#also you can't tell me this is the first time El's seen Peter in a hospital

[bluestone-dragon]

Okay I'm watching White Collar on Netflix and I quite like it, but [season 3 or 4 spoilers; I don't remember which season I'm on] what the actual fudge was that decision to have El tell Neal to back off Peter after the Pratt car accident? It makes zero sense and feels like it was thrown in to make the plot more complicated, regardless of how loyal it is to El's previously-established character. (Disclaimer that I haven't yet watched the whole show; I just finished the episode this takes place in.)

El knows how hard Neal has worked to earn Peter's trust, she knows how hard Peter's worked to trust Neal, and she's seen how much anguish they BOTH go through each time they're dishonest with each other. Furthermore, not involving Peter in the key investigation doesn't do anything: Pratt already knows Peter's investigating him and is already making Peter's life difficult without knowing about the key (see: the car "accident" that started this whole thing in the first place). If anything, Peter following the key investigation only helps Peter, because if he and Neal pool their resources, they're more likely the find the evidence box faster, which can help them take down Pratt. El telling Neal to cut Peter out of the key investigation is utterly nonsensical (at least to me).

[erikiara80]

About Will

Last year the Duffers said that in S5 Will takes center stage again, and now they're even telling us how the season starts, with the flashback of Will in the UD. That's why I think the reveals about him should be huge, like the ones about Henry and El in S4.

This makes me happy. Will and his story are my favorite thing, and I have so many questions.

Was Will really just in the wrong place at the wrong time, a random victim who later became the brother of Vecna's actual target, Eleven?

Maybe. But I'll be honest, I think this would be disappointing. Most of the audience already believes that. All these years, all the mystery surrounding Will, and in the end it was just to hide Vecna, who was introduced in S4, so when we see S5 it's not even a plot twist anymore? Hm.

There could be an interesting parallel with Henry winding up in Dimension X tho. Wrong place at the wrong time. But Henry developed powers. What about Will, who ended up in the UD? Also, if he was just in the wrong place, why did they make his abduction so different from all the other attacks? It's just because it was the first one and they wanted it to be cool? Again, disappointing, imo. And if the reason was just "make the scene cool", I don't know why in other seasons they kept making parallels between the Demogorgon opening the Byers' door, something it only does in 1x01, and El opening a LOT of doors with telekinesis.

I think it's more likely that Will's flashbacks in S5 will be like El's flashbacks in S4. They made us believe that Eleven killed all the other numbers, only to reveal later that it's not what really happened. I expect something like that for Will too. Maybe at first, everything seems to confirm that he was just a random victim, and then we find out that it's not true. Or he was a random victim, but then, like Henry, he developed psychic abilities.

Speaking of that

Does Will have powers or not?

I am a Will-has-powers truther, this is not a mystery lol. But does it make sense in the story? (some thoughts here) Does he have powers like Harry Potter, or the Turtle (here), or Bastian, or he's like Peter Bishop, Marty McFly and Frodo Baggins? Noah said that Will's superpower is his heart, but you know, you can have that and also powers. Plus, in S4 they connect the concept of time travel to emotions, so if there's a timeloop or something like that, and Will's name is on the grandfather clock...

Maybe his abilities are different from anything we've seen. Maybe something more connected to the UD. I'm just saying, why making him a wizard/cleric, if he's just a normal kid?

For example, they never really explained why he's still so connected to Vecna and, I suspect, the UD (because he is also like Radagast, and the kid in Poltergeist, who gets kidnapped because of her powers) Yes, Max seems to have answered that question: when Vecna makes a psychic connection, you are marked. In fact, at some point she even says that she can still feel him. But when she's in his mind lair, she doesn't feel his thoughts. She says that he was surprised and didn't want her there... but he actually says that. Also, they would really answer the questions about the big mystery of Will's connection to Vecna like that, when he's not even the focus of the scene?

That's why I think the answer is more complex for him. Max can't feel Vecna's thoughts or feelings, Will can, like Harry can feel Voldemort. Could the reason be that he was connected to the hive mind? We can't be sure, he's the only one who survived a possession. There are no particles left in his body (as far as we know) or he would've died in S2. So, why is the connection still there and so strong, that the moment he's back in Hawkins, he can feel that Vecna is hurting and wants to destroy everything?

