“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Lucas Sinclair said in Stranger Things season 5. Now, just days after the final episode of season 5, that’s the key phrase. Fans are practically stringing their Christmas lights from their ceilings, checking for the blinking lights signaled by the Duffer Brothers. “Joyce was crazy once,” a random tik-toker commented, desperate for a new beginning of the end. “And look at where crazy got her!” Fans are analyzing every episode, every social media account, every word said or written by actors.
All inconsistencies are signs; Netflix searches are hidden messages, mathematical equations are paper trails, and even the clothing choices are proof of unrealistic timelines. There are in-depth compilations across platforms covering every ounce of content that leads to an alternate ending. “Did you notice the doorknob switches sides from each season?” “The exit signs at the ending scenes?” “What about the seven rolled on the D20?” Fans are searching for the number seven at every turn. Will was gone for nearly a week. Chrissy’s headache started a week before the incident. The storm in the Upside Down had thunder every seven seconds. When Steve fell, the screen was black for seven seconds. Finally, the D20, once again, rolled a D7.
Colors were slowly fading, the turn dial at the WSQK was red for Robin but grey for Steve, the merry-go-round started with a yellow center, and Holly noticed it became grey, and the “Hellfire” club shirt went from red to grey as seen at Dustin’s valedictorian speech. Not to mention, Eddie was considered a murderer and “freak,” and the entire class cheered even when the speech was Dustin’s homage to Eddie.
Throughout the entire season, Lucas and Holly constantly brought up the concept of mind manipulation, such as the Camazotz bedroom scene that Holly preached was a false reality. Lucas had a breakdown scene in the radio station where he exclaimed, “Is this real? Is Vecna messing with us again? This makes no sense.” During Will’s coming out, he stated “milkshakes at Melvalds,” but that was not a thing during Will’s time, only Henry’s.
By the time skip of 18 months, there was no mention of Vickie, presumably because Vecna never met her. Steve was a baseball coach, not a basketball coach, even though he only ever played basketball in the series, because Vecna remembers Steve with his bat. At graduation, the gowns were orange, like a prisoner, rather than the green they were supposed to be originally at Hawkins High. Nancy, Mike, Karen, and Ted share similar hairstyles – all in relation to Henry’s we often saw in the false reality. Every main cast member at the graduation was spotted with a peer wearing glasses behind them, everyone with crossed legs similar to Henry.
Every DND campaign was brought back to the ease of the game, how everything was too easy, too incomplete. Now, regardless of if conformity gate ends up being real, fans theorize that the epilogue was indeed a fake reality, one where no one truly got their happy ending. It recurs that Vecna is a mind-manipulator – his ideal world is characterized by high saturation and bright lighting. If the Duffer Brothers utilize these easter eggs revealed by fans, it will be the best plot twist in Stranger Things thus far. Granted, there is only so much they can do as creators, and the brothers, like everyone, often have their own creative limits. They did, in fact, say that it was going to be an emotional Christmas, but their Christmas Orthodox is January seventh. Today, January 7th, we find out if we have become as validly crazy as Joyce Byers.
