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There have been a lot of prison mentions on the show but we've only seen two actual 'arrests' so far if I'm not mistaken - Jonathan and El for assaulting bullies who were taunting them. And both had those incidents 'go away'.

We also see Powell and Callahan catch Dustin, Lucas, and Max at Lover's Lake and take them to...the Wheeler home? Even though none of them are Wheelers?

Edited to add - how could I forget Henry! Who Hopper arrested after Larry was blackmailing him. And Alexei who Hopper pretended to have under arrest while also pretending to be an undercover cop.

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Why is your immediate focus your sister after you kiss a girl and tell her you love her.

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Clear image of one of Mike's shirts if anyone wants it

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Construction/destruction

I absolutely love the "Buried Memories" scene with El and Papa.

"Papa" tells El that she has repressed trauma, and demons from her past are "invading from [her] subconscious".

Thing is, I'm absolutely confident that El is a part of Will and has Will's memories. Why? MANY reasons but for one, we cut from El tapping into her traumatic past memories to...

A construction worker.

Who is associated with construction?

Lonnie.

I've brought this up many times before but I cannot emphasize how significant this clue is. Larry is basically the same name as Lonnie, they are both nicknames of Laurence. Will only "vaguely" remembers the construction guy aka his own father due to the extremely traumatic memories.

(While possessed by the MF (father) Billy says "we've been building it". Also, the "source" in ST3 happens to be a steel factory...)

Lonnie "builds" in a destructive way. He hammers wood right in the entry point for Will to return to the right side up. He "builds" to destroy.

Will also builds! But the way he does it is to provide protection. He drew then created.

The protection he built is later destroyed when "he" (Demogorgon/MF/Deep Father/Lonnie) returns...

The construction worker we see after El taps into the repressed memories says "I'm taking five" and he is told "You just took five."

Obviously on the surface he is just simply saying that he's taking a break. But, as we know with ST, there's a deeper meaning here.

I think this relates to...

"It was a seven. The Demogorgon, it got me."

(See that "7" on the top left when that line is said...)

I've said this before but I do strongly believe this is a coded message he's telling Mike about his past. "Friends don't lie" is such an important aspect to their friendship. Will is terrified of the truth of what happened to him, but he doesn't want to lie by omission to Mike. He trusts Mike enough to tell him the truth... but the message is "sensitive", he tells it in a coded way. That's why Mike is confused.

Will was twelve years old when he said this and when he vanished.

12 - 7 = 5.

That's why I think he said "it was a seven". Something awful happened to him when he was only 5 years old (in 1976). This is likely why we are apparently getting a flashback scene when he was that age...

The Demogorgon/construction worker/Lonnie kidnapped/took Will away when he was five years old. He apparently already took a five too which is interesting...

This makes me think:

Lonnie kidnapped Will at five years old. Will managed to escape and protect/defend himself... he ward off the "evil spirits". Then he was kidnapped a second time.

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well yes 🙂‍↕️ (this pic is not mine)

Bro mentioned all the endgame couples and he switched up from stancy to Jancy 🙂‍↕️, thread here

As he should

I love winning

It's the Byler kiss🙂‍↕️

during the s4 era Noah said that he ships Byler because they're building it up, at a s5 panel he said that something went right for Will, he used to ship stancy but now he ships Jancy (because they're the endgame) and he still ships Byler (also endgame) and he said that his favorite moments with Finn are in st5 and in at the October panel he said that Mike is super protective of Will and we couldn't tell if Byler was something romantic or just a really special friendship, just remembered that Noah used to be a multishipper (Byler and mlvn) but in s4/s5 he only started shipping Byler because they started building it up more and he said he still ships Byler today,

"music definitely helps us getting into character" Finn i'm looking at you (Caleb said that they made playlists for their characters), this playlist is really gay (it's for Mike), (Finn made the drive playlist during the s3 era)

when blue meets yellow in the west 💙💛

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Stranger Things 4 + The Onion headlines

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I don't think we, as a collective, Tumblr community, have ever fully processed — fathomed — comprehended the absolute insanity of having Noah Schnapp audition for Stranger Things (:16 of the video) with the "crazy together" scene. Like wdym the scene where Will developed romantic feelings for Mike — the moment that basically birthed an entire ship — was not only planned since before the show even began, but was accompanied by a chemistry test between Noah and Finn (+ the fact that Will's queerness is in the pitch of the show)? I know we get script confirmation that Will's romantic feelings for Mike have been planned since Season 2, but this basically confirms that the Duffers have been meticulously engineering Will's crush on Mike for four freaking seasons only for him to end up alone in the end?? Like I get queer realness when it comes to falling for your bff (trust me) but this is a fictional show where the characters have been repeatedly rewarded with happiness, growth, and fulfillment, and Will-Mike-is-the-heart-Byers not getting even an ounce of happiness after all that would actually be so diabolical and evil I don't even have words. Like y'all, Byler doubt has never looked so extinct to me (just like Mike and Eleven's romance)!!

