This is the first thought I had while watching Mike’s little story scene. To me this leaves two possibilities: 1) El is indeed alive, and the people making the show just missed this, or caught it but decided not to fix it. 2) El is dead. I think it’s probably 1, but that to me would be disappointing and worse than 2 (the sloppiness, not El being alive).
We have no way of knowing “Kali would have died by then” because A) We don’t know where she was shot B) We have no idea if she even was shot or if she just used her powers to appear like she was dying
I wasn’t referring to her possibly dying when she was shot. I’m talking about the explosion killing her instantly. When Mike is telling the story it shows Kali still in the lab while performing the mirage. The lab exploded first so everything in it would have been destroyed immediately (Kali), yet the mirage for Eleven was still there moments later after the explosion went off.
I mean, the lab didn't totally blow up. It only destroyed the exotic matter, and it's not like Kali was right next to the bomb. Totally possible she lived long enough to keep up the illusion
You misunderstand me. I’m not talking about her wound, I’m talking about the fact that the lab would likely have been destroyed way before the gate area where El was. So yes Kali would have been dead by then it seems to me, but not from the wound. EDIT: I saw the other responses. The way I understand it, the lab would have disappeared into space sooner considering its location (if it didn’t collapse in the explosion to begin with), but I might also be misunderstanding the geography.
The Upside Down was collapsing from the outside in, and the lab was at the center of it. It would've been the last thing to be destroyed
Not saying I could write it any better, especially because I can barely articulate the scientific aspects of the show, lol I'm sure people would think this story sucks, and that's ok, but I definitely wanted to give you the best response I could to your question out of respect. I would have involved Dr. Owens in Season 5, and with his help, Eleven manages to live a "normal" life once her blood and mind are fully cleared from any psychic powers forever. No powers, no way to reacquire the powers, no reason for militaries to target her anymore, saves the world so they leave her alone for good and pardon her rather than charge her or anyone on her side with any crimes. A twist on the end of Nickelodeon's Secret World Of Alex Mack. That show had an ambiguous ending where Alex Mack has the antidote to remove her powers, but it ended on a cliffhanger and you never know whether she decides to take the antidote or not. For Stranger Things, no cliffhanger. Eleven takes the antidote and moves on with a normal life. Upside Down is done, Mind Flayer is done, Eleven's powers are gone. Nothing left for militaries to fight for when it comes to Eleven because she has nothing in her entire body to offer them. Militaries can move on to something else altogether that does not involve Eleven or any of the gang. If any military organization finds a way to access the dark matter or more stones containing it, so be it. Eleven and the gang accept the fate that they can't save the world. Things will just happen away from their lives/Hawkins and they decide whether to involve themselves in it or not. Even with Eleven's death, all militaries' curiosity for the dark matter from Dimension X won't ever escape them. So the show/spinoffs move on with another Eleven being created. A combination of drugs + sensory deprivation + indirect or direct dark matter exposure. Another Eleven could be created with or without Eleven's existence.
I promise I'm not saying this as a gotcha, but I had thought about this too, and I'm not sure the takeaway from this kind of ending is any better, suggesting the only way for the different to escape persecution is to lose what makes them unique. You can see how that's equally the wrong message, right? Sure, it's a happier ending for the characters, but I feel like we're not just talking about the show, but the meta effect it has on the viewers.
That said, Owens being MIA is such a weird decision on the part of the writers and I'm not sure why more people aren't asking them about this.
Owens is definitely a weird omission. Another I saw is how did Max's mom not spend a second in her hospital room lol
We as an audience spent maybe one minute in her hospital room. I’m all for criticizing content but at some point we need to move beyond “we must see every minute interaction.”