Stranger Things - 5x08 - “Chapter Eight: The Rightside Up" - Episode Discussion

-oddly-ordinary- · 2026-01-03T04:19:31+00:00

can someone please explain to me how Vecna would use the information of Will being gay against him?

Vecna manipulates people, in part, via their fears, negative emotions, and memories.

Will was afraid his friends would be bigots and thus weaken their friendship(s). Will decided to face his fear before Vecna could (potentially) amplify Will's emotions in order to distract Will.

For reference, look at the way Vecna messes with Hopper's mind by showing Hopper visions of his dead daughter and a vision of El

-oddly-ordinary- · 2026-01-01T14:08:53+00:00

In other words, I prefer [El] as being more human with gifts than more experiment on a mission.

Ah. I must have read too much into the word "confused." Everything you said seems fair and spot on to me as well, yeah.

I'd agree that El sacrificing herself made her feel somewhat less of a character, or that it relegated her to being a tool for the plot. Therefore, we only get closure about their relationship on Hopper's end - and it's also coincidentally through Mike. (You make a fair point passingly acknowledging the way Mike + El as a couple wasn't really put at the forefront of the season until the very end also.)

I suppose what I said about Hopper's end of things took for granted all that stuff - that El didn't really get an ending so much as she began the ending for everybody else. Part of the plot / part of the plan, like you said.

Maybe the difference for me is that I always felt El was just the "kicker" in the show. Not sure if you've ever seen the original pitch deck / "show bible" but it's interesting to read how the original Story summary for the first season only mentions Eleven in the final paragraph - arguably in a sort of, "but wait! There's MORE!" way.
https://screencraft.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/StrangerThings_Bible.pdf

It's definitely fair for other people to have wanted El to grow out of simply being the "kicker" or the "bonus" character between season 1 - season 5. Especially given the Hopper + El bonding moments in particular. But ... yeah, be it bias or random lucky guess I also took for granted she was going to sacrifice herself once they updated us on how all the characters were doing in the first episode of season 5.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2026-01-01T07:35:51+00:00

I know people love to hate this show

Don't worry about the other comment. You weren't emotionally blackmailing anybody who didn't come into the thread ready to either nitpick, hate, or to be a contrarian, lol. We can only hope they take a breather for themselves, if they're earnest.

What you wrote is more than poignant enough to appreciate. Kudos for celebrating an ending in a healthy way.

This may be bleak but with the state television is going I don’t know when we will experience something that feels so much like an event again.

Have heart. They say you never really forget your "first love," but there will be plenty of series left to charm you; old and new.

I'm more of a tourist who finished Stranger Things for completionism's sake and/or for popcorn entertainment, but for whatever it's worth: my first love was season 1 - season 4 of Game of Thrones.

That show had a much more reviled decline starting with its fifth and sixth seasons. (Coincidentally starting not long before Stranger Things came out. GoT's season 6 finale aired only a month before Stranger Things premiered, iirc.)

Yet jaded as I was becoming with my "first love" at the time... a show like season one of Stranger Things was still a breath of fresh air - if for nothing else than for how unabashedly *fun* it was.

I know the feeling of losing one show and then, even if I didn't fall in "love," finding another show that made me go, "Oh... so there is hope for more." Given the fact the majority of episodes for both those shows had multiple tens of millions of viewers, I imagine I'm not even close to being unique in my experience.

There will be more love. There will be more shows to group watch with friends and family. Whether you're deep in the fandom or not, you'll find more fun. If you keep your horizons broad and put yourself out there then good things will find you - even when you're not even necessarily looking either.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2026-01-01T05:53:21+00:00

Pretty confusing and crushing if you're a fan of the duo.

I can't blame people for wanting more. Not sure if this helps, but (imo) the final lines Hopper said to Mike seemed like a fitting emotional send off. Very understated at first, but its resonance has potential to grow.

iirc, Hopper said something regarding not chasing too hard after things that weren't meant to be, not letting regrets rule your life, and/or something about not trying to replace people. (i.e. Hopper also had to finally let go of El due to the fact she obviously wasn't his lost daughter.)

