re: Stranger Things S5 - Volume 2

The best of the end.

- Mom hacking off Venca's head
- Mind flayer was a bad arse looking monster
- Will being the storyteller and his story about 11
Eta. The nerds stayed with DnD ending was cool.
Respect.


Yeah, it was super cheesy, but hey
That's the 80's.

Fun ride override.

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Joyce ending him was great . Homegirl definitely deserved the chance to deliver the final blow

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Dullest.

Axe.

EVER.

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Are we to take anything from the number of waterfalls El sees at the end. Mike always said he was going to take her to a place with 3 Waterfalls. But there are only two when it shows El. If it were just in Mikes head wouldn’t there be 3 waterfalls or am I overthinking this.

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There are 3. The first is visible on the left as El is coming up the hill, then 2 more visible at the crest for the big overhead shot.

What was really bugging me was the can of New Coke in front of the cooler when the older kids are on top of The Squawk, making their plans to reconnect soon.

Ain't no way that in May of 1989 that you'd be able to find a can of New Coke anywhere, much less Hawkins. iN. They established at the beginning of the season that Coca-Cola Classic was a thing, having supplanted New Coke from Season 3/1985.

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wtf happened to the hive mind. People just walking all over the shite in the building and nothing happening.

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Yeah, I picked up on that. Tentacles/vines stepped on left and right.

After the big gay outing I was expected this last episode to be pure crap, but it was way better than I expected.

I know the people who feel like everything has to be realistic will shite all over it though.

Really good finale

I enjoyed it

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So is this guy a troll or someone who has a weird unhealthy obsession with this show?

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He watched it in his cuck chair :)

I think El and Kali are both alive. Kali being shot was an illusion so Hopper would think she’s dead and tell everyone else. Then fake 11’s death later so everyone would think both are dead so them and their friends could live their life’s in peace separately

Best guesses at answers:

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Like, you spent your core, formative years physically and mentally battling interdimensional demons, the military, the town itself who’d demonized you, etc. But now Vecnas gone and the portal is closed so a year and a half later everyone is just… fine now. No lingering PTSD? Robin, Jonathan, Dustin all go to college, Will finds love in Milwaukee (can’t imagine this will be an impossibly difficult thing to explain to an SO), Max lost her brother violently and spent an extended period trapped in a trance but no lingering issues there?

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Oh, I think the mental abuse would reverberate for the rest of their lives. We see that as much in Jonathan, Steve, Robin, and Nancy being back together and wanting to stay in touch. They have shared trauma and are a bit unable to fully break away from what they were. I'd presume that same would be true for the others.

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- so the military just… left? Just shrugged their shoulders and said “oh well we tried” and is now leaving the whole cast alone despite the dozens of soldiers they killed? And all the money sunk into secret labs, everything learned by the US and the Soviets about the existence of wormholes and threats, just walking away with no reprisal or any apparent presence in the town?

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It's the military, not the police. I can only assume at a certain point, continued action/punishment was thought to be more trouble than rewarding. Presumably, they could only deal with Hopper by recalling him and them court-martialing him. The others would need to be turned over to the police for charges or kept in federal custody and then charged in federal court; neither is great at keeping things quiet and out of the public eye.

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- how is anyone still living in that town? How has everyone not been relocated and involved in some government program? Dozens of kids were abducted and brutally/invasively assaulted and pumped with mind flayer spores, an entire hospital witnessed demos and their destruction, a lot of the physical buildings were fricked up at the end of season 4 and there are giant tunnels now all under the infrastructure. Why is anyone still choosing to/allowed to live there at this point, let alone act like all is well?

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Again, forcing everyone out brings even more attention to the situation which leads to more questions. If people want to stay, it's best to keep the status quo and let things blow over. As for people, I presume more are like Mr. Wheeler in the early season - a bit patriotic and so set in their ways to the point of being oblivious.

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- so… what is the rock thing that connected Henry to the abyss/flayer and where did it come from? Clearly originated from a government lab and was stolen but did it fall from space? What is it and how did it get there and why?

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I believe it's tied to the stage play. I think it was tied to the Philadelphia Experiment transportation(?) which involved Brenner's father and led to Brenner doing his own experiments. That led to the spy stealing it and Henry finding it and then Henry getting possessed/controlled and subsequently pulled into Brenner's work.

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- so… what is the mind flayer exactly?

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It's like the D&D explanation from season 2. Ancient, evil entity that wants to take over things because . . .

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Did it know kids were easily manipulated before Henry made contact or did it use Henry’s experience to inform its plans to merge the worlds?

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I think the plan progressed from:
El opens gate -> Will kidnapped and eventually captured (perhaps the others who disappeared were also captured and experimented on?) -> Will saved and acting Demogorgon destroyed -> Attempt at subversion through more growing Demodogs/Demogorgons ->Stopped and gate shut -> Russians open gate -> New plan to gain power of El to open permanent gates (and potentially stop El's interference) -> MF loses again but Vecna gains info on how to open lasting gates -> New plan to open large gate (possibly part of a new plan to merge the worlds?)

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- Once Vecna/the flayer died, why would Eleven still have powers?

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Her powers don't come from being in proximity to Vecna/MF/Hive Mind like Will. Hers are apparently innate from her mom being dosed with Henry's blood.

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Wouldn’t the kids have been in pain same as Will when Vecna was hurt because they were literally tethered to the hive mind?

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Good question - maybe they were protected by being in the unconscious state while intubated with vines

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- guess all the pregnant women that were using Kali as a blood donor for got sucked into space when the upside down was destroyed?

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Kali said they were dying from her blood. Presumably they were dead by the time the Upside down collapsed; the timeline of when she tried to escape is unclear.

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- where did all the meat and viscera and horns that made up the final flayer come from?

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Best guess - that's where all the Upside Down/Abyss creatures went.

Well at least it was her. She was awful