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Ronance should be endgame

i’ve just finished vol 1 of stranger things and i’m gonna rant about my thoughts so:

⚠️SPOILERS FOR STRANGER THINGS⚠️

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holy shit it was incredible! the vibe, the plot, the characters, all *chefs kiss* perfection. it was all amazing tbh, but i’m just gonna talk about my personal favourite things from the season.

• ep 4–‘dear billy’:

holy mother of god this episode. this fucking episode. possibly the best stranger things episode ever, if i’m honest. max’s storyline this season was brilliant, dealing with the loss of her abuser/brother, high school, a fading friend group—it was a dark twist for the character, but one that felt gritty in such a natural way. billy didn’t get a redemption arc (thank god) but max still dealt with the loss in a very real, very raw way that felt so genuine—big pat on the back for the duffer brothers there.

this episode, though. we got to see max’s true feelings; her isolation, her grief, her suicidal thoughts and feelings. it was a real exploration of her character that made me love her all the more.

and i can’t not talk about that end scene. holy. fucking. shit. the cinematography, the song choice, the way it swelled as max rose from the ground, the tension, the suspense, the goddamn flashbacks. all of it was just fucking breathtaking. i was crying and shaking the whole time. max’s determination to get back to her family, the way she collapses in lucas’s arms. absolutely the best scene in stranger things history, and one of my favourite scenes of all time in anything ever. chills. every time. and sadie sink deserves all the awards for her performance, i’ll stand by that. icon behaviour.

• the vecna/001 storyline:

this had me gripped from the start. honestly, i was so intrigued the whole time—and it was played out incredibly well.

from the first scene making us think eleven killed those kids, to the big reveal that 001 had been behind it all along, to eleven blasting him into the upside down and creating vecna. phew. was on the edge of my seat from the start.

it also makes sense in a way that’s not too perfect, but just perfect enough. it’s a reason for all previous seasons, a perfect storm. it felt like the stuff of epics, the final enemy, the final battle. mwah, i loved it.

• eddie, steve and dustin:

i loved them this season. best boys 4 life.

we got the steve and dustin best bros dynamic back, plus seeing how much they mean to each other through eddie coming between them. perfection. i love those little doofuses.

and eddie himself was great. brilliant character, comedic and interesting. good job joe quinn.

•lumax:

i’d never really hated or loved this ship before season 4. i mean, it was kinda cute, but i never got all the hype surrounding it. now, i think i do.

their angst this season was just 😤. the way you can so clearly see that they still care for each other, the way they still need each other. lucas being max’s safe haven. max being the one lucas is vulnerable around. amazing, spectacular. it’s clear they love each other, they just need to figure some stuff out first. my second fav ship of the season.

and here we go, my favourite thing from stranger things season 4 vol 1:

• RONANCE!!!!

oh. my. god. these two stole the show for me.

their dynamic was just immaculate the whole way through—from bickering strangers to grudging allies to genuine friendship. it was exactly what i imagined for them and natalia and maya played it so well. their scenes were honestly my favourite. and whilst i love them as friends, i’m a feral ronance shipper—and lemme tell you, i was FED.

firstly, robin tells steve in the video store that she rambles around the girls she likes. cut to robin talking non-stop around nancy in the library. ROBIN I KNOW UR SECRET BABE.

then, we see tammy thompson (finally), who could be a carbon copy of nancy wheeler, from the style down to the heart eyes for steve. SHIT robin, do you have a type—popular pretty girl who falls for the preppy pretty boy? just admit you like nancy already oh my god.

robin’s obsession with having nancy like her?? the fucking lesbianism of it! like, wanting this other girl so desperately to think you’re cool that you end up being so annoying she has to shut you up with mystery and monsters? the gay agenda. needing to be her friend but you don’t know why until—oh shit, that’s why.

the way they just complete each other!!! they bounce off each other so easily, coming up with all the plans and the genius ideas and basically saving the whole group together. the way they play off each other in the asylum, convincing the guy to let them see victor (and holy shit the way nancy looks at robin during her speech). they save max’s life together, and are the only reason the group can save themselves from vecna and i just think that’s neat.

finally, to address the stancy plot line. it’s clear the duffers are trying to make it seem like steve and nancy will get back together, and who knows, maybe they will. but i think (i hope) the duffers are smarter than that.

nancy and steve are the characters who have had the most development over the course of the show. they’ve both grown into themselves, become different and better people. and to have them get back together would completely defeat their respective arcs. i can see them being good friends, but i don’t think they’d realistically work as a couple again.

for one reason, it was made clear in nancy’s vecna vision that her biggest fear, the thing that haunts her most, is that she killed barb, that barb died because she slept with steve. that shit still fucks with 3 years later. and i think she’ll always associate that guilt with him, no matter what. i don’t think she’ll move past that enough to have a healthy relationship with him.

for another, steve clearly doesn’t know what he wants—and i think he needs to figure that out on his own. he’s desperate for love, that’s obvious, and he’s latched onto nancy because she’s his ex who’s showing interest. i think he needs to come into himself a little more before he thinks of trying a relationship.

finally, it’d be pretty cruel of the duffer brothers to have nancy do what she did to steve with jonathan to jonathan with steve. it’d be unoriginal and disappointing, and it wouldn’t really make sense. at least have nancy and jonathan break up officially first, you know?

so no, i don’t think steve and nancy will get back together. and i also think jonathan and nancy will break up when she realises they don’t need each other anymore. they were trauma-bonded, that’s true, but she’s doing well on her own, and they want to take separate paths in life. so that leaves nancy a single pringle.

and who’s right there with her? robin motherfucking buckley.

robin, who annoyed the shit out of her at first, who is frustratingly clever and infuriatingly funny. robin, who saved max’s life, who tried to help nancy, unselfishly, with her love life when they barely even knew each other. robin, who’s become the closest thing she has to a friend since barb.

robin, who i think is gonna save her life.

last time we saw nancy, she was under vecna’s curse. and we all know the only way to break the trance is to play that person’s favourite song. and sure, steve might know it and that’ll be that, but what if he doesn’t? what if he can’t save her?

robin will step in. we saw her routing through nancy’s draws in her room, and we saw her holding some of nancy’s tapes. i don’t think that was a coincidence. i think robin knows nancy’s favourite song and is going to save her life with it.

and boom. just like that, robin stops being the annoying new friend. robin becomes the life-saver, the ally, the rock in the middle of the hurricane. and nancy starts to fall for her.

but what do i know, eh?

anyways, those are my thoughts on season 4 volume 1!!!! i’d love to hear yours—just send me an ask, some of your ideas about what’s gonna happen in vol 2, what your thoughts about the first volume are—love you guys :)

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He's so cute

I love a loose strand.

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Eyes never lie

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Silent Gifts of Evening: © riverwindphotography, April, 2020