Last week sometime, I started a new journey with this theory trying to imagine what a successful timeline restoration or an escape from the fake reality would look like for Mike and Will.
But it's a pretty unclear theory with no real distinction between a timeline restoration and a memory journey like the ones that Holly and Max took to escape Camazotz. That was mostly because I don’t see that much of a distinction. Vecna and the Mind Flayer are probably the ones responsible for the timeline disruption if there is one unless the writers decide to introduce an even worse villain. At the very least, they've facilitated it. They’ve also created whatever mind prison the characters are all trapped in. I’m still unclear on the details, but if there's any chance at repairing the timeline and/or escaping the mind prison, I think that Will and Mike would need to revisit the memories Vecna has of them. Will is an obvious choice to make this journey. However, I do think that Mike would have a crucial role in this as well. He is the "key," as Hopper would refer to him, but I also think that Mike is just as entangled in the supernatural plot as Will is, even if it's just by association.
I want to revisit and alter that theory just a little. Not enough to change my point – I still believe that the argument at Rink-o-Mania is just as important as the Snow Ball. However, I made my point based on signal interference and memory recency and not necessarily what we’ve been shown in season 5. That being said, I still firmly believe that there has to be some sort of forgiveness and healing. A successful journey through memories can’t just be reliving uncomfortable or traumatic moments. A timeline restoration or an escape from a false reality – whatever it is – isn’t just about acknowledging that something went wrong along the way. The characters need to actually repair the damage and heal. I believe that we are shown this in season 5.
There's another point that I forgot to mention because it didn't occur to me at the time. Two times in season 5, we saw Max lay in a course to escape Camazotz. Her first attempt to escape was through music like she had done in season 4. Her second attempt was recreating the experience with Holly. I think that each attempt failed, or at least the second wasn't as successful as we're led to believe.
In episode 4, we get our first look at Max's route to escaping Camazotz. Max told Holly that once Lucas started playing music for her, she stumbled on a memory of herself. It was the day Henry cursed her. The starting point of Max's escape was Henry's first memory of her. From there, she let the music guide her. However, following the music took her through terrible memories until it finally led her to the worst one: The night Henry killed her. Once she fought through that traumatic memory, she ended up in what appeared to be the original Mind Lair. Since Playgate, we've all kind of agreed that something was very off about the season 5 Mind Lair compared to the one we saw in season 4. This could be because it was quite literally a stage and not the real one at all. The artificial-looking mindscape was the indication for us that all of season 5 might be a play, but it might have also been a clue that Henry created this moment specifically to deceive Max. Max would interpret the red mindscape to be the final stretch before escaping. If Henry truly is pulling all the strings in season 5, I think that goal would be something he'd anticipate.
If we look at the sequence of events, Max was using an old tactic. A tactic that I believe Henry expected and was prepared to override. After volume 1, I haven't been able to let go of how Henry gave Holly her favorite song in Camazotz. I believed this was a clue to the audience that Henry had gotten stronger and figured out how to override the power of music. I had some really good discussion about this with other fans and sparks-olivarpente pointed out the duality of music. Music can either be freeing or dangerous depending on the context. Music can unlock parts of the brain, as we learned in season 4, but in terms of memories, it might actually be a hindrance. Sometimes a song reminds someone of a sad time in their life and it can draw them back into those feelings of despair.
That was how we saw it play out in season 5. Once Max heard "Running Up That Hill," it took her to the memory of when Henry cursed her. Then, it guided her through terrible memories until the night he killed her. On this journey, she also saw the times Henry impersonated her mother and Billy, and then her first terrifying escape. In season 4, "Running Up That Hill" helped Max focus on positive memories enough to fight off Henry, but in season 5, it took her to a very dark place. So, although music helped Max escape before, it might've actually hindered her escape in season 5. In other words, Henry might have discovered how to reverse the positive effect music has on his victims.
There could be another hint about this. In “Dear Billy,” the arrangement of “Running Up That Hill” is pretty suspicious. For the arrangement, the song repeats the first part of the bridge. “Come on, baby. Come on, darling. Let me steal this moment from you now” was played twice. It can seem like the sound designers extended the bridge so that the song would sync with the events on screen. However, I would argue that there was really no need to extend the bridge. Instrumental sections were already included in the arrangement to ensure the song would align with the sequence. Also, the sound designers could have easily started the song at an earlier moment. Repeating the first part of the bridge sounds jarring if you knew the song before this scene. It has no variation – it sounds like a scratched record getting hung up on a groove and repeating itself.
