CompleteBedlam

sidenote, it's also longer than Crime and Punishment. (211,591 words)

Got a chance to read today! I loved every minute! I noticed how hard you worked on this chapter, it must have been a beast to write. The unfolding drama has me kicking my feet. Did you know BRL is now significantly longer than the Fellowship of the Ring?

Thank you!

So I'm officially old now. I just turned 40. I've been thinking there's a lot of Stranger Things fics that use terms that didn't exist until at least the 90s and they pop out immediately to me. I'm happy to offer my services to anyone who'd like me to check for them!

It's noot just you. I haven't fucking slept yet. I get too fucked up about something and my hyper focus kicks into overdrive and WOW I feel *insane* while I turn it around and around and try and find a way to make it fit, imploring the internet to give me the missing piece. I'll sleep soon at least.

I swear I'm going through the stages of grief over this stupid fucking show. Those four seasons really were something special huh?

Duffers I hope Paramount makes you start over from interns I swear to fucking god.

Yeah I guess they probably just broke up off screen. Because everything important happens off screen this season.

Things never addressed again
Max's letters
The painting lie
Half of everyone's parents.
Dr Owens
Clearing Eddie's name
Max's mom
Dustin's inability to accept failure (instead he cheated his way to valedictorian)

I made a list of minor non plotline things that I needed the finale to address for me to be happy with the ending. Half of them I thought were stupid because of course that would be covered. Not a single one of them came up at all.

What the fuck was that? There were no fucking stakes. I cry at fucking commercials and I got slightly misty twice when Eddie got callbacks. That's fucking it. Duffers what the actual fuck? Very funny give us the real season 5 now.

Does anyone else think Stranger Things is suddenly ass because of Netflix's stupid fucking merger that they had to suck Trump off for? If there were certain "woke" things that Netflix insisted be removed it could explain why the Duffers no longer want to work with Netflix.

So. Cute!

Yay!

Oh no did I miss my chance? Of course I want one!

I wish!!

a man wearing a shirt that says hellfire club is standing next to a tree ALT: a man wearing a shirt that says hellfire club is standing next to a tree

Exactly! Like that isn't the original but someone clearly arranged it that way deliberately.

Mmmhmmmmmmm

My guess is the obit merch item is the wrong one since it's the most questionably canon. Someone saw this particular prop and assumed that was his parents. Merch is going to be the least vetted in comparison to a book and an on screen prop.

I can't take credit for it, I stole it off of Twitter lol. But yeah now that we can see the dates I think uncle and aunt. Raymond fits better with Alan and Wayne than Cheryl does as a name scheme. Though they could have had a sister.

I think they would be an older aunt and uncle with the dates, they'd be too young to be grandparents. Maybe Wayne and Al had an oldest brother or sister?

Huuuuuh. If so that would be big. The grave with new family members could be related maybe.

Do you have any info on the casting call for a young Eddie? I don't remember that!

That's unfortunately why Eddie specifically needed to die. Dustin is a sweet kid but he's also a little shithead that needs to grow as a character.

Eddie would have been able to handle Dustin's grief if Steve died. He understood the need to rebel and he understood grief. Steve cannot handle it, he has never been able to cope well with other people's grief and he uses conformity to hide a lot of his flaws. He's not comfortable with any of it. 🧵

It's great for fics lmao. To be fair even though it's not my fandom ship, Byler is absolutely my canon ship. The impact that would have in a mainstream show like stranger things? A main gay couple not in a niche queer show? Of course I want that over Steddie.

That's something Steve has to accept as part of his growth. Did I think he already had that growth? Yeah but I guess the Duffers wanted to explore that in depth with him. To be fair it was that or bisexuality and they can't give the public Byler AND Steddie.

People don't understand the distinction between attraction and actually being good for each other. Nancy still thinks her ex is hot and is starting to respect him as a friend who has grown in some aspects. That doesn't mean either should settle for a life that they don't want.

Yeah I will wait on the love triangle I think they're setting up something good for Nancy here because neither of these dudes meet her needs. They didn't have to dumb him down so much but well he has gotten a lot of concussions. He almost certainly didn't get those seen. He's also still only 20.

Me too! People saying this is bad writing don't know what they're missing, this is beautifully set up conflict between characters. It's what they do BEST. Of course Steve, who hides behind conformity cannot handle this aspect of Dustin. Eddie died to give us this arc for both characters.