Life finds a Way

First of all, let me credit my predecessors that have contributed to our understanding of the relevance of Synchronicity by The Police in Stranger Things (lmk if there are more, I could only find these):

SYNCHRONICITY: The philosophical concept by Carl Jung, the album by The Police, and its importance to the narrative of Stranger Things by @nineteen-ninety-late

Synchronicity & More Snow Ball Shenanigans by @lavenderlatte222

One of Stranger Things' most noticeable tracks, Every Breath You Take, is from the record Synchronicity by The Police. Stranger Things further leaned into the album aesthetics in their visuals and promotion (see the two posts above for more details).

There are two tracks explicitly exploring the concept on the Synchronicity record:

Synchronicity I gives us a summary of the concept of synchronicity by Carl Jung, defined as "events that coincide in time and appear meaningfully related, yet lack a discoverable causal connection" (source).

Synchronicity II serves as an application of this very concept: The stress and anxiety of a father in his personal and professional life are paralleled to a monster crawling out of a lake. The events happen at the same time, even though they are not causally linked. But they are symbolically linked by what a monster crawling to the surface represents and how that relates to the emotional experience of the father.

Mother chants her litany Of boredom and frustration But we know all her suicides are fake Daddy only stares into the distance There's only so much more that he can take […] Many miles away Something crawls to the surface Of a dark Scottish loch

In case you can’t tell, we have basically been pointing out synchronicity in Stranger Things; events of the show that are not causally or logically related but instead symbolically. Think of all the symbols we’ve been analyzing, e.g. the meaning of colors — blue/yellow for Mike and Will, orange/green for (non-)conformity — and how those symbols connect different storylines and events. We’re looking at what feels like ‘meaningful coincidences’.

And it was the Duffers who introduced this concept to us by featuring Every Breath You Take so prominently on the show. That track, in and of itself, exemplifies synchronicity in Stranger Things: It’s played at the snow ball as a supposed ‘love’ song for the kids to dance to. At the same time, we see the Mind Flayer looming over Hawkins High. There is no indication of those two events — the snow ball happening and the MF stalking our characters — being causally related. But they are symbolically linked through a song that is about obsession and stalking.

But I think there’s more to it: Because how the Duffers tell their story fundamentally relies on synchronicity. They are telling us a story inside of a story, constituting the subtext of the show. And that subtext consistently accompanies the text. The two are synchronized.

Take, for example, Mike hiding El in his closet in season 1: We see Mrs Wheeler sit Mike down for a heart-to-heart, telling him that she understands how he must feel with Will gone and that he can always talk to her. At the same time, El is experiencing flashbacks to the lab. These two events are not causally linked (aside from the fact that Mike shoved El in the closet), yet they are symbolically linked: Both a mother being concerned for her son, specifically his grief over his missing best friend, and the imagery of El hurting in the closet point us to the symbolic connection between the two events: Mike's feelings for Will.

If you follow the subtext throughout the show you will see this pattern time and time again. There are so many scenes that tell us the textual and subtextual story at the same time; in synchronicity. Some examples:

Will breaks down after his fight with Mike and destroys Castle Byers. This is when he feels the Mind Flayer returning.

Vecna winning at the end of season 4 and splitting the earth in four coincides with Mike’s (failed) love confession to El.

When Jonathan and Nancy are trapped in the melting room, the room stops melting right after being honest with each other and their mutual love confession.

While these are obviously causally related to the extent that they were written by the same writers and for a good reason, to the characters these events are not causally or logically related, yet they are symbolically, reflecting the emotional beats and logic of the show:

Will's feelings of alienation

Mike (and everyone else) being penalized for lying

Nancy and Jonathan being rewarded for their honesty

The WSQK works in the same way: We figured out that we can synchronize the broadcast to the episodes airing at the respective times, and that this creates a soundtrack for the show that aligns with what’s happening on screen. The songs and the episodes are not causally or logically related; the songs were not written for the show specifically (unlike the ST soundtrack itself). But we find commonalities in what those songs and scenes symbolize.

The way we have uncovered the subtext is largely by using this synchronicity to identify the common thread of meaning/symbolism; we're basically abstracting the symbolic meaning through the synchronicity of events to carve out the metanarrative.

