How Netflix's #strangerthings will finally end after season 5.
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00:00 With a two year wait behind them, it's fair to say that Netflix subscribers were more than ready
00:04 for Stranger Things to return to the streaming service this year with Season 4. In its first
00:09 weekend it rocketed to the top spot of the most watched English language seasons that the platform
00:14 has ever produced, second overall only to Korean thriller Squid Game. Unless you've been living
00:19 under a rock, it's been hard to miss the excitement that Season 4 of Stranger Things
00:23 has generated, whether that's Spotify curated Wekner escape playlists, the Chrissy wake up
00:28 TikTok meme or the general social media discourse on who lives and who dies. Introducing us to what
00:35 viewers have to assume is the show's true big bad, Season 4's dense package gave us an incredible
00:40 thrill ride in its own right as well as plenty of answers to hanging story threads. Fans now know
00:45 the true story of the Hawkins Laboratory massacre that led to Eleven's escape in the pilot episode
00:50 and even a little more about how the upside down came to be. That being said there are still a lot
00:55 of questions that need to be answered about the state of Stranger Things world and its inhabitants
01:00 moving forward. Thankfully the Duffer Brothers may have left the answers out in the open for
01:04 all of us to see, providing you know what you're looking at. I'm ScifleWotCulture and Stranger
01:10 Things has already told us how Season 5 will end. Targeted by the upside down's mastermind as the
01:16 perfect victim due to her past trauma, Max plays a huge role in unwrapping the enigma of Wekner
01:21 and a way to stop him. Not to mention she holds the key to getting Kate Bush back into the charts.
01:26 In the finale's elongated epilogue Max lies unresponsive in a coma. Lucas tends to her
01:31 bedside reading from a copy of the Stephen King and Peter Straub collaborative novel
01:36 The Talisman. The general audience probably didn't recognise the significance of this choice
01:40 and why would you? It's hardly the most famous book for either author. It's when you dive into
01:45 the story of The Talisman that some really interesting similarities can be drawn.
01:49 12 year old Jack Sawyer journeys across America to find a crystal called the Talisman that will
01:54 save his mother who is dying from cancer. On this journey he discovers a parallel world,
01:59 a similar but twisted version of America which over the course of the novel bleeds into his own.
02:05 When Jack finally gets his hands on the Talisman, a great earthquake rips through the world.
02:10 However, in the finale he returns to his mother and cures her of her ailment.
02:15 It seems in no way possible that Matt and Ross Duffer gave Lucas that book without thinking
02:20 about the implications. The final season may well see Lucas' journey to find something to
02:25 bring Max out of that coma. After all, they still haven't had that movie date.
02:29 Of course, it needs to be mentioned that the Duffer brothers are currently signed on to adapt
02:33 The Talisman for Netflix and this could just be a cute nod to their future. But the possibilities
02:39 are striking. Thinking about it coldly and logically, Max's story could have well concluded
02:44 with season 4 as Vecna killed her to complete his ritual and open all four gates. In fact,
02:50 she died on screen for a full minute according to Lucas. Keeping Max alive at the end of season 4
02:55 was definitely done on purpose as seeing the character off for shock value could have added
03:00 a new weight to the show's stakes moving forward. So it's likely that Max has been kept alive for
03:05 a reason. One of the unanswered questions moving into the show's final volume is foreshadowed by
03:10 Eleven using her ability to search for Max's consciousness in the void and finding nothing.
03:16 One last point on The Talisman is that every human has an equivalent in the alternate
03:20 territories universe and consciousnesses can shift between worlds by taking control of the
03:25 body of your twinner. Unless, of course, one of the pair gets killed and becomes single-natured.
03:30 When Henry Creel confronts Eleven in the Hawkins lab, he tries to calm her by saying those who he's
03:36 killed aren't gone and they are still with him in his mind. If this is true, then Max must have
03:42 joined them. And this is why Eleven can't find Max because her body and her soul have been separated.
03:47 But if she can keep her friend's heart pumping, who's to say she can't reunite it with her spirit,
03:53 which perhaps is hiding inside Vecna's mind. Whilst we saw a really early look at the upside
03:59 down in season 4 with Henry Creel falling into this untouched world, its true origins remain a
04:04 mystery. In all likelihood, this alternative world probably existed long before Eleven opened
04:09 the first gate and sent Vecna tumbling inside, although we can't know that for sure. But the
04:14 truly mysterious part is how did it become to be the dark and haunted version of Hawkins?
04:19 One key point that was nestled into the show recently as a seed for the final season was
04:23 Nancy discovering her diary whilst in the upside down. She remarks that its most recent entry was
04:29 the same day that Will had gone missing into the parallel world four years prior.
04:33 This means a few key things. Firstly, the upside down is not a consistent mirror of the real
04:39 world's time. Secondly, the version that we know either came into being on that day or time froze
04:45 at that exact moment. If that's the case, Will is connected even more deeply to that world.
04:50 If his mind created it or affected it, perhaps he has some measure of control over it.
04:56 Is Will about to discover his own power? And if the upside down persists in a time before
05:01 Vecna ripped Hawkins asunder, is it the answer to undoing his victory in season four?
05:06 Stranger Things has never been one to shy away from foreshadowing its future story arcs,
05:11 most often done via the narrative device of Dungeons and Dragons. Heck, take the season
05:15 four opener. The Hellfire Club rallies to conclude their longest and toughest campaign.
05:20 As the party gets decimated by Vecna, Dungeon Master Eddie says to the group that there is
05:25 no shame in running and that they don't need to play the hero, lines that will heavily outline
05:29 his character arc for the rest of the season. Here's where it gets interesting though.
05:33 Dustin and Erika each roll for their final hits against the end boss, the first of which
05:38 misses. What number does Dustin roll? Eleven. And how does season four end? Eleven rises to
05:45 face Vecna, wounds him, but ultimately loses. Eleven was not enough to succeed in the D&D
05:51 game and, implying that, in the end, Eleven alone cannot beat their foe. In the finale,
05:57 Will describes Vecna as hurting but still alive. Eleven, using all of her powers,
06:01 may not be enough to put him down. Only a natural twenty, a perfect lucky hit, will suffice.
06:08 Ultimately, fans know very few hard facts about season five of Stranger Things as it's far too
06:13 early. It might not be until 2024 until we all get our answers. At least that gives us plenty
06:19 of time for speculating, theorising and mourning the loss of Eddie Munson. Rest in power,
06:24 you absolute king. And that's the video. Let us know what you thought of this down in the
06:28 comments below and what you thought of season four of Stranger Things and any theories that
06:33 you might have moving forward into the final season. Make sure you like this video, share
06:37 it with your friends, subscribe and hit that notification bell. I've been Si for WhatCulture
06:42 and have a good week.
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