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I lose an heartbeat everytime I look at this
Stranger Things didn’t mishandle Will Byers’ coming out scene because they don’t know how to write queer stories. They mishandled it because they chose spectacle over intimacy, despite already proving with Robin Buckley that they know better. When you put the two scenes side by side, the difference in tone, intention, and care is glaring. And it really highlights how much the writing has downgraded over the seasons.
Robin’s coming out feels natural and character driven. Yeah, she’s under the influence of Russian truth serum, but that arguably makes the moment even more believable because it gives her a reason to say something she might not otherwise feel ready to voice. But beyond that, the conversation itself is grounded and human. There’s no speech about her needing to prove she’s “just like everyone else.” There’s no audience, or grand declarations, or manufactured drama.
Even though she doesn’t explicitly say the word “lesbian,” it works for her because it’s in character. Robin gets frustrated with Steve’s obliviousness, and when he finally understands, his reaction is a simple, immediate, “oh.” And then he accepts her. Instantly. No performative reassurance, no checklist of ally statements, no emotional spectacle. Just quiet, genuine understanding. It’s intimate, restrained, and incredibly comforting because it reflects a reality a lot of queer people recognize → you don’t need to convince the people who love you to stay. The right ones just do.
That intimacy is exactly what Will’s scene lacks.
Will doesn’t get a moment of safety. He doesn’t get to choose when or how he comes out. He’s coerced by Vecna, pushed into vulnerability through fear and trauma, and we don’t even get to see it happen. Instead of a moment rooted in trust and connection, his coming out becomes a stage. A spectacle. Something done to him, not with him.
Compare that to Robin, who comes out to one person, Steve, during a moment where they both are already sharing fear and vulnerability together. That scene deepens their bond and strengthens their relationship. Will, meanwhile, is isolated. He’s scared, alone, and unprepared, forced into a public revelation in front of people he doesn’t even know well. There’s no grounding presence, no hand to hold, no reassurance.
And that’s what makes it feel so wrong.
A far more resonant choice would have been letting Will come out privately to Joyce and Mike first. Those are the people he loves most, the people whose acceptance genuinely matters to him (Jonathan, too, though season 4 already made it clear he would always be there for Will). That alone could have been enough. Being loved and accepted by them could have given Will the confidence and safety he’s been searching for since season 1. And wouldn't have let Vecna have complete control over him and his coming out.
And if the show really needed him to come out publicly, then at least let him do it with support. Let him do it standing beside people who already had his back, instead of panicking alone in front of a crowd. As it is, the scene feels unrealistic, especially considering the time period, even with Vecna’s influence. It doesn’t feel like growth, it feels like obligation.
And it reads as another instance of the story inflicting pain on a character who's already been defined by loss, fear, isolation, and endless suffering.
That’s why it comes off as performative, rather than empowering or sincere. Like the show needed to “check the box” rather than tell a story about Will learning to trust that he's lovable exactly as he is.
And that’s what makes it so frustrating. Because Robin’s coming out had a place in the story. It was sensitive, character driven, and emotionally honest. Knowing the writers were capable of that, and then watching Will be denied the same care, makes the difference impossible to ignore.
They didn’t fail because they don’t know how to write a sincere and compelling coming out scene.
They failed because they chose not to give Will one.
I will mourn what this scene could’ve become every single day of my life
RIP to the person I was when I first saw this frame. I thought my life was about to be changed irrevocably. For a whole second, the universe was going to be realigned forever.
low effort vol 2 doodles. fuck you
MIKE WHEELER and WILL BYERS in STRANGER THINGS 5, EPISODE 5: SHOCK JOCK
I'll stay in this moment until finale airs thanks
⋆.ೃ࿔*:・
A scene from the best Byler fic, “Underbelly” by vvalentine on AO3 !!
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
I can’t stop thinking about it, so I drew a scene from it ^^ definitely check it out if you love Byler !!
oh rebelwise, you are that duo.
The thing about Will is if Mike didn't reciprocate it wouldn't just be the classic story of a queer person in love with their straight best friend and misreading signs and giving themself false hope [which already doesn't need to be told], but it would be the story of a boy put in situations in which he is justifiably led to believe these things. Any hope he has, even without Mike reciprocating does have some basis.
Mike WAS defensive about odd topics. Mike HAS been extremely complimentary of him at length and frequently. Mike IS touchy with him.
I'm not saying a straight person can't do that. I'm saying that it is not what you write for the story purpose of a queer person misinterpreting neutral input for false hope.
I've said this about the roller rink before. That they would have much better conveyed Will's queerness had Mike genuinely been behaving normally for a friend and Will's reaction been out of the ordinary, as El had described in him. But no. They stalled that in him for multiple episodes, his reactions being completely reasonable to the real behavior Mike was displaying.
This has happened many times. And if he did start to believe Mike had feelings for him, I think it is fair to say that that is not crazy based off of Mike's actual behavior, which is not platonic enough to convey the message they would be intending to.
Mike CAN have done all those things and be just Will's friend. Individually, in life, there are case by case explanations for each one of them.
But if they intended to write the story of a queer person who perceives romance in a normal interaction and has to learn to let go of that false hope, they would have written it to be a normal interaction.
The weirdest part of this to me, as always, is that there was absolutely a way to write that version of the story. And they didn't.
