#eightfifteengate

[lightning crackling] *electricity*

[rhythmic knocking]

[door unlocks]

— Hey, what’d we talk about?

— No signal.

— What?

— No signal. It’s 8 1 5. You’re late.

— Yeah, I lost track of time. I’ll signal next time, all right? Uh, and it’s 8:15. It’s not 8 1 5.

— Eight-fifteen.

— Now, what did we talk about? Dinner first, then dessert. Always. That’s a rule. Yeah?

— Yes.

Smth smth lightning/electricity…unlocking doors…signals…being late…dinner first, then dessert…Mike in his beanie in the Upside Down…BADA-BADA-BOOM!

Dustin’s “BOOM!” being said in front of Skull Rock, which is a popular make-out spot…located near Lovers Lake. x (while he’s wearing a ⚡️THINKING CAP⚡️)!!!!!!!

— It's like before it's gonna storm, you know? You can't see it, but you can feel it, like this, uh... Electricity, you know?

— Oh, you mean like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere...

— No, no, no, no, no. Like a... Like a sexual electricity. You feel that, and then you make your move.

I went to the post office and rewatched season 4 today and somehow those two events led me here... (season 5 needs to get here faster and I desperately need a hobby)

TLDR: The writers made a mistake. It should 158 days, not 185 days. If it is 185 days, then El is counting from a date that has some significant meaning to her, which isn't when the Byers and her moved.

In El's letter for Mike in season 4, she says it is day 185, but it can't be 185 days since the Byers moved because they move 3 months after the events of season 3 (October 1985, end of s3 takes place 3 months after the Battle of Starcourt).

Even if the Byers moved October 1st, and somehow, and her letter took 1 day to arrive to the Wheelers, that still leaves 12 to 15 days unaccounted for. So she isn't counting the days from when she moved or when she last saw Mike. But it could be closer to 20 days unaccounted for if the letter takes longer than 3 days to arrive, and a bit more if the Byers didn't move October 1st.

My math could be off by a few days, but that means she started counting these days since around September 11th, 1985 (if this is somehow right then could this be another twin reference to El and Will? I know their twin dynamic is fanon but it can't be denied they are twin-like in looks, made clear in season 1).

My assumptions are

Either El writes the letters the day she sends them and it takes 5 days at most for the letter to get to Hawkins.

Mike was rereading the letter as it arrived March 20th.

If she doesn't write the letters the day she sends them, she plans ahead of time and the letters take 3 days at least to send, so still around about 6 days between El writing and Mike receiving the letter.

This could be when she officially started living with the Byers, although I definitely doubt she would have been in a foster system or something along those lines since July 4th. Surely Joyce's connection to Owens also would have gotten El immediately placed with the Byers.

I personally love the 8:15 theory, so really my only conclusions are that:

The writers wanted to include an 8:15 Easter egg.

The writers somehow didn't think about the date when writing the date at the end of season 3 (I don't believe this is likely though as the show does have incredible attention to detail).

It was actually day 158, as it would mean the Byers moved October 5th, 1985 (which was a Saturday, and El starts counting the days from the 6th). The last 2 digits were swapped by accident when writing the script.

I looked at season 2 episode 3, where El says, 'You now say soon on day 326'. And she is correct if Hopper found her December 10th 1983, so even though she struggles with maths, she definitely can count.

Also, doesn't the school term in the US start late August? Or early September? I get that the Battle of Starcourt would be traumatising but wouldn't Joyce still want to move her family so they could start school normally like everyone else?