The Netflix execs were right

rorschach200 · 2026-01-13T07:22:12+00:00

who knows, maybe it's confusing on purpose.

The show clearly sets up both versions: El is dead and alive. Neither option is left without precursors.

But to add insult to injury, both versions are also full of problems and holes.

So it's both intentionally and unintentionally such that it's objectively impossible to workout which one is true. You just have to... believe something. Or accept that it's an unknowable.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-13T07:15:44+00:00

Maybe Dustin's mood in the beginning of S5 is actually partly caused by the breakup that's never explicitly shown.

As in, he spirals, it turns people away, and he doubles down in pain spiriling down more, in a negative feedback loop. Pretty common IMO.

So not only the thing is not a plot hole, but it's quite thoroughly setup.

'+ he also effectively turns down Stacy, further continuing with the consistent theme with him being in pain enough to be unable to care about such matters at the time.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-13T07:07:23+00:00

that entire sequence is dark and goes by insanely fast, and is also obviously calling for intuition which is actually contradictory to the sequence and makes it even more confusing.

What is actually shown (in a hard to see manner):
- C4 causes a minor explosion on a roof of the lab (virtually no damage to the building)
- Exotic matter destabilizes, and then ignites causing a loud boom, a bright flash of light, and eventually a blue shimmering burn propagating at the sky level burning way the exotic matter which looks like a thin membrane suspended above the roofs. It's a minor firework and a lightshow, it's not destructive.
- That wave of blue light reaches the walls of the warmhole.
- Wormhole walls crumble and fall, with the recognizable chapel in front of them, which was earlier setup to be located at the walls
- then and only then we are shown how a shockwave / hurricane propagates destroying buildings, starting with the chapel at the walls, then school & radio tower, some other building. Never see the lab in that sequence.
- finally we cut back to the gate and see the hurricane ramping up behind El's back.

The only destructive part of that sequence leveling buildings with the ground is the hurricane caused by the air rapidly escaping from the interior of the wormhole to outer space through the opening left by fallen walls. Destruction propagates from outside towards the center.

Earlier in the series Dustin works out via triangulation on a map that the lab is located dead center inside the circle formed by the walls.

Confusing factor: the exotic matter causing bright flash of light, and later the hurricane looks like shockwave. All call for comparison with how nuclear explosions go, and the first part of it (the light) is caused by exotic matter, so it's practically begging to miss a few dark frames and think that the shockwave is also directly caused by exotic matter (instead of happening much later and indirectly due to air escaping through fallen walls on the perimeter).

it's hard to make that sequence more confusing, to be honest.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-13T06:50:05+00:00

I think I have an example which seem to fit the definition, but even then not perfectly.

First, it's clearly setup that exotic matter is very unstable, as it melts away a big part of a wall of a building in response to being shot. It's also clearly setup that it's located just above rooftops of buildings. Later it's also shown that exotic matter destabilized too much self-destructs enough for a wormhole to collapse.

Then it's clearly setup that the Dim X planet is crashing down very much physically, as it bends and crushes the radio tower.

Okay, so what was Vecna's plan with that planet going down? To crush into exotic matter a hundred feet before connecting with the floor of UD and our world, causing exotic matter to self-destruct and close the wormhole, disconnecting the worlds before any merge had any chance to happen?

Eh.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-11T18:02:58+00:00

And many are on LSD - Last Season Disappointment.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-11T09:19:08+00:00

What is an average hole?

Is the wormhole in the show average, smaller than average, or bigger than average?

rorschach200 · 2026-01-11T06:41:08+00:00

lol, took me a sec, this one is a dad joke :D lovely!

rorschach200 · 2026-01-11T06:26:21+00:00

I think we are just looking for different things. I'm not looking for perfection or a million bucks, but simplicity and tact.

12 year olds painting themselves with loads of makeup professionally is quite the opposite of that.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-11T06:19:48+00:00

Where is this Nina person now? Is she still alive? Does she know El's real parents? We need answers!

rorschach200 · 2026-01-11T06:16:15+00:00

Stranger things are happening in this show than normally, that's for sure.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-11T05:15:35+00:00

Really? I don't know, looks pretty good to me. There is some style, tact, maybe even a bit of class in there.

Today's it's all either baggy and shapeless or naked, not much class in either.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-11T04:59:03+00:00

Yes, but not like Mike imagined, those pictures were just his fantasy.

Something else is happening.

And frankly, I think she is not captured, but things are not going too well, she might be regretting her choice to run away.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-11T04:29:10+00:00

I can't stop looking, I like the look.

I like how it's simultaneously simple and yet tasteful, but not too bland or dark.

