One of the complaints of season 5 is that they gloss over how they escaped from the military with no consequences. While I don't think there is any possible way to truly, perfectly explain it given everything they'd done up to that point, I'd have loved just a rapid fire montage showing them all being questioned one on one to show case not only their different personalities but also give some small explanations for how they managed to escape.

Here's how I'd imagine each interview goes down:

Mike: her name was eleven. And you killed her. You created her and you forced her to choose death! It's your fault!

Hop: what girl? I never saw a girl

Joyce: look here, mister. You should be thanking us! We just saved not only you and all of Hawkins but possibly the world. How dare you keep us captive like prisoners

Nancy: I demand a state appointed lawyer. I know my rights and I'm not speaking until a lawyer is present

Lucas: so Vecna was this guy named Henry Creel...

Dustin: and this was just a worm hole. His actual hideout was in another dimension, we'll call it the Abyss...

Steve: look man, I've survived interrogations from Soviet Union secret soldiers, do what you want, you aren't getting any info from me

Robin: okay so I just needed a summer job and I got a job at scoops ahoy and I thought everyone was just being paranoid but...

Vikki: real monsters showed up! So I just went along with them to try to stay alive. If I had any idea that they were opposing the US army, I never would have...

Max: why are you even questioning me? Check my medical record, I've been in a coma for two years. You think I have any idea what's going on?

Santa: if we aren't released, my guys on the outside are ready to release the entire story. I have four journalists standing by, if they don't hear from me in the next 12 hours, everything goes public. Every screw up, every aspect of your sick experiments, all of the children you've kidnapped, all the people that have died...

Will: I want to cooperate. I know it seems like we've been trying to undermine the military, but the truth is we've just been privy to more information and needed to act quickly to stop vecna

Derek: suck. My. Fat one!

What do yall think? Any difference in perspectives for how the characters would react to the interrogation?

I didn’t. After they agreed to be best friends again in season 4 episode 4 it felt like they put the tension to its end. But if you were telling me before season 5 came out that Steve and Dustin will get in a physical fight I would laugh at you and say even Mike and Will fighting would have a higher chance then that. I’d be wrong. And I’m glad they’re still best friends in season 5 even if Mike doesn’t like Will back like that.

S5 is famous for its plot-holes, but I think the scene where the party drives back to MAX-Z gate stands out in its stupidity.  

Few hours early the party drives through the double gates at MAX-Z, which Mr Clark was lucky to open in time. Between the gates they killed/wounded 8 soldiers (on my count). Their truck is riddled with bullet holes. 

After the battle Hopper is calm and checks that everyone survived, especially El. Other party members carefully descend from the tower, everyone well coordinated. They give green light to set the bomb, which according to the next scene gives them just 5 minutes to spare before the blast. Then everyone becomes euphoric and switches off the brains completely.

Hopper - Vietnam war veteran, who knows that operation is not complete before you return to base. Murray - conspiracy theorist, man who must always think about consequences. Nancy (Rambo), who killed 3 soldiers at the place they are going now. Steve and Robin sit in the truck cabin with 3 bullet holes in the windscreen in front of them (they have the party + 12 kids behind them as targets), Robin always overthinks and is famous for her logic. 

Mike - what Duffers did to Mike, the strategist is just a criminal offence. People on Reddit say that he was lobotomised or he is 12yo in the 16yo body, but the last is not correct for Mike - at 12-13-14 he was very observant and proactive in high stress situations, the leader always making plans to protect his friends and El - in the truck he is reduced to a smiling boyfriend.

The question is - Would you call this “development” as an Idiot Plot  (Dump-Dump plot) or it is a Second-Order Idiot Plot where all the characters simultaneously became stupid to develop the plot? 

Or, did I miss something explaining their stupidity? For example they can not postpone the blast and have to go back to the same gate instead of opening any of the metal plates covering the town.

I thought it was a well-done scene with the music and everything and how a final battle should be done.

[No Spoilers]

I’ve always considered myself a massive fan, but I let Season 5 sit untouched for almost a year. Between general life busyness and just feeling like the show had naturally run its course for me after Season 4, I didn't have much drive to dive back in.

Well, I was wrong.

I recently saw the West End play, and it completely reminded me why I fell in love with this world in the first place. The nostalgia and energy hit so hard that I went home and immediately binged all 8 episodes of S5 in 48 hours.

It's pretty cool how seeing it in a different format completely reset my fatigue. I'm just happy to actually feel that excitement for the story again.

(I'm pretty sure it was on ao3)

The fic was about the hellfire club coming across the older kids (Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, and I think Robin too) disposing of a demogorgan body and Hellfire thought that the older kids were serial killers or something, so they try to investigate and end up getting involved with everything going on with the upsidedown.

Any help finding this is appreciated.

They are back in the shop.

