Stranger Things fans call out big error in season five that 'makes no sense'

Fans of Stranger Things reckon they've found a glaring continuity error in the show as the final season has finally arrived.

Well, some of it has arrived at least since they've chopped season five up into three bits to release in stages, with three more episodes dropping on Boxing Day and then the grand finale on New Year's Day.

However, some viewers have taken issue with an apparent error from a flashback scene, where Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) remembered building his backyard fort named Castle Byers with his brother Jonathan (Charlie Heaton).

It's meant to be a heartfelt memory which is key to Will sorting himself out, but fans pointed out a major error in the flashback as they remembered that Jonathan had previously described the same scene and said it 'started raining'.

Viewers wondered if 'no one else realised the error' in the season five flashback not tallying with the earlier version we got, while someone else said it 'makes no sense' that the brothers would be happy since the day they built the fort is also the day their dad abandoned the family.

It's supposed to be raining in this memory, according to an earlier episode (Netflix)

On the other hand, some fans said that Will's flashback was part of a 'memory montage' so they could get away with ignoring what actually happened and focus on how the character was feeling, pointing out that 'rainy moments are sad moments' and it'd clash with what the show was trying to say.

It happens when Will is thinking of his happiest memories, so the weather in his mind can at least play along with setting the scene.

To direct a spot of forgiveness towards the Stranger Things writers for forgetting what previously happened in their own show, it has been a ruddy long time since that earlier version of events was released.

Jonathan described building Castle Byers back in season two, which released in 2017, back when these schookids still looked like children.

A lot has happened both in Hawkins and the world at large since those scripts were written, so there may need to be some kind of allowance for the people writing Stranger Things not to remember that it was raining during a moment the final season referenced.

Then again, fans have also pointed out that Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) appears to have forgotten how old Will is, since in a season five episode she lamented that she failed to check on her '11-year-old boy'.

Unfortunately, on the missing poster for Will after he was snatched by the Demogorgon in the first season his age is listed as 12.

Poor Will can't catch a break as far as his age is concerned, as the show's writers admitted they previously made a mistake where they 'forgot about Will’s birthday'.

In fairness, it was one line from an episode that released in 2017 (Netflix)

See, the character's birthday was listed as 22 March, but the second episode of season four takes place on that date and nobody mentions it once.

It kicked off a whole kerfuffle in the Stranger Things fandom which was dubbed 'birthdaygate' as some fans thought it must mean that Will's family and friends had just completely blanked his birthday.

However, the Duffer brothers said they were considering changing the character's official birthday because it was 'too mean' to think they all just forgot.

"It was obviously a mistake, and we’re sorry. We apologize to the fans," Ross Duffer told Variety in 2022.