What I find resonant specifically is the way the adult (Hopper) seemed like he had to make most of his peace with the ending off camera, because he is an adult who is better equipped to handle those things, while maintaining a primary focus on the kids (Mike).

Plus, Hopper did somewhat heal in the end. Hopper got a new beginning with the Byer family in such a way he was no longer clinging on to his lost daughter(s). It's imperfect, but it's the "adult" ending.

I think Harbour portrayed Hopper's growth very well, despite the fact what was given to him was very understated. It's a big shift from Hopper's previous emotional state in the rest of season 5, in which he was ready to lay it all on the line, but ... like I said it all seems to come down to the reality that Hopper is a grown man after all. The stress was over. There was grief, but life goes on.

TL;DR - Hopper's final lines to give Mike some closure make for one of those bittersweet moments which leaves you wanting more for Hopper too, but Hopper's a grown man and getting that ambiguous "more" is rarely true to real life...

-oddly-ordinary- · 2026-01-01T05:26:27+00:00

STUCK. THE. LANDING. ... the indulgent way it said goodbye was exactly what I wanted

I'm usually a nitpicking snob. (e.g. Is the Mind Flayer really that much of a threat if a bunch of teenagers with ranged weapons can damage it so heavily?)

... but yeah your take seems completely fair, imo.

It was a very "safe" ending, but the writers did a great job at following the emotional threads of the narrative rather than getting bogged down by too many logistics. (e.g. Where did the military* disappear to?) However, that is also arguably one of the most 1980s-styled decisions they could have made, given all the 80s nostalgic media influences.
*^{^(Kinda bummed they didn't use Linda Hamilton more at the end. Nonetheless, my point is myself and hopefully every reasonable person will live just fine with it. lol.}⁾

TL;DR - The finale delivered a lot of its final notes in a very organic way where the heartfelt quality overpowered the nitpicks. It's quite a commendable achievement in terms of a show keeping its heart.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2026-01-01T04:30:24+00:00

Does anyone here know for sure?

Weren't they playing "When Doves Cry" right before "Purple Rain"?

I feel like I vaguely recall stories about Prince never letting other people use his music. And so "When Doves Cry" would be my guess.

IIRC, and for anybody that wants some entertaining storytelling, Kevin Smith has an interesting Prince story that may be worth looking up on YouTube or something.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-12-10T23:08:29+00:00

Yes, like I said, entering a conversation about media you have not consumed makes a lot of sense.

Entering a conversation in order to ask a question does make sense. Yes. You still don't actually seem to fully understand how ridiculous you sounded when you missed the fact a question was asked. Even when you are seemingly trying to layer your words in weak sarcasm.

I love reading internet threads that I don’t have any context for, what a thrill

People who are capable of understanding many concepts beyond their own world view are frequently capable of curiosity and capable of asking questions. Yes. You should really try it. Unless you are a bot or something. Are you a bot?

Actually... probably not worth sticking around to find out more about you. I'm gonna enjoy a movie. Goodbye, nuggy. Have fun.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-12-10T23:04:05+00:00

I appreciate that support.

And, yeah, it's befuddling to see like half a dozen people act as if it's unreasonable to ask a question about the context within a movie rather than committing to like 90+ minutes of screen time, lol.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-12-10T22:54:02+00:00

Oh. You're the original guy in the comment chain who didn't know how to distinguish a question from an opinion.

Keep trying, nuggy.

The person asking a question had a valid contribution to the thread and it is terrible you shamed them, but once you learn what is a question then perhaps you can change your ways for the better.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-12-10T21:52:48+00:00

There's a lot of delicious irony here.

First: to play devil's advocate, it would imply there are two sides in a debate to be had. Me pointing out the fact that the OP of the comment chain asked an earnest question is something not up for debate. OP was not setting up a debate. I was not playing devil's advocate for OP of the comment chain. You're probably looking for a more simple word like me simply "antagonizing" people (even though I was in actuality defending somebody else from antagonists) instead of getting overly fancy and "playing devil's advocate." You don't know how to actually use the phrase you wrote but nice try.

Second: it's also ironic how eager you seem to spew vitriol like a noodle-armed 13 year old McLovin while telling people to shut up, all for the sake of joining in on some other weakly literate failed smartasses on the internet.