Obviously, some of the subtext breaks this pattern. For example, any foreshadowing per definition can't use the principle of synchronicity, so there are narrative devices the writers use that go beyond the principle of synchronicity. Examples are D&D campaigns foreshadowing their respective season, Hopper's letter about being stuck in a cave in season 3 foreshadowing seasons 4 and 5 both textually and subtextually, or the Russian code foreshadowing season 4 (and potentially more).

Most of this showed up after 4 and before or during 5. Some of it is after.

I'm pointing these out because all the games and commercials and promo pointed to an entirely different, and better, story line than the one we actually got in 5 (to date anyway). This is a huge monetary dump/promo push that I'd seriously question if there wasn't more content.

The Games

Hawkin’s Heli Tours commercial-that came with a phone number and promoted:

the helicopter flight simulator game on Microsoft-that was post the gates opening in 4 where Murray has you rescue people near the rifts, get supplies to certain places and even take the helicopter temporarily into the Upside Down.

The Doritos ST telethon-that came with a phone number that connected you to 80s stars and puzzles and sort of a choose your own adventure style thing for escaping UD monsters

The STRANGER THINGS VR game that pointed to Brenner being connected to the MF and being the main bad guy. From Henry/Vecna’s pov

The Immersive Experience game where you go for a sleep study and end up having to rescue Max and El from the Upside Down and Vecna

The Commercials

Karen did laundry and Ted bought golf clubs, and that fit so I won't focus on it.

But then Jancy commercials happened, showing Nancy with the flame thrower (we saw Jonathon with it in show) and Jonathon planning an Enzo's dinner (we saw Hopper propose at Enzo's in show)

Then there was the wonderful party commercial with the core four in the basement, Protective Mike with Will and Dustin building something to help fight Vecna. (which as I've said, was so much better than season 5)

The Netflix What’s Next commercial-that came out the week after Stranger Things that had so many ST references, including posters behind a Joyce look alike, a silver cat etc while promoting other shows.

The Merch

First, of course, The For Will mixtape that never led to anything remotely show related because Jonathon never talked to Will and Mike never gave him anything. (this was the best compilation pic I could find)

They also gave Will and Mike mixed tapes for a Secret Santa exchange in a promo video...all for no reason.

The Care Bears merch, which had Bedtime Bear “Wake up” for Mike and Goodluck Bear “Babe” for Will

Let's not forget the black light flashlight and how many toys and books had hidden words or objects on them that only glowed under black light. Even the flashlight box itself said Vecna Lives which...we knew already?

Google and ST VCR tapes that were sent to 11 people. Yes mostly it was just the most popular searches through the years but there were some clocks, chimes and weird sounds in there too that were suspicious.

The Books

The Nancy book that came out during season 5 before the ending One Way or Another, written by a ST main writer that emphasized the green graduation robes Nancy, Robin, Jonathon were wearing right before we saw a sea of orange robes in epilogue. It also indicated hidden toxic waste in Hawkins via Primrose Pharmaceuticals making people sick as opposed to the UD spores

The Cookbook that indicated Mike along with Holly had been taken to the UD in Karen’s recipe.

And finally this ridiculous thing. The Official Stranger Things book that came out 6 months after the finale and led to a new website with declassified files and puzzles. Inside it we found the wrong painting, a different birth date for Will Byers blown up so we couldn't miss it, some odd references like the dates on Alexei’s work placard, and a map full of strangeness and misinformation. Seriously there are so many "mistakes" in that book that it has to be on purpose.

Summary

I just wanted to put it all together in one place, so we could see the strangeness of it all.

The helicopter rides that never happened. The apocalyptic vibe that never really happened. The toxic truth that Nancy never investigated. The Brenner's true purpose explanation that never really happened-those journals are bs, I don't care. The For Will tape that promised so much but that we never got to hear, along with half the music on that WSQK album.

Speaking of--We also got weeks of a wonderful radio station that dropped so many hints and clues that didn't actually feel connected to season 5 at all in hindsight, other than the fact that it was the same radio station from the show.

In fact, Season 5 doesn't feel connected to most of this promo.

I keep saying I don't understand their marketing for this season and apparently the entire year after it, and this is just one part of it. None of it makes sense to that last story we were told.

A reddit user, Barabus33, thankfully, took snapshots of their masterclass and posted on the r/HawkinsAVclub subreddit.

The OG docs name drop The Matrix, the wormhole, pretty much everything in a very early 2013 brainstorming draft they shared in their Masterclass series.

Oh, and the MAC-Z? Yeah, actually a character in the fake Steve & Dustin Spin-off.

