Doves often represent freedom, love, and peace, but in this song, the doves are crying. Why would Mike choose this song for a time of celebration?

Could he be trying to communicate the opposite of freedom, love, and peace? Is he trying to tell them, and us, that they are trapped? Mike even breaks the fourth wall here.

I posted about this song earlier this year, but at the time I thought the show was just using it to tell us that the characters were trapped.

Which makes so much sense in the context of Mike being the key.

Here are some examples of potential encrypted messages in these posts+comments x x x. (Please share any other ideas/posts!)

I'm particularly interested in the painting.

And I'm wondering if the "Three to be exact" scene is Mike trying to draw Will's attention to the painting.

Plus "Put our heads together".

I meeean, these two are making eye contact with each other here.

And Will looks like he's having a realization.

He also could have just gotten the ick here lol.

Anyway, three heads?

Synchronicity is an album by The Police, which looks similar to these fridges:

The first of which is shown while they're trying to crack the code.

With SilverCatFeeds potentially being a program used to alter people's memories (x).

The second fridge is shown in the same episode as the Snow Ball memory.

With red potentially indicating an altered memory (x).

So in both cases, synchronicity is potentially pointing us to altered memories.

Synchronicity means a meaningful coincidence. However,

We first see the Synchronicity record during the Snow Ball memory.

While Dream a Little Dream of Me is playing.

The same song that allegedly keeps Victor safe from Henry.

However, this is also the same episode that shows hints that music may actually be keeping people trapped. (x)

On the chalkboard, we also see "Record Two" with "dreams" in the titles of the tracks (x), just like with Dream a Little Dream of Me.

In addition to, red, blue, and yellow imagery, like on the Synchronicity album, as the nurse hands the patient headphones.

We also see headphones in the Snow Ball memory.

With all of this in mind, the first time we hear Every Breath You Take, a song from Synchronicity, is during the actual Snow Ball. This song also happens to be on Side Two of the album.

If the Synchronicity imagery is repeatedly associated with altered memories, and the episode also hints that music may be used to keep people trapped, then Every Breath You Take playing at the Snow Ball could be another clue that the Snow Ball itself is an altered memory. Maybe one that's keeping people trapped? Maybe through forced conformity perhaps??

Bonus:

My current ST thumbnail on Netflix.

This may be a hot take, but I think the story could have been just as effective without all of the meta stuff they’re doing now.

Like I get it, stupid as shit plan versus slow as shit plan, getting THEM to believe you, but sometimes I’m like, is all of this really necessary?? Couldn't they have just told the story in an effective way the first time?

I understand that I'm continuing to willfully engage with this content, and I probably will until the end of the year. Most of the time I'm having fun theorizing, but sometimes I wonder if the way they've decided to tell the story is worth it. Sometimes I think it's kind of fucked up, especially with all of the hurt it's caused some people.

MirkETW.exe The program MirkETW.exe is used to find the location of the Nina Project. ETW could stand for Event Tracing for Windows, which tracks with this scene. I'm also interested in "Mirk" being used in the title of this program because it connects "Mirk" and the Nina Project.

Mirk reminds me of Mirkwood.

I'm interpreting this as the lab and Brenner are the real monsters, but of course everyone can draw their own conclusions.

Also, Project Mirkwood was a potential title for T85.

Some\Path\out.dust

Some path out??

Also, from what I was able to find, .dust isn't a real computer command, so I'm wondering if it's a nod to Dustin, who sings Never Ending Story, which leads me to...

falcor

As in, Falkor? As in, the dragon from The Neverending Story?

First of all, Falkor the dragon reminds me of the green and yellow dragon from "A trip to China sounds nice".

Secondly, and the more obvious reference:

This could be referring to the way out being uncovering the Rainbow Room shenanigans.

It could be referring to Mike and Will 🌈

Or both.

We first see the Rainbow Room in Terry's flashback in S2E5. (Year 1974)

It's a smaller room with a rainbow by the door.

The next time we see the Rainbow Room is in S4E1. (Year 1979)

First we see the lab (X a lie), and then we see the Rainbow Room.

It's obviously not the same room, but maybe they just relocated the room between the years of 1974 and 1979.

We are then shown the door to El's room.

Which is not the same door we see to El's room when Hopper is in the lab in S1E5. (Year 1983)

There's a deadbolt above the door handle and no '11' on the door.

The cameras are different.

The colors of the tile and grout are even different.

Which again, maybe they just relocated the room between the years of 1979 and 1983.

But something else that's sus is what Hopper sees in the lab is more consistent with El's actual memories. (S1E3)

El's actual memories aren't the pristine version of the lab we start seeing in S4.

We start seeing this pristine version after Dr. Brenner's perfectionistic montage.

His montage makes me wonder whether the version of the lab we're shown afterwards is a polished and curated version of reality.

Even the drawing in El's room is different.

Changing from an upsetting one to a happier one.

All of this plus Henry's hair and scar changing when he allegedly becomes the big bad?

Maybe because it didn't actually happen. Is this version of the Rainbow Room even real??

And did the massacre actually happen?? And did El really send Henry to an alternate dimension??

I'm questioning everything.

Bonus:

Bonus Bonus:

There are many Xs in ST, including Xs associated with the UD.

With computers, 'X' = to close.