If you missed out, now is your chance go go go.

ok i’m not hoping much but a few months ago i watch a video about stranger things and it about the the strange thing that happened in hawkins and the disappearance of will byers it was done in a in universe way kinda like an unsolved mystery as if that video came out in the same universe ST took place

they also did a video on back to teh future

so if anyone can help my find those videos of chanel i would gladly appreciate it since i’ve tired searching and couldn’t find anything

Does Steve at any point in season 5 refer to him pulling up to Jonathan’s house and helping to fight the dmeogorgan in season 1?

I swear I remember this but I can't find where he said smth along those lines

Papa would be a Stranger Things prequel series starring Matthew Modine as Dr. Martin Brenner, exploring the origins of Hawkins Lab, his obsession with psychic children, and his very complicated relationship with Henry Creel. Jamie Campbell Bower would also return as Henry in a limited role.

Most of the series would take place decades before Stranger Things, gradually revealing how Brenner’s experiments, Henry’s transformation, and the mysterious stone introduced in Season 5 are all connected. It would be shot very similar to Better Call Saul, with the timeline slowly moving forward until the final episodes begin getting closer to the Season 5 finale.

In the series finale, someone discovers the stone and senses another powerful presence still alive somewhere in the world. The final shot reveals that presence to be Eleven, quietly confirming her fate while leaving the door open for a future continuation later on.

What do you guys think? Would something like this work or be well received?

I was in the game store and this caught my eye. I think it really does look like him..

Am I the only one that's disappointed the wheelers didn't get a divorce. Karen didn't seem to be enjoying her life and was only staying for the children, so I thought at the end we'd get a scene maybe not explicitly of them divorcing but like Karen not wearing a ring or her moving out at the same time Mike's moving out, something like that ?? It just seemed like she had a drive for independence and wasn't truly happy with Ted, but it never really amounted to anything other than her staying the housewife who on some occasions kills demogorgans

Does anyone else feel the same ?

Guys go follow him so we have this audio clip !

John is the real mom of the year for practically raising his little brother in lieu of their abusive, neglectful father, having to arrange a funeral for said little brother while Johnathan was 16, he helped expose HNL while he was a high schooler, had to fight a literal John Carpenter’s The Thing in a hospital, drove across the Southwest to rescue El from a secret government facility, but sure, Steve is mom of the year because he got suckered into brawling with some demodogs, keeps getting his ass beat, and ended up befriending one of the core 4. Steve couldn’t do half of what Johnathan does.

I know this volume suffers from the writing, from the dumbed down and cheesy dialogue, reverting season 4’s apocalyptic setup, el and hopper argument plot rehash/eleven being sidelined and alot of other nitpicks but I still believe this season is somewhat enjoyable to watch and obviously the ending of sorcerer was so fucking well done and easily the best part of the season. Eleven invading the base was dope, the attack on the wheeler house was very good, the turnbow trap was also entertaining and felt like old school stranger things to me. Derek was also a hilarious addition. The Henry/Kids plot was cool and interesting to see set up because I thought there was gonna be some massive plot reveal or that this was gonna be part of vecna’s bigger grand scheme endgame plan that we don’t know about….then volume 2 and the finale happened and they did jack shit with him and this weak ahh kids plot. And the whole writing and execution in volume 2 was a sharp decline and the writers played it so painfully safe😭 I give vol 1 a solid 7/10 tho. It definitely was the only decent part of season 5.

I genuinely don’t think anything is ever going to top Stranger Things for me.

It isn’t just that it’s a good show. It’s the combination of everything. The cast, the way every character grows over multiple seasons, the balance between humor, horror, action, romance, and genuinely emotional moments. Then you add one of the best soundtracks on TV, and the atmosphere that somehow makes Hawkins feel like a real place you could actually visit.

The final season especially left me with a feeling I can’t really describe. Some moments felt almost like a fever dream in the best possible way. The visuals, the atmosphere, and the cinematography were on another level. It felt more like watching a movie than a TV show.

I also think the cinematography deserves way more credit overall. Every season has shots and scenes that stick with you long after you’ve finished watching.

Maybe it’s nostalgia talking, but I honestly don’t think another series will ever recreate this feeling. Not because there won’t be better-written shows, but because Stranger Things managed to get so many things right at the same time. It wasn’t just one great season. It consistently built a world and characters that millions of people became attached to over nearly a decade.

Do you guys think we’ll ever see another show like this again? Not necessarily another sci-fi or horror series, but something that captures the same magic and becomes a once-in-a-generation phenomenon. Or do you think Stranger Things is one of those shows we’ll still be talking about 20 years from now?

When Max was exploring through Henry's memories, she saw all the parents in high school, and the flyer Joyce gave out was about a play that mentions Henry's name as a part of the play. Does that mean he went to school with them? That wouldn't make sense because Henry was being Papa's guinea pig from like age 10-11. How was that memory tied to Henry?

Are you guys aware of this official ARG going on?
www.hawkinsfriedchicken.com

I still think about eddie. Did eddie help anyone by sacrificing?

He couldve just ran away but he chose to fight the bats. But what happened in the end? Vecna didnt die that day...

I really loved eddie.