#for being away from the Vecna plot the whole season they sure get emphasis on being in the know about the Future Vecna plot

[bugsbenefit]

i know we talk about Mike and Will and how important they are for the plot of s5 here all the time. but can we talk about how Insanely set apart the two of them are from everyone else by the end of s4? because yes, we already know they'll be important, s5 is going to be Will's coming of age and the kids have Always been the main focus of the show. hell they're literally the center of the ending shot of the entire season can't get more obvious than that:

everyone else had their shot at ending things already and failed, s5 would just be a repeat of s4 if it weren't for Will, Mike, Jonathan, Hopper, and Joyce being back in town for the rodeo this time around. this will be what makes s5 have a different outcome than s4 did.

but what really fucking gets me is that it's not just visually or thematically made clear how central Will and Mike will be to taking down Vecna. it's in the way the last moments of the season were written from a fundamental writing perspective because:

Mike and Will are the only central characters to never get confronted with Vecna for the entirety of the season. however. s4 ends with Mike and Will being the ONLY characters to know Vecna is still alive.

literally the only fucking ones.

i think that aspect gets lost sometimes. We know Vecna is still there because we just watched them have this conversation. the other characters DON'T know that. on that hill and in the entire town, right now, Mike and Will are the only one's with a concrete idea of why spores could suddenly start falling from the sky despite them having 'won'. they're not questioning what's going wrong because they already Know. they already came to the conclusion that they would have to kill Vecna for real. they're already over the initial shock and horror at finding out it was all in vein. they're literally ahead of everyone else.

from a character perspective this doesn't make much of a difference. s5 is supposed to pick up right where s4 left off and it's obvious that they'll fill everyone in on that immediately. they're not keeping that info from everyone they just didn't get the chance to share it yet. BUT. that is a conscious writing decision. it would have been a 30 second extension to have them quickly tell this crucial information to everyone outside the cabin or have maybe El overhear the end of their conversation in the cabin, she was only a room over after all. but they didn't do that. so we end the season with Mike and Will being the only one's on the same page as the audience.

Mike and Will being back in town is going to be pivotal to Vecna's end and we're being told on a thematic, visual, and writing choice level