#duffers explain

[luv-byers]

Could ANYONE explain to me why Mike nods when Will says this? What truth is he hiding that El possibly won’t like?

Also, it looks like he wants to say something in the end but he doesn’t bc they are interrupted — once again— by someone, in this case Argyle.

[ghostmyuu]

I don’t know but it really seems to me like the Duffers for sure filmed some scenes for the very beginning of season 5 during season 4. 👀

In one interview they say season 5 will start right where we left off and that it’ll be a lot of action in the beginning since it’s basically an apocalypse going on. But everything we’ve seen so far seems like there’s been a timeskip?? I don’t see how they can start season 5 with a time jump after the cliffhanger they left us on.

[bonniebyler]

Number 4819

So according to Max, the Hargroves live on 4819 Cherry Lane. However, in 2x06 an 3x02 we see a different house number, 5280.

In 2x02 Max also tells Lucas and Dustin she lives on Old Cherry Road, not Cherry Lane.

Not sure if this has a meaning or if it's just a mistake (which I don't really believe, because the Duffers even said almost nothing happens by mistake.)

The number 4819 is used quite often in the show.

Benny's Burgers was on 4819 Randolph Lane. Doris Driscoll lived at 4819 Cornwallis Road. The Hargroves (as told by Max in 3x08) live on 4819 Cherry Lane. The Byers live on 4819 Lonzo Way in Lenora.

I'm not really sure what meaning this number has, except that 4+8+1+9=22, which could refer to Will's birthday on 22nd of March? (I did some research and apparently 22 is also symbolic of balanced relationships and partnership, and it's the most powerful and creative number. Maybe this is too far-fetched though and again, I'm not sure what 4819 or 22 means or why the Duffers chose it.) I still find it interesting that they used it so many times when they could have just used random numbers, and I wanted to point it out.

[zazuharrington]

will’s connection to the upside down

i’m sure we’ve all seen the posts of the similarities between 001/henry creel and will. drawing on those similarities, i have a theory about just how deep his connection to the upside down runs. i believe that will wasn’t a random or unlucky victim in season 1, but was rather chosen by vecna and the mind flayer.

let me evaluate as to why.

when nancy and robin went to see victor creel in season 4, victor talked about his son, henry. he described henry as a sensitive child. 

we also see, back in season 1 when will went missing, joyce was talking to hopper about will, and described him in the same way. she said will is a sensitive kid.

will’s sensitivity undoubtedly makes him susceptible to possession and makes him an easy target for things like that, much like you might see in a horror movie where emotionally vulnerable people are targeted by demons.

it is also revealed to us in a flashback that when henry was a child, he was drawing pictures of the mind flayer. however, we also know that henry did not actually lay eyes on the mind flayer until he was sent to the upside down by eleven and became vecna. this appears very similar to will’s “now memories” in season 2, which made it possible for him to see the mind flayer and replicate it in drawing. 

going back to my theory now, i feel that 001/henry, as vecna in the upside down, picked will specifically to become another “him” in the present time so that there was someone like him in the real world again. even though he had access to the world through the gate that eleven opened in the lab, it wasn’t enough. i think that he picked will because he knew it would give him a way to access eleven-and it worked, because it led to her directly and led to her/her friends entering and interacting with the upside down. and this method worked, because over the seasons as he controlled will more and more, it sent their world spiraling, until season 3 when he was finally able to get el. he told her in the s4 finale that he sent the mind flayer to collect her power because he needed more strength. and who did the mind flayer mainly target? will. 

this post is a little incoherent, but my point is that will is definitely a lot more connected to the upside down than any of us realize. and i think some of that connection will be revealed in season 5. 

[tryingonametaphor]

when they make byler canon i’m so sure that all the duffers are gonna say in an interview is “we’ve been planning this for a while. if you go back and watch the seasons you may pick up on some things you didn’t before” and just move on to the next topic

[queen-of-hawkins-why-ler]

"The making of ST5 documentary" oh so you mean Finn, Noah, Winona, David, Charlie, Shawn Levy, and the Duffer brothers' commentary on Byler, how long they've known about it, how they used acting and direction to create the slowburn relationship, and the cultural impact they believe it will have

[hellinhawkins]

this may be a hot take BUT when finn says mike is trying to act “as normal as possible” i really don’t see that as byler proof? i mean i see it as more of him trying to act like all of everything with the upside down didn’t happen/didn’t bother him?

[navnae]

It has been brought to my attention that Steve literally argues with everyone on the show and he has these moments of pure irritation but when it came to Eddie none of that was visible or even made an appearance throughout their entire time being together, that speaks volumes no matter what the duffers try to say and I’ll stand by that.