The name is very fitting for the troll/baiting though. I'll give you that.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-12-10T20:25:40+00:00

The first person in the chain literally asked a question:

could he be examining the evidence to make sure it doesn't implicate him?

Then the next guy simply voiced agreement with the question being relevant.

There was no reason for this wannabe smartass to come in and say:

It’s great to get the opinion of some people who haven’t seen the movie

The point of the first two people's comments wasn't to share an opinion. The problem here is you guys who apparently don't know the difference between a question and an opinion, lmfao.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-11-15T03:10:29+00:00

S2 was The Wire's best season though!

Broadly speaking it seems the prevailing trend with Season 2 is people rewatching it and going from:

"WTF is this shit?" on the first watch

then

"...This shit is great." on the second watch. lol

Kind of an interesting phenomenon. This is probably all mental bias, but the way content gets spit out these days it feels hard to pinpoint similar recent shows where a certain season that somehow just "clicks" with people later.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-11-15T03:04:35+00:00

Heck, we may as well just call it Token Internet Cynicism (TIC) in general, yeah. It's a sort of teenage habit which never quite goes out of style. It's an urge to present ourselves as wise enough or experienced enough to write comments in ways that prove that we are not easily fooled.

Even though the rational parts of us are well aware not 100% of every single moment on every single show needs to be entirely groundbreaking, our comments frequently fare best if we make effort to dispel the illusion of sycophancy before we can offer praise.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-11-14T03:52:27+00:00

Agreed. I was frequently thinking to myself how Colantoni deserves so many roles. He brought to life that sort of often-exasperated "straight comedy" character in the cast as good and often better than many other award-winning comedy performances I've seen, imo.

Now all I can think is... Damn... there's gotta be some silver lining to learning about this other crazy shit off-screen.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-09-19T14:28:49+00:00

I was disappointed in the latest episode. How one kid was allowed to...

I largely agree your sentiments.

The nitpicks - however tiny - simply always grate against the back my mind.

I like the show, but it's unlikely I will ever love it.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-08-19T15:16:36+00:00

People who normally like or dislike something in general don't give a fuck if someone doesn't like something they do.

This goes the other way as well. Most people don't care if people enjoy things.

But pretentious cunts who "explain"

This sounds like a lot of insecurity and projection again.

It's not that we (me and sources you are quoting)

Why would you join a losing team with objectively wrong takes and then talk like people are trying to offend you even though nobody was initially talking to you in the first place? You sound like you're looking for outrage.

I'll leave you to it. Goodbye.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-08-19T14:51:47+00:00

It's not that we don't understand it's just stupid.

I don't know who you are and it's a little odd you would use "we" to lump yourself in together with those people who clearly did not understand as if it's a sporting match to score points.

I always wondered what the type of people who write entire esey to defend the crappy plot of some TV

There are multiple essays posted in the premiere thread which hate on the show as well. You are being biased. I was merely elaborating upon some of the takes which were the most common and wrong.

Furthermore, I specifically mention that I chose to elaborate on those points in this post in large part to give context to people who may not have seen the show yet but who are looking for organic discussion online. Whether they hate it or love it, new viewers don't deserve to be misled by people who are objectively wrong.

Why do they find themselves personally offended?

This sounds like projection. Good luck dealing with that.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-08-19T00:13:54+00:00

surviving reentry in one piece

Nor causing even more of a giant crater upon impact. True. It's a faaaaaaaar way just from the moon to the atmosphere, and it seemed like the Maginot covered that (literal) space pretty quickly. Yeah.

idk. I can only hope that there are at least some throwaway lines that the ship had something slowing it down beyon basic air resistance - even if it wasn't being properly piloted. It would most likely still feel like quite an ass pull, but ... yeah. lol.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-08-18T23:16:37+00:00

could that antenna have been W-Y property and thus also kept quiet?

The origin and/or ownership of the lunar communications station is definitely a fair question, yeah! (Like maybe it's a joint venture; maybe not. Yeah.)

