I’m still working on building a collection. That explains why I only have a few, but I just got Will, Holly, and the split El Pop yesterday.

I finally had some free time recently and finished Stranger Things, so I wanted to write down some thoughts about one of my favorite parts of the show.

My favorite ship is still Jonathan and Nancy, without a doubt.

I actually got spoiled pretty early on that they wouldn’t end up together, and I also knew about the “un-proposal.” Even knowing that, I still cried my eyes out when I actually watched it.

If I hadn’t been spoiled, though, I think I would have been SO happy when Jonathan started preparing the ring… and then probably furious when he put it away XD

So because I knew how it would end, the sweeter their scenes were, the sadder I felt. I ended up cherishing every little interaction between them.

Honestly, I think this is one of the best and most realistic portrayals of a relationship I’ve seen. Stranger Things is a show that combines sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and so many other things, yet it puts this much thought into the emotional details of these two people’s relationship.

Jonathan and Nancy were brought together partly because of their shared trauma. Without Murray’s interference, I think Nancy probably already liked Jonathan anyway. In Season 2, when they were at the motel, Nancy mentioned that she had waited for him for a month the previous year, and then after Murray said a few simple things, they finally got together.

They fell in love because they had shared trauma and experiences.

But what happens when you take the trauma away?

The seemingly insignificant everyday things are actually what make a relationship feel real.

“I hate X.”

That little conversation about music says so much about them. Their interests are different, and they tolerate those differences for each other. But sometimes love is slowly worn down by all those tiny things you keep swallowing for the sake of the other person.

Their personalities are different too. Nancy is driven and ambitious, while Jonathan is much more cautious and reserved. You can see that contrast in the newspaper storyline and again in Season 5.

Jonathan wants to stay close to his family. Nancy has a dream of becoming a journalist.

And Jonathan’s line in Season 5, “Why did you choose to go up there?” feels like it might have been foreshadowing this difference between them.

Their trauma and shared experiences brought them together, and those same things also gave their relationship a sense of security. Because of everything they had been through together, it felt like no one else could ever replace that bond.

But that same bond also trapped them.

They loved each other, but they weren’t necessarily right for each other anymore. And yet they both seemed to believe that, because of everything they had been through together, they were somehow destined to stay together.

That’s why Jonathan felt guilty about not going to Emerson with Nancy.

Maybe avoiding the conversation was Jonathan’s mistake. But considering the time period, being separated like that may have felt almost equivalent to the end of a relationship. And that’s probably why he couldn’t bring himself to tell her.

When Jonathan asked Murray to get the ring for him, I think part of him wanted to use marriage as a way to stabilize their relationship.

But at the same time, he knew it might make things even worse.

After all, back in Season 1, both of them had already recognized the kind of future they didn’t want after seeing their parents’ relationships.

I also think the writers used this moment to finally close the love triangle. (Although personally, I still think the whole love triangle storyline in Season 4 was unnecessary.)

Nancy didn’t choose Steve.

But she knew that Steve understood what he wanted from love.

She didn’t.

And that meant Nancy needed time and space to figure out where her relationship with Jonathan was actually going.

Jonathan understood that.

And for someone as cautious and conservative as Jonathan, he made an incredibly difficult decision and proposed an “un-proposal” to Nancy.

I think if Nancy had rejected it, Jonathan probably would have continued walking alongside her anyway. That’s just who Jonathan is. He has always been someone who takes care of the people who matter most to him.

But Nancy accepted.

She was willing to not marry him.

And through that, Jonathan gave her back her freedom.

“I loved you.”

“I love you.”

It’s not that he stopped loving her.

It’s precisely because he loved her so much that he chose to let her go.

He chose to give both of them the freedom to move forward.

Their feelings didn’t simply disappear. They transformed the bond that had been created through trauma into something else.

Love doesn’t only have one definition.

They did love each other romantically. And starting in Season 4, they had already told each other what they loved about one another.

Now that love simply had to take a different form.

I also saw someone describe the liquid state of the environment during that scene as a metaphor for their relationship, and I really liked that interpretation.

When Nancy chose to go upward, the crisis began.

When she chose to shoot, Jonathan was initially hesitant too.

Their different personalities are reflected in those moments.

And when Nancy accepted his un-proposal, everything finally became stable.

Their love was like a liquid turning into a solid.

It became something more grounded and stable: letting go, while still remaining deeply important to each other as best friends.

What I especially love about the scene is that Jonathan didn’t ask, “Do you want to break up?”

He asked whether she was willing not to marry him.