Why in S2 Will knows that the evil wants to kill everyone but him? And why would Vecna/Mind Flayer want to kill everyone but a random kid with no powers, whose only ability was to hide from a monster for a week? Henry Creel considered all the lab kids, people with powers, inferior to himself and Eleven, but for some reason he wanted a sensitive child who's just good at hiding? It doesn't make sense to me.

In the game, they seem to give us the answer. Well, they don't explain if Will was just in the wrong place at the wrong time on Nov 6, but they say that the reason he is the key and Vecna wants him, is that he wants to use him to find Eleven.

Ok

If this is true... Henry/Vecna needed Eleven to open a door, so he makes her make a psychic contact with a Demogorgon. When the gate opens, he lets the creature kidnap/kill random people. Then realizes that he can find Eleven, if he uses the only victim he is letting hide in the UD because, reasons. But when she finally is in the void with Will, instead of killing her, he interrupts the contact with Will, goes to Castle Byers, takes him to the library, and impregnates him with a little Demogorgon. And then? What would've happened if Joyce hadn't found Will? We still don't know if the tendril was killing him or giving him oxigen, like the facehugger does in Alien (the parallel with Sarah could be a hint tho), because we don't know what happened to Barb. If she died in the pool and then was taken to the library, or if it's the tendril that killed her.

If Will was actually dying, then the answer in the game doesn't make sense. If Vecna just wants to use him to find and kill Eleven, he wouldn't have tried to kill him. Unless that whole process was supposed to turn Will into Zombie Boy, a creature of the UD, similar to Vecna, who could find Eleven. That's a bit complicated, tho.

Not to mention the whole possession in S2. Again, let's say that Vecna didn't want to kill Will in the library, but just turn him into a monster. He failed. So, when Will is home, he makes him have visions, then possesses him, with the intent of killing everyone but him. Because he wants him to find and spy Eleven. But in the 1959 flashback, in TFS, and in the game, we see that Henry can read any mind. So, sorry but why does he need Will, specifically, to find Eleven?

Also, if the particles can just possess you in a vision and then appear in our world, why didn't they possess more people? Easier to find El, and even if you lose Will, you still have the others. It's what the Mind Flayer does in S3. The big difference? In S3 the particles are already in our world.

So I wonder if Will is the only one Vecna/Mind Flayer can possess like that, because they were already connected before the possession

Ok, in S3, the Mind Flayer takes a guy named William because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And then he uses him to build a monster that finds Eleven and takes her powers. So, maybe the 'wrong place, wrong time' is true, but the rest... is interesting. Jonathan says that they built Castle Byers the way Will drew it, and MindFlayer!Billy tells Billy to build what he sees. Also interesting that there are two Billies. It reminds me of If I go there will be trouble, and if I stay it will be double (different timelines, twin imagery, Henry and Edward, Richard and Martin. And Will and Eleven?)

So, my theory is that Will and El are more connected than it seems, and that's why Vecna needs Will. And maybe he is also using him to "build" his army, and make the UD spread? I don't know.

But for all these reasons, I think it would make more sense if Will wasn't just a random victim, or at least he's developed some ability.

Will has parallels with Cerebro (here) and Nancy says that the lights came to life when he was in the UD, a parallel to what Steve says in S3, (Let there be light) after Will senses the Mind Flayer for the first time at the mall. When he's watching a zombie movie. There's also that beautiful theory (I don't remember who posted it, sorry) about Will being connected to the light particles and using them to destroy the black particles of the Mind Flayer.

Light particles that look like fairy dust -> Will being called fairy. Lights that come to life -> a battery

I think I've found some big hint that this theory might be correct. Anyway, it seems that Will is connected to the very existence of the UD. Not saying he created it, but if lights came to life when he was there, maybe if they interrupt the connection, that place, whatever it is, will cease to exist.

[queenlucythevaliant]

#7, 9, 13, and 22 for the Bible study asks?

Ooh I'm so excited 🥰

7. Favorite Psalm

This one's very easy for me. There are many Psalms I love, but Psalm 16 is my Psalm, you know?

Like, I never really understood what people meant when they talked about their "life verses" and whatnot until I prayed Psalm 16 with my prayer group several years ago and came out the other side of that meeting with verses 5 and 6 etched across my heart.

"The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; truly I have a beautiful inheritance."