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🔆

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One-sided love stories don't have shared looks.

They don't have two-shots. They aren't a duo. They don't face the world together. They certainly don't match each other's energy one on one.

If Mike didn't have feelings for Will they wouldn't already be framed as a duo. It almost feels in-anticipation.

Either friendship is prioritized over romance or it is the romance. But you can't have a one-sided romance prioritized over a reciprocated romance. It's either two-side, no-sided, or you make the unreciprocated character the casual third wheel.

Deny it as they try, Mike and Will are not friends. I'm not saying Mike has feelings for Will, but narratively, what they are is not friends. They are an unreciprocated romance. That is what they are. And those are not framed as duos.

One-sided love stories don't have shared looks. One-sided love stories are not prioritized over a character's reciprocated one.

So what is this

And they went above and beyond. Not only should Byler not have this in the first place if there is any inkling of romance on either side, Mike and El should, but they don't. I can't come up with a time when they have had a two-shot reaction.

The best I've got is this.

And Will is present. The camera actively avoiding making him a third wheel. This isn't even a shared look. El looks at Will.

Well, no, to be fair, they have some when they are the only ones present.

Also, here is an example of a joint reaction between friends:

They agree on what they're feeling in this moment, and they agree on what they are.

Mike and Will agree on what they are.

Mike and El do not.

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So the D&D comics are dated a little weird - they have Mike and Lucas discovering D&D in an old book store while hiding from bullies on Sep 8, 1981.

But then they end their campaign on Mike's birthday later in the comic on Apr 7, 1981. Which is five months before lol.

So the first date is impossible. We also see Nancy dressed up in her elf costume for the first campaign in this comic (which on the show happened four years ago) so this should be 1979?

Anyway it's the same date as the Hawkins Massacre.

But then! Both the Dustin and Lucas novels have dates for each chapter (which if I remember correctly, none of the other novels do). And Lucas has a flashback to Jun 6, 1981 (the last week of third grade) where he says he was a weird, awkward kid with no friends and hadn't met Mike, Will, or Dustin yet.

And the season 4 dates don't match the dates in Lucas' book either. Chrissy's murder happens on Apr 4 instead of Mar 21. And the very last chapter covers Max's possession at the graveyard, and falls on...Apr 7, 1986.

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There is this too. I know they are not holding hands but they are still so close and stand away from the others. If you were to cut of the bottom half you could almost believe they are actually holding hands

Did you both just fight eight minutes ago and they are that close forgot to you to be kidding me this is so funny. Mike Can’t stay away. Sometimes they make me laugh so hard 😅🤣😍

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"... the tiger pack to victory through an impeccable show of teamwork and showmanship - leaving opponent Ricky Schuster cross-legged and bruised today after a wild through-the-leg fakeout."

Schuster is an interesting last name as it is also another name for Schuhmacher in german which means shoemaker.

Then there are Kaufman shoes in the Mall in S3. Kaufman or rather Kaufmann is also german and translates to merchant or businessman. ("kaufen" meaning "to buy")

I just think it's interesting as both of these last names are german in origin and both are related to shoes.

All the Ricks

So Reefer Rick's house is by Lovers Lake, which is also where Patrick dies and we've had a lot of Ricks on the show and in the books.

In The Dustin Experiment, Dustin goes on a wild goose chase to track down a Richard Rasch when he learns there's a saboteur at the science fair, only to find out it was a fake name given to him by the culprit himself. Richard Rasch. Dick Rash. More of a legend too.

Anyway, the only main live action characters who are actually 'Ricks' are Erica Sinclair and Patty Newby. Patty is short for Patricia.

We do have two main character 'Ricks' in the Hawkins lab novels and comics though and they're both handsome, charming boyfriends of the main character - one is Andrew Rich, Terry's boyfriend and Jane's father who dies in the Vietnam war.

The fact that Jason's main buddies are Andy and Patrick is...hmmm.

Anyway. The other is Ricky (003), Francine's (or 006) boyfriend who both gets her into the lab and helps her escape. His superpower is literally the ability to charm people.

He's also in the Into the Fire comics where he's a 25 year old raising Marcy, one of the twins he escaped with at the end of Six.

There's also a handsome, charming Ricky in Hawkins Horrors where the kids tell each other scary stories - he's a character in Nancy's one who's an inmate at Pennhurst with schizophrenia.

Ricky is shy and awkward but harmless, until he suddenly attacks and kills an orderly named Michael. He says the voices told him to do it, and the 'voice' turns out to be an inmate named Harland Buck who they thought had escaped long ago but was living in the walls.

There are a couple more lab related 'Ricks' on the show itself - the whole Richard Brenner thing of course which makes an appearance at the end of season 1, and both Patrick the lab guard and Rick Schaeffer the higher up they need clearance from. There's a Patty at the lab in season 2 too.

And a few other random ones too.