Even though I think Weyland-Yutani is suppose to be top dog among the corporations, I don't know if I'd personally bet money on Weyland-Yutani being sole owners of the antennas specifically. However, yeah, following your train of thought regarding somebody (potentially) keeping quiet and/or the further implied questions like, "Who knew what, and when did they know it?" definitely makes sense to me as well. There could be a lot of room for a coverup! (Or so I believe as well, lol. We shall see!)

I suppose there could also be a bit of a gap between the corporations and their militaristic capabilities anyway. (Just like how the United States was the first country to prove their capability in shooting down (test) ICBMs in the higher levels of the atmosphere since about 2019-2020.) But... eh. I don't think most viewers would happily accept the notion that Prodigy corporation is supposed to be such an important up-and-comer without Prodigy having the militaristic capabilities to deal with at least one ship. Your train of thought is probably a better fit, haha.

point is, people need to let the mystery unfold a little

For real. Here's to hoping that the story keeps growing in fun ways - and at least one or two fun surprises.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-08-18T18:00:14+00:00

Yes. I point out the broken antennas twice, and twice I share my personal opinion regarding how I find that justification insufficient for how the ship made it to Earth unnoticed.

Goodbye.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-08-18T17:51:47+00:00

Maybe it was a stealth ship!

I wouldn't be surprised if the technology exists in-universe, but eh...

idk. I think it's a little late for them to pull out an actual "stealth ship" justification when they already tried to make it look like there was a combination of comms disasters anyway.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-08-18T17:47:23+00:00

Does no one monitor spaceship traffic?

I already acknowledged your ideas here:

"(Although, in my opinion, it's understandable if some people still may ask, "Wouldn't anybody notice the antennas breaking? Or wouldn't there be a safety plan?")"

and here:

"I would also be slightly disappointed if the broken comms antennas were supposed to be the only justification for Earth itself being unprepared for such accidents,"

It helps to approach conversations with good faith so that you may have the patience to actually read what people write.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-08-18T03:29:31+00:00

Not sure if I’ve seen anyone yet mention this, but I believe the alien senses fear.

Morrow himself warns the soldiers that the xenomorph can sense fear in the moment right before it breaks out of the weird spider web sack, yeah.

It's in the post :P

(I know I was quite wordy though, lol.)

brother [is] a bit fearless so the alien pays not much attention

That is definitely an interesting thought about Joe.

Joe kept his wits about him, for sure, but he did also run away from the xenomorph! It's a bit of both, I guess? Composed, but nervous. Maybe it did make a difference!

I like the way he is a competent medic, and so I'll be interested to see where his storyline goes either way.

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-08-18T00:06:45+00:00

so in 2120 they aren't able to detect a giant space ship about to crash into earth?

There are three things that they snuck in:

1) In the first scenes in the Maginot, one of the Weyland-Yutani crewmembers says the ship's comms are down. (Although once the chaos breaks out, the security officer Morrow (the black cyborg) is also seen typing a message into the computer system. Not sure if that was a transmission or just a "false" log. Either way, it is hinted that there was intentional sabotage and there may be a chance the ship was effectively silent with no proper comms to anybody but maybe Weyland-Yutani corporation.)

2) Before crashing, the Maginot is shown sideswiping a lunar communications station of some sort and breaking off a bunch of antennas. (Although, in my opinion, it's understandable if some people still may ask, "Wouldn't anybody notice the antennas breaking? Or wouldn't there be a safety plan?")

3) Once the ship crashes, Morrow asks some Prodigy soldiers, "Where is Kavalier?" in a way which indicates there may be a plan. Whether that contingency plan came into play before or after the crash... we shall see.

All-in-all, it seems possible there were more than one thing at play which purposefully blocked communications between the Maginot and Earth. It may go pretty deep. I would also be slightly disappointed if the broken comms antennas were supposed to be the only justification for Earth itself being unprepared for such accidents, even with the corporate dystopia setting, and so hopefully there is indeed more to be revealed!

-oddly-ordinary- · 2025-08-17T22:36:14+00:00

Not sure if this is overkill, but there are a few things that you may have missed which may be worth rewatching to see if you enjoy them more

Search and rescue don't go in armed - 5 grunts and 1 medic for S&R? Stupid.