I'd never had verses that bubbled up inside me like that, and I haven't since. These lines (and the rest of the Psalm, but these lines in particular) cut to the spirit of my faith just so; they are ontologically true for me.

Also worth noting is that this is a Messianic Psalm ("You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.") After a fashion, these are the words of Christ.

9. Highlight from the Major Prophets

Since I've already discussed some of my favorite bits from Isaiah on this blog, why don't I highlight the first half of Jeremiah 23. Because woah. When I read this passage, I'm hit with what feels like a wall of God's faithfulness.

I won't quote the whole thing here, but these are some of the most beautiful promises God makes to the exiles. It's about the return from exile, about Jesus, and about God's ultimate faithfulness when all things are new, all at once.

“Behold, I will attend to [the captors] for your evil deeds [...] Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

[...] I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land."

(emphasis mine)

I love this so, so much because God already did this! The exiles returned to Israel and we have our righteous Branch. Yet we Christians are still in exile, awaiting the day when the faithful remnant is gathered home; when the Good Shepherd will reign over us as King and we will fear no more and no one will be missing from that Kingdom.

It sits so beautifully in that Christian tension between fulfillment and longing; faithfulness and promise; the already and the not-yet.

13. Favorite madcap adventure in Acts

I've gotta go with Peter's escape from prison for two reasons.

a) The whole situation with Rhoda slamming the door in Peter's face and then the disciples in the house sitting around discussing whether it's actually him while he keeps knocking probably increasingly loudly is just. Comedy gold. This is why there needs to be an Acts of the Apostles sitcom. You can't make this stuff up.

b) When I was studying for a middle school Bible test on this part of Acts, my mom pointed out the little detail about how the angel tells Peter to get dressed. What does this mean? In my mom's words, "No streaking during prison breaks!" Cue uproarious laughter.

22. Favorite name(s) of God

I've had a deep fondness for El Roi (God of seeing/God who sees me) since I was young, when I learned that Hagar's use of the name in Genesis 16 is one of the very few times in Scripture (arguably the only time) when a human attributes a name to God rather than God revealing one of His names to us.

It's a very human act, to give a name, and yet God is only really knowable through revelation. I'm sure He revealed that aspect of Himself to Hagar, but it's always felt to me like a very intimate, human moment.

It's also a very intimate, human name. What is intimacy? It's being truly seen. We long to be seen and loved, yet we fear to be seen and not loved. It's the age-old struggle of every human relationship ever. "The mortifying ordeal of being known," to use a Tumblr-ism.

Yet God sees us. He sees me wholly and utterly. He knows and considers all parts of me, from the most base and depraved to the most noble and Christlike. He never stops seeing me, no matter how far I run or how deep I sink. It's sobering, yet it's also comforting. I'm not an easy person to know.

There are others, but I got a whole four paragraphs about just that one. I can discuss others if someone else asks, maybe 😊

[dracox-serdriel]

Stranger Things Theory

Warning: Like my other post on Stranger Things Predictions, this post contains spoilers for all episodes of Stranger Things through 04x07 “Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab”.

To skip this post, please strike the ‘J’ key.

A Red Herring ...or the Real Deal?

Aka "Stranger Things Goes Timey-Wimey."

When I first watched Season 4, I assumed the time travel theming (the "we're all time travelers" in the opening monologue, Vecna's use of a clock and the image of him manipulating the grandfather clock/apparently winding back time, the Nina Project's suspicious ability to project El back into her own memories when she's blocked them out, etc.) was a red herring.

But I've had Stranger Things on in the background all week, and I started to wonder... what if the implication of time travel isn't just a red herring?

In Season 1, Mr. Clarke explains getting to another dimension/going to the Upside-Down like so, "Well... you'd have to create a massive amount of energy. More than humans are currently capable of creating, mind you, to open up some kind of tear in time and space..."

We've seen most of the main characters have traveled through space to the Upside-Down, but we haven't seen anyone travel in time (as far as we know.) But I'm getting a feeling that all the time-travel hints are for real.

The Nina Project is a Form of Time Travel

Eleven directly asks how her "Papa" has managed to project her into her past memories, and he tells her not to worry about it:

ELEVEN: This isn't real." BRENNER: "No but it once was." ELEVEN: "A memory." BRENNER: "Very good." ELEVEN: "How?" BRENNER: "Never mind how." ELEVEN: "Let me out. I want out!" BRENNER: "Sorry, Eleven. You'll have to find your own way out. Leave your train station. Stop waiting. Focus. Listen. Remember."

