#captain brenner

1.) Mark Hammersley himself has posted before about how he has to be super careful about what he posts on social media re: TFS & how people from Netflix/people in charge check/approve TFS social media posts (and other cast members have talked about how they have ‘ironclad NDAs’)- which makes it suspicious that the Brenner Sr post was deleted and is no longer on Mark's page:

2.) Even when Brenner Sr and Don Melvald aren't played by Mark Hammersley, they ARE always played by the same actor (at least every time I saw the play & every BTS pic etc I've seen supports this & even if it's hard to tell from my screenshots, that is 1000000% the same actor playing both of them in TFS). So, even setting Mark himself entirely aside, there IS an intentional production choice/casting choice that connects Brenner Sr and Don Melvald:

3.) The in-show, NON TFS Don Melvald has an EERY resemblance to Brenner. Look at the hair- not only does he have the same "pushed back grey with white streaks" style as Brenner, but his hair is also parted on the RICHARD side/towards screen left, which ties into something I'm going to talk about in a second. And there''s also Don's white grid shirt versus the white HNL grid tiles and Owens' white grid shirt- and Don also wears a grid shirt and cardigan combo like Owens does, with the blue coat over top and everything (and Don's cardigan seems to be dark green, much like in-show Young Henward's dark green cardigan):

And what's extra suspicious about all of this is Melvald's being advertised as a drug store versus Richard Brenner being the head of the Narcotics Enforcement division, and all of the drug dealer Reefer Rick vs Richard Brenner stuff (it’s also very funny to me that the guy that’s talking about “when did Rick get out of jail?” has the same sort of white and grey beard as TFS Don Melvald and Brenner Sr):

And on that note, going back to what I said in the beginning about Kali's line re: "a man you knew was evil," IMO, this is another piece that connects all of this specifically to Richard because Richard is likley the man that Kali is referring to/the man that Ray worked with, as Richard seems to be the guy that we see in the flashbacks with Ray during Terry's electrocution:

Anyway, it's also an interesting choice for Don Melvald to have brown eyes as opposied to both Brenner Sr and Brenner Jr's brown eyes versus Flayed Will's brown eyes... what's going on??? And also regarding Brenner Sr and Don Melvald being played by the same actor in TFS/being identical, this "sex, drugs, and Elvis" line about Melvald's from TFS stuck out to me:

It stuck out to me because: A.) It connects Melvalds to drugs again, which therefore connects Melvald's to Richard Brenner again. And B.) It references Elvis, which, as we know, and as I'm sure Stav's talked about, that connects to the "Elvis Cloned By Aliens" newspaper article.

So, connecting Melvald's to Elvis therefore connects Melvald's to cloning- which is supsicious considering that TFS Don Melvald is identical to Brenner Sr/played by the same actor. Quick, Don, you wouldn't happen to be some sort of copy/clone of Brenner Sr, would you? Even in the sense of TFS involving some of Brenner Jr's memories in a weird simulation way/the way that the bloody hands memory invades NINA for El, and so, Brenner Jr's memories of Brenner Sr might be invading TFS in a similar way???

And also, the Elvis Cloned By Aliens paper has that article titled “Sailor Cheats Death In Ordeal At Sea," which further connects the cloning stuff to Brenner Sr because Brenner Sr cheated death at sea and returned (albeit briefly) from Project Rainbow/the USS Eldridge, whereas the rest of his crew did not. Brenner Sr, do you have clones running around?? Also, it's interesting that TFS Don Melvald a.) looks so different from in-show Don Melvald, with TFS Don having a beard vs in-show Don being clean-shaven, which reminds me of Brenner Sr's beard in TFS vs in-show Brenner being clean-shaven and b.) Don Melvald is already greying/older looking when Joyce is in highschool in TFS- and yet, many years later, the in-show Don Melvald looks younger than the TFS Don/it doesnt seem to make sense for in-show Don to be TFS Don age-wise- which makes me think about how TFS Brenner Jr doesn't age, and also the whole Brenner Sr vs Brenner Jr thing- is the TFS version of Don actually Don Melvald Sr vs the in-show don being Don Melvald Jr? Anyway!

And also, when we look at more of Don's in-show scenes, he has a line about bringing Jeffrey in to cover for Joyce. Which is interesting considering all of the weirdness with cover actors in TFS and the fact that it almost seems like Brenner Sr's actor is "covering" for Don Melvald's actor or vice versa, even though that doesn't seem to actually be the case/Don's been intentionally casted since the start to be played by whicever actor is playing Brenner Sr. It's also extra interesting that Don is having a guy named Jeffrey/Jeff cover for Joyce here, versus Jeff from the Hellfire Club being present at the table in S4 when Dustin and Mike are told to go and find somebody to cover for Lucas. And Jeff's also the guy that pointed out that Eddie's been saying that he's going to run out of Hawkins High for two years, which then connects to what I've talked about before re: Eddie being stuck in highschool for an extra two years versus Edward Creel moving to Hawkins two years before Henry did- and Jeff also wears a Black Sabbath shirt later on vs what I talked about in this post and this post re: Eddie Munson vs Edward Creel and Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne And Jeff is ALSO the one that yells at Jason to "let him go" when Jason grabs Gareth, which then connects to El talking about how Brenner couldn't let Henry go:

