Making Sense of #ConformityGate
Added 2026-01-07 22:50:46 +0000 UTCHey folks!
This is a Patreon special just for you guys. It's not a fully researched, tightly scripted essay or anything; it's just me working through something in real time.
If you've been online this past week you've probably seen ConformityGate: the Stranger Things fan theory that the finale was fake and a secret episode would drop on January 7th. Which is today, and thus far it hasn't. BUT the day isn't over yet!
I haven't watched Stranger Things. I'm not an expert on this fandom. But I DO recognize the shape of this thing from my TJLC days, and I wanted to try to make sense of it in terms of why this theory emerged, why "queerbaiting" might not be the right analytical frame, what Netflix's marketing strategies have to do with it, and what it tells us about how fans process disappointing endings.
This is exploratory. I'm thinking out loud. I don't have all the answers and I say so. But I hope it's interesting anyway!
As always, thank you so much for your support. It's what makes it possible for me to do slower, weirder work instead of chasing algorithmic trends. You're the best. <3
Comments
Then there's the bit with Sherlock having something really urgent to say to John, and then it being a joke. In Stranger Things, there's this crazy buildup after Will comes out where he asks Mike if they can still be friends. Mike says they CAN'T be friends, and it looks like he is going to reciprocate because he hesitates for a long time before saying they can actually be BEST FRIENDS.
Kaj
2026-02-06 05:54:30 +0000 UTCThere's a lot that directly parallels TJLC. First, the secret episode being released in some special way. Second, the idea that inconsistencies meant they were all in Sherlock's mind palace (same as Vecna's mind palace). Third, the website. The Sherlock line "everyone gives up after three", then the Stranger Things "there's no such thing as coincidences". Then there's the writers (Duffer brothers and Moffiss) constantly baiting viewers, telling them things will be solved and then not solving them. Amanda Todhunter described it as "leading a horse to water and then getting mad at the horse for trying to drink". There's this whole thing in Stranger Things where the Duffer Brothers promised that a mystery from season one about who unlatched a door from the outside- implying telekinesis- would be solved in the finale. That made fans go mad trying to find where in that episode the mystery was solved. So they had to construct elaborate theories as to *how* that had been shown. So many people got into the mindset that the clues were there all along.
Kaj
2026-02-06 05:41:00 +0000 UTCRevisiting this video to say that stranger things wasn't some sort of puzzlebox show where you had to solve the mysteries, but that the first season was tight and very strictly a horror adult show. It had a very very clean and concise tone and had a very clear plotline and lore that wasn't totally spelled out for you that you could Intuit from context clues and hints you can find on rewatch. It was a really well planned season. Season 2 followed this energy pretty well although the stakes kind of lowered in the seamlessness of the plot, and season 3 is still a notorious favorite and although the tone shift is palpable and it becomes an action show more than horror, it's very dynamic and full of tension and still a favorite even if it's more contentious. Four and five are where it go downhill for me. Some people thought season 4 was a return to form but the grasp to steer back into horror is very cheap and unearned and the retcons are blatant and overwhelming. Things that are very explicit in the first season if you properly read the implications are entirely undone for the sake of the new villain, Vecna to be introduced and it becomes very clear at this point they will not kill any protagonists if they can help it and will only introduce side characters to kill. There were some problems that were still dismissable by season 3 that got outrageous by now. So it was never a mystery show really, at least not the same way Sherlock was. But the storybuilding was so crazy well done at first the downgrade in script quality to maybe the worst avengers movie left people desperate for writing that was still as good as the first season, I think. I used to really not think season 1 was for me in tone but the more I think about it the more I realize even if I wasn't super engaged with it at first it was objectively great show writing and it just got inexcusably shoddier after season 2. TLDR I wouldn't really call it a marketing mistake where they displayed the show different, it's that there used to be actual mystery solving and subtext and relevant details in every set and scene that aren't there anymore.
leonineKelter
2026-01-31 23:52:07 +0000 UTCI fully agree
Sarah Z
2026-01-08 18:33:47 +0000 UTCYour tea kettle is so much more interesting than the last season of Stranger Things
Avery and their 80 HDs
2026-01-08 16:13:37 +0000 UTCI love how most secret episode fan theories stem from good ol fashioned bad writing
Nate Begay
2026-01-08 15:42:45 +0000 UTC