He tells her that everything that happened in the lab was recorded--but there are a number of memories she sees that occurred when the power was out and the cameras were off. How can she be remembering the other test subjects attacking her if that event wasn't recorded?

This is one reason I believe the Nina Project is actually a form of time travel. More specifically, it's a way to project your consciousness back in time to a younger version of yourself. Eleven isn't just remembering events, she's actually reliving them (and as a byproduct, relearning her abilities).

The second reason is Brenner's "slow and steady" comment. He says she has demons in her past, and they need to go slowly to avoid her getting "lost in the darkenss." But what kind of sense does that make, exactly? If all she's doing is remembering, then what is he afraid of? He implies she can get mired in her own memories, but I don't think that's what he's worried about.

Then there's this exchange:

OWENS: "We should've just told her the truth." BRENNER: "And risk everything? No. She'll find out soon enough."

Apparently telling Eleven that she was tricked into ripping out a power-supressing chip from One, who then went on a revenge massacre "risks everything." Why, exactly? Why would talking to her (or simply showing her whatever videos they do have) risk anything?

Time travel (jumping into your past self) is also pointed to by how the episodes are shot/cut: When she first wakes up in the Nina capsule, she's stuck in a kind of loop, walking around as the high-school-aged Jane, but then she sees herself in the mirror--and reflected back at her isn't teenaged Jane, but a much younger Eleven.

And as she does this, we see young!Eleven speaking to Peter the orderly… And we see teenage!Jane superimposed over her -- the images cut back and forth between young!Eleven and teenage!Jane a few more times, making it clear that she's stepping into her memories… and at the end of the sequence, it's teenage!Jane standing there. Young!Eleven is only visible in reflections and mirrors.

Also... when Eleven asks why she can't remember these events if they've happened, Brenner expains that she doesn't want to remember--essentially, he says she's supressed her memories.

But there's a fairly common amnesia trope associated with the whole "time travel via consciousness body jumping" thing--essentially, while your consciousness is projected into another body (be it your past self or someone else's), the person being projected into has amnesia of those events.

Just saying--that's low hanging friut right there.

Anyway, other evidence that future!Jane is projected back into her past rather than simply "remembering it" -- from what we see, she goes from one of the worst performing subjects to the throwing the best-performing subject across the room while also resisting his abilities. Young!Eleven hasn't fully come into her powers.

Teenage!Jane, on the other hand, has had much more experience and training with her powers, and it's likely they've grown over the years, too. We'd expect her to be able to toss Two around with no issue.

But even more suspiciously... young!Eleven supposedly draws on a memory that made her sad but also angry--specifically, she uses the memory of her mother being pulled away when she came to get her. The thing is... there are a few seconds that are clearly from even-younger!Eleven's perspective, looking up at her mom being pulled away--but the beginning part of that memory isn't from her perspective--it's from her mother's.

Trouble is, young!Eleven has not yet met her mother and gone into her "dream circle" to learn about how she and her mother were separated. So there's no way for her to draw strength from a memory she doesn't have... But Teenage!Jane has that memory for sure., And then there's the big show down between One and Eleven. Eleven has used her powers plenty of times in these memories, but it is very clear that Owens and Brenner are working toward a very, very particular thing. There's that moment in the showdown where we cut to Brenner as the computers start to spit out dramatic wavy lines and he says, "It's happening."

And what has happened? Eleven has a moment where she seems to be experiencing her first moments after birth, a time that no human tends to recall. It's only after this that we get the "huzzah" moment from Brenner--it's happening, she's doing the thing. It seems like young!Eleven -- not having an angry/sad memory strong enough to save herself -- projected herself back in time to acquire one.

But if teenage!Jane truly was in the past, why didn't she use any of her memories from more recent years? I believe this is why Brenner framed this entire venture as "memory"--so Eleven believes she's simply remembering, so she "goes with the flow". As long as she thinks she's just remembering them, there's no real risk of her trying to change the past by altering events.