Anyway, we also have this shot of the Halloween masks at Melvald's General Store- and that mummy mask looks a LOT like Brenner Sr's Invisible Man-esque bandaged face after he returned from Project Rainbow- and that mask from Melvald’s is also the same mask that Axel wears:

And speaking of Axel, Axel has something in common with TFS Virginia- they’re both terrified of spiders, TFS Henry shows Virginia a vision of spiders crawling towards her/onto her, just like Kali does with Axel, and Virginia freak out just like Axel does:

(And TFS Virginia was locked in a closet full of spiders as a child, which, considering the connection to Brenner Sr via Axel here, makes me wonder a.) if Brenner Sr ever locked any of his kids/Brenner Jr in a closet/trunk, esp considering the Will-Brenner parallels & Jonathan checking Lonnie’s trunk for Will, as well as all of the locker imagery in TFS & the Davy Jones’ Locker association re: Brenner Sr being a sailor and b.) if TFS Virginia might be one of Brenner Sr’s kids, but anyway)

And hilariously, that whole Virginia-Henry scene about the spiders not only happens RIGHT after the scene of Henry at Melvald's/he's JUST come home from Melvald's to find Virginia waiting up for him, but also, the whole reason the conflict started/the whole reason that line about Virginia and the spiders was even said is because Virginia was upset about Henry going to Melvald's with Patty. Alll roads really do lead to Melvald's at this point.

And regarding that Brenner Sr-Virginia connection, isn't it then funny that the mask in question that Axel wears & that resembles Brenner Sr’a bandages is a mummy mask vs Brenner Sr being connected to Henry's mom via Axel delivering Brenner Sr subtext & having the same sort of spider fear as TFS Virginia?

PLUS, we have Kali putting Axel's Brenner Sr-esque mask onto El- El, who's a girl, which further connects to the weird “Brenner Sr vs Virginia/mother/woman” stuff going on here (and is also interesting considering El being mistaken for a boy in S1):

And also, Kali says that Axel is a “terrible dancer,” after she makes the spiders appear and Axel “dances” around about it, versus TFS Henry talking about how he “doesn’t dance/isnt a good dancer” and then the scene of TFS Henry dancing at Melvald’s right before the spider scene with Virginia:

And ALSO, we get a shot of Axel holding Chinese food, versus S1 Karen saying “am I speaking Chinese in this house?” versus Don Melvald being RIGHT behind Karen at Will’s funeral & the context of the “am I speaking Chinese” scene being about Will’s disappearance/“death”, therefore connecting the “speaking Chinese” scene to that funeral scene & therefore connecting the “speaking Chinese” scene to Don Melvald, which then connects back to Axel (who wears the mask that’s sold at Melvald’s) holding Chinese food, and THEN there’s ALSO Nancy talking about “house arrest” right after Karen says that “speaking Chinese” line versus Reefer Rick delivering subtext about Richard Brenner & the guys on the boat talking about Reefer Rick getting arrested and the “China doll” lyric playing RIGHT after that line, PLUS the newspaper article about Richard Brenner talking about how the documents involving him were “heavily coded,” versus TFS Henry’s DIY code, and Robin cracking the S3 code versus a key part of the S3 code being Chinese food (which Axel was holding), and the S3 code line being “a trip to China sounds nice,” versus the idea of tripping on drugs and what I’m going to talk about later re: Axel, Richard, Reefer Rick and Ketamine and Richard Brenner being the head of narcotics:

And Axel also has this shot where he cocks a pistol, which makes me think of the scene in TFS where Brenner Sr/Don Melvald’s actor does the same sort of thing/raises a pistol towards the audience kind of randomly/there’s no clear reason as to why he did it:

And we also have the shots of Axel walking with his black coat flowing out dramatically behind him, JUST like S1 Brenner walking with his black coat flowing out dramatically behind him (and also, there’s something about the anarchy symbol on Axel’s shirt vs TFS Henry’s weird x and circle scar on his hand):

And just briefly, this part is a tiny bit more of a stretch admittedly, but it IS a little funny to me that Axel tries to steal cigarettes from the convenience store/is very prominently framed by cigarette ads- cigarettes, also known as fags- versus TFS Henry’s vanishing in the cave in Nevada/Henry’s in-show HNL kidnapping re: the Creel Murders and Will’s vanishing and both Henry and Will being gay/being “fags”.

Like, isn’t it just a little suspicious that Axel, the character with constant Brenner Sr & Richard Brenner references, is stealing fags? Versus Brenner’s long-running habit of stealing another type of fag?

Especially considering the connection that Kali’s gang has to London versus fag being British slang for cigarette??