The mine shaft gets called a dead-end until Henderson finds a mysterious chamber—like in Hawkins lab, when Dustin discovers Brenner's map.

Apparently Jonathan was originally an older sister named Vickie, too. 👇🏻

IDK if this will be helpful to us, but I wanted to make it anyway. The grid isn't perfect because the pages are curved in this image. If you see any glaring issues, please let me know, and I will fix it!

Here's their grid for reference:

And here's the map without the grid:

mike's E4 cell:

nancy's E4 cell:

mike's = blue, nancy's = pink.

Guys, we need to LOCK IN, because this book has been out for a whole week and no one has taken a closer look at the street names on the map? Almost all of the street names don't line up with any of the in-show streets, and if you look at what they're called, you'll see that they are CLUES! I only had time to properly look today, but holy, it has opened my eyes AAAAH!

Idk if I mentioned, but from what I've seen, the season 5 maps are kind of consistent, and I think the photos I'll show you below confirm that the map in the book (and season 5) is a projection from Henry's mind. And Max is projecting from his mind, and sending clues to WAKE US UP!!

It's FILLED with clues, holy mother of god !

As a warm-up - here's a whole fucking street named Henry and one for Mayfield, at the veeeeeery edge of the map!

And of course 'Michael' is right above the Mindflayer:

There's also a street called 'setup':

We also have 'Colony', 'Dominion', 'Industrial Distribution', 'Wake', 'Secretary', 'Profit', 'Commodity', and 'Merchant':

And not only that, you can CLEARLY tell it's a fake map, because for some reason, the street names are non-sensical, and are either first names that were popular in the 50s, or names of Ivy League universities. You know, street names that someone would come up with if they, uh, were banished to another dimension at a young age and had to make up when trying to make the illusion seem real. And, oh yeah, fun tidbit, none of the 'street' names have actual designations (e.g. X street, Y road etc.) - they did have that in the original season 2 map I show below (e.g. Kerley Blvd and Cornwallis Rd).

Here are some of the street names that I've found that are OLD names:

We've had streets called:

- Terry (!!!)

- Henry

- Clyve

- Eileen

- Daisy

- Robert

- Karen (!!!)

- Philip

- Aubry

- Randolphe

- Willard

- Sheldon

- Griffin

- Herbert

- Tyler

- Jessie

- Florence

- Margaret

- Irene (2 different streets)

- Clover

- Trenton

- Garcia

- Glen

- Arthur

- Lincoln

- Randall

- Bethany

- Allen

- Wayne

- Gilbert

- Eleanor

- Daisy

- Cindy

- Victoria

- Barrton

- Buttland

- Brogdon

- Ludwig

- Pierce

- Donnell

There's lots and lots more, but I was getting tired!!!! AAAAAH

ALSO why is no one questioning how the NOTORIOUSLY WEALTHY Steve Harrington is neighbours with the NOTORIOUSLY POOR Will Byers?! WHAT !

And you know the big deal with Mirkwood being located on the intersection of Kerley and Cornwallis? The big fucking deal they make of Mirkwood being proximal to the lab?

They got the location right in the original season 2 lab:

They're listed on other sides of the town in the book map:

Guys, I'm telling you - the book is a big puzzle and contains tons of hints, and you need to really look at the details.

This is where they failed - they failed to save Derek Turnbow.

not in rescuing him from Vecna in the end, in 5x8 - they managed to get all the kids out, if we take that episode as real (which I don't anyway), but that was already too late. They failed in protecting him from becoming part of the hivemind, in giving in and betraying himself.

Derek helped Holly and Max, but it put target on him, and Henry noticed that. He threatened his whole family,

Obviously Derek did what he hoped was for the best, to protect himself and his family - but in the process he gave up other parts of his promise- he couldn't help Holly anymore. He was drawn in into the Elder brain's vat.

[Ross]:  [x] Alright, we got one more monster. This is it, this is the final boss. You might want to hold onto your caps, because - spoiler alert - this baddie is a CR (challenge rating) of 14 and it’s getting stronger every day. It’s called the Elder Brain. 

It’s basically a giant brain floating in a vat of liquid, it’s pretty gross, but it’s not super intimidating at first. But here’s the thing: it’s not a single brain, it’s actually a soup made of hundreds of brains, liquified together into a single consciousness.  Every mind that has ever lived in this world has been absorbed into it. The individuals are gone. What remains is an average. It’s the annihilation of the self. 

