r/StrangerThingsPraise

So brutal! One of the most brutal deaths in the show, and the way it was directed was just beautiful. Eddie's pure screams of terror actually send thousands of chills down my spine. And of course, I have to say this: CHRISSY WAKE UPPPPPPP I DONT LIKE THIS CHRISSY WAKE UPPPP

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She’s at the waterfalls!! In Iceland, according to her latest post!!

Love this for Steve's growth. He really needed punching in the face for him to realise, "What am I doing?" I also love how cathartic it is for Jonathan to finally get the chance to take his emotions out on someone who (mostly) deserves it.

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Several points here might be little silly but still the bottom line she wasn’t some dumb kid without knowledge about life

The first point to my theory that I would like to bring up is the el and mike picture posted on Instagram from the stranger things and netflix accounts after the last episode came out. In that picture I can say that it's el and mike for a few reasons. One of the reasons is because stranger things, Millie bobby brown and Finn Wolfard reposted it on their instagram stories, amd wrote "The storyteller and the mage". This in itself proves that it is infact El and Mike in that picture. They did not adress them by their real names, but rather by their dungens and dragons names in the show. It is important to keep in mind that at the end of stranger things, Mike was explaining how everyone's futures were going to go using their dungens and dragons names. So This in itself could mean, in the future, El and Mike end up together. The caption of that picture says "we belive", so does this mean the crew (except that one duffer brother apparently) belive that El and Mike do have their happy ending? Some other important notes for that picture is that it has a bunch of 90's stuff in it. So could they reunite in the 90's? I think another main hint that it is El is that there are eggos in the picture. Eggos are one of Els iconic things, so This shows that it is El and Mike. I also noticed after zooming in that El has an engagement ring, so her and Mike end up engaged and eventually married :). The last thing is many people are saying that picture took place in the wheelers basement, a location in the show. I think based on all This evidence it is safe to assume that picture is El and Mike, confirming that El and Mike do end up finding each other. The next point I want to bring up is the shot of Mike at the end of the show, when it showed his future. When he is writing his book, the paper is white. But it reflects purple on his glasses. In the final dungens and dragons game, he says that there is a purple light and then the mage appears. He is writing his book on a Typewriter, so it can't be explained away by saying he changed tabs on a computer or something. The light on his glasses symbolizes that El will come back, and they will find each other. In this shot you also see that the curtains are closed. We don't know his location, so it is very possible he is already in Iceland with El. Another important note from this shot is that he has a picture of El on his desk. If he is not already in Iceland with her, I think that this shows that he has not given up on her and never will. Keep in mind in season 2 Mike called El every day for 353 days, and never gave up on her after only knowing her for a week and not even knowing if she was alive. In season 4, he drove across the dessert not even fully knowing where she was and if he could find her, just because of the chance that he could. Now, he has known her for years, and he knows she is out there. Once it is safe to do so (Dr. Kay died or something), Mike will go to unbelivable lengths to find her, and I don't think he will give up until he finds her. The next point I want to bring up is how when Mike is explaining his future to his friends, he says that he will never be able to tell the true story of the mage. He tells his friends about how he knows El is alive, but he just said that he can never tell the true story, so maybe there are parts he is leaving out, because he can't tell anyone. This means that it is possible that El told Mike her plan and where she was going (she may have just said a place with waterfalls), and told him not to contact her or find her until he was sure it was safe, but most people still can't know. Since she did ask Mike to help their friends understand her decision, he did that in a way that wouldn't reveal too much, just give them the comfort of knowing that she is okay. The next point I want to bring up is the parallels from their final goodbye scene to some other scenes in the show. The first parallels I want to bring up is the goodbye Mike scene at the end of season 1. This is a major paralell because both times Mike tries to stop her, she says goodbye Mike, and dissapears without any evidence that she was ever there. But as we know, they found each other again in season 2. I do not think that it is a coincidence that the scenes are that similar, to the point that they basically mirror each other. They will find each other just like season 2. I think that is the implication. The other paralell is Hopper and Joyce in season 3. Hopper also makes a sacrifial act, letting Joyce stop the machine from making the upside down portal, knowing that he would die. When Joyce goes to find him he has dissapeard. But as we know Joyce ends up finding him. Although the paralell is not as strong as it is to the one in season 1, it is still a paralell non the less. I belive these paralells show that El will reunite with Mike and probably her friends too. Another point I want to bring up is that at the end of season 2, El promises Mike that he won't lose her again. We all know El takes the whole friends dont lie thing very seriously. It is part of her as a person and part of her understanding of the world. It is a defining part of friendships and relationships to her. So I don't think she would go back on her promise, and ultimately end up lying to him. I think she is checking up on him all the time (also tying in to When she told Mike she would always be with him) and then when it is safe she will help Mike find her. Another point I want to bring up is the usage of the song heros when they were discussing El and the end of the last episode. This song has been used before when they found wills body and he was belived to be dead, and when they were discussing hopper at the end of season 3 beliving he was dead. Both will and hopper were found and came back. This song seems to be the song used for "this character is belived to be dead, but they aren't and came back to everyone after being found". Again, I think this is intentional. El is alive and will be found. Lastly, I want to bring up the dungens and dragons game at the end of the last episode. When will tries to summon the mage, nothing happens at first, but then after some time, she comes back. As we known from stranger things, most of the stuff that happens in dungeons and dragons games happens in real life for them too. This would mean that at first, El doesn't come back, after some time, she does. This is foreshadowing a reunioun not only with Mike, but with her friends as well. While I do know what the one duffer brother had to say about a future reunion, the way that he started it sounded more like an opinion if what he thinks El would do than a confirmation. I do belive all the details I brought up were intentional, it's hard to do most of those things accidently. For me the instagram picture was all I needed for confirmation that El does get her happy ending with Mike. My theory might not be the best, but at the end of the day it is the theory I choose to belive. I hope it makes sense to people reading.