We don't get follow up confirmation because the show really, really wanted us to see Vecna's dope 001 tattoo before the episode ends, so we don't see what happens to Nancy after she strolls through his memories (the last think Nancy witnesses in this episode is Henry Creel being tattooed), or what Steve is doing (STEVE WHY DIDN'T YOU IMMEDIATELY START SINGING?! YOU KNOW SHE NEEDS MUSIC), or how Jim, Joyce, Murrey, Enzo/Dmitri, and Yuri actually escape from the Russian deathtrap jail place. So I guess it makes sense that we don't see Brenner after he utters, "It's happening."

What makes these powered individuals impact TIME instead of SPACE?

During a competative exercise, Brenner tells the test subjects, "If you allow anger or emotion to invade your thoughts, you will fail. I promise."

This is pretty much a complete contradiction of what the orderly Peter (aka One) said to Eleven earlier that same episode: "He had found his strength in a memory from his past. Something that made him sad. But also angry. Do you maybe have a memory like that?"

Brenner doesn't have any abilities - he's studied/tested these children, which makes him an expert, sure... but One actually has powers. He knows how they work--and furthermore, we see that he's completely right. Eleven taps into her powers via her emotions.

Surely Brenner knows that emotions drove One's power--he must likewise know that it does the same for the others. And yet... he "promises" them that they will fail if they allow emotions to play a role when using their powers.

Why? If he wanted them to be stronger, surely teaching them to hone their emotions and use them as fuel would be the best option. Instead, he's built up an environment for them where emotions are seen as trivial--no, worse, they're seen as abject weakness. Two calls Eleven "empathetic" as if it were equivalent to "useless" or "powerless."

One also mentions that Brenner wants control. More than anything, he wants control. According to One (admittedly, a dubious source on the subject, but still), once Brenner learned he couldn't control One, he decided to recreate him.

According to Peter/One, Brenner knew that Eleven was more powerful than the others, and started putting things in place so that the other test subjects would kill Eleven--all because Brenner knew he couldn't control Eleven.

I'm skeptical about this, though. If Brenner wanted to kill a subject, why bother with an elaborate setup? Given that Eleven only recently started revealing the true extent of her abilities, it seems weird for Brenner to have been setting all this up in some kind of long game of child assassin chess.

Yes, there's a conversation between Owens and Brenner that indicates that there was a large time jump ahead to get to the massacre/show down memory, it doesn't seem like there's been much time between the revelation that Eleven is mega-powerful-when-fueled by emotion--not enough time for the weird murder plot One/Peter is describing anyway. If Brenner wanted to kill a subject, he could poison them or gas them… he was training these subjects for remote assassinations. Why not simply order Two to kill Eleven?

I'm fairly certain that whole "Brenner wants the others to kill you" was just Peter/One manipulating Eleven into helping him.

But it IS clear that Brenner does NOT want his subjects using emotion to fuel their power.

After Eleven defeats Two with her emotionally-fueled powers, the shots/cut make it clear that Brenner knows both that she used emotion to do it AND he knows that Peter/One is the one who taught Eleven how to do this. Later, Peter/One is tazed until unconscious and dragged away, and it's highly likely that this was a punishment for teaching Eleven to use her memories like a power source.

So why is Brenner against his subjects using emotion or memory to drive their power? There must be some major concern, given how far he's gone to prevent his subjects from even trying it.

Perhaps because accessing memory/emotion for power is the pathway to this kind of time travel. And it's deeply problematic because subjects projected into the past could change time--and when they're projected, they can't be controlled. Basically, any subject who can do this could impact TIME rather than SPACE… Any subject who can't be safely contained needs to be terminated or defanged (like One with the implant thing). And any subject that Brenner has to terminate or defang is a subject he can't study/manipulate.

My guess is that One set himself up in the lab to find another test subject to free him. He's been systematically approaching subjects once they reach an appropriate age. He waits until he witnesses them struggling, and then he walks over and talks to them--explaining how he knew One, and One told him "the secret" to getting better so quickly. But subjects Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Nine, and Ten ignore his advice. After all, he's just an orderly--their papa has taught them how to do it right, and doing it right means no emotion.

But Eleven has something these other subjects didn't have. She has a memory of her mother trying to recover her -- calling her "Jane" as she's pulled away. Two later refers to Eleven as weak and empathetic--she hasn't broken herself of the habit of emotion or human connection. So when there's literally ANY reason to believe her papa lied to her and that her mother really is alive, she's willing to listen. And because she's willing to believe that papa could've lied to her, she's also willing to use an emotion/memory to power her abilities, even though papa has insisted she'll fail if she does that.