[Matt]:  All we wanted to do was fit in. We wanted to be just like everybody else. We wanted to join the Elder Brain.  [Ross]:  It took us a long time to realize that the parts of us we wanted to erase were in fact the most important parts to preserve.  Because they allowed us to experience the world in a different way than other people. To develop into unique individuals, it allowed us to tell stories specific to us and share this with the world.  So the more we leaned into what made us different, the more we rejected the call of the Elder Brain, the more successful and happier we became. 

Holly tried to ask Derek for help in this moment, but he was already in the brain vat, he couldn't help her without going against the whole soup.

He repeated the lies - the lies from the single consciousness. There was no going back for him, he joined the brain vat - something the other kids saw as a friend, that was trying to help them--

Something that appeared as a friend, wanting to gain people's trust, but in the end it's not friend-shaped at all. (It only uses people for data. To further its own power and reach). The dangerous thing is when you give up on searching the truth for yourself, and blindly believe everything it says.

[Ross]:  And now there’s something else that all this is getting mapped onto - that dreaded two-letter acronym that’s getting boo-ed at every commencement speech across the country, AI.  [Matt]: This area is where our generation really and truly screwed things up for you, because the machines, the feeds and the algorithms and the models control what you see and hear, feeding you the same crap that you guys call the slop.  Anything that’s weird or different or challenging or that, god forbid, might take a little bit of time to sink in, that surprising stuff that helped shape you into a unique individual, that goes out the window.  Your brains, our brains, are all being liquified and fed into the vat and it sucks. 

You’ll be challenged in every possible way. You’ll be bitten, you’ll be misled, you’ll see some of your friends get brain-liquified. 

So, how do you avoid brain liquification? The truth is: we’re not sure. (...) Honestly a lot of this is gonna fall on you to figure out, which is not fair, but it’s just the truth.

Did anyone take their Masterclass posted June 30, 2022? In the video, the brothers show off their writing process for Stranger Things with a fake demo that matches the plot of Season 5.

They work on a spin-off of Steve and Dustin's roadtrip in the Southwest to find Dustin's dad, who has been missing for years or months (making an inside joke about their release schedule).

The fake story borrows from mythic conspiracy called The Lost Dutchman's Mine, with two versions of a German man who found gold in a spot called "Superstitious Mountains."

He draws a crude map, which years later leads an amateur treasure hunter, Adolf Ruth (Nancy's fake name), to his mysterious death. The tale ending in "Veni, vidi, vici" written on a checkbook.

Their story's skeleton outline leads to Henderson (the dad) finding a secret passageway into the mine where a vampiric creatures attacks.

They add the disclaimer that this is a fake script.

The "Hawk" version was darker, full of betrayal. Meanwhile, "bullshit" Rubik's Cubes are not a good sign of intelligence (look at the spire-like shadow cast).

Secret passageways lead to fools gold.

In this fake pitch document—unknown if actually meaningless—the show they reference as inspiration is the Sopranos, which they've spoken about around the release of Season 5. The last season split in two, released a year after the other.

Montauk is the show's original title, but it's also where Hopper wanted to move in the end. There are many layers to this title—all of them hallucinogenic.

A Duffer is standing in front of the fake set of posters. One of them reads "Mission Space," which also happens to be a X-2 NASA simulation ride at Disney's Epcot.

After an update, the ride was split in two: passengers can choose to be on team Orange that rockets to Mars, or team Green, which orbits Earth and less intense.

While blue-sky brainstorming, the other Duffer says, "one way you know it's a good idea is that it starts to unlock a lot of doors." Three or the maze of doors inside Camazotz to escape? Notice how they didn't say secret.

They mention the show becoming a "sandbox," a pit of endless ideas, which is also what the Curse of Straud, Mike's campaign, is often referred to as being.

It's a campaign that gives one end goal—escape, not accept—while the rest is up to the players. Though, Vallaki typically comes into play as Chapter 5 of the campaign (it's stand-in is Hawkins lab, in Episode 5).

Speaking of maps, there was a story map to a blue-sky idea inside Will's drawing of the party going up against a dragon, though really it was a map to Will's heart.

This was mysteriously missing from Season 5, but the so-called fake scenario in this Masterclass was left in, in it's place?!? Look at the pens beside it.

Overall, the bros act bizarre and accentuate words in the video. Odd, considering they're awkward as it is. If you even need my conclusion: