#maltedmilkshakegate

This isn't new. We all know this line. We know Melvald's doesn't sell Malted milkshakes, we know during Henrys time they did, but, I can't get over it. First of all, Joyce WORKS at Melvald's.

This is her at Melvald's in season 2, before Bob comes up and they make out in the backroom. Before the Byers moved to California, we saw Joyce at Melvalds at least once every season.

This is Joyce in season 3, marking items as discounted cause the town shops are struggling due to the mall stealing all their business. In fact, Joyce has worked at Melvald's general store for TEN years.

This scene is from season one where Joyce is buying lights, and asks for an advance in her paycheck. Now, before Melvalds was a general store, it was a diner.

As pictured in the stage play "The First Shadow" which follows young Henry Creel in the fifties. Melvald's is very obviously a diner that sells milkshakes (its literally in the logo). Henry went to Meldvlads when it was still a diner, and kinda hung out with some friends there. Now, Joyce DID work at Melvald's when it was still a diner.

As stated in the play, she became a waitress there in 1960. The timeline of when Melvald's the diner became Melvald's the general store is not clearly established, but we know Joyce said she's worked at Melvald's for ten years in 1983 in season one, and we can assume she's talking about Melvald's the general store, and not Melvald's as a whole, because if she was talking about Melvald's as a whole that would be at least twenty years. So, we can logically assume Melvald's has been a general store for at least ten years in 1983. So since at least 1973 Melvald's has been a general store. Will was born in 1971. Melvald's has not been a diner since Will was two years old. Will SHOULD NOT have any memories of going to Melvald's for malted milkshakes.

I've looked at the angles of this store. Their is nothing in Melvald's general store that imply's it still sells malted milkshakes. Maybe pre-packaged ice cream in a freezer section, but genuine homemade milkshakes?? NO! ALSO! Malted?? Malted milkshakes??? Do you know who drinks malted milkshakes?? Old people.

Saying you want a malted milk shake is like saying you want a sodie-pop and a scoop of banana pudding. Malted milkshakes have not been a popular drink since the fifties. Why would a teenager boy in the eighties want a malted milkshake??

Unless he's possessed by Henry, who DID go to Melvald's when it sold malted milkshakes and WOULD enjoy one. This is why I'm crashing out so hard over this line. Unless conformitygate is real, and everybody was possessed, it makes NO SENSE!!!!

Joyce WORKS at Melvald's both when it sold malted milkshakes and when it hasn't, she should KNOW that what will saying they bike to Melvald's for Malted milkshakes is ludicrous. Thats like biking to CVS for a slice of warm cherry pie.

And what gets me so bad is that they didn't have to include this line?? This isn't lazy writing. Lazy writing is Will saying we have so much in common, then listing the top ten most obvious things cause its easy. We like playing DND together, we like bike riding together, we like nerdy movies, blah blah blah. Which the writers do but then, why include the malted milkshake line???? If they were looking for filler text to extend the monologue, sure, like "pop rocks with our coke" but malted milkshakes???? My mind, does not, in a million years, think of malted milkshakes when I think of the eighties. I DO NOT think of malted milkshakes when I think of Will Byers, or his friends, or Stranger Things, or the eighties. I THINK of malted milkshakes when I think of the fifties. WHERE ELSE would they have gotten this line from besides the stage play and Henrys past.

This line HAS to be proof that Will/the whole room is possessed by Henry. This HAS to be purposeful writing. It genuinely does not make any sense outside of this context. Stupid writing is ultimately just lazy writing, and I can't understand how 'malted milkshakes at melvalds' could be lazy writing, because its not easy or obvious??? Easy is obvious eighties answers. Easy is shit we already know about Will. Easy is not new information that clearly connects to other pieces of Stranger Things media and subtly creates a complex narrative about possession. Maybe milkshakes, MAYBEEEEE milkshakes I could believe, but malted, MALTED milkshakes??