Spoilers Stranger Things Season 5 - SPOILERS

[Ryujin]

It does seem like we’re getting some of that this season. I think we will get a bit more – they need to solve the mystery of why Henry is afraid of the cave so they can use that weakness against him.

I'm pretty sure that we already got that. It's because of what it lead to. That would be pretty damned traumatic for anyone, let alone a kid.

 

[pukunui]

I'm pretty sure that we already got that. It's because of what it lead to. That would be pretty damned traumatic for anyone, let alone a kid.

If you’re familiar with the stage play, you’ll know that’s not it. They teased us with Boy Scout Henry opening the dead man’s case but haven’t yet showed us what happened next.

The ball of exotic matter above the Upside Down version of the lab is another clue.

Spoiler

In the play, it’s revealed that Dr Brenner’s dad was part of the Philadelphia Experiment, with USS Eldridge briefly traveling to Dimension X (aka the Abyss).

Dr Brenner is obsessed with opening a new portal to the Abyss. Prior to the Hawkins Lab experiment, he had an experiment set up in that desert cave. Henry stumbled across it, ended up in the Abyss, and got genetically mutated by the mind flayer.

The mind flayer also got into his brain, slowly turning him more and more evil. Dr Brenner did some tests on him, and it was the mind flayer who convinced him to murder his mother because she was threatening to hand him over to Dr Brenner.

At some point, Dr Brenner confronted him on stage at the school during Joyce’s play – I don’t recall whether it was during a performance or a practice.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

They've also explicitly said something similar with Steve and Dustin, though.

I'm betting we get at least a half-dozen deaths.

I don't think basically any main cast will die, because I don't think it serves any purpose at this point.

They should have probably killed some off seasons back, or at the beginning of this season, both to establish stakes and to winnow down how many main characters we need to keep involved in everything, but at this point character death of anyone well integrated with the other characters would just bog down what is likely to be an already bloated epilogue section of the final episode with a lot of mourning, and probably demand too much of a sendoff during the main action with so many characters who need to get spotlight moments.

I think Murray can die early in the finale without it bogging down proceedings. He's someone who most the characters just sort of tolerate, and who nobody will need to mourn at length. Otherwise I don't see any deaths on the horizon.

I think killing Hopper in the finale would have actually made sense simply because he seems like a person incapable of enjoying a happily ever after and for whom a heroic sacrifice is the best end he's likely to come to. But they just had Eleven give him a talking to about him planning to die, so I don't think it'll happen.

Everyone's going to the waterfall place except the villains

 

[payn]

I think Murray can die early in the finale without it bogging down proceedings. He's someone who most the characters just sort of tolerate, and who nobody will need to mourn at length. Otherwise I don't see any deaths on the horizon.

 

[billd91]

I can see how Vecna could make the mistake locating Max, but it’s still weird to me that he needs to read Will’s mind instead of just asking the kids he was manipulating. I’m also not crazy about the entire Max storyline.

One thing about Vecna - I really wish that the story from the stage play had been included in the series. I think it adds some nice depth to Vecna and makes it blatantly clear that the US military/Linda Hamilton’s character is the real BBEG.

Up until Max interferes with Holly, she's been contained. He doesn't need to do anything more to her. It's only when she tries to help Holly escape and then Will interferes that he even gets on the issue of probing Will to enable him to kill Max. And by then, it's way too late to get any of the 11 year olds to find out where Max is (as if any of them other than Holly would conceivably have a clue or access to find out).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm pretty sure that we already got that. It's because of what it lead to. That would be pretty damned traumatic for anyone, let alone a kid.

I don't think we've actually seen the stuff in the case get on or into Henry, though, so we may have at least one more scene coming.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah, I dont see a dirty dozen/rogue one ending being set up here.

Derek: "This is a rebellion, isn't it? I rebel."

 

[Umbran]

I can see how Vecna could make the mistake locating Max, but it’s still weird to me that he needs to read Will’s mind instead of just asking the kids he was manipulating.

Well, before Max and Holly team up, he doesn't really care where her body is - she's beneath his notice, and so not a priority.

After they team up, all the kids are in his head - and none of them other than Holly has any connection to Max to know who Max was, or where her body was.

 

[Mercurius]

I've watched everything but tonight's finale. So far I'm enjoying the season, but there are some really annoying aspects to it. There's a sense of a lot happening, so it overwhelms you with action, but it also feels a bit "crowded"...like there's too much action, too many things going on - and a lot of it feels like filler. Meaning, while in some sense it is the most jam-packed season, I think it is also the weakest in terms of a full story experience. In a way the whole season feels like a super-extended finale.