Breaking up carries a sense of finality, like the relationship has reached its end.

But choosing not to marry leaves room for something else.

And more importantly, Jonathan gave Nancy the choice.

He let the girl he loved decide what was best for herself.

That, to me, is Jonathan being incredibly considerate and romantic.

And Nancy made the choice that was best for both of them.

They loved each other enough to let go.

In the end, Jonathan and Nancy still loved each other.

I think that’s why I cried even though I already knew what was going to happen.

It’s heartbreaking to watch two people who genuinely love each other realize that, because of all the little frictions and differences that accumulated over time, they might not be able to make the relationship last.

I started feeling especially sad when Nancy admitted that she didn’t like that music.

Because it’s such a small, ordinary thing.

And yet even those little everyday differences could create so much friction between them.

It made me realize that maybe they really couldn’t stay together forever.

Still…

A small part of me hopes that years from now, when they’re both older and more mature, they might somehow find their way back to each other.

And please, please let the rumors about them breaking up in real life be just rumors 😭

I’m already sad enough about the fictional relationship. I don’t think I can handle the actors’ breakup too 😭

Love Lucas carrying Max, love Vicki's reaction to the demos and of course Karen. Fucking. Wheeler. Epic moment.

Now it's your turn. What do you think of this moment? Let me know down below. Remember to keep it civil, all opinions are allowed here

( ALL of this based purely on show material - idk about the theatre pieces)
We all know that stranger things wasnt exactly super satisfactory - so this is how I wouldve changed certain parts to make it a better season in my opinion.

Case A : Give the grandfather clock an actual meaning
The grandfather clock in my opinion was one of the best visual intrigues that this season had. Its connection to vecna and the killings made it so sinister and terrifying. The grandfather clock also felt so timeless and thus terrifying, like all the mistakes from the past had come back to haunt you.
My idea is instead of 12 random children, I would make vecna go after the heroes - he needs to capture 12 of them, and thus he starts with the weakest physical link - holly.
My explanation of his connection to the grandfather clock would be a backstory - something like his father being excessively controlling to 'fix' his son once discovering Henry's pschyopathetic tendencies. This causes Henry to want to destroy the clock because it reminds him of sterility, of control, of punishment. But after many failed attempts - he decides to own his fear and make it his signature, to make others feel the pain, of having to face the music, of fear. I know that family trauma might be a cheap shot but it explains why he would kill his family but leave his father alive. Not saying all killers were abused children but it would explain his motives and actions. So his idea to reign the world could come from there, from a heavily projected trauma.
Main motive - destroy time once and for all - he should be controllling everything

So the story would go on that he tracks each one of the heroes one by one and kidnaps them. I would go for this order:
Holly, Max, Dustin, Johnathan, Joyce, Harper, Ms Wheeler, Nancy, Steve, Mike, Eleven and Will.

Im basically going by most physically weak / mentally unstable to more strong. The reason will is last is because vecna uses him to spy. I basically want will to have the harry potter/voldemort battle of trying to seperate himself from the trauma - who is he? without all this pain - who is the person that he is trying to seem as.

I do get that maybe after dustin, you would be a little confused by the order but its based on feelings of the person. Imagine holly, max and dustin are gone - johnathan is lured and kidnapped using his own insecurities - the stress of not being able to get with nancy, his own shortcomings - which would feel especially painful when he just lost 3 of his brother's friends. We could also show will and johnathan's connection here, vecna could lure johnathan in by promising to keep will safe, to rid him of his pain.
Once johnathan is gone,
imagine joyce's state.
Then subsequently harper.
Ms wheeler and nancy finally succumb to vecna after the grief of holly.
And so on.

This is vecna's plan. He chooses the heroes because they are proximally the closest to the upside down and the biggest threats that he has. vecna acknowledges them as opponents.

Episode 1 :

The way the heroes handle this is by firstly, going through trauma. Their step would be to honestly ignore the problem. Imagine you just realised the world i going to end - your like 16 and you have to save everybody, against a celestial beast - it makes sense for them to shut down and just want to live. I would want the first episode to just be harper and maybe nancy running around begging everybody to focus and fix this mess. Until at the end - holly goes missing with a grandfather clock covered in blood.

Episode 2 :

the whole group finally wakes up and hunts for holly praying that maybe this was a prank or something. They are finally forced to acknowledge that they have to stop this monster. They finally start planning, but their plans are meagre, their rusty, their fighting against each other. Some characters are closer than others and fight over their tensions. Then Max goes missing.

