and Noah. I hope Duffers never write queer characters again.

I hope the Duffers and their ChatGTP never write anything again.

Education systems are already declining globally, and most Americans already read below a sixth grade level. They don't need to lose additional braincells and grey matter by watching whatever nonsensical trash the Duffers pull out of their asses.

the noise that audience made when maya put will and mike under “cutest couple that never was” lives rent free in my brain because, from a film and tv perspective, that is the clearest possible indicator of general audience expectation. you don’t get that kind of palpable, unanimous reaction unless the text has been building a trajectory people subconsciously recognise. that’s storytelling language 101.

and honestly? the duffers fumbled history. i’m not being dramatic, i’m being academically accurate. they set up a romantic arc, primed the audience for it, and then acted shocked when people responded to the emotional grammar they themselves established. it’s wild to watch a show undermine its own cinematic logic like that.

If nerdy teenagers and adults with about a million other things going on in their lives are able to make theoretical endings to your show that are better than the actual ending that you spent three years and billions of dollars working on I wouldn’t show my face in public again ngl

i laughed

"You can't combine the horror genre with coming-of-age."

R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike built their entire writing careers by combining horror with coming-of-age. Many other horror authors throughout history have also combined the two. Including Stephen King, who the Duffers stole a considerable amount of their story from.

Subpar white men need to stop fucking talking.