And a pet peeve: it seems every character has a "poor me, I need affirmation" moment. I know they're teens, but still...it becomes a bit tedious and over-wrought. Holly is also rather annoying (my teen daughter agrees...validation). Though to be fair, she grew on me a bit when she got re-captured and started to suffer.

That said, I like the whole Abyss twist, that the Upside Down is a wormhole. I'm not sure if that was always in the cards, but it certainly works as an explanatory device. And I'm still enjoying it overall. If the first four seasons were B+ to A...this feels more like a B.

Finally, I'm curious what they'll do with Stranger Things going forward. It is too much of a cultural phenomenon for them to just shelve the IP. There are so many spin-off possibilities, whether with or without current characters. Millie Bobbie Brown seems to be the only one of the main cast who has made it big outside of the show, though I suspect Sadie Sink and Maya Hawke, at least, will have good careers (plus, the rumors of Sink as Jean Grey). But I'm sure most of the others would be up for something. Some ideas (depending on how the show ends), good or bad:

• The Strange Adventures of Steve and Dustin (and Murray). They start a paranormal investigation unit, traveling around in a van, with Murray as their "at home" sleuth. They can go for a late 80s, early 90s aesthetic.
• Stranger Things: the Next Generation. A few years later, the kids taken by Vecna are all teenagers. Things start happening in Hawkins. Again.
• Stranger Things: Rainbow Sorcerer. Will develops his powers, trains others. A school with an emphasis on "rainbow" sorcerers.
• Stranger Things: Demon Hunters. The finale unleashes demons, and/or fissures between the Abyss and our world. Karen and Nancy become bad-ass demon hunters.
• Stranger Tales. A combination of all of the above and more. An anthology series of "micro-seasons" and stand-alones, with a meta arc of "Things aren't over...now we have to deal with the fall out" and maybe, "There's some one or some thing even worse than Vecna...Orcus! Asmodeus!" Etc.

 

[payn]

I've watched everything but tonight's finale. So far I'm enjoying the season, but there are some really annoying aspects to it. There's a sense of a lot happening, so it overwhelms you with action, but it also feels a bit "crowded"...like there's too much action, too many things going on - and a lot of it feels like filler. Meaning, while in some sense it is the most jam-packed season, I think it is also the weakest in terms of a full story experience. In a way the whole season feels like a super-extended finale.

And a pet peeve: it seems every character has a "poor me, I need affirmation" moment. I know they're teens, but still...it becomes a bit tedious and over-wrought. Holly is also rather annoying (my teen daughter agrees...validation). Though to be fair, she grew on me a bit when she got re-captured and started to suffer.

That said, I like the whole Abyss twist, that the Upside Down is a wormhole. I'm not sure if that was always in the cards, but it certainly works as an explanatory device. And I'm still enjoying it overall. If the first four seasons were B+ to A...this feels more like a B.

Finally, I'm curious what they'll do with Stranger Things going forward. It is too much of a cultural phenomenon for them to just shelve the IP. There are so many spin-off possibilities, whether with or without current characters. Millie Bobbie Brown seems to be the only one of the main cast who has made it big outside of the show, though I suspect Sadie Sink and Maya Hawke, at least, will have good careers (plus, the rumors of Sink as Jean Grey). But I'm sure most of the others would be up for something. Some ideas (depending on how the show ends), good or bad:

• The Strange Adventures of Steve and Dustin (and Murray). They start a paranormal investigation unit, traveling around in a van, with Murray as their "at home" sleuth. They can go for a late 80s, early 90s aesthetic.
• Stranger Things: the Next Generation. A few years later, the kids taken by Vecna are all teenagers. Things start happening in Hawkins. Again.
• Stranger Things: Rainbow Sorcerer. Will develops his powers, trains others. A school with an emphasis on "rainbow" sorcerers.
• Stranger Things: Demon Hunters. The finale unleashes demons, and/or fissures between the Abyss and our world. Karen and Nancy become bad-ass demon hunters.
• Stranger Tales. A combination of all of the above and more. An anthology series of "micro-seasons" and stand-alones, with a meta arc of "Things aren't over...now we have to deal with the fall out" and maybe, "There's some one or some thing even worse than Vecna...Orcus! Asmodeus!" Etc.

I expect things like this to happen but i kinda hope they don’t.