Love Lucas carrying Max, love Vicki's reaction to the demos and of course Karen. Fucking. Wheeler. Epic moment.

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This is like the moment that got pretty much everyone hooked. From Hopper's regret and sorrow to Joyce and Jonathan's hug, to the boys tearful reactions and of course, heroes.

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I finally had some free time recently and finished Stranger Things, so I wanted to write down some thoughts about one of my favorite parts of the show.

My favorite ship is still Jonathan and Nancy, without a doubt.

I actually got spoiled pretty early on that they wouldn’t end up together, and I also knew about the “un-proposal.” Even knowing that, I still cried my eyes out when I actually watched it.

If I hadn’t been spoiled, though, I think I would have been SO happy when Jonathan started preparing the ring… and then probably furious when he put it away XD

So because I knew how it would end, the sweeter their scenes were, the sadder I felt. I ended up cherishing every little interaction between them.

Honestly, I think this is one of the best and most realistic portrayals of a relationship I’ve seen. Stranger Things is a show that combines sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and so many other things, yet it puts this much thought into the emotional details of these two people’s relationship.

Jonathan and Nancy were brought together partly because of their shared trauma. Without Murray’s interference, I think Nancy probably already liked Jonathan anyway. In Season 2, when they were at the motel, Nancy mentioned that she had waited for him for a month the previous year, and then after Murray said a few simple things, they finally got together.

They fell in love because they had shared trauma and experiences.

But what happens when you take the trauma away?

The seemingly insignificant everyday things are actually what make a relationship feel real.

“I hate X.”

That little conversation about music says so much about them. Their interests are different, and they tolerate those differences for each other. But sometimes love is slowly worn down by all those tiny things you keep swallowing for the sake of the other person.

Their personalities are different too. Nancy is driven and ambitious, while Jonathan is much more cautious and reserved. You can see that contrast in the newspaper storyline and again in Season 5.

Jonathan wants to stay close to his family. Nancy has a dream of becoming a journalist.

And Jonathan’s line in Season 5, “Why did you choose to go up there?” feels like it might have been foreshadowing this difference between them.

Their trauma and shared experiences brought them together, and those same things also gave their relationship a sense of security. Because of everything they had been through together, it felt like no one else could ever replace that bond.

But that same bond also trapped them.

They loved each other, but they weren’t necessarily right for each other anymore. And yet they both seemed to believe that, because of everything they had been through together, they were somehow destined to stay together.

That’s why Jonathan felt guilty about not going to Emerson with Nancy.

Maybe avoiding the conversation was Jonathan’s mistake. But considering the time period, being separated like that may have felt almost equivalent to the end of a relationship. And that’s probably why he couldn’t bring himself to tell her.

When Jonathan asked Murray to get the ring for him, I think part of him wanted to use marriage as a way to stabilize their relationship.

But at the same time, he knew it might make things even worse.

After all, back in Season 1, both of them had already recognized the kind of future they didn’t want after seeing their parents’ relationships.