If they said "Mike didn't have feelings for Will" narratively I would be confused but in a life, in-world context, I would understand it. If they said "Will believed them based on his own feelings and nothing at all that Mike did created, fed into, or elevated the belief" I would strongly disagree.
This is not how you write an unreciprocated storyline. Unreciprocated storylines that seem like they have a chance are about how the person in love created that belief.
Platonic or not, Will's belief that he had a chance had real basis in the world outside of himself.
If they wanted to tell the story of Will pining after Mike, they would not have singled their relationship out for both of them. It would have actually been an equal focus friend group, Mike would have treated Will the same way he does Lucas and Dustin, there would not have been differentiation in that way.
If they were writing an unreciprocated plot Will would be reacting romantically based on hope to normal interactions.
Instead, any belief he has that Mike may have feelings for him is completely founded in reality. It does not have to be true. But it is credible. And that is not how you write an unreciprocated story.
Absolutely, for me the bedroom apology scene would be the biggest offender. It’s clear the energy coming from Mike in that convo is flirty enough to make Will flustered, and he packs the painting (aka plans to confess his feelings) as a direct result.
That isn’t an accident, they could have had Will put the painting in his bag before, but they didn’t.
Thinking about this again and how yeah it is literally shown onscreen on multiple occasions Will's actions being directly motivated by something Mike did to lead him to believe when he did not previously that he was in the clear to do it.
It would actually be insane if Caleb described Stranger Things as "A spinoff all about Will is just...the show" and then Will didn't get the only thing he's ever wanted.
No actually because that was gonna be the post but fr coming back to this. They could have made him want other things and straight up...didn't. Like yeah he wants to like- not be abused anymore but that's not really a "want" because like...and then what?
He could have had a lot of ambition with his painting career wise, he could have had like a dream college, his plot could have centered around his relationship with his mom and maybe the whole trust thing vs the helicopter parent that they talked about in volume 1 could have been the more central plot for him the entire time and expanded way more on the 2x1 stuff of "everyone treats me like I'm gonna break" and wanting to not be treated as a victim, they could have made him want to get to know El the girl who saved his life but be worried about befriending her or something idfk, they could have made him love kids and be really close with Holly the whole time and have his trauma motivate him to protect others as more of his whole plot, they could have made him only want acceptance as gay - never have a central crush, honestly? they could have made him fall in love with Dustin! With his off-screen-easily-cut love interest, Dustin!
But they made him want Mike. And they made him want nothing else. And they made every other plotline of his just be pain he wanted relief from.
The biggest proof to me continues to be that they never gave themselves an out. No matter how much you commit to your queercoding and baiting, you give yourself an out that at least sort of makes sense. You center something else, you don't attach it to the main plot as I've said before, you give them something else they even minorly want.
They did not give themselves an out with Will.
Season 1, he was queercoded while not there.
Season 2, he spent all his personal plot one on one with Mike
Season 3, when he wasn't being sidelined or grieving his trauma, he was calling out Mike for Mike's new romantic relationship affecting their relationship
Season 4, plot literally did not have to exist at all except for the fact that it was all about how Will was in love with Mike
Season 5, Will is learning how to pick up on flirting and flirt and uses it on Mike then draws on the joy Mike has brought him throughout his life to find empowerment
They could have made him want acceptance if they really wanted. "You thought you wanted what being gay means you want, but you actually just wanted to exist quiet and small and have your existence be tolerated <3" is such condescending bullshit.
Either write him to want what you're gonna give him or give him what you wrote him to want.
They did not give themselves alternates. They did not give themselves ambiguity. It didn't seem like he might just want acceptance, he wanted Mike. He wants Mike. Not acceptance. Not "a boy". Mike.
You heard it from Caleb. It's about him. You heard it from Noah. He gets a happy ending.
And he has only ever been written to want one thing.
It's as simple as any other character and any other context of want. We know that Will will not end without Mike the same way we know that Nancy will not suddenly stop pursuing investigative journalism.
You could technically do some weird thing about how it was "about avenging her grief for Barb the whole time and that can be expressed in many different ways" and contort yourself into it, but in the same way, that's some weird-ass condescending bullshit that, when put in a new context, kinda makes them seem like...anti-journalist? Which is the same reasoning that it has a weird homophobic undertone to not have Will be with Mike.
I give that reasoning example only to prove that even with something as insane as Nancy giving up journalism, you can find some means or explanation. That is to say, anyone being able to contort their way into some explanation about how they could write acceptance doesn't mean it holds any more water than the example I just gave.
This was his childhood.
Away from Will.
The script of Will destroying Castle Byers. :(
“Away from Will” my whole heart broke
And people think Will's final arc is letting go of Mike?
I've said before and I'll say again. Every time Mike goes from Will to El, it centers him leaving Will. Never him going to El. Going down the hill, skating away, leaving breakfast. He's not going TO El, that's romantic, and it's not how it's placed in our minds. He's leaving Will.
More girls kissing in volume two. This isn’t a request it’s a demand
This scene is so important to me, right here, Robin is so happy to be with Will. She’s found another person who admires her for who she is.She can be just herself. And she is grown enough to guide him. She feels at peace with herself and proud of herself.
this is the big one folks - the painting scene
also note: no mike pov (act surprised)
fading into a rainbow. L, and i cannot stress this enough MAO
They faded to white in the end product, they cut so much for being two overt in these scripts we see, the RAINBOW and it NOT INITIALLY BEING CLEAR IT'S NOT IN THE BYLER SCENE