I got my enzos scene!!!!

Brock Sampson said:

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Not only that, but how is Derek's big self fitting through that tiny hole in the rocks? Max is small and she barely fit.

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Nothing is real, duh

I've got my own gripes with this season, but man I am glad you didn't write this episode.

Hard to believe that wasn't leaving the door open for the future but she gotta be dead. The other doesn't make sense with kali bleeding out like a stuck pig

I don't think it's the fight with Vecna that was underwhelming. We already knew that El was near equal or better than him.

But the Mind Flayer was set up as the ultimate bad guy, and his defeat was relatively seamless. Which raises the question of how he could have "captured" Vecna in the first place.

AgLiving06 said:

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Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

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Charlie Conway said:

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Quad Dog said:

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Screaming no at Steve fall fakeout. Then screams of joy when caught.

Good El fake out when she was shot. Lots of "nooooo" in theaters. The reveal of her being shot and the reveal of it being fake were both well done.

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This is a main complaint people have with this show

cheap death fakeouts are a sure sign of lazy uncreative writing. If it's a main character you should have known by now they would be okay.

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I'll be honest, I thought they were great. The El fake death was something I've not seen before. The Steve fake death scene was the writers ****ing with us. I liked them.

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Yeah. the second he started to fall I knew Jonathan was going to be the one to catch him. "From rivals to friends."

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If you knew it was going to happen, that eliminates any kind of actual tension or emotion in the scene. Just the same played out trope we've seen 100 times

LUCAS AND MAX !!!!

Love Wins again, regardless of what your Problematic uncle may think and say at Thanksgiving

RightWingConspirator said:

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Redstone said:

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LUCAS AND MAX !!!!

Love Wins again, regardless of what your Problematic uncle may think and say at Thanksgiving

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You and Fig need to come on down from your sanctimonious high horses and understand what the problem is. I couldn't care less about Max's relationship or the fact that Will is gay. The problem I have is shoehorning these issues into a time period where these things would be considered taboo. But by all means think what you'd like about the argument and pat yourself on the back for your enlightenment!

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The taboo of Lucas and Max in 1989 would be much more dependent on where they were. Indiana would be a lot different that say Arab, Alabama.

Robin Buckley, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, Max Mayfield - these are mainstream, enduring characters.

There is significant cultural benefits by promoting visibility, empathy, and normalization in a mainstream show. This is well established, and plenty of showrunners, especially at Netflix and Disney, consistently discuss it, detailing their efforts.

RightWingConspirator said:

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a time period where these things would be considered taboo.

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Which is exactly the point of the show runners. It demonstrates how the process of coming out carried substantially more weight during that period of time than it would today. That was also why Will's secret was a big thing for Vecna to latch onto.

That being said, I didn't really like the way they did it, but the meaning behind it stands.

It makes it funnier.

Also not sure how I'm on a "sanctimonious high horse" to point out my first hand observations of this around the same time period of the show and that it wasn't necessarily the taboo a few want to make it, but whatever makes them feel better.

fig96 said:

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It makes it funnier.

Also not sure how I'm on a "sanctimonious high horse" to point out my first hand observations of this around the same time period of the show and that it wasn't necessarily the taboo a few want to make it, but whatever makes them feel better.

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Yeah I don't know. My brother took a black girl to the prom and he was the same class as the kids on ST (89). I can think of a gay guy and a gay girl at my HS and I don't remember caring at all that either of them was gay. I guess everyone has their own experiences.

Ryan the Temp said:

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RightWingConspirator said:

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a time period where these things would be considered taboo.

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Which is exactly the point of the show runners. It demonstrates how the process of coming out carried substantially more weight during that period of time than it would today. That was also why Will's secret was a big thing for Vecna to latch onto.

That being said, I didn't really like the way they did it, but the meaning behind it stands.

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Had we seen Vecna use other people's fears against them? I can't recall but could be wrong.

Redstone said:

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Robin Buckley, Will Byers, Lucas Sinclair, Max Mayfield - these are mainstream, enduring characters.

There is significant cultural benefits by promoting visibility, empathy, and normalization in a mainstream show. This is well established, and plenty of showrunners, especially at Netflix and Disney, consistently discuss it, detailing their efforts.

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Whether he is a troll or not, this is exactly right. Which is why it's silly to get upset at people who are opposed to open promotion of gay characters, precisely because they think the normalization of homosexual practice is bad for society and bad for those whose sexual appetites are impacted by the new social norms.

Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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RightWingConspirator said:

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a time period where these things would be considered taboo.

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Which is exactly the point of the show runners. It demonstrates how the process of coming out carried substantially more weight during that period of time than it would today. That was also why Will's secret was a big thing for Vecna to latch onto.