One insists later that he sees Eleven as special--I suppose it's possible he sees her as valuable, but she may simply be the first test subject he was able to get to defy Brenner and in so doing unleashed her true potential.

The Upside Down Meets Timey Wimey Troubles

There is a moment where we see young Henry Creel standing in front of the clock with his eyes closed as the hands of the clock spin in reverse, implying that he can change how time moves (but of course this could also just be him telekinetically moving the hands of the clock--thus my assumption that this is a red herring).

But then when Nancy and co are in the Upside-Down, she remarks that the material goods that exist there are all from the day Will Byers disappeared (aka from Season 1).

Now, we haven't had too many excursions into the Upside-Down, and most of those were brief (or people wandering in not knowing and getting lost). We've never followed people around in the Upside-Down before, let alone those who decide to seek material goods there. So maybe the Upside-Down has always lagged behind the regular world by a few years.

But it seems oddly suspicious to me that the lag just happens to be the day Will Byers went missing.

I don't think the time difference is a normal aspect of the upside down. I think that Vecna is using his murder spree to bring the Upside-Down back in time, little by little.

So I went back through Vecna's victims:

Chrissy - dealing with bulimia

Fred - involved in a fatal car accident

Max - watched Billy murdered by the Mind Flayer

Patrick - possible alcoholism, in therapy for it - also likely being abused

Nancy - feels accountable for Barb's death because she asked her to leave on her own when she was taken by the demigorgon

It seems to me that all of these characters share a critical desire: they all want to turn back the clock and fix a mistake they made.

Chrissy: if we accept the writer's claim that she has bulimia, then she likely wants to turn the clock back several times a week (when she binges)

Fred: wants to turn back the clock to undo the fatal car accident he blames himself for

Max: wants to turn back time and save Billy from the Mind Flayer

Patrick: probably wants to turn back the clock every time he drinks alcohol/falls off he wagon

Nancy: wants to turn back time to leave with Barb (or at least walk her to her car)

With Chrissy, Fred, and Patrick, it's harder to tell because we've only had a few episodes to get to know them. But it seems clear that they all want to reverse time to fix something.

When Max reads her letter to Billy, she talks about going back and saving Billy--pulling him away in time--and because he survives, everything is right again. She even suggests they could become friends.

When Nancy is pulled into a Vecna Vision, he asks her if she remembers what she did--or has she forgotten about Barb already?

All these people desperately WANT/NEED to go back in time. And Vecna uses that to feed his time traveling powers.

But the time travel alluded to before is a consciousness going back in time to another point in their own timeline--no TARDIS hauling folks around. It's a one-person ride. So how the hell is Vecna dragging the Upside Down back in time with him?

cue scary music Stuff in the Upside-Down has a hive mind. They can function separately but they also function as one. And when Vecna kills people, what does he do? He "plugs in" to the Upside-Down.

Why go back in time? Again, best guess based on choice of music: "if I only could make a deal with God and get him to swap our places…" -- that's what he wants. He wants to go back far enough so he can swap places with Eleven--she loses and is banished to the Upside-Down, he wins and goes on to rule the regular world.

One Last Thought

What I find most interesting about Nancy's vision is that he doesn't progress her torment like he does with his previous victims. Instead, he proceeds to show her "the truth" (his truth)… he allows Nancy to walk through his memories and get the gist of his life story.

I think he does this because he wants Nancy to know--this is part of his plan. But why does he show her this now? Why not as soon as she arrived in the Upside-Down? It seems she meets his criteria for a victim target--why not simply connect with her telepathically/curse her? If his plan involves her remaining alive, then he could still curse her for sure--because she knows how to prevent he curse from killing her.

And I do think he has plans for Nancy (he doesn't intend to kill her)--I think he's roped a journalist in to tell his story. To who and to what end, I'm not sure.

I also think he shows Nancy this because her desperation to turn back the clock and make a different choice (one that would save Barb) was more than enough for him to proceed with his plan. Killing her won't open a gate, since she's in the Upside-Down, and he doesn't need to anyway--he's got enough psychic energy to execute the next part of his plan (my guess? merging bits of the Upside Down into Hawkins).