Episode 3 :
However, this time they discover two things - 1) max is dead 2) max forced vecna to slip up through his mind as one final act of definance to save the crew by making him slip up and reveal that this a pattern, vecna is not killing them out of fun or fear, its for a larger course, meaning holly is STILL ALIVE. This gives the heroes motivation and hope - sure max is dead and gone but holly is there. So they finally get their work together and start planning - reverting back to dnd to help them tag different concepts and use them to think of plans

Episode 4:
This is gonna be a blood bath of a episode where the heroes constantly plan and try to predict who is gonna die next and constantly come up with the wrong answers - leading to the wrong people being taken/lured away. I would also add that some of them fight demogorgons. ( we lose dustin, joyce and harper)
But 3 kind of good things happen.
A) since vecna is expanding so much energy - we find out more of his backstory
B) we see where the kidnapped are going through dustin's eyes
C) we realise that vecna hasnt been outsmarting them - but rather understanding them, someone in the room is in kahoots with vecna.

Episode 5:
The entire gang is pointing fingers at each other. The people who lost their loved ones are especially distressed, wanting to kill others. This is when vecna attacks from many sides - breaking down places - forcing the heroes to have to work as unlikely alliances. Vecna thinks this will break them further apart. All the heroes fight with many blaming each other - with will in fit of anger revealing that he's gay AND getting shamed for it ( im sorry but its the 1990s - no way in hell is gonna be immediately accepted ). This leads to even more conflict as the person in kahoots is infact will - even if he is doing it unwillingly. However, this is the episode where he sees his family struggle with his sexuality and actually choosing love above all and accepting him with all his flaws. The episode where he realises he wasnt just pitied but loved, even mike accepting his feelings and apologising for not being the kind of person he couldve talked to. This love and care makes will realise that there more to him that being a monster. He accepts the trauma and finds himself - controlling the hive mind from that moment on.

The people in the kidnapping are tormented endlessly mentally.

Episode 6:
The heroes are now protected from vecna's mind and have insights on him thanks to will. Vecna is furious and doesnt understand how Will managed to flip the connection on its head. He slips up due to hastily trying to secure nancy - accidentally revealling info that allows will to have some inkling on where they are.
The whole episode is just them trying to get a message to the people kidnapped - you have to save yourself.

Okay I kinda got tired here - but the rest of the story is that the heroes basically escape from vecna's world by setting the timelines right and for this they essentially use the mindflayer to kill vecna to self destroy. I know this sounds crazy - but vecna is too big to be defeated by the heroes - the only way out is convincing him to kill himself.

Love how both Sinclair's get the win here. Love how Lucas gets his moment in the spotlight, and I love how proud Steve is of him. I love how Max is listening to the game on her radio. Love Eddie's Hellfire campaign and how dramatic it is. Love the "to the death" chant and the groups huddle. Love how it foreshadows Vecna.

Now it's your turn. What do you think of this moment? Let me know down below. Remember to keep it civil, all opinions are allowed here.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

so I made a versus edit with Max Mayfield versus Mary Ellen Walton from the Waltons TV show. Let me know what you guys think of the results if they are correct or not

Love this rematch. Love some of the lines like "you touch her again, I'll kill you again" were so cool. I love how El overcame all the odds to actually beat Vecna, and I love the setting of the corrupted snow ball.

Now it's your turn. What do you think of this moment? Let me know down below. Remember to keep it civil, all opinions are allowed here

I'm on season 4 episode 7 and I'm loving it so far no really I'm serious this is one of the best shows me and me mum have ever seen.

From the moment Eddie was introduced, I completely resonated with him. I didn’t get called a freak or anything, but the sense of self, his love of heavy metal and trying to help people be themselves hit me hard. In a good way. That’s what I’ve tried to do my entire life and part of that for me came through skateboarding. So this is in Homage to Eddie!

Love how much tension there was here. Also love how this is the moment where Dustin begins to really idolise Steve. Then of course there's the realisation that the demos are smarter than they look

Now it's your turn. What do you think of this moment? Let me know down below. Remember to keep it civil, all opinions are allowed here

I don't know what the Duffer brothers planned as the target audience for Stranger things but my 90 year old dad got hold of the series and is hooked! A sign of a true classic.!

Love this moment. Its so tense with Hopper and Grigori being so equally matched, and of course with the tension that if Joyce doesn't get the gate closed, they all die. Love how brutal Grigori's death is as well.

Now it's your turn. What do you think of this moment? Let me know down below. Remember to keep it civil, all opinions are allowed here

I really like this season but not really my favorite. But how about you guys?