The Official, Definitive, Ultimate Stranger Things Season 5 Preview (Plus BONUS Death Pool Draft)

Did I throw enough ridiculous qualifiers in the headline to get you to click on this podcast plug disguised as a blog? I guess so because I sucked your ass in here like Vecna pulling some poor kid with emotional issues into the Upside Down.

Nonetheless, I do think Bob Fox, Eddie, and myself did a bang up job recapping Season 4, previewing Season 5, then putting together a pretty good death pool, along with some alive pool picks and a hot take/prediction. We honestly could've went on another hour, but Hollywood Ed had just gotten off of an appearance of Wake Up Barstool early Tuesday morning, so it didn't feel right keeping him in the basement too long. If we did stay longer, I would have brought up these nuggets that have lived in my head since I finished the rewatch:

- The dice theory has apparently been making its rounds for years but I just saw it for the first time the other day.

So clearly the DND game in S4 ep1 was a visual representation of what was going to happen that season. Eddie saying no shame in running blah blah blah.

Vecna has 15 hit points at the end of the game. Dustin rolls an 11, which was a miss. Erica then rolls a 20 which was a crit hit.

I’ve seen people say that it won’t be just Eleven who will defeat VecnaSlashHenrySlashOne and hypothesising that Kali/Eight will come back, which I like but that’s 19, not 20. I don’t think One will be doing a Vader and come back to the light side, making it a 20.

So what is going to make up the 9?

Or am I totally reaching and the 11 + 8 + 1 theory is the only obvious answer? 🤣

EDIT - my other theory was given all the groups were separate this season, Eleven plus the 9 other kids united (Will, Lucas, Dustin, Mike, Erica, Robin, Nancy, Steve, Jonathan) make up the 20.

Max wont be actively involved at all through S5 as she won’t be able to be fully revived until Vecna is dead, which will be in the last episode. I think there will be plenty of work for Sadie to do, as she will communicate with El as Vecna’s strength weakens a La Voldemort each time a Horcurx was destroyed.

I don't know if this is Reddit making a movie out of a molehill like they always do. But it definitely did make me go hmmm.

- Speaking of Eight, I can't put into words how much I hated that trip to Detroit during my rewatch since it happened so late in the season when we were hitting the climax to a super fun season. However, if it pays off, I'll tip my cap to the Duffer Brothers one last time and take back everything mean I said about that lame episode.

- I would also like to tip my cap to the Duffer Brothers for the sheer amount of product placement with nostalgic brands they had in the show. I always loved how soothing it was to see an old snack wrapper or store from the 80s on screen during my first watch. But on the rewatch, it does seem like the placement of those products are jammed into our face much more than I realized. So I can't wait to see what they have in store for us with this last pay day for the final season. I saw a Discover commercial with Nancy today on YouTube that I thought was a parody. Instead it was Netflix once again cashing in. So a tip of the cap to the entire marketing department on that.

- I mentioned the official Stranger Things playlist is on Spotify during the podcast, so I had to include it here:

I forgot how great the soundtrack was and how many songs play a great role in the episode. I remembered the Master of Puppets and Neverending Story moments. But there are so many more.

OK, I think that qualifies as an actual blog instead of some low effort podcast plug. For our complete rewatch breakdown, check out the episodes below: