#if they have Sadie laying there lifeless no acting half the season I’ll riot is what I’m actually saying with this lmao

[emblazons]

I've thought about this a couple of times already, but i wanted to see your opinion on it; do you think Max is going to wake up early into the season or will it happen in like.... a climax moment in the later episodes? Because it feels like they'd want it to happen in the later episodes bc what is the point of putting her in a coma, right? But i think it could feel jarring if she stays in a coma for the majority of her screentime, so not sure how they are gonna do that especially if there is some sort of a time skip. I wonder if they will reduce her screentime and mostly focus on Max through Lucas and El's dedication to save her, instead of focusing on Max's POV/character? It could also align with what the duffers said about returning to the OG characters (the boys and El). Like. That sounds like Max will stay in a coma for a while to me while we watch El and Lucas trying to save her instead.

Honestly—and I’m gonna be transparent with you in saying that this isn’t based on any deeply researched fact or analysis, because that’s not really where my focus has been for most of my rewatches—I personally think Max will probably be in a coma for a solid portion of the season, but…we might get more scenes with her as we learn what exactly Henry does to the people whose essence he absorbs…since we already know they aren’t “gone,” just “in here” the way One tells us they are.

Even if Max isn’t out of her coma, her consciousness has to be somewhere—probably something similar to what happens when people have vecna visions x a million, because it’s all consuming and (at this point at least) unbreakable without learning the mechanism for recovering people from Henry/One/Vecna?

It is canonically possible to ‘break into’ Henry’s mind through a possession or “taking” (if you want to call it that) already though, considering Will managed a bit of it when Henry was in his mind (while still alive physically)…and we also get him asking how Max “got into his head” when she somehow leaves the vision he is terrorizing her with re:Billy to head into his mindspace.

At least to me, this means it’s (perhaps) entirely possible for Max to be aware somewhere with some aspect of agency and consciousness (given she, unlike the others he took, is still physically alive) despite being in a coma in the physical world….which means we might still get her perspective.

Learning how to “free” Max might take a while for our characters, which means Max’s body will in fact be in that coma for a while—but that doesn’t mean we won’t have interactions with Max (or see Sadie) for the majority of the season. Even if we follow her struggle to understand Henry from whatever space she occupies alongside all the others he’s taken before, we might see a fair amount of her…especially since The Duffers love taking multiple (seemingly disparate) storylines and meshing them to a specific end…in this case, Max’s soul returning (however that is accomplished) to her body.

Outside the universe of stranger things though…I also don’t think The Duffers are foolish enough to spend an entire season relegating someone who is easily one of their most objectively gifted actors (a woman casted in an Aronofsky film no less) to lying in a bed the majority of the season, even if it doesn’t come about in the most linear way. Max’s internal perspective as someone who has worked alongside the party and El for three seasons now trying to sort through Vecna “from the inside” is also an insanely unique opportunity for a writer imo, and would be a waste to throw out to just leave her in a lifeless coma until she’s saved.

But again—that’s not analysis, just me wondering (and maybe a little hoping) aloud. Still, thanks for the ask!