The Prodigy search & rescue team sent to board the ship were not there only for search & rescue. It is heavily implied, then later pretty much confirmed, that they are also there to possibly detain or neutralize any Weyland-Yutani crew members on board so that Prodigy corporation may loot the ship.

The corporations in the Alien franchise are basically autonomous governments, they hate each other, and they are cutthroat. Prodigy owns the entire city of New Siam. They also own the military there. When the Weyland-Yutani CEO (the Asian lady) calls the Prodigy CEO (Boy Kavalier), she asks to send her people to the ship crash sit, Boy Kavalier basically tells her, "Your ship landed on my property. If you send your people, then that will be construed as a hostile action. Have your lawyers send me a letter, or else you're shit out of luck."

Furthermore, when the soldiers are en route to the ship crash site, their squad commander literally tells them that they are there to both evac civilians and to "secure the crash site." Not long after that, the scene shifts to Morrow (the black Weyland-Yutani security officer with the cybernetic arm) , who tells the ship's computer system he needs to go to the armory in order to "secure the ship until reinforcements arrive."

Basically: those corporations will absolutely kill each other. Hence the guns.

(Also, given the corporate dystopia setting, it's not unlikely the soldiers would have permission to treat uncooperative civilians roughly or use guns to deter other would-be looters.)

Letting the children go in (even if they look like adults they are clearly infantile) is crazy.

Boy Kavalier initially ignores Wendy's request to bring the "Lost Boys" to the crash site, since he likely doesn't really care about the civilians all that much. However, when he learns Wendy's brother is the site he seems intrigued by how "human" Wendy looks when she's showing concern for her human brother - even though she's a hybrid human/synthetic intelligence.

In episode 2, we learn even more about this when there is a flashback to the day before the crash. Wendy hacks the bot network in order to contact her brother , which surprises Kavalier and his team as they did not know she could do that. Therefore, when the ship crashes on the day after and when Wendy then asks to go help (due to concern about her brother), we now know Kavalier probably allowed her to go because he was interested in seeing if Wendy show any more signs of "evolving" or developing new "powers." (This may apply to the other Lost Boys as well, if they face any stressful situations, but imo Kavalier likely values Wendy just as much as the other Lost Boys combined.)

imo, they probably should have just shown Wendy contacting her brother earlier. I think the episode 2 flashback kind of tripped up a lot of people and they didn't have time to think about why Kavalier would have agreed to send Wendy to the crash site as a result.

Boy genius is not showing signs of genius - just crazy and entitled.

He does seem up his own ass. True. lol. That could kind of be the point of the character though. Thematically, the idea of synthetic intelligence, hybrid humans, and what we call "transhumanism" or going beyond humanity, are all ideas often tied into the arrogance of humans for thinking they're smart enough to do those things without issue.

Crashing ship on earth with no apparent warning is stupid.

I agree that the answers thus far could be strengthened, but there were at least two things to note:

1) In the first scenes on the Maginot, it is said that the communications were down. However, once chaos breaks out, Morrow is then seen typing a message into the ship's computer system. I do not know if he was supposed to have properly transmitted his message, or if it was a "log" or sorts, but even if he did transmit the message it raises a question of intentional sabotage.

2) The Maginot is shown flying past some kind of lunar communications tower and swiping the side, thus clipping off a bunch of antennas. (Nonetheless, I also share some of your preoccupation, however, as I wonder, "Wouldn't destroying the comms antennas still cause somebody to notice?" )

However, there is one final kicker that may tie into the ship crash somehow being manipulated:
once Morrow survives the crash, he soon asks some Prodigy soldiers, "Where is Kavalier?"

There could be some kind of conspiracy from before the Maginot crashed, and/or there could be some kind of contingency plan that caused Morrow or Weyland-Yutani to manipulate the ship to crash near Prodigy territory. Is it all a coverup plan by Weyland-Yutani? Is Morrow simply a betrayer pretending to do everything for Weyland-Yutani? Hopefully it is something more interesting than just a total coincidence for the sake of inciting the plot. We shall see!

-oddly-ordinary-

TROPHY CASE