💙 meets 💛 in the 🌅

will's heart is mike. "m" marks the spot: mike marks the spot.

but what significance does that have, when the show is already done, over, kapish? and, well, they haven't given us any good reasons to explore this "coincidence" further, anyway.... oh, but they did.

will learns that henry is "just like him". henry is only a vessel and it's the mind flayer that's controlling him. but we kind of knew that already, though?

the duffers said the play the first shadow would serve as a prequel to stranger things, but that it also links to season five: “(it) will take you right back to the beginning of the stranger things story - and may hold the key to the end.” (source: spyscape)

most fans that dive deeper into the lore would already have known henry is being controlled by the mindflayer, either from seeing the play themselves, or through reading about it online. this was not the "big, recontextualizing plot twist" they have been teasing us that the finale would bring. if it was, it would not have been spoiled in the play, over a year beforehand.

but if the spoiler is not the plot twist, what could the 'key to the end' be?

soo,,, will's pleading to henry is a lot more significant than we might have first thought after finishing episode 8:

will tells him he can resist the mind flayer, and help them fight it - speaking from his own experience. but henry says no, he chose to join it, because the mind flayer gave henry a reason to; making henry believe the world is broken. as he tells us, henry believes this is the truth.

will is begging henry not to listen to it: says it's controlling him right now. and he is breaking the fourth wall in this first shot btw, looking directly into the camera. this implies it's not just henry who is about to get pulled into the mindflayer's twisted world view. it's also happening to us. but most of all: it's happening to will.

and will is begging henry not to let the mindflayer win. but as i said, henry is not the only one will is begging to resist it's control.

what i'm saying is that what's happening here is more than just will getting emotional from hearing about henry's bleak world view. yeah, no, i'm sorry babes; this scene shows will falling headfirst into the mindflayer's control. that's why we don't see him again during the "final battle". this is the moment where will loses his control. he becomes only a mere part of the hive again: a vessel. and everything we see in episode 8 from here on out, is being shown to us by the mindflayer.

and hey, some more breaking through the fourth wall! henry is looking directly into the camera as he says the mindflayer needs him: "we are one". would you look at that - i think the audience was just confirmed to be part of the hive mind, too.

and the puzzle pieces are really starting to come together now. let's go back to some earlier scenes that all of this now shines a new light on.

mike says will is vecna (sorta). and yeah, we know what the implications behind this choice of wording is now; will can tap into the hive and siphon vecna's powers, right? but no, not exactly. as we learned in the eight episode, it's actually vecna who is like will. they're both part of the hive, and vecna has only been portrayed as the face of the operation. it's in fact the mindflayer's powers they've been tapping into all along.

when will asks if mike is saying that he's "evil and hell-bent on destroying the world", mike's answer is affirmative. yeah, he's joking, but these things always mean something! dialogue in scripts serve as a vital tool. dialogue should be layered on top of the reason why the scene is in the script in the first place, with stakes attached that relate back to the protagonist’s central dilemma (source: scriptreaderpro)

aka, mike is not just flirting here, he's also driving the plot forward; it's foreshadowing. mike is saying something that sounds like a joke, seemingly meaningless at the time, but i think it will be revealed to have deeper meaning at a later point. i think will is evil and hell-bent on destroying the world (sorta)

because what did we learn the steps for joining the mindflayer are? well. there's just the one: believing something that hurts you deeply to be the truth

oh snap. when the love of your life isn't like you and can never love you back. it's enough to break a man:

but can it break you enough to make you fall into the control of an evil eldritch monster? sorry, but yes i think it can :(

because they told us from the very start, didn't they... mike is going to fight monsters (✔️ he already did that now), evil wizards (i mean... kinda?) and sorcerers (oh god: will is a sorcerer: "an honest to god, real-life sorcerer!").

but i dont think mike is predicting exactly what his words imply here. he won't have to physically fight will.

because now, we can tie it all back to where we started in this post: remember how "M" (MIKE!!!) marks the spot (WILL'S HEART!!!)..

and holly is mike. what happens to holly, parallels what happens to mike. holly receives a letter from "henry" (though it's actually from max, who wants to save holly by telling her the truth), telling her he needs her help and to meet her at the "X". and she gets a map: drawing a path through a memory forest leading to the truth.

and holly is scared to go into the woods, because henry told her to never go in there (so she would never find the truth). but she finds the courage through holly the heroic to try anyway, because she thinks henry needs her help.

in short, here's what's up:

mike (the brave) is going to "fight" a sorcerer, by daring to enter into the memory forest to get to the "M".

meaningggg... mike is fighting will's mindflayer stolen mind by finding his heart: through proving that what will believes to be the truth in fact isn't, so that he won't be "broken"/"fallen apart" anymore. so that will gets back his control.