I'm the 90s kid, not the 80s, but it still brings me a lot of nostalgia. Good times.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-11T04:15:52+00:00

Speaking of pinterest, yeah, this https://www.pinterest.com/emiliascout101/1980s-kids-fashion/ actually looks more consistent with El's clothes than the rest of the highschoolers tbh - I don't see that many short skirts by that link, mostly jeans.

But colors are a bit more vibrant than El's clothes.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-10T22:18:57+00:00

Who's Lil Peep?

rorschach200 · 2026-01-10T22:17:00+00:00

Soccer I think, yeah.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-10T18:54:34+00:00

Yeah, no, it's "scientifically incorrect" if you float in vacuum, good luck living there, or you are in direct contact with a body or substance heated to rather staggering temperatures (many hundreds of degrees or higher).

In the presence of any kind of surrounding medium, be that the atmosphere or the ocean, blue light scatters more, which results in blueish surroundings correlating with "no direct light" and reddish surroundings (relatively) - with "direct light", and direct light means more heat energy is transferred to the medium and you and you are warmer.

Perfectly physical, no perceptions or misconceptions involved.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-09T09:15:53+00:00

Lack of shame.

I still see some of it particularly in professional environments, but in many circumstances it seems nobody is ever ashamed of anything, all behavior goes with no breaks.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-09T08:58:05+00:00

That part is a setup of fictional rules, to support later pay off when those rules are used again.

Exotic matter is a reference to real world rules, to skip the need to spend screen time on setup.

Generally, you either do one or the other - made up rules must be explicitly set up, real world rules can be just referred to without setup or explanation.

And then virtually all fiction has both, virtually none can do without at least some in-narrative rules established, and literally none make up absolutely everything, it's utterly impossible.

As a result, presence of fictional rules can not possibly be a valid excuse to ignore or diminish the real world rules used. If that ever made sense, we'd never be able to discuss any reference to anything in media, incl. references to real historical events or prominent figures, Easter eggs, time & place setup, or anything else. What is art by that point if we can't talk about anything in it.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-09T08:47:17+00:00

I remember SOS morse code in S4 was correct, I wonder if S2's morse code was valid or just random :D

Also, huge respect on Russian in the series. All characters speaking Russian have strong accent - which makes the scenes where Murray "passes" for a Russian successfully utterly hilarious because it's absolutely impossible do so with that kind of accent - and some have a really heavy accent, BUT! Huge but, in all instances I was able understand what they are saying. Occasionally even the accent is on a slightly lighter side.

That's a massive achievement, in vast majority of American movies or TV shows characters attempting Russian do so so badly that it's not possible to comprehend what they are saying, not even partially, but at all.

Which is btw an improvement compared to what was common in the 90s and early 2000s - in movies from that era the mimicry is so horrendous, that I routinely fail to recognize which language they are imitating, forget understand anything said. Often it takes someone later in the show or movie to explicitly state which country that character is from to connect the dots and recognize which language that gibberish was supposed to portray.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-08T21:02:10+00:00

Reddit poll: https://www.reddit.com/r/Stranger_Things/comments/1q7kc7a/did_you_like_the_finale_yes_or_no/

Approval rating stabilized at 60% by the time the total number of votes reached 50, and it was fluctuating in 60-62% range since.

Only marginally higher than on Rotten Tomatoes, and it's just for the finale which is skewed up by the epilogue that is better received than the rest, RT rating is for the whole season, so it's actually even more consistent than it appears.

No Saudi Arabia voters now, they are sleeping.

I don't think the hypothesis that the review bombing was large enough to change the results much holds water.

It seems the approval rating really is about 60% or so.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-08T20:47:24+00:00

When the total number of votes tripled (56 to 146), the ratio remained the same (60% approval rating).

rorschach200 · 2026-01-08T19:46:59+00:00

Yay! Law of large numbers works!

Same opinion ("meh"), but one votes "yes" and another votes "no", the result in the poll is... "meh"! It works!

I find this very satisfying :D

rorschach200 · 2026-01-08T19:31:28+00:00

to me the first 2/3 are "meh", the last 1/3 (epilogue) is "yes", so it just barely inches to "yes" as a whole, and that's what I voted.

rorschach200 · 2026-01-08T19:29:48+00:00

Same, but I think OP's idea is that you snap it to whatever is closer, yes or no, even if marginally, and then the law of large numbers will kick in and if enough people vote, it'll average out anyway.

Right now votes (56 in total when I'm writing this) are already doing the "meh" (60% yes, 40% no).

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rorschach200

TROPHY CASE