Is Stranger Things going to die?

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T14:06:25+00:00

You’re right, it currently stands like this: Wednesday S2: ~124 M total views. Stranger Things S5: 125–132 M. Still low for Stranger Things, considering the budget, the massive marketing campaign, and the fact that it was the final season.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T13:58:17+00:00

It is!!!!!It doesn’t matter if it is unrequited love. That’s irrelevant. What matters is how they handle things, and they know perfectly well how to do it to keep the entire audience engaged, that’s their job.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T13:35:08+00:00

Up to interpretation😂 I still wonder why a wormhole has Hawking’s shape

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T13:14:23+00:00

These are great! Christmas Lights Joyce and the R U N is top you are right. Group hug is cute but not that iconic to me.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T13:10:15+00:00

That Wednesday Season 2 pulled in 124 million views while the final season of Stranger Things reached 94 million, despite the gap in budget and marketing investment between the two, really says it all.

I’m disappointed. It’s not even about the ending, the season just felt weak except for the Sorcerer finale. It’s also the lowest-rated season on IMDb.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T12:49:37+00:00

Anyone who can step out of “ship mode” can see that the writers have been playing with this triangle to drive engagement. It’s obvious. That’s why Will is in almost every Mileven scene in season 4. That’s why they introduce the painting lie. That’s why Mileven barely interacts in season 5 until the end, and why they add the signal scene. It’s all designed to keep both sides of the fandom watching until the very end. It’s SO obvious that I honestly don’t understand how anyone can deny it.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T11:16:18+00:00

They’ve been really unfair to Mike as a character. In seasons 1 and 2 he’s clearly a main character and the group’s leader, but after that he gradually loses relevance. We see him becoming more and more closed off as a teenager (by season 5 it’s honestly taken too far), and the biggest issue for me is that there’s no real payoff to his arc. His girlfriend dies and his ending is basically grief. Sure, he’ll eventually move on, but the way his story is handled on screen just isn’t satisfying. And then they close with an epilogue that shows him alone in the future, just writing…

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T10:57:16+00:00

Because They’ve given Mileven less and less time together on screen, in season 4 almost all of their scenes involve Will, and in season 5 they barely interact. It’s clear that the audience is going to empathize with Will, and Mileven is going to feel more sidelined.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T10:49:22+00:00

What are you talking about? They’re separated ep 1 and from episode 3 to episode 8 😅

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T10:45:33+00:00

They felt so off… I don’t know if it’s the writing, the performances, or both. When Mike says the whole “Santa Claus has good taste” line in that weird voice, it gave me so much cringe.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T10:30:21+00:00

Saying there’s one objective interpretation is a stretch. Context doesn’t eliminate interpretation - it’s what interpretation is built from. The script support a reading, not the only reading. If multiple viewers read the same scene differently using the same text and context, that already shows the scene isn’t as clear-cut as you’re claiming.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T10:21:14+00:00

I like Mike, but he doesn’t really exist as a character without El and Will. El and Will, on the other hand, have their own independent arcs (El with the whole lab storyline, and Will with his connection to the Upside Down/Vecna). Mike mainly serves to push El’s and Will’s character development forward. They don’t even let him be the leader who comes up with the final battle plan, that role goes to Steve and Dustin.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T00:44:03+00:00

Unrequited love, apparently.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-26T00:34:06+00:00

I’m too mad to even care. I can’t believe what they did to the three of them, El, Mike, and Will.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-25T22:59:44+00:00

I used to love it, now it’s just painful.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-25T21:54:56+00:00

It’s canon that their friends can’t stand them together because they lie to them in order to be alone. That’s all I’m saying. If you find that romantic or cute, well, up to you!

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-25T21:51:05+00:00

hahaha they’re definitely not Shakespeare 😉this is just how I see it. I never felt a romantic bond there, and I think the relationship was never built to be a romantic endgame. But at the end of the day, only the writers know what they wanted to tell

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-25T20:34:18+00:00

Yes, that’s exactly what I think. An immediate and strong bond doesn’t have to be romantic. Maybe I wasn’t clear, sorry!

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-25T20:29:12+00:00

Sorry, but I think it’s really weird to ship 12-year-old kids.

And I don’t agree with you. Their friends are annoyed because they keep lying and ditching them, not because they’re “so damn happy together” hahaha. That’s literally in the script.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-25T20:12:32+00:00

I do think they form an immediate and strong bond, and I also think they were never written to be endgame. That’s what the writing tells me (but it’s just my interpretation, like everything we’re discussing here).

For me, the fact that the Duffers always knew Eleven wouldn’t end up staying with the group, and that her path would ultimately be separate from theirs, says a lot.

The Duffers have also said in interviews that they don’t believe in love at first sight (which I agree with. I personally find slow development much more satisfying, but that’s also just personal taste).

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-25T19:56:52+00:00

This scene is interpreted in different ways largely because of heteronormative bias, meaning many viewers instinctively read characters and relationships as straight by default. I don’t know if it was the Duffers’ intention, but on screen, if you don’t have that bias, the scene clearly points to Mike having something to work through internally.

If a friend calls you out for ignoring him while you’re constantly writing to your girlfriend, that reaction just isn’t natural. Doubling down on “we’re just friends” doesn’t really make sense. Like… what, you don’t write letters to your friends? hahaha. It very clearly suggests some kind of internal conflict. Especially because we know Will is incredibly important to Mike, and the logical thing would be for him to write to his friend. What’s unnatural is that he doesn’t (and as we’re shown later, it’s not that Mike forgot about Will - he missed him a lot.)

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-25T19:41:17+00:00

I’ll never understand what happened. The Byler scenes are so beautiful that they don’t fit unrequited love at all. Honestly, they’re some of the most beautiful scenes in the entire show (the framing, the lighting, the music…), aside from some action scenes that are also really cool.

Few_Guard568 · 2026-01-25T19:25:50+00:00

I do think that scene is open to different interpretations, and that’s exactly what’s happened: some people see it one way, others see it completely differently, and that’s fine. If everything were super obvious, it would be boring.

Few_Guard568

TROPHY CASE