Anyway going back to Reefer Rick and Patrick and Lovers Lake. They do play a track from an album based on Blade Runner's Roy when they're talking about finding Patrick's body on the news. Which also reminds me of Rick Deckard.

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The disapproving father...

Ever notice the trend of a father disapproving of his child's romance?

The first obvious two are Suzie's father with Dustin/Suzie and Hopper with Mike/El.

But it's referenced even more than that...

The story of "Nina" is all about a father's disapproval of his daughter's suitor.

We also have Neil telling Billy to cancel his date.

Plus we have "Papa" disapproving of Henry/Patty in The First Shadow...

What's going on here?

Could this be a hint toward another disapproving father?

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i am fucking throwing up

i'm on my knees begging all of you to read this right now

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It contrasts so well with Max and Lucas too. It's like we're having an example of what interactions between a couple or even between friends should look like and what it should not look like.

Max and Lucas are looking at the magazine which she holds in way that Lucas can see what's written in there. Then Max finds something interesting and wants to show it to Lucas. So what does she do? She adjusts even more and holds the magazine in way which makes it easier for Lucas to see. They talk about it and share a laugh. Neither of them has to adjust their sitting position in an uncomfortable way. It's what friends do.

Then you have Mike and El. Not only is Mike sitting as far away as he can, he also makes it impossible for El to easily see what he is doing/reading. So El has to lean over his shoulder to get even a tiny glimpse at the backside of the M&Ms bag. It's not enough though which then prompts her to grab the end of the M&Ms bag to pull it slightly in her direction which Mike also resists as he pulls it back to him until he notices Will and his attention shifts completely.

And it's the ingredients label of the M&Ms of all things! It's not interesting. It's what you look at when you want to look at something to make you seem busy so you don't have to engage in something you don't want to. Like a conversation with someone else.

This entire scene is maybe 10 seconds long but it tells us so much about the characters. It's amazing.

Pushed to get back together with her by Lucas and now he's sitting as far as he possible can from her in that tiny chair. She's the one mad at him. And he sat down on the opposite edge of that chair. You aren't the one who's supposed to not want this, Mike.

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this WHOLE TIME. in front of our faces.

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The postal code from the address of the source is also pretty interesting as this number is used in a computer chip called MOS Technology 6522 which was heavily used in the 80s.

Source

However I will not even pretend to understand any of it so I'll just leave it here for others to attempt an interpretation as to what this means for our case.

Mike - has print of Charles Babbage in his basement. He was known as "The Father of the Computer".

Will - did a project on Alan Turing. He was known as "The Father of Computer Science". He was specifically known for breaking the enigma code. And of course, he was gay as well.

Why are they associated with computers? What's going on here?

I think it may be related to cracking codes and unlocking memories. Computers hold memory.

In ST2, Will was "possessed" and the MF (father) took over him.

After Will was sedated -> the power went out in the lab resulting in the whole building going into lockdown.

Lets break this down symbolically:

Will is sedated. His "power" went out.

As a protective fail secure measure, Will goes into full lockdown. That way, his doors remain closed. Doors as in, his closet door and the door into his memories.

In order to unlock the doors, and save everyone, the computer in the basement (a hint towards Mike himself) must be rebooted with a code. However, since they don't know the code, Bob overrides it. He opens the doors without consent.

This doesn't end well, as we know. Bob attempts to hide in a closet... then is attacked once he attempts to escape.

Will wants the doors/gates closed.

As much as he wants to keep everything contained... it can't. That's the problem. Papa says it right here- demons in the past invaliding from the subconscious. That's what it's all been about this whole time.

Okay back to computers.

In ST4, we see Suzie hack into the Hawkins High student records to gain access to change Dustin's grades.

This again is another hint.

Tigers are associated with Will. "Jiminy Crickets" is a character in Pinocchio who is a representation of Pinocchio's conscience (aka an internal aspect of the mind being externalized).

Mike and Will call the (secret) number Unknown Hero Agent Man leaves them, and find they called a computer. They both mention that this reminds them of the movie War Games.

They meet up with Suzie and she attempts to track where NINA is using the IP address.

There's a mention of the address possibly hidden in the computer coding, and Suzie mentions "data mining".

Now keep in mind- her father was guarding the computer and they needed him out of the way to gain access to the computer.

Now I just want to briefly mention AI.

Alan Turing was also well known for The Turing Test. This was a way to test a machine's ability to think like a human. So basically, it tests artificial intelligence (AI).

We have (subtle) references to movies featuring AI throughout the show that are worth mentioning:

War Games. Mike mentions "Joshua" who is the computer. "Joshua" is the AI villain in the movie who attempt to start WWIII.

The Terminator. Multiple references to this movie! The Terminator is an AI who travels back in time to kill.

2001: A Space Odyssey. In that movie, the main villain is "Hal" who is an AI that kills.

I do think the computer is the mind... likely both Will's and Mike's minds are important here. And like a computer, they have to access it in order to obtain important data... important memories.