Maybe the people talking about the rewind/loop theory really have something. Because season 2 is season 5.
I admit, I'm a little obsessed with Season 2-it's a great season and since 3 was obviously when things got wonky, I keep coming back to it. So I went through it yet again-this time looking specifically for season 5 comparisons. And holy %#$@
Scenes from other seasons do repeat in 5, the drugged dinner from 3, the coke thing, but most of season 2 is in there. Other than the very important crazy together conversation and seeing Mike at Will's bedside instead of Lucas at Max's...it's insanely connected.
Don't believe me? I made a list. It's pretty extensive, and I'm sorry in advance.
Side note: How they managed to repeat so much from wonderful 2 and get sucky 5 will always be a mystery.
Kali is in 2, and Kali is in (5)
Hop asks Murray if he’s ever heard of Santa Clause in 2, and Murray calls himself Santa multiple times in (5)
Joyce is paranoid and clingy about Will in 2 “every time he’s away from me I can’t function” and even though she was different in 3 and 4, she is the exact same in (5)
Lucas uses Out of Order sign to talk to Max in 2, Derek uses Out of Order sign in bathroom in (5)
Pumpkins-in 2 they’re rotting and a clue, and they’re healthy-looking heads for El to explode in (5)
The lab has a small observational area in in the UD in 2 they have to change batteries for while in hazmat suits, there is an entire lab with power and without suits or worries in the UD in (5)
Terminator at movie theater, Terminator commercial at El’s house, Guy who acts like terminator in (3) plus Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay in (5)
El watches Erica Kane proposal on tv in 2, we watch an unproposal and an actual proposal in (5)
Another stenchgate I don’t think anyone has mentioned. Billy rolls down the window and talks about how it smells like actual shit, cow shit. But Max doesn’t see any cows. Also deputies say it smells like a nursing home at the rotten farms. Owens says “That smell, mother of God” and we also get Robin calling Steve stinky and Derek calling the basement stinky in (5)
Bob is a Halloween vampire in 2, Mike is a D&D vampire in (5)
Nancy gets drunk in season 2, but then never again onscreen, but Jonathon mentions her drinking in (5)
Murray pushes Nancy and Jonathon to have sex and mentions shared trauma in 2, pushes Jonathon to propose and mentions shared trauma in (5)
Hop makes circles on a map leading to the lab in 2 AND Bob finds the X, while Dustin makes a circle on a map that leads them to the X of the lab in (5)
Bob says easy peasy in 2, Dustin says easy peasy in (5)
Joyce trying to wake Will up in 2 and 5
Mike calls Will a Super Spy and Vecna says You’ll be my spy one last time in (5)
El and Hopper dynamics in 2 remind me of their antagonism in (5)
Will’s rapid eye movement building something in 2 Will’s rapid eye movement…building something? in (5)
Joyce wants to run him a warm bath but “he likes it cold” in 2, Joyce wants him to wear his jacket but… in (5)
Hopper and Dustin get sprayed in face with spores in 2, Dustin throws turpentine/violet prismatic spray at Andy in (5)
Will uses his connection to help Hopper in 2. Uses it to help Hopper and Max and Holly etc in (5)
Dustin and Steve on train tracks call Nancy special in 2. Jonathon and Steve call Nancy special in the Abyss in (5)
Will says “he doesn’t want me to see there” Which El says in 3, Max says in 4 and Will says again in (5)
They build their first demo trap in the junkyard in 2. They built their most ridiculous demo trap at the Turnbows in (5)
Kali’s illusion of Papa says “All this time you haven’t looked for me” in 2 and El apologizes for not looking for Kali in (5)
Kali makes a giant wall in 2, a giant wall appears in the UD in (5)
Hopper runs from demodogs through lab/hospital with an unconscious Will in 2, Lucas runs from demodogs through the hospital with an unconscious Max in (5)
Dustin says metaphor, Lucas corrects him with analogy in 2. Steve says metaphor Dustin corrects him with analogy in (5)
Opposite moment. Mike says you can’t just shoot this with guns in 2. He demands a gun to shoot it in (5)
“He can’t spy if he doesn’t know where he is” in 2, and Will suggests blinding the Turnbows so they won’t know where they are in (5)
Bo-Peep ammonia wakes Will up in 2. “Get your Bo Beeps on” for lost sheep in (4). Lost sheep comments in (5)
Joyce says we just want to talk, we’re not going to hurt you to Will in 2, and to Derek in (5)
Joyce tells the rainbow spaceship story, Jonathon tells the Castle Byers story and Mike tells the swings story in 2, Will sees those exact moments replay in his head in (5)
Hop says “I’m asking you to try to understand” to Mike and he says “I don’t. I don’t understand.” in 2 and then El says the same thing to Mike with the same response in the void in (5)
Hop says “Don’t blame her” in 2 and tells Mike “Don’t blame yourself” in (5)
Karen taking a bath in 2, Karen running a bath and hiding in it with Holly in (5)
As an aside, she is standing in the kitchen, still wet from the bath, giving Billy the address exactly where she got attacked by the demo in (5)
Mike with the whole-if the brain dies the body dies, let's distract it while El does her thing stuff in 2 and (5) Although this time he doesn’t seem that concerned with Will’s life.