I think we can find another clue about this situation in Will’s dialogue from episode 7 after his experience with Henry. He explained to Joyce how he took control in the MAC-Z by focusing on happy memories. Will found a crack in Henry’s power and exploited it. However, it didn’t work a second time. In the MAC-Z, Will used his memories of when he was a kid. Concentrating on the happiest moments in his life is how he defeated the Demogorgons. After being captured, Will thought he could repeat this, but Henry “found a way past" it. Since volume 1, I’ve been under the assumption that Henry helped Will unlock his powers as a test. But a test for what? I’m not sure yet. If we go with the idea that Henry is like a learning computer, he could be testing the characters to gather information about them and recalculate his plan to secure victory.
If any of this is true, we can probably find a general theme from these moments. A second attempt at something doesn’t guarantee success. Something that worked before might not work the same way again. The message here could be don't be too reliant on one solution.
Henry staging the Mind Lair himself seems a bit implausible considering that he was quite angry at Max on both escape attempts. But what better way to maintain the ruse than to chase her around as if he were preventing a real escape? It already seems like he lied about needing Will to locate Max’s body at the hospital. That’s definitely not all he needed Will for (unless that whole plot really was that stupid). Why couldn’t he be lying about the Mind Lair too? At the very least, there is something off about Max's first attempt to escape Camazotz. I think that we do have pretty solid evidence that Henry has manipulated the power of music. I believe that when he gave Holly her favorite song in Camazotz, it was both to test his new abilities and the writers' way of taunting the audience. It showed us just how powerful Henry was becoming throughout the season. Additionally, I believe that the writers' have been telling us since season 4 how Henry thinks and schemes. By season 5, he finally figured out how to steal "Running Up That Hill" from Max. He might have trapped her with that song.
But I believe that there was something off about the second escape as well. Whether it was Henry all along or not, I think the writers have given us some clues about the route out of Camazotz and why Max’s escape might not have actually worked.
In season 5, Max was under the impression that reliving traumatic memories was the route out of Camazotz. She believed in it so much that she repeated the process with Holly. This would be her relying on one solution. On the second attempt, it worked, and Max and Holly escaped. However, I think the show might have hinted that the escape wasn’t permanent. Moments after Holly escaped, she was yanked back in by Henry. I know that this happens pretty often in stories in order to build tension – the hero thinks they've finally gotten the advantage only to be outsmarted by the villain. But I think that we can also interpret this to mean that none of the characters can outrun Henry for long. When Holly escaped, there was enough time for Nancy to see her before she was recaptured. In the show, this was to let the characters know that Holly was taken back into Camazotz after Max woke up, but it could also be a clue for us.
After Holly is recaptured, Nancy explained the situation to Mike. She said, “It was like something had a hold of her, but you couldn’t see anything. It was him. Vecna. It had to be.” Remember, Henry had this new, gross thing that he would do with his arm. He could extend it like a vine. Maybe all of that can be tied together. Maybe in some instances, Henry can extend his mind and simply yank his victims back in even after they think they’ve gotten away (like after the final battle).
I also believe that the show could be trying to tell us something when Max woke up. She told Lucas that she never needed the music, she just needed him. It was very sweet, and something I would expect her to say. It both represented her character growth and her bond with Lucas. It’s also generally a good idea to progress your story and change how solutions worked in the past. Between volumes 2 and 3, many fans in the Byler community pointed out how this is consistent with the show’s theme about love winning over hatred and fear. On Max’s first escape attempt, the portal in the mindscape closed when Lucas let go of Max’s hand, not when the music stopped. Max didn’t need music this time, she needed Lucas and her love for him.
But that line is also why I kept questioning how music works within the show. Henry gave Holly her favorite song. “Running Up That Hill” took Max through traumatic memories rather than happy ones. And in the end, Max said that she didn’t even need it. It seemed like there was something more to this puzzle. It can seem insignificant, but the first clue I got that something went wrong with Max’s escape was how the show plays “When It’s Cold I Like to Die” when she woke up. That was the song that played when she died. The creators use the song during this moment as if it had never been turned off. It played over her last moments of consciousness, then it was paused while she was in a coma, and it resumed when she woke up. Why? In season 1, “When It’s Cold I Like to Die” was the song that played over Will’s revival, so it sort of makes sense why they played it when Max woke up. But they played it when she died first. Her revival, the one that was similar to Will’s, had already happened in season 4 when El restarted her heart. Why are they playing it again in season 5?
