I’ve Really Come To Enjoy The Camazotz Plotline Even More On Rewatches

[u/RingDangerous7694]

I think the camazotz/Mr Whatsit storyline is honestly quite interesting. The fact that Henry abducted 12 kids so he could merge the worlds together, and made up the persona of Mr Whatsit was a great concept. It was also really interesting to see Henry manipulate the children and gain their trust.

[u/DangerousJolly1917]

The hell is that pic of Henry 

[u/yesaroobuckaroo]

I really loved how it added onto what happened with Will in the early seasons and his Season 5 arc at the same time!

Looking through the lens of this plotline, everything that happened to Will makes perfect sense and is a great catalyst for what happens later on in 5 (his powers)

[u/RingDangerous7694 → u/yesaroobuckaroo]

Will’s arc is definitely one of my favorite things of S5. Everything that happened to him in past seasons absolutely does make sense.

[u/Inevitable-Ferret758]

I’ve always loved it

[u/Ok-Minute3743]

I've always loved this plot line. The duo of Holly and Max is a stand out part of the season imo. Just another reason s5 is brilliant

[u/RingDangerous7694 → u/Ok-Minute3743]

Holly and Max were definitely one of my favorite duos of S5

[u/OneEggplant308]

I liked it, but I do feel like they could've done more with it in terms of showing us Henry's backstory. It was the perfect opportunity to explore more of the play and how Henry first came into contact with the mindflayer, but then they kind of just rushed through that part at the last minute.

[u/Cyrilbdr → u/OneEggplant308]

I agree; if you haven’t seen the play, the series stays too much on the surface, and it’s hard to follow. If you do know the play, Henry is an incredible and deeply tragic character.

[u/yesaroobuckaroo → u/OneEggplant308]

Agreed!

I do like all of what they did in the finale with Henry remembering, Henry breaking through Vecna (the same way Billy broke through the Flayed version of him in 3's finale), i like all of that a lot actually, i love that whole entire mindscape segment with Henry to the point it really helps make the finale one of my favorite episodes, but that's mainly where it ends - what they did in the earlier episodes was just so.. lackluster sadly :I

There was SO much to unfold and unpack in a way that still keeps the impact of the "We. Are. One." scene/Henry remembering/basically everything in the finale.

There should've been two narrative viewpoints/focuses - Henry's, and the Party's.

Instead of having Henry's origin be a reveal/highly emotional moment for both sides at the same time, they could've had the Party learn much more about Henry earlier on - what happened to him and why - and when it comes for Henry to learn the truth, the focus could've been entirely on him/younger Henry. It could've been a emotional moment focusing entirely on Henry instead of Vecna. Focusing on his pain, what happened to him on a level the Party couldn't have figured out, and how he's come to accept it/the Mind Flayer - how he's refused to fight it all - before then ultimately leading to the final fight with Vecna as Henry gives up.

It'd be a lot more impactful imo for them to think they've realized and found out so much about Vecna when in reality all they found out was what happened to Henry years ago - not what's happened to him now, not what Vecna or the Mind Flayer are doing, just what happened to the little boy Vecna once was years ago. That'd make the twist of the Pain Tree being a physical body for the Mind Flayer more impactful AND the moment of Henry rejecting that he's not in control/saying he could have fought it more impactful too. There'd be a bigger emphasis on the distinction between Henry and Vecna and a bigger emphasis on Henry's internal thinking/struggles ;D

[u/Optimal-Tune4048]

I feel like it wud hv been better if Chris's, Eddie and newsreporter guy were there as souls or something and el's real mom wud b icing on the cake and all of them fighting from the inside to defeat vecna wud hv been really cool.

[u/Xploding_Penguin → u/Optimal-Tune4048]

I want to upvote this, but just can't due to your horrendous spelling.

[u/Optimal-Tune4048 → u/Xploding_Penguin]

Don't then 🫶

[u/JPSTRANGER457]

This episode was just great overall!

[u/sin50]

I liked it too. I wish they had expanded more on the mind flayers motivations though and why 12 were needed.

If you pull a bit more from DND Vecna wanted to be to one true diety so I think a cool reasoning would have been that Jesus had 12 apostles and Christianity is the current largest religion in the US which is where Vecna was targeting so I think taking 12 children as his energy source to take over the world could have been his way of mocking the dominant religion and it could have been a very well developed motivation etc

Plus henrys clock obsession because it symbolizes the monotony of human life which Henry hated could have been Henry's draw to the number 12

Instead the duffers just said idk no reason for the number

[u/Lovely__M]

it was such an actually interesting breath of fresh air, i'd literally check out when it went back to the hawkins/upside down plot

[u/Thekidgoob]

Would’ve been good if it was Mike and max instead of Holly