Taking unconscious Will to cabin in 2 and (5)
Hopper says he’s a black hole and it got his daughter Sarah and he was afraid it was going to get El. A wormhole and a bomb got her while he watched in (5)
Mike pacing in front of Max and Lucas until Lucas says stop in 2. Holly paces in front of Max until she says stop because “You remind me of your brother” in (5)
Hop laughs as he says “Bitchin” in a car with El in 2, in a car with El and Kali he reminds her of that and says it again in (5)
Steve gives “A coach calls a ball in a game” speech in 2 and he is a baseball coach in (5)
Max says Billy can’t know she’s there. “He’ll kill me. He’ll kill us.” In 2. And she says Vecna will know I’m here. He'll be angry. He’ll come after us (basically) when she wakes up in (5)
Max stabs a needle in Billy’s neck in 2 and Erica stabs a needle in Tina in (5)
El is taken back to the lab for the first time since her escape and remembers flashes in 2, is taken to the UD lab and remembers flashes in (5) (Hop and Kali both even ask if she’s okay when it happens in 2 and 5)
Joyce sees flashes of sweet Bob and turns up the heat to kill the MF in 2. Joyce sees flashes of Bob as she chops off Vecna’s head in (5)
Hop asks an injured Owens to help El have a normal life where she’s not poked and prodded after she saves them in 2. We see a possible scenario where an injured Kali hides her from the military so she won’t be poked and prodded and she can live a normal life in (5)
Jonathon says “Mom, you’re killing him!” about Will in 2 and for some reason this is his memory as Joyce is chopping off Vecna’s head in (5).
Smoke comes out of Will’s mouth in 2, Smoke comes out of Holly and other kids’ mouths (a lot more gently) in (5)
Nancy watches it go up into the air in 2 and Robin, Lucas and Mike watch it go up the radio tower in (5)
Jonathon uses walkie talkie to tell Hop to close the gate in 2, Dustin uses it to tell Hopper to start the music bomb and close the gate in (5)
Even in 2, Dustin doesn’t leave Steve when the demodogs come running. “You die, I die” (3) and (5)
When El's pushing to close the gate you can see the particles fold back on themselves giving her power an almost force field look in 2. She’s basically using her power as a force field holding back outer space as she, Kali and Hop escape in (5) The visuals look very similar.
7-ish second black screen after gate closes in 2, 7-ish second black out when Steve fell off the tower in (5)
Opposite: we actually see MPs and trucks leave and Barb gets a burial after 1 month time jump in 2, we have 18 month time jump and no clue what happened to the military and no actual memorial for El (5)
Hopper goes to a restaurant and gets an adopted daughter in 2, goes to a restaurant and gets a fiancé in (5)
Jonathon is using a video camera before Snowball in 2. Jonathon is filming the graduation ceremony (and a horror movie) in (5)
Jonathon taking pictures of kids for Snowball in 2, taking pictures of Hop, Will and Joyce for graduation in (5)
Mike and Lucas “What happened to you?” with Dustin’s hair and he pushes Lucas’ hand away in 2, and with Dustin’s beat up face, where he pushes Lucas’ hand away in (5)
Lucas and Max kiss at the Snowball in 2, Lucas and Max kiss before graduation in (5)
Mike sends Will away (to dance with a girl) in 2 and sends Will to meet another guy in Vallaki in (5)
Dustin approaches Stacy at the Snowball and she shoots him down in 2. Stacy approaches Dustin at graduation and invites him to a party in (5)
Joyce and Hopper hug outside the dance in 2, are hugging and dancing together at Enzo’s in (5)
We get a basement door closing instead of a flip to the MF, but still, that's a lot of season 2 jam packed into season 5, isn't it? A hell of a lot more than a head nod or some callbacks.
I have a few other thoughts about 2, but this is already really long.