I also think the writers used this moment to finally close the love triangle. (Although personally, I still think the whole love triangle storyline in Season 4 was unnecessary.)

Nancy didn’t choose Steve.

But she knew that Steve understood what he wanted from love.

She didn’t.

And that meant Nancy needed time and space to figure out where her relationship with Jonathan was actually going.

Jonathan understood that.

And for someone as cautious and conservative as Jonathan, he made an incredibly difficult decision and proposed an “un-proposal” to Nancy.

I think if Nancy had rejected it, Jonathan probably would have continued walking alongside her anyway. That’s just who Jonathan is. He has always been someone who takes care of the people who matter most to him.

But Nancy accepted.

She was willing to not marry him.

And through that, Jonathan gave her back her freedom.

“I loved you.”

“I love you.”

It’s not that he stopped loving her.

It’s precisely because he loved her so much that he chose to let her go.

He chose to give both of them the freedom to move forward.

Their feelings didn’t simply disappear. They transformed the bond that had been created through trauma into something else.

Love doesn’t only have one definition.

They did love each other romantically. And starting in Season 4, they had already told each other what they loved about one another.

Now that love simply had to take a different form.

I also saw someone describe the liquid state of the environment during that scene as a metaphor for their relationship, and I really liked that interpretation.

When Nancy chose to go upward, the crisis began.

When she chose to shoot, Jonathan was initially hesitant too.

Their different personalities are reflected in those moments.

And when Nancy accepted his un-proposal, everything finally became stable.

Their love was like a liquid turning into a solid.

It became something more grounded and stable: letting go, while still remaining deeply important to each other as best friends.

What I especially love about the scene is that Jonathan didn’t ask, “Do you want to break up?”

He asked whether she was willing not to marry him.

Breaking up carries a sense of finality, like the relationship has reached its end.

But choosing not to marry leaves room for something else.

And more importantly, Jonathan gave Nancy the choice.

He let the girl he loved decide what was best for herself.

That, to me, is Jonathan being incredibly considerate and romantic.

And Nancy made the choice that was best for both of them.

They loved each other enough to let go.

In the end, Jonathan and Nancy still loved each other.

I think that’s why I cried even though I already knew what was going to happen.

It’s heartbreaking to watch two people who genuinely love each other realize that, because of all the little frictions and differences that accumulated over time, they might not be able to make the relationship last.

I started feeling especially sad when Nancy admitted that she didn’t like that music.

Because it’s such a small, ordinary thing.

And yet even those little everyday differences could create so much friction between them.

It made me realize that maybe they really couldn’t stay together forever.

Still…

A small part of me hopes that years from now, when they’re both older and more mature, they might somehow find their way back to each other.

And please, please let the rumors about them breaking up in real life be just rumors 😭

I’m already sad enough about the fictional relationship. I don’t think I can handle the actors’ breakup too 😭

I binge-watched Stranger Things over the past few days, and now I feel so empty.

I honestly wish I had started watching it 10 years ago. I really wish I could have experienced watching these characters grow up, both on-screen and off-screen, over the years, and then finally reaching that last episode and saying goodbye to them.

The story started in a basement, with the kids playing D&D. And in the end, we see them putting the game away and leaving the basement one by one, almost as if they're leaving their childhood behind.

And then there’s Mike, watching his sister and her friends start a new story of their own. He finally leaves his own childhood and adolescence behind and starts moving forward.

The older teens are growing up too, gradually becoming more mature and moving toward adulthood. They make a promise to meet once every January, and honestly, that sounds incredibly difficult to keep. But at the same time, in that era, staying connected wasn't nearly as easy as it is today. I feel like if you really cared about your friends, you would make the effort to actually go see them.

Even though I watched the entire show in just a few days, the ending still gave me this strange feeling of saying goodbye to my own childhood and youth.

I genuinely don't know how much more emotional this would have been if I had spent 10 years watching these characters grow up alongside me.

Especially because the characters' journey from high school to adulthood is happening at the same time as my own transition from high school to working life. I think that would have hit me so much harder.

I only spent a few days with them, and somehow I still feel like I've lost something.

Now I finally understand that empty feeling people get after finishing Stranger Things.

I’m still working on building a collection. That explains why I only have a few, but I just got Will, Holly, and the split El Pop yesterday.

"Eddie Munson from Strager Things season 4 is directly inspired by Damien Echols of the West Memphis Three case."