And especially considering that the only time the word “fag” is used in ST is regarding Will (and hilariously, Joyce even raises her cigarette right into frame when she says it)- versus the connection between Richard Brenner and Will, with how the article about Richard is right under the article about Will’s vanishing:

And on a more obvious note re: Brenner St, Richard Brenner and Axel, there’s also the shot of Dottie holding up two bottles of prescription drugs/narcotics in front of Axel’s face- versus Richard Brenner being the head of the Narcotic Enforcement Division, and Axel’s visual connection to Brenner Sr via his mask and said mask being from Melvald’s, which was advertised as a drug store- point is, the connection between Brenner Sr, Don Melvald, Richard Brenner, and Axel continues:

And we also get this shot of Axel going into the kids’ room at Ray Carroll’s house- a kids’ room with rainbows on the wall (versus Brenner and the HNL rainbow room), and a closet very prominently featured in the shot (versus what I talked about earlier re: Virginia and Axel’s fear of spiders and Virginia having been locked in a closet full of spiders as a child), as well as the operator telling the girls to “stay calm” in this scene vs Henward telling El to “stay calm” during NINA in the rainbow room (which it’s also interesting to me that the operator that Henward gets paralleled to is a girl versus a.) the whole “henry creel isn’t a chick” thing in TFS and b.) what ive talked about with how during this very chess scene, Henward is visually paralleled to 007, who is a girl):

^And as a tangential note, it’s interesting to me that NINA Henward is paralleled to a phone operator here vs the NINA phonebooth scene vs the operator in The Matrix, and how operators are typically humans born outside of The Matrix versus Henward being the only lab kid that was born outside of the lab:

And in the bedroom, Axel finds two girls who seem like they might be twins- and not only do they seem like they might be twins, but they also a.) have dark brown hair that’s very similar to 15 year old Brenner’s hair colour & texture as well as 7 year old Henry’s hair colour and texture (and speaking of 15 year old Brenner’s hair, El’s slicked back dark punk hair also reminds me a lot of 15 yr old Brenner’s hair) and b.) they’re paralleled to Alice Creel with the night gowns & their father literally sharing a last name with the author of Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll:

Not to mention that one of the girls is wearing a nightgown with a print that’s eerily similar to the HNL lab gown print- and also reminds me of Suzie’s nightgown, which is interesting considering how similar the rainbows on the Carroll girls’ wall is to the rainbow on Suzie’s Muppet Movie/Rainbow Connection poster and how Suzie’s dark hair is so similar to the Carroll girls & the NINA rainbow room vs the Carroll girls’ rainbow wallpaper & Suzie’s connections to NINA & Suzie even having a phone in her room RIGHT under that rainbow connection poster that’s the same colour as the Carroll girls’ phone- and the nightgown ALSO reminds me of TFS Virginia’s nightgown (vs what I just said about the Carroll girls’ closet connection to Virginia), as well as the random bloody nightgown that appears on the laundry line during Max’s Vecna vision:

And the pose of the Carroll girls reminds me of the pose that in-show Young Henward has in this picture- especially since Young Henward has his murder night outfit on in that picture and we still don’t know who called the police on the night of the Creel murders versus the Carroll girls talking on the phone to the 911 operator about the police arriving (also, the use of the word “honey” from the operator here makes me wonder if we’ll get a parallel dialogue line of Henry calling the police the night of the Creel murders where that says “the police are on their way, Henry. Okay?”):

And also, this is something I’ve had a draft about for like a year now & haven’t finished so I’ll put a bit of it in this post, but it’s interesting to me that Axel calls Kali “K,” versus “K,” being used as a short form way of referring to “Ketamine,” versus Eddie Munson talking to Chrissy about Ketamine & Chrissy calling it “Special K” and all of the Richard Brenner vs Reefer Rick drug stuff/Eddie Munson getting his drugs (the Ketamine) from Reefer Rick, versus Axel, who’s constantly connected to Richard Brenner and Brenner Sr, referring to Kali as “K”:

Which also makes me think of the connection between Will and Richard Brenner and the S1 line about how Will’s vanishing left a “hole” in the community” versus the Ketamine experience called a “K Hole,” that causes intense dissociation and “out of body experiences” (which has me staring at my draft about the CIA in 1983s and the Gateway Technique/astral projection) and can also cause distortion of time and space, hallucinations, memory loss, psychosis, and more. Which makes me think about a.) Henward’s apparent memory loss after the Creel murders/El’s memory loss after the massacre & that scene being a parallel to Henward fainting after the Creel murders, as well as Will weirdly not mentioning (or possibly not remembering) his time in the upside down, and b.) all of the hallucination and psychosis stuff associated with Henward, especially with TFS Henry.

There’s a lot more I have to say about Ketamine/K Hole symptoms, dissociation, MKULTRA (because one of the key goals of MKULTRA experiments was inducing dissociation), Henry vs Edward, etc etc, especially since k hole experiences are often associated with visions of aliens/alien experiences vs TFS Henry’s alien stuff re: Rachel, Nevada and all of the Brenner alien stuff, but I’ll put that all in the actual ketamine post/I’ll go and finish that post.

And they also show us a scene of Troy specifically repeating the line about a “hole” versus bladder problems being a symptom of repeated k hole experiences and El making Troy wet himself: