And you can't make this up

and with that they said everything there is to be said 🤭

I just want to add in this bit from an old David Harbour interview from (I think) right after season 2.

The allegory of vecna's curse: tra*ma, music, and hope

Tw: their will be discussions of mental health, su*cide etc . Kind of unavoidable

Mental health allegory

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The fact that when Mike was looking for a sub for Hellfire, he was looking for someone that…

He knows,

Who likes physical contact,

Who he has chemistry with,

Who is an artist,

And who likes playing games.

Mike was trying to find Will.

Will is everything Mike wants.

El, Kali, and Henry: and the theme of  psychiatric ab*se (analysis) .

I’d almost recommend reading my other psych post first: I did a whole post about the (different) mental health allegory relating to “ vecna’s curse” ( in relation to his victims, such as  Max). These 2 posts will really illustrate how prevalent the  psych themes are within s4 and prior seasons.And just how great the Duffers’ writing is.But, given the (um… oddly thirsty)  reception to Henry as a character.I’m going to have to preface this by stating the obvious- my explanation of why Henry does what he does is not excusing of any of his horrid actions. It’s simply an explanation. And goes with the broader psych themes in the series.  So let’s begin.

We kind of see the exact moment- Henry probably decided to implement his lab massacre  plan (the RULE talk/  electrocution scene):

We later see Henry get electrocuted by Brenner (because the “RULES’ still apply to him in the same way- as they do to the other numbers). 

In Henry’s speech to el after the lab massacre: he  mentions  ” making his own RULES“ (aka his  explanation for the massacre is him saying it’s going against Brenner’s ab*sive RULES).- Despite what he’s did to the numbers being unjustifiable, since they were v*ctims of Brenner’s rules too).

 And again vecna targets people with mental health issues who are actually seeing a good psych counselor (Mrs Kelly who has a clock necklace): but Henry as a child glares at the clock- while discussing : ” straight jackets" and the “RULES” (aka the idea of being trapped with psychiatrist dr. Brenner who implements ab*sive “rules” and called him “broken"as a kid). 

This is what caused him to snap completely as a kid and as an adult… Brenner (and wanting to escape Brenner’s grasp/ ab*sive “RULES’). We see as a child Brenner was already medically treating Henry- and the thought of being locked away with Brenner made him attack his own family-and later his lab family  .

Both of his v* olent rampages and psychiatric breakdowns have to do with trying to “break free” from his psychiatrist Dr. Brenner.

If the psych allegory wasn’t obvious already the tracker in Henry is called “Soteria” (which is an alternative to a psych hospital). 

Nothing Henry did was justifiable but if Brenner (and the lab) wasn’t so ab*sive who knows if it would have happened? Was henry just destined to be evil- or is his disdain for his doctors *as a child/adult * (and his villainous outcome) a critique of the mistreatment mental health doctors caused to some patients in the 50s-70s? What would have happened if Henry had a proper psychiatrist? Mkultra (which Brenner is a part of)was literally run by psychiatrists -some  experimented on unsuspecting psych patients in psych hospitals. One v*ctim of mkultra, Esther Schrier, was a pregnant women with depression : who was electrocuted so badly she became incontinent, and unable to walk or talk (which is very reminiscent of Terry). The fact that Terry is stuck in a “dream” (as Becky called it)  because Brenner electrocuted her . While peter became a literal dream monster (vecna) because of electrocution/Brenner is starting to seem like an obvious parallel. Not to mention, in s4, we see vecna and Brenner cause people to have nightmares of the past (to further solidify the parallels) .

I don’t think this theory is that farfetched. When s4 tackles mental health themes- and we see how poorly victor creel is treated in the psych facility. Henry even stated he wanted his father to be placed there -which seems like a vindictive act of revenge (since his parents wanted to place him in the care of an ab*sive psychiatrist, even if his parents were unaware of how bad Brenner was ).Also need to mention in s2, we literally hear about kali saving a girl (Dottie) from a mental asylum. And behind kali it says "o'bedlam” : a british poem about society discarding /mistreating  the mentally ill. Bedlam was also an American documentary about the mistreatment of the patients at mental hospitals- and it even discussed the connection to dungeons and dragons. Or the infamous bedlam asylum- which shaved it’s patients’ heads and t*rtured them .And guess what- Dottie was (very old) british slang for  "mentally ill". Kali even describes people like Dottie as similar to her and other numbers. These of course aren’t the only examples of mental health in st, the themes of mental health have been there since s1, and there’s too many to list here.