This would mean Stranger Things Season 4 Volume 2 will open just as Vecna brings the Upside Down in full force to Hawkins--with nobody to slow him down.

[theapostlesnigeria]

WE MUST OBEY GOD RATHER THAN MEN

"Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” - Acts 4:18-20.

“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said... Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than men!" - Acts 5:28-29.

There is nothing new about El-Rufai Preaching Law in Kaduna State. It has been there since the inception of the GoodNews. So if it could not and did not stop the first generation Apostles (Acts 4:19-20), it should not and cannot stop any genuine and faithful Servant of Christ from obeying the Vision from Heaven. As the Sanhedrin Preaching Law was inconsequential then, so it will be to anyone sent from Above. Anyway, thanks to the Courts. But our permanent answer to such laws in future: “We must obey God rather than men!".

I always tell my team: the main issue is not what the Governor and his likes do. Rather, it is what we do? Can we respond to this Law and their likes exactly as the Apostles of Old responded: “We must obey God rather than men!"? Thank God for the subtle move of His Wisdom herein. Now we will know the True Servants of God and the Economic Servants of God. The Governor will always do what he fancies to do, we can't deny him that. And we must do what we have been commanded to do, he can't stop us from that. I only lament our financial limitations, for Village Evangelism is an extremely capital intensive task. I tell my Team that we should only worry about praying in the money for the Vision from Heaven as it is the only thing that can stop us, not a mere man's Law. But God willing, the Governor will live to see his children come to and enjoy the faith in Christ Jesus. But shall he taste of it? I leave it to God's Wisdom and Mercy.

Friend, honestly, the security situation in Nigeria have gone up in smokes since the advent of our current Government. Am not being political here. No, the cries of dying souls in the villages of Northern Nigeria

cannot allow me such pleasure. Villages we were freely roaming in and out before in Northern Nigeria, we can hardly visit now. Two weeks ago, I sent a member of the Team to a village in Kaduna State we planned evangelizing next month July. He was to inform the Sarki (The King) of our intention. The King asked him if we have our security as he has none to protect us from the marauding Fulani herdsmen. He said his village has repeatedly suffered their attack.

I was touched by the question a female member of the Team asked me when I sent another brother to the Sarki of another village: "How would we be able to reach the village seeing the fluid security situations on the road to most of these villages?" Yes, to even reach these isolated villages is an uphill battle as one can easily be their target for Ransom gains. These are the realities of our Time. But the Bible still counsels: "Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap." - Ecclesiastes 11:4.

Friend, is all hope lost for Nigeria? No, not at all. God is on His usual subtle move. Even with these chaos in the Nation, God is achieving His plan - Isaiah 43:13; Lamentations 3:37.

So, irrespective of your political disposition, please always remember the President and Governors in your prayers - 1 Timothy 2:1-3.

Remember also us in your prayers, exactly as in Ephesians 6:19-20.

GOD BLESS YOU - BRO KINGDOM

[erikiara80]

A beautiful Byler-Polivia parallel, Will's truesight and other parallels with Fringe

I said I could make 50 posts after my rewatch of S4. I'm gonna start with the parallels with one of my favorite shows. Let's go! @lilitblaukatz

Olivia Dunham is Subject 13, and she has the ability to see and travel to the parallel world. In ST there are many mentions of number 13, and imo that's a hint that there are different timelines (not actual parallel worlds) and we've been seen them since the very first episode. In fact, Will mentions the number 13 in the first scene of the show.

Will-Olivia parallels

It was a seven. I read many theories about this moment and Mike's strange reaction. That maybe Will is in a Vecna vision, and that's why the lights flicker and "Mike" doesn't know what he is talking about.

Well, I think Vecna is spying Will; those eyes on the skis behing Mike! I think this detail proves that Will's abduction wasn't a coincidence.

But if this Mike is actually Vecna, shouldn't he know about the game and the Demogorgon? He can read minds, wouldn't he at least try to smile?

Then I remembered why this scene seemed familiar. It reminds me of a scene of Fringe, ep 3x15, when Olivia, who can't control her powers yet, travels to the parallel world and for a moment sees the other Dr Bishop, who is quite surprised by what she says.

(in 3x15 Olivia also meets Peter for the first time)

So, I don't know, maybe Will does have a Vecna vision later, at home. But when he talks to Mike, I think he's seeing a Mike from another timeline/or he ended up in another timeline (because the gate just opened?) I don't know. Maybe a timeline where Karen interrupted the campaign earlier, or Will rolled the dice and won. That would explain Mike's confusion, and the flickering lights.