[bywheeler]

Ok bear with me this is kind of long. So something (in my opinion) that helped confirm they would give Will his happy ending was the whole painting storyline. I just really don’t understand it’s purpose if Will and Mike don’t end up together. So first let’s start with the airport scene

We have them awkwardly hugging. Now I get that they haven’t seen each other in a year and have barely talked. That still doesn’t explain why this hug is so awkward. They’re supposedly best friends. Normally when you’ve been friends with someone so long it feels like no time has passed even if you haven’t seen each other in a while. Why is this any different? They ended on good (although Will didn’t get the apology he deserved) terms after their fight in season 3.

Will has the painting with him in the airport and he obviously planned to give it to Mike before he realized how awkward things were. This is when he lost a bit of hope. What exactly is it he hopes for? Is it for Mike to like him back? Why give him this hope if it was gonna end badly? It seems silly to include it if they’re just gonna end up staying friends.

Now to my next point. We have Will get this hope again after their talk in Will’s bedroom. When Mike says it’s better for them to work as a team. Friends. Best friends. The camera focuses on Will looking to Mike then he reaches for the painting and puts it in his backpack.

My question again… What is will hoping for? Now you could say he’s giving it to him as a friend but why be so hesitant to give it to him? We know from the Van scene it’s because the meaning behind the painting shows his true feeling for Mike.

Which leads me to the beloved van scene. Will’s plan was never to use use El’s name and act like she commissioned the painting. He was originally planning to give Mike the painting because of how he feels toward Mike. We can confirm this with our two other scenes. He was so excited to give Mike his painting in the airport until he lost hope. And then that hope is regained after their moment in his bedroom (which felt very flirty). He only decides to use El’s name to mask his own feelings because he believes that’s what Mike needs to hear. Mike’s telling Will that El doesn’t need him. Will knows that Mike wants to feel needed and the person who needs him most is Will. But that’s not what Will believes. He believes Mike wants El to need him so he uses her name while describing his own feelings because he thinks he’s lost any chance of Mike ever feeling the same about him. 

And for the third time I ask WHY WOULD THE WRITERS GIVE WILL ANY TYPE OF HOPE. It just seems silly to me that they’d make him suffer these feelings of unrequited love for no reason. I mean what is the point of the painting plot? We know in season 5 it’ll have to come up again. Mike is gonna figure out that El didn’t commission the painting. He’ll have to confront Will about it. If the writers wanted Will to come out to his best friend Mike then they really didn’t need to have a whole storyline drag over 2 seasons. I just don’t see how it makes any sense for the series to include all these scenes in season 4 as a way to confirm Wills love for Mike and not have Mike feel the same. What’s the point?

Sorry I am rambling and I don’t even know if this makes any sense. But if you read all of this thank you lol

[bitchybylershipper]

going back to their season one roots 🥺 currently losing my fucking mind someone send help 🥺

[human-being-on-earth]

In almost every single map I've seen of Hawkins, Indiana, Will's house is ODDLY close to the National Hawkins Lab

Like why?

The other Party member's houses aren't as close to the HNL as Will's house is.

Duffer Brothers, explain.

I know it's probably just for no reason, but I just over think things :)

(All of these images were found on Pinterest btw)

[chirpsythismorning]

Watching Wayward Pines for potential ST5 inspo bc the Duffers wrote a couple episodes in s1, and when I got to their second (last) episode and their name crossed the screen, I noticed a visual parallel that might already exist on the show…

Recognize it??

It instantly reminded me of that last shot for the opening of s3, with the landscape peaking out behind the Russian base. But when I went back and actually compared the two, holy shit it’s near identical, and not just the landscape.

I didn’t even remember the helicopter being there on the left, not to mention the pillar-esaue contraption at the center. Like… they’re the same picture.!

With them being credited right at that moment, it’s obvious this was an intentional nod to their previous work.

I just thought it was cool so I wanted to share, but in terms of my watch overall, there is a LOT going on that they could pull from. I’m only halfway through s1, though I’ve heard the show goes downhill in s2 so we’ll see how that goes 😂

[scoopstomyahoy]

thinking about a no upside down au steddie fic where steve and eddie run into each other years after moving away from hawkins, and eddie remembers steve and his fall from grace as king, and is kind of intrigued to see what kind of person he is now

and steve doesn’t remember him at all at first, because, look, eddie changed his hair again, and steve’s had a few head injuries (no upside down but i imagine he still went thru some shit with the party and with robin), and he didn’t really think about eddie in high school anyway, and he’s trying to forget about hawkins as much as possible (besides the kiddos, but they’re all moved out for college now, anyway) (obviously he lives with robin)

but steve is different now, happier, more open, flirts with guys, flirts with EDDIE, and eddie….. well, he wants to know more! and he tells steve he knows him from hawkins, and steve’s sunny little smile flickers a little, but he just apologizes for not remembering him and mentions he has some memory problems

