In The Leaked Video I Can't Hear "steve" As The First Scream (???) For Some Reason, I Mean TO ME It Sounds

in the leaked video i can't hear "steve" as the first scream (???) for some reason, i mean TO ME it sounds more like "mike". i don't know, i've listened to it a few times and i can't hear "steve".

the dam broke today and the leaks keep on coming...

they are filming stunts tonight at the radio station and the person there spotted Will with their binoculars, and heard him screaming bloody murder multiple times

they also overheard: “GIVE ME YOUR ????, STEVEEE RUNNN RINNNNN” (no context given as to whose line this is)

Thoughts on "Escape from Camazotz"

Oppressive Suburbia, Conformity, and Season 5 Themes

I've long thought that a major focus of Season 5 will be the contrast between the families of The Wheelers and The Byers, and exploring how non-traditional family environments can be freeing vs the oppressive structure of the nuclear family.

In a Wrinkle In Time, Camazotz is a planet controlled by the big bad of the book, the "IT", who forces the citizens into a conformity that resembles American suburbia. All of the houses the same, the citizens the same, doing the same things at the same time without individual identity. Without anything different. Different means a lot of things, but with Stranger Things dropping different in reference to Will's identity and the presumable themes of this season, it will heavily codify as queerness and how it threatens the cisheterosexual family model.

Henry was raised in the 1950s, a decade still revered by conservatives for it's traditional family dynamics that supposedly were the peak of culture and happiness for all. That was all a lie, of course, and Henry knew so as he shows to Nancy and Eleven during his monologue. The second most conservative decade aside from the 1950s in American society is widely considered to be the 1980s.

The Creels will serve in parallel to The Wheelers; the worst example of what they could become and the damage that this type of family could do to a child that is different in any way. Notice how Vecna selectively shows Nancy visions of The Wheelers dying, but not anyone else she may consider family or friends (like Jonathan).

That is; unless they change their ways and come together as a healthy functioning family facing their traumas, The Wheelers will be toast.

Karen has been moved up to a main character role this season. Ted's actor says the father starts to show up more for Holly (hold that) and realizes he wants to act differently. Holly has been recast. Finn has said Mike goes on a much more personal journey this season, and steps up as a leader.

Oh, also: the catalyst for all of this is that Holly goes missing. The contrast will help show how the Byers (including El and Hopper here) were able to pull together and help solve Will's disappearance, versus how the Wheelers as a closed off nuclear family grapple with Holly's vanishing.

Each of the Byers is in some kind of a non-1950s conformist relationship, but particularly Will (not in one now but we all know he will be). I think El might represent, after she breaks up with Mike, the fear of the unmarried woman being satisfied without a husband. The above shot really emphasizes my point.

I predict that Will will end up coming out to his family rather early on, and we will see all of them immediately accept him with little surprise or push-back. Will is a visible gay man who comes from an open minded non traditional family (divorced, non-married, adoptive) that is willing to have honest conversations.

But this theme will place the most focus on the Wheelers. Mike is the main character of said family and this will particularly focus on his arc, and his acceptance of his queerness in the midst of suburban conformity.

He is not visible, he comes from a Reagan-supporting family who don't communicate with each other. He is not particularly close with his family like Will is. He pushes his feelings down and tries his damn hardest to be normal despite it all. His trauma hasn't really been addressed at all. He is falling back into his usual habits - the one thing he dared to do different (grow his hair long) has gone back to how it was.

It's not all doom and gloom though. This season above all will be a redemption arc of the American nuclear family, how they choose to escape their conformity and learn to be there for each other, thus overpowering Vecna. Not that the Wheelers are going to end this personally.

"Great, more hysteria. Just what we need". "It's the news, now indistinguishable from the tabloids".

Will recognising Brenner is like free serotonin to me. It makes me feel invincible. No matter what it means, I've won personally. It's like if a stranger things scene was written to be my catnip. Like, whether it means Will has been in the lab pre season 1 , Will saw Brenner in the UD , there's a Vecbrenner or the lab used to be a conversion therapy centre as a front. All of these are yummy delicious. And it doesn't matter if you believe the 8flix script or not because you can literally see the exact situation on the script being masterfully acted by Noah! It's there. It's all coming full circle. El is the girl and Will is the boy. Godddddd

is it true that those screams from the radio station are will’s. a lot of ppl are saying that it is dustin’s or Jonathan’s scream

I think this is confusing a lot of people so: There were at least two people (I think the YouTube guy went with a group) who visited the radio station set, as well as the paparazzi. The person I was in contact with wants to be anonymous so they can hopefully return and not get in trouble - but they were actually standing in the field with binoculars and got a slightly clearer look. Everything was dark so they said they were fairly sure they saw Will (and thought it was him screaming) but couldn't get a picture or confirm fully. The idea that it's Will is just the opinion of the person who was there given they saw him outside at the time of the scene; if you think it sounds more like Jonathan or Dustin then I'd use your own judgment to decide. Personally I do think it's him but it's not something I'm 100% about either.

This is a hill I'll die on: Vecna/One still has a massive exploitable soft spot for El.

Between:

The way he immediately swaps from pissy/killer mode to "augh...why are you crying..." when he spots El in 4.07

The way he seems completely incapable of getting around to physically harming her in any lasting way

The VR game Shadow Brenner telling Vecna that El's a weakness for him/She makes him emotional

The way he treats her in non-massacre NINA and TFS scenes

I feel like it's a pretty safe bet that deep down he's still very much attached to her.