Last thoughts before the finale
Trust in ourselves. Trust in the story. If you donāt trust them, trust in us.
Will was written as gay from the minute stranger things started and planned to be in love with mike the whole time. What cruelty would it be for your main character to spend 5 seasons in unrequited love with his best friend while the love interest initiates most of the intimacy between them?
Jancy breakup for their misunderstandings and shared trauma issues and lies proves that the Duffers know how to write a good relationship and wonāt let those threads of plot go unaddressed. They donāt believe in love at first sight and had Mike tell Max āhate you? how could I hate you, I donāt even know youā. Also made fun of love at first sight with Argyle and Eden, and paralleled Mikeās monologue with Robinās instant feelings for Tammy.
Noah, the biggest byler shipper ever, saying weāll be hap-satisfied with their ending, that this wasnāt the end of the story, and that he was really happy with how they closed it out. Also has never once straight up said the feelings arenāt requited.
Finn after being very anti milkvan, said he cried multiple times over his ending, it was bigger than he couldāve imagined, and that he walked off of one of the sets thinking āwow, I was a part of thatā
Charlie Heaton saying that not even a third into the finale Noah was sobbing incessantly and Finn started crying.
āMikeās just trying to be as normal as possible, and stay on a normal path, he might be into some new thingsā
The difference between Mikeās s4 monologue to El and his monologue to Will in season 2
āheāll come crawling back to you, begging for forgivenessā/*biked through a storm* āWILL IM SORRY I WAS BEING A TOTAL ASSHOLEā
interrupted gaze trope in season 4
āYou think Iām a monsterā/āyou make her feel like sheās not a mistake at allā
both the van scene and coming out scene taking 12 hours to film, Finn being told he could improv during milkvam monologue
āItās his sort of-idea of a first crushā (about s1 milkvan
āIf Mike is Elliott, Eleven is ETā
āItās kind of like finding a dog in the woods and taking care of itā ā Finn about s1 milkvan
Mike initiating every physical touch moment in season 2.
Mikeās odd reaction to Max
āThey do say it makes you crazyā/ācrazy togetherā/āblank makes you crazyā
stancy/milkvan parallels (so many of them)
David Harbour after s2: āthey already know how season 4 or 5 will end, youāll look back and see Easter eggs all the way back in season 1 and go āweāve been seeing this story the whole timeā, and I think itās beautiful.
Mikeās entire role for multiple episodes in s2 being Willās protector/mentioning Will every single line.
āI donāt think my parents have ever loved each otherāā the wheelers and forced conformity
āIt was the best thing Iāve ever doneā and that first meeting actually being shown in flashbacks to give Will powers.
āmom, Dustin, Lucas, everyoneāā if things like that were always intentional, Mikeās expression watching Will at the snowball also was.
Mike/Hopper/Brenner parallels and Millie talking about her arc as independence from men, and finding strength in her love for her friends and family because āthatās all she hasā while Noah talks of Will finding strength in his love for his family, for Mike, for his friends.
āWill said catradora rightsā ā stranger writers in 2020
āFavorite shipā āKorrasamiā
The airport hug and romione/chamber of secrets parallel
The high school musical parallel
āWeāre friendsā and *in the closet (at rinkomania)*
āI didnāt say itā āyou didnāt have to :)ā
āItās Hawkins, itās not the same without you⦠i guess maybe I feel like I lost you or somethingā
āJoyce has this new telemarketer job, Mike wonāt stop whining about itā
Mikeās odd reaction to the painting, never asking about the girl.
Milkvan āconfessionā piggybacking off of Willās, being made of blatant lies.
Lip glances at the movie theater, sauna scene, roller rink, and van scene, all from Mike wheeler
The way he looks at Will in general during the van scene.
End of s3 kiss, all of the The First Lie/The First I love You parallels.
the painting being unaddressed and the cyrano trope.
Framing at the end of season 4.
Mike insisting Willās a sorcerer and being his biggest fan.
The field scene. Especially Mikeās āWill voiceā and the sky changing colors.
The structure of a story/narrativeā everything seeming doomed for each character (Holly losing holly the heroic, El and Kali suicide pact, Will thinks Mike is his Tammy)
Theyve made romance an essential part of Willās story.
mike mentioning Will in every scene heās in, even in volume 2.
milkvan being the only couple that hasnāt had a clearly romantic scene, Mike continually making their āfuture talksā about the party and will.
āIf Will has a feelingā¦ā āthen it means something!ā
Mike reaching for Willās hand and pulling back.
āThis show is an anthem for the marginalized and imperfect⦠the Duffer brothers know from experience that the popular and easy road is never the most interesting.ā
āThe best kind of plot twists are like the sixth sense⦠it canāt be āthat was so obvious I saw it a mile awayā but it also canāt be āthereās no way I couldāve ever guessed thatā. The best is when youāre like āhow could I not have seen that coming?ā
This is all quickly written off the top of my head, weāre not crazy guys. It canāt even be queerbaiting because who would plan their main character to be gay from the beginning and also plan on queerbaiting all the way to the bitter end? theyāre losing their homophobic viewers with rovickie and Willās coming out scene, why would they cater to homophobes NOW and lose their queer viewers too? Theyāre not stupid. If it goes wrong weāll have each other, but I know it wonāt. I feel like Joyce with the lights right now.
But Iām not alone. Crazy together, til the bitter end š„¹š
love you all, see you on the right side up