and they get to know each other, and eventually as eddie tells him more (and maybe with the help of some yearbooks) steve remembers eddie. and. well. they like getting to know each other. and they like each other. and then they get together

eventually they’ve been together for a while, and eddie thinks he wants to maybe introduce steve to wayne, and he mentions he’s going to go back to hawkins for a long weekend (as he’s done a couple times) and this time he’d like steve to join him

and again steve’s sunny smile flickers a bit, but he says he’d love to meet eddie’s uncle, and… they go to hawkins. and it goes well— meeting wayne, at least, but steve seems a little on edge the whole time they’re there, tense when they drive in, fidgety when they go to the grocery store, et cetera. eddie thinks maybe steve is nervous about staying with the man who raised eddie, which is ridiculous, because wayne LOVES steve.

it’s not til they leave the town altogether that steve relaxes, and eddie realizes it wasn’t “meeting the parents” but rather going back to hawkins. and speaking of meeting the parents, steve didn’t ever bring his own up, even though eddie knew they still lived in hawkins. and the way steve glanced around whenever they went in public, like he was scared of getting recognized

and he asks about it, and steve doesn’t really want to talk about it, but he gives eddie snippets of it. people he wanted to leave behind in hawkins, memories that resurfaced, things he wants to forget

eddie goes back to see wayne sometimes, and the first time he doesn’t know whether to ask steve to come, so he just mentions he’s thinking about going to hawkins for some weekend and steve immediately starts making plans with him as if the invite is implicit. they go back to hawkins several more times, steve still tense and pent up the whole time they’re there

over time steve reveals more and more to eddie. everything that made hawkins hell for him, from the things he himself did in high school to the things people did to him. stuff tommy and carol and billy said to him. some of it is just typical high school bullshit (and oh, the nancy thing.) some of it is the tragedies steve went through, the horrors he had to protect his kids from. the injuries he sustained. more generally the homophobia that permeated the whole town, keeping steve from being himself. the lack of support in the indiana public school system for a high school senior who’s had two concussions and gone through incredible trauma.

his parents. the reason why steve’s mail is addressed to ‘steve buckley’ now, not ‘steve harrington’.

(that doesn’t come out until much, much later, and eddie is kicking himself for ever suggesting steve come back to hawkins.)

eddie, who hardly had an easy time of it in hawkins, is absolutely blown away by what steve had gone through in the same town, right under his nose. the entire persona that steve was trying to leave behind — the cool as a cucumber, unaffected, douchey mask he wore to hide all that he had endured. the head injuries. the emotional tragedies he had gone through. the way he had to be the rock for the kids even as he went through the same things as them.

he tries to tell steve they never have to go back to hawkins again, and steve is having none of it. he tells steve wayne can come visit them in their new city, and steve thinks that’s completely unfair to the man who had raised eddie, seriously, you’re going to make him come all the way up here?

and well i don’t know exactly what the ending is but steve is so stubborn about trying to love hawkins because it was eddie’s home and he wants to be able to go see wayne because wayne deserves to see his kid and eddie deserves to see his uncle and steve doesn’t want to be the problem :(

[paintingformike]

when finn said that “you’re my superhero” was a genius line...i feel like giggling and kicking my feet cause it really was a genius line

[zazuharrington]

sitting here fearing for my life that mike will be one to die in season 5.

this boy has escaped death and injury too many times to be safe for the last season.

i may be grasping at straws here, there were several possible foreshadowing references in season 4 that hinted at this possibility. and we know the suffer brothers tend to be very deliberate about placement of things like this.

first of all, when nancy was talking to the others about what vecna showed her, she said "and he showed me my mom...and holly...mike. they were all...". this feels like a mega foreshadowing line to me, because nancy said he showed her things that haven't happened yet. he showed her the gates opening, and that did happen. and he showed her, presumably, her family dying. including mike.

second of all, when el was taken to nevada to work with brenner, he talked to her about the opera titled nina. he says it's the story of a woman whose lover was killed in a duel (a fight). but she represses the trauma of it happening, and continues to wait at the train station every day for his return. he proceeds to imply that el, in this scenario, is nina. we all know that el's lover is mike.

my third piece of pitiful evidence (i am definitely grasping at straws with this one but then again knowing the suffers we need to over-analyze everything) is when argyle referred to mike as romeo. in the season 4 finale, he dropped the pizza in front of them and said "surf's up, romeo". we all know the story of romeo and juliet, and how they both die for their love for each other.

of course, mike wheeler is my special boy and i can only hope for his survival and happy ending, but given what he's been through and how much he has managed to avoid, i am fearful as hell for his life.

my insanity and stranger things withdrawal is definitely leading me to overanalyze (or am i?)

[the-lark-ascending69]

Sometimes i'll see a byl3r theory post that looks so much like it's parodying delusional byl3r theories and laugh along only to realize it's dead serious.