And now I'm thinking about other parallels

The zeppelin and the Rainbowship

The first time Olivia sees the parallel world, she draws this

What if Will didn't just imagine the Rainbowship, but drew what he SAW, like he drew the vines?

Nina kinda looks like a little spaceship, so, maybe... I don't believe what Owens said. I think they were already using the silos before El lost her powers.

(EDIT: Spoilers of The First Shadow- Now we know that in 1943, the ship of Brenner's father wound up in Dimension X, during the Philadelphia Experiment, which was connected to the Rainbow Project. So, maybe Will's Rainbowship is a reference to that and a hint at different timelines)

But back to Olivia and Will. Here she's drawing while the adults are talking about her, and Will is drawing while Joyce and Hopper are talking with Owens, who gives major Walter Bishop vibes, and even has a son named Peter.

Byler and Polivia, the parallel of their first meeting

The Rainbowship is mentioned in the shed scene, the same scene in which Mike reminds Will of the first time they met.

In 3x15 Olivia draws the zeppeling, and in the same episode Peter finds her sketchbook and sees her drawing of the field of white tulips. Her drawings, that are connected to her powers and visions, help him to find her. And this is a beautiful parallel with Will and Mike, because Peter's life changes when she meets Olivia. They talk about her abusive father (in the shed scene Jon mentions Lonnie) and it's after they talk in that field that Peter decides to accept his new family and his new life.

Asking Will to be his friend is the best thing Mike has ever done, and their lives changed too, when they met.

I don't think there are parallel worlds in ST, just different timelines, because for some reason they're stuck in a loop. They mention time loops a few times, and Max even mentions it when they are in Henry's house.

In S2 Nancy tells Murray that his timeline is wrong, and in his letter Hopper says that you can't turn back the clock... But then Henry does it in the flashback. There's also this Back to the future line: The appropriate question is 'When the hell are they?'

And if there's really a time loop, I think Will and Henry can see other timelines or maybe the timelines are merging? There are so many hints.

From Will's Marty Mcfly outfit in S1, to Henry seeing the Mind Flayer when he was a kid. The crystal ball in the Will the Wise drawing, used by clairvoyants, the Forever Clock that Dustin gives to Will, Will's name engraved on the grandfather clock and him saying, in his Will the Wise outfit, that he's seen into the future. If they're stuck in a time loop, then the future is actually the past, since the story has repeated itself many times. Steve and Robin even mention the whole going back to future/present thing.

In 4x01 El says that they're all time travellers, so yeah, if Olivia can see and travel to a parallel world, maybe in ST people can see (or travel to) different timelines of the timeloop.

Eleven, Twelve and Thirteen

In the Nina scenes I noticed that Thirteen is often in the frame with El or Twelve (who I think represents Will). At first I didn't understand why. She never speaks or interacts with El. And I didn't know why they cast a girl that looks like young Millie. The actress said that the crew kept telling her that she looked like Millie, and before S4 many fans speculated that she would play El. Everything means something in this show, and the casting is always on point, so I thought maybe they want us to notice something? Then I remembered that Olivia was Subject 13.

So that kid could be a subtle hint that we're seeing different timelines in Nina. From the beginning, when El wakes up and see the rooms of Four and Nine. 4+9=13

Twelve and Thirteen

Twelve and Thirteen in the Rainbow Room. It's interesting that in both these scenes they focus on 12, "Will", and 13, who looks like little El, after they show the twins. Willel, twins, and different timelines...

Brenner and Thirteen's room

Thirteen and Eleven (and Twelve)

I really think that Thirteen is a reference to Olivia, and since Olivia can see parallel worlds, maybe this is a hint at the ability to see/travel to other timelines. I already thought that El was seeing different timelines, and that she was actually there, with her mind, but this is a nice detail.

*Another interesting 13 mention. The 13th birthday of a kid named Georgie. George, like George Smith in the play? We know that Will's birthday is important, and since this scene is about his parents, I think this mention is connected to both Will and Henry/Edward

Hm, a bit lost, because of other timelines/a time loop?

Anyway, I love Fringe and I love that ST has so many parallels with such a beautiful story.