None of this is to say that there wasn’t any value in Max and Holly’s journey. A lot of good character moments came from that plot line. Not everything was wrong, and the things that might have gone wrong were not their fault. Nor is it necessarily a bad message. I just believe that the show could be using this plot line to tell us that reliving trauma doesn’t mean you’ve healed from it. I think that Max and Holly making their escape by fighting through trauma only for Holly to be yanked back into Camazotz could be a representation of the cycle of trauma. Henry himself can represent the effects of trauma, and defeating him isn't just cutting his head off. Healing isn’t just about reliving the hardships and pushing through to survive. It takes effort, time and forgiveness. We saw a glimmer of this when Max encouraged Holly in episode 6. Holly needed to forgive herself for not being able to rescue her mother or Max. This could be the show telling us that whatever happens with Mike and Will in the future would have to include forgiveness if their story has any chance at being repaired.
It’s still unclear to me how Camazotz got blended with the real world enough that Max's second escape seemed to work, but I have an idea that season 5 doesn’t take place entirely within a false reality. The characters were only partially in a dreamworld like a Viewmaster caught between two slides. Camazotz might be the first representation of this underlying narrative. The dreamworld comes in waves. The portal out of Camazotz is real one moment and fake the next. Some events happened while others were completely imagined. Maybe one day it’ll click and I can write a real theory on that, but for now, that’s all I have.
In my first theory about this, I argued that the Rink-o-Mania memory would be like the outermost ripple from the source. The source would be the Snow Ball in this case. There are other ripples, other wrinkles in time to repair before reaching the source at the Snow Ball. However, if we use Max’s journey in Camazotz as an example, it could actually begin with Henry’s first memories of Mike and Will. There has to be something more to the beginning of season 5 other than just foreshadowing what would happen to the 12 children. Think about the cold opening in season 2 with Kali. We saw Kali use her powers to outrun the cops in episode 1. The story then came back around, and she repeated this tactic again at a pivotal moment in episode 7. That doesn’t happen in season 5 with its cold opening. Only a fraction of the scene comes back later in the story. It foreshadowed the fate of the 12 children, and Henry took Will back to the library, but it was never truly addressed the way it needed to be. There has to be something more to it. Henry’s first memory of Will might be when he finally captured him in the Upside Down. And I believe that Henry’s first memory of Mike is through Will’s eyes when Will was possessed in season 2. What this means moving forward, I’m not sure yet. I don’t know how Will and Mike would stumble on these memories if they do at all. But I do know that it can’t just be a simple observation of these memories. There has to be a complete healing process before they can truly escape whatever this nightmare is.
And I still think a healing process would begin at Rink-o-Mania. What happened out in California is still crucial to the story and has to be a part of whatever happens next, right? At Rink-o-Mania specifically, there’s too much about letters and vulnerability for the story not to circle back on this moment. And I also believe that a healing process has to include Will and Mike understanding how they have hurt El. They will need to repair their relationship with her as well as with each other before whatever happened in season 5 can be fixed. To be clear, this is not me blaming them for their actions. What makes Stranger Things a great show is how nuanced and real the relationships are. The characters are all human and just learning how to navigate their lives. Their actions are understandable even when they’re flawed. My point was always that these moments can’t just be acknowledged, they need to be healed. I believe that Mike and Will need to correct their mistakes and forgive themselves. A great way to start this process is understanding what went wrong out in California before going to the source at the Snow Ball.
While confronting traumatic memories is generally a good thing, I think that Stranger Things is showing us how the characters are stuck reliving them – not truly processing them. Max and Holly both escaped, but there could be some clues in the show that they actually didn’t. At least, not in a way that they would need to. Camazotz is a place of suppression, trauma and uncertainty. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to interpret a message about what it looks like to relive trauma but never process it. Max and Holly journeyed through Camazotz using traumatic memories, but that might not be the true route out of the nightmare. Although I’m not sure what exactly it would look like, I do still believe that healing from trauma and hardships is actually the characters' way out of this hellscape, nightmare world. I think that throughout the whole series, we've been shown what tools the characters will need to break out. Honesty, forgiveness, friendship and love are still very powerful qualities in the show. Their trauma doesn’t just need to be observed in memories, it needs to be healed in some way.
