Stranger Things season five’s finale has become the most hotly debated topic on the internet, namely the idea that the episode was fake.
A viral online theory called ‘Conformity Gate’ suggested that the show was set to announce a secret ninth episode, pointing to plot holes and ‘mistakes’ in the show as proof that it was all a vision shown to Mike by Vecna. A core part of this was the idea that Netflix were going to reveal it today, January 7, with their #WhatsNext announcement.
This was an incredibly important aspect of ‘Conformity Gate’ due to the genuine emphasis the show places on the number seven, however, it has ended up being debunked because #WhatsNext has been released and has no reference to Stranger Things.
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With the idea of a secret ninth episode coming out that would explain all the mistakes in the series though, that leaves a number of plot holes that will now definitively remain part of the show moving forward. Here are five of the biggest plot holes that Stranger Things fans are still scratching their chin over.
Why don’t they get arrested by the army at the end?
After succeeding in killing the mind flayer and Vecna, the party triumphantly heads back to the real world from the Upside Down, preparing to blow it all up to Purple Rain.
They are ambushed by the army and captured, however, with Eleven leaving and sacrificing herself in the explosion (though this was later brought into question by Mike).
Regardless though, the plot hole lies in the fact that after Eleven disappears, the others are seemingly just let go by the army.
Nancy and Hopper both shot and killed multiple members of the military, all of them know the secret experiments the government have been doing on children, and Hopper ends up as the Chief of Police again and the rest avoid prison completely.
This might be a pessimistic view but, in the real world, the party would probably be locked away in a CIA black site, and a small explanation for how they got away with it would’ve been appreciated.
How were Brenner’s notes in the Upside Down even though it was frozen?
One of the biggest twists in volume two comes when Dustin finds Dr Brenner’s notes about the Upside Down.
This reveals that it’s not another world, but a wormhole to a world they come to call ‘The Abyss’. The Upside Down was created in the show when Eleven opens the gate on November 6, 1983 by psychically connecting with a Demogorgon in The Abyss.
In season four, they realise the Upside Down is permanently frozen on that day, leading many fans to question how Brenner already had detailed notes of something that didn’t yet exist.
Whilst prequel play The First Shadow reveals that he has been researching The Abyss for years after his dad disappeared there, him having the exact perfect notes before it was even opened is a bit suspicious.
Missing characters were never explained
A bunch of characters went missing in season five, and specifically in the finale, some of which are never addressed.
Vicky was established as a pretty major part of season five as Robin’s girlfriend, becoming involved in the final plan and even bizarrely being there for Will’s coming out scene. She simply disappears in the finale’s epilogue though, with no clarification on whether she and Robin break up.
Dustin’s actor Gaten Matarazzo has also clarified that he thinks Dustin and his season three and four girlfriend Suzie broke up between seasons, but many fans were miffed to not even get a throwaway line confirming this.
Max’s mum also does not appear in season four or five and, whilst she’s not established to be a perfect parent, leaving your daughter alone in a coma is pretty rough. The actor who played her in season two and four Jennifer Marshall posted on Instagram alleging that she believes she wasn’t asked back in part because of her cancer diagnosis.
Hopper and Joyce never realised they knew Vecna
Before he became Vecna he was called Henry Creel and, in season five, it was actually revealed that he was a classmate of Hopper and Joyce.
This is shown when Max travels through his memories in Escape from Camazotz with Joyce handing out fliers to a play.
The prequel play The First Shadow actually establishes that Hopper, Joyce, Bob, Henry, and Steve Harrington’s dad Danny all knew each other and went to the same high school.
Even though Joyce ends up being the one to lop off Vecna’s head, she never even addresses him being Henry, something Hopper also doesn’t mention even in a 1-1 scene he has with him.
The Duffer Brothers have since claimed this was to avoid confusing people who hadn’t seen the play, saying that ‘to have them start talking about it would have been confusing in the context of someone who hasn’t seen the play… I’m sure they did have that conversation'.
Will’s bizarre reference in his coming out scene was never explained
During his coming out speech, Will makes a reference to how him and his friends are the same, saying they all ‘like biking to Melvald’s for malted milkshakes’.
As a throwaway line, this is bizarre enough considering this is never shown in the series – but the deeper you look into it the weirder it gets.
Firstly, Melvald’s is actually the name of the general store that Joyce works at in the first few seasons of the show and definitively is not the kind of place you can pick up a ‘malted milkshake’.
Where it became a major part of 'Conformity Gate' though is the fact that Melvald’s is actually the name of a diner in The First Shadow: in 1959.
Fans had pointed to this as proof that the vision was constructed based on what Vecna knew, not Will’s actual experiences, so if that isn’t the case this is a pretty weird plot hole left over.
Topics: Stranger Things, TV, TV and Film
Michael Slavin