We see a lot of parallels of Henry to other characters(but also significant differences)…

 kali/8 in a s2 flashback is electrocuted by a guard similar to Henry : Henry even mentions 8′s escape to el . He may have seen a kinship with Kali as well (similar to El)  so helped her escape.

It would explain both henry /kali telling el to use an (angry) memory to be more powerful, both saying to El others see them as “monsters” because of their powers, both describing the lab as a “prison”,  and both being associated with spiders . Both even have illusion powers.  I think if kali learned what Henry did to her “siblings”: it would probably cause her to have  an existential crisis of sorts. Because a lot of her life philosophies were probably inspired by  him. I do believe if kali returns she will side with el though .

The biggest difference between Kali & Henry is that: henry sees people like himself… and hurts them. Meanwhile kali “saves” them. We see this contrast via the pointing of the head gesture. Sunshine says   “ we were de*d , all of us…kali saved us.Here” (points to head). Meanwhile El sees all the people Henry k*lled- and Henry (points to his head- and says’ they’re “in here”).

However Brenner points to El’s head and says that’s the real “prison”. This obviously has hidden symbolism relating to El’s mental  tra*ma. But it shows Brenner not realizing that numbers like 1 and 8- saw him and the lab as the real “prison” rather than their mind.

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Matt duffer saying he was obsessed with Dawson’s creek

Me: hm… that couple (Dawson/joey)who were childhood friends who knew each other since the 1st grade but refused to admit their romantic feelings out of fear it would ruin the friendship… reminds me of byler for some reason…

-fyi in the context of the scene :They specifically fight cause a diff girl was getting between their friendship . Joey is actually in love with Dawson but just lies and says she doesn’t see him romantically but as just a friend, since she’s scared he doesn’t feel the same. So she sabotages it before it can even begin - and lies and says she wants to move on and that they’re ‘ not kids anymore’. )

-( Will/Dawson low key calling them out on their bs and implying they have romantic feelings for Mike/Joey)

-(running away and calling for the other one)

The only difference is Joey/Dawson kiss (after the fight) to say what they’re verbally too afraid to say out loud- that they have feelings for each other. Something our boys (in the 80s) are obviously to scared to admit at the moment.

But nah… this whole scene has no romantic component- it’s just about Will ‘not being able to grow up”. If i’m a writer trying to write a platonic bromance… i constantly base it off romantic dynamics. I mean, C’MON, this whole scene from Dawson’s creek clearly inspired this byler scene XD

Holy shit idk if anyone has pointed this out yet but-

Okay so in season one its established through Joyce that Will has a fear of clowns. Clown imagery is reinforced in season 2 when someone dressed as one on Halloween triggers Will’s episode and Bob mentions having nightmares about Baldo the clown.

In season one it’s also established that Lonnie will sometimes bring Will to baseball games (which Will does not actually enjoy)

What was a baseball team operating out of Indiana in the 70’s and 80’s? The Indianapolis Clowns

Will’s fear of clowns has to be intrinsically tied to his dad

Oh, congrats to Noah Schnapp! I wish him happiness.

Just another lesson in "fandom please be more considerate when discussing actors in their LGBT+ roles. You don't know anything."

This is directed to the people who get really fussy about if actors match their characters in terms of sexuality. YOU DON'T KNOW, so leave it alone. People have reasons to be in the closet and it's not your business. If or when they want to come out is THEIR decision, not yours.

noah schnapp is a gay man playing a gay main character in the most successful tv show in the world happy fucking new year everyone

Plus,Amybeth being bi and playing bi Vickie in st. Iconic queer casting all around ✨️