#shit’s crazy and like have fun with the lung cancer 🤷‍♀️

[shadeoftheblessedthistle]

Disclaimer: I enjoy the show overall and will continue watching despite disappointing character arcs and obvious plot holes.

That said, ohmygosh yes I was waiting for someone to bring this up!!

I can kind of brush off the supposed toxicity of the UD air, because we’ve been seeing the Hawkins crew rawdogging it down there since s1. I get the impression it’s ‘don’t wanna be breathing that shit long term’ more so than ‘instant death due to toxic hell dimension fumes’. Although I fully expect s15 to be all about Will Byers’ battle with lung cancer 😳.

BUT, what really caught my attention was the whole ‘time stopped the day Will landed in the Upside Down’. Which, unless they have a damn good explanation for it in s5, just completely fucked 3 seasons worth of storylines.

I started rewatching the whole series from the beginning to make sure I didn’t miss anything, and I’m only to the first episode of s3, but I haven’t seen anything that would line up with the time freeze. Not only do you have Joyce’s Christmas light bingo, and the flashlights and Holly’s light up toy in s4, we also see a shot of the gym in s2 with the string lights up for the SnowBall. And I might be crazy (like I said I haven’t finished s3 yet) but I could swear we get a glimpse of StarCourt Mall in the UD, which hadn’t even been built when the series began.

Although I will say in s1 when Joyce and Hopper enter her house in the Upside Down looking for Will, there are no lights strung up, nor are there any signs of Nancy and Jonathan’s demogorgon trap, other than the monster blood trail they find in the hallway (rip Joyce’s carpets 🙏). Which leads to the question, how did Will communicate through alphabetical lights he couldn’t see? I can be generous with lights in Present day Hawkins sparking due to the presence of a being in Frozen Upside Down, just due to their energy or whatever sci-fi nonsense you want to throw out there, but asking me to believe Will was able to strategically communicate through lights he shouldn’t have known existed is just a stretch.

It would have made more sense if time in Upside Down Hawkins paused and resumed every time the gate was opened or closed. Or if time in the Upside Down had frozen when Eleven ripped the veil open the first time and dumped 001’s angsty ass down there. But there’s really no reason I can think of that would have made time stop when Will Byers got yoinked.

Which brings me to my last question: Am I the only one who thinks Vecna has been building Hawkins in the Upside Down? Like what even is happening here? When he first landed in the s4 flashbacks (which would predate s1 by an unspecified amount of time) it looks like a barren wasteland. But in season 1 we see basically an exact replica of the town and surrounding woodlands? I don’t even know man 🤷‍♀️. It would be easier I theorize if we knew how long he had been down there when the events of season one take place.

Honestly the whole time freeze was probably just a lazy plot device thrown in there to give them a reason to send the kids weapons shopping and orchestrate a run in with Jason, which is seriously half assed writing, but I’m a glutton for punishment and finding convoluted ways to make their shitty details line up is a fun way to pass the time. So if you’ve got any hot takes or speculations, hit me up I’d love to discuss!

ST4 spoilers?

To be safe. I am copying my own text because I'm so burned but unwilling to write anything again, please tell me I'm not alone. Are my logic centers fried??