What's interesting about this though is that 'X' closes something, like a window for example, but it doesn't always quit the program itself. The program could still be running in the background.

Every time they close the UD it's still there. It's still "running" in the background.

Gates even keep popping up, like pop-ups on a computer.

Because they aren't addressing what's in the UD. They keep X-ing out of it. They keep closing it.

But the UD is the exit.

X is also a lie. What we understand about the UD, that closing it and keeping it closed is the solution, could also be a lie.

So what's in the UD?? The Source.

We know from Billy's memories that The Source is associated with "snow", lightning, and the color red.

What's also associated with "snow", lightning, and the color red? The UD, where we see spore snow and red lightning.

And what is The Source? Maybe it's the original memory serving as the source material from which altered memories are derived.

So the information derived from the source memory could be modified by a program like SilverCatFeeds, while the original version of that memory could still exist at the source in the UD.

Also, there could be multiple sources in the UD. I'm specifically wondering about:

Hawkins Middle School/The Snow Ball where we see "snow", lightning, and the color red.

And The Quarry because the center point of the three Xs is The Quarry (x) and triangulation in regard to sources is mentioned multiple times in ST and T85.

Bob even jokes about pirate treasure when they're trying to find the X.

Pirate reminds me of to pirate.

To pirate = To copy, modify, and redistribute.

And bootleg = Not the original, but derived from the original source.

So maybe the source memories are being pirated, and bootleg tapes are being created to alter people's memories. And maybe these source memories can be recovered from the UD.

In fact, multiple roads lead to the UD.

Both Mike's and Will's routes out of Camazotz lead to gates to the UD.

Compasses point to gates to the UD.

Even in T85 the Queen tries to return to "the source" by opening a gate to the UD.

The Bombe was the device used to decipher encrypted messages from the Enigma machine during World War II.

(The Bombe in The Imitation Game)

In S5E2, Robin even mentions the Enigma machine.

However, what she says is incorrect. The Enigma machine didn't win the war. In fact, it was used by the side that lost.

What did help win the war? The Bombe, which was created by Alan Turing.

And who builds a bombe?

Mike.

Who is also referred to as the key.

Alan Turing's Bombe helped decipher the Enigma machine's encrypted messages by determining its key settings (more about this here if you're interested). In other words, the key settings of the sender and the receiver had to match up in order for the messages to be deciphered.

This process reminds me of the encryption/decryption process used by computers.

Ciphertext is the unreadable/scrambled form of text, whereas plaintext is the readable form.

Which reminds me of this:

Where ciphertext cycles through possible characters, until the plaintext emerges, revealing the message. (video)

Followed by this:

Which I interpret as "When blue and yellow meet in the west, run program SilverCatFeeds," which potentially is a program that's altering people's memories.

Going back to the encryption/decryption diagram:

The "interceptor" refers to a third party who gains access to encrypted data.

There are multiple methods of interception. I found this one interesting:

So if the interceptor has access to the data, then they can alter it as well.

What's the solution to the interceptor problem?

To go dark. (@misspracticallydelulu)

The interceptor loses access to the data, and therefore, can no longer alter it.

And there are many ways "to go dark", but I think that may be for another post!

A clock key is used to wind the spring that powers the clock. If the spring isn't wound using the key, then the clock stops working. It gets stuck in time, if you will.

In the scene where Hopper says Mike is the key, there are references to both keys and time.

He sits in front of this sign.

Not only is the sign a key and says the word "keys", but it also has the word "watch" on it. "Watch" refers to watching your key get made, but a watch is also a timepiece, potentially tying keys and time together.

Joyce also stands in front of this clock of watches, which also has the word "watch" on it.

There's also a lot of time dialogue in this scene. "Enzo's, tonight, 7:00." "You'll be home by 9:00." "8:00." "8:30, I'll pick you up." "7:00. Enzo's. Meeting there."

And interestingly, the time on the watch clock is the same time as on this grandfather clock.

The grandfather clock which is covered in rainbow lighting and has "Williams"at the top, plus the Audrey II/Little Shop of Horrors wallpaper behind it. The story with two endings, a sad one and a happy one.

For reference:

Mike is the key to fixing the timeline and getting us unstuck.

Maybe it's him sharing his emotions.

Maybe it's him remembering, if memories have in fact been manipulated.

Also, during this scene there's a cut to the mall protest where the protesters say, "Recall the mall." "Recall" can mean to remember.

It can also mean to return a product because it was defective. IDK, maybe a product like Season 5.

Also, since "SilverCatFeeds" is associated with a computer program:

"cat" is a computer command. It's short for "concatenate", which means "to link or join things together in a series or chain". In the context of video, it would mean taking separate clips and joining them together so they appear as one continuous video. (Heavy emphasis on appear. Dr. Brenner clearly made some continuity errors.)

I'm also thinking "silver" could refer to a mirror, since silver was traditionally used in mirrors.

Imagine, if you will, the barrier between our worlds is a concrete dam. Henry is putting cracks in this dam. Cracks in dams create pressure. Left unchecked, the pressure will build. And build. And eventually, it will reach a breaking point. And the dam will burst. And when that happens, Hawkins will fall.

Hawkins will fall? Or just the version of it you created?

And not El rushing to her room and turning on the water immediately afterwards.