That being said, I didn't really like the way they did it, but the meaning behind it stands.

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Had we seen Vecna use other people's fears against them? I can't recall but could be wrong.

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Very directly against Hop in the finale.

I feel like he also did some with El related to her family and friends in other eps but can't recall specifically.

Brock Sampson said:

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Not only that, but how is Derek's big self fitting through that tiny hole in the rocks? Max is small and she barely fit.

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Who said he did? You never see him try. We leave the kids group in the mine and they are woken by removing the tube from their mouth in the Abyss.

fig96 said:

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Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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RightWingConspirator said:

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a time period where these things would be considered taboo.

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Which is exactly the point of the show runners. It demonstrates how the process of coming out carried substantially more weight during that period of time than it would today. That was also why Will's secret was a big thing for Vecna to latch onto.

That being said, I didn't really like the way they did it, but the meaning behind it stands.

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Had we seen Vecna use other people's fears against them? I can't recall but could be wrong.

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Very directly against Hop in the finale.

I feel like he also did some with El related to her family and friends in other eps but can't recall specifically.

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He was using El's secret about not coming back to manipulate Hopper.

Believe due to the rules of this show the kids had to escape Vecna's mind that way. Same with Holly/Max when they escaped.

AgLiving06 said:

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But the Mind Flayer was set up as the ultimate bad guy, and his defeat was relatively seamless. Which raises the question of how he could have "captured" Vecna in the first place.

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I don't think the Mind Flayer is powerful if he doesn't have a vessel, and I thought they clearly set up the "hurt the hive mind" thing.

They showed how he captured Vecna, with that stone from the flashback. Similar thing that happened to Will in season 2.

Ryan the Temp said:

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fig96 said:

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Ghost of Andrew Eaton said:

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Ryan the Temp said:

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RightWingConspirator said:

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a time period where these things would be considered taboo.

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Which is exactly the point of the show runners. It demonstrates how the process of coming out carried substantially more weight during that period of time than it would today. That was also why Will's secret was a big thing for Vecna to latch onto.

That being said, I didn't really like the way they did it, but the meaning behind it stands.

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Had we seen Vecna use other people's fears against them? I can't recall but could be wrong.

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Very directly against Hop in the finale.

I feel like he also did some with El related to her family and friends in other eps but can't recall specifically.

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He was using El's secret about not coming back to manipulate Hopper.

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Right, but also directly playing on his fear of losing El like he lost his daughter.

I did enjoy how they humanized Henry a bit and made you think he might flip to fight the mind flayer, and then he embraced the evil side.

Thought that was a good sequence.

Would've enjoyed more heroics from Steve / Dustin - as they ended up being my favorite duo.

Feel like they really leaned into Will being a main character - including when he was the longest to put his D&D book away. Maybe I'm just not remembering past seasons, but I never felt like he was a big emotional character, beyond just being the one that was taken.

Do agree that the mind flayer / vecna sequence seemed a little too easy - but think they probably made a decision to want to focus on life of the group after the upside down was destroyed.

Ending D&D sequence I thought was excellent. Went from thinking it was dumb that the kids would skip a party with hot girls, to being completely surprised at the 11 explanation.

Overall enjoyed season 5 a lot more than I thought I would after all the time off.

T dizl televizl said:

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I did enjoy how they humanized Henry a bit and made you think he might flip to fight the mind flayer, and then he embraced the evil side.

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That was my favorite part of the finale.

By FAR the most interesting part was the Vecna origin story in the cave with the man with the briefcase and the rock from the upside down. But we barely got any more insight on that whole storyline. Because they explain it all in THE PREQUEL PLAY ON BROADWAY. pic.twitter.com/S4q5cKSgyc

— KFC (@KFCBarstool) January 1, 2026

Quad Dog said:

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Brock Sampson said:

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Not only that, but how is Derek's big self fitting through that tiny hole in the rocks? Max is small and she barely fit.

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Who said he did? You never see him try. We leave the kids group in the mine and they are woken by removing the tube from their mouth in the Abyss.

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I had a question about this exact scenario. In order for Max and Holly to wake up in their real bodies, they had to jump thru the portals first. So what would've happened if all the kids hadn't found their portals first before everyone rescued them from the mindflayer? Would they have been vegetables?

And if not, what was the point of even having to exit thru the portals in the first place if simply waking them up was enough to reconnect their mind and body?

I mean.. if I had experienced that with the Russian government and then that with our own government...I'd be selling anarchist propaganda films.

RightWingConspirator said:

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Aside from the gay agenda which we can all just agree to disagree, the worst part of this show is that god-awful Kate Bush song. That song makes men want to kick the television off the wall. Am I the only one?

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Not so fast my friend: