franWise

[vecnapilled]

no, max, holly is not her brother — and that’s the whole point.

(or: i think i’ve cracked season 5.)

one question i constantly see come up, even amongst discussions from within the conformitygate bus is…why? why were these episodes…made the way that they were? sure, the idea of a surprise continuation after everything’s claimed to be finished is cool, and the concept of we the audience being trapped in a vecna vision is neat, but…couldn’t they have just made a normal season to begin with? have a good ending, and save everyone the collective trouble?

the discovery of copyrightgate by @thebestofmyrmidons (episodes 2-8 being unregistered with copyright and thus seemingly waiting for edits to be made first) has led some people to speculate that perhaps the season would be rewritten entirely with brand new, better episodes, but i was hesitant to get behind this for a few reasons. one, the lost media of it all, two, the insane waste of money, time, effort, work, and resources this would be, and three, season 5 isn’t really…nonsensical? i mean, it kind of is, but those parts are more in the way of smaller details/apparent continuity errors that indicate vecna’s looming presence over the entire thing (the dial, the milkshake line, dustin using 50s slang, etc).

the characters themselves, though…do follow a plottable trajectory. sure, it’s definitely not the one we all wanted to see, but outside of some more abrupt shifts in the epilogue, the actions the characters take— upsetting as they may be— do not just come out of nowhere. there is a reason will calls mike his tammy in his coming out scene, and you can track its development throughout the prior episodes. it isn’t all crack with no substance.

so i was, like. determined to figure this thing out. will’s coming out scene being Like That for a discernible, textual reason (on which i have a very detailed post) meant that basically everything else should also be Like That for a reason. yes, there are plenty of likely valid meta/social commentary/ego reasons they would decide to do this, but none of them apply to the actual story itself, and the narrative justification that should, in theory, be in it. the characters surely must gain something. something is being said here.

this is why i remain firmly in the camp of the revisions made to existing episodes being a mix of flashbacks and missing scenes— so mike and el talking about their relationship over the timeskip, mwtfdydgate, scenes that make it clearer to the ga that this is a season where vecna wins, etc. this would then mean that any future content would have to take place after that epilogue, and after the events of the season. i have what i think is even further proof of this, but i’ll get to that later.

people have pointed out how holly parallels mike a lot in this season, and that her arc appears to follow the trajectory his should have, so any cg content would have him doing just that; he finds his bravery, and breaks out of camazotz. perhaps, as people were saying when vol 1 first dropped, we’d even rewind all the way back and do an episode 2 where mike is now the one who gets taken instead. and while these conclusions make sense…they still don’t really answer the question of why we had to start with holly in the first place. okay, holly is mike, but what does that actually mean? that we’re in for watching the same arc 2 times? why not just go with mike from the start? why holly, and why all the focus on her? what is the point?

to start to answer that question, i will remind you all of something i’m sure you are more than well aware of: will byers and henry creel are foils to each other. they are who the other could have been, had their circumstances been just the slightest bit different.

to nail this point home even further, henry creel has even been given an entire play centered around him; a tragedy, where falling in love cannot and does not save him from himself and his eventual fate, and fear wins out in the end.

…do you see where i’m going with this?

season 5, at one point or another, sees every character motivated or run by fear that is specifically interfering with something they love. robin lies because she’s scared of vicki finding out the truth, hopper is overprotective because he’s scared of losing el, joyce is scared to let will go too far from where she can reach him, dustin is scared of losing anyone else and lashes out at steve as a result, max suddenly becomes terrified that lucas has abandoned her the second that song stops playing and is unable to break herself out and reunite with him anyway, vecna instills a fear into will that has him doubt the legitimacy and validity of his feelings for mike, mike slowly forms the terrifying thought that he’s never truly had a genuine place beside will, and jancy are dealing with a confusing mess of love and fear until they get to be one of the few people that actually work through this for reasons i suspect might have to do with later conversations with one or more of their younger siblings. though some of these cases get resolved, not all of them do, and that’s before we even get to the mess of implications given to us by the epilogue. much like the first shadow, the story is a tragedy. fear— and conformity born from that fear— wins out in the end.

so if will is henry, protagonist of tfs the tragedy, and mike is holly, protagonist of stranger things 5 the tragedy, then tfs is to will what stranger things 5 is to mike.

because henry and will are FOILS. they mirror each other. tfs ends the way it does because henry is not will, and stranger things 5 ends the way it does because holly is not mike.

when max tells holly in that cave that she’s just like her brother, she is WRONG. holly isn’t mike in the same way that henry isn’t will, because they’re both missing what those two have always had in spades: LOVE.

whenever will starts to feel too overwhelmed by all the things that have happened and are currently happening to him, mike is always there to help pull him back to his feet. he reminds will of who he knows he truly is in both a literal and emotional sense. as i know we all know, mike is will’s heart.

i mentioned in my post on a cg-lensed 5x01 that i thought mike saying he imagines mike the brave as being there beside him came from a place of always being an outside observer to most conflict and tragedy. and while i still think this holds true, i also think that this is mike saying that he feels bravest when he has the reassurance of someone always being beside him, ie; WILL is mike’s strength. they are at their best and most unstoppable versions of themselves when they are together and not pushing each other away, which is why seasons 3, 4, and vol 2/3!mike feel like such drastic shifts from how he appears in seasons 1, 2, and vol 1. this is also why vecna spends all of season 5 trying (and succeeding) to force them apart.

essentially, henry does not have a mike, and holly does not have a will. i’m sure the fact of the former is easily understood, but let me elaborate on the latter.

holly, much like her brother, lives in a house with parents that do not love each other. and while we don’t explicitly get a whole lot on how this has impacted mike (though things are certainly implied when you go and look for them), holly is given multiple scenes in which her parents’ fighting makes her visibly upset. not to mention that these fights largely center around her. so she’s well aware that what she sees in her house every day is not genuine love, and that she herself is the cause of a lot of their spats! thankfully, though, both she and her brother do at least have friends; mike has will, of course, and the party, and holly has her good friend mary!

when will gets possessed, mike is the only person will is still able to recognize apart from his mother, and the hand mike himself had held earlier is the same one will uses to convey a message in morse code.

but when holly gets kidnapped and taken to camazotz, mary…is so far gone under mr. whatzit’s influence that she specifically is the one to try and strangle her.

(nor does holly trust that max isn’t a monster even after multiple instances of her saving her life. but we’ll come back to that later.)

so holly’s missing a pretty key part of what being mike wheeler requires, actually. though she nonetheless does her best to try. she tries to adopt the same advice her brother follows for himself (which gets her kidnapped), she tries to be a leader like her brother (which gets her strangled and ultimately unable to escape camazotz), and, in the epilogue, she’s shown playing dnd with her friends in her basement, just like her brother.

(also, the spyglass holly finds in henry’s house has a cutout in the cap that looks suspiciously like the mouth of henry’s cave— which itself looks suspiciously like the letter ‘M’ on mike’s dnd binder. holly is trying to embody mike’s advice to her, and is looking around at things through the lens of her brother’s worldview, but she doesn’t immediately notice that this has also left her vision tunneled. and even though she eventually realizes that she’s been using the thing with the cap on and takes it off, this is not enough to stop her later from doing the exact same thing again.)

and this, interestingly enough, is actually a sign of her heading right towards conformity.

hear me out.

the reason this season centers on holly specifically to act as a foil to mike, and not any other character they could’ve used or introduced, is that holly is the single and only person who does and could exist in stranger things that we know exactly one thing about, and virtually nothing else:

she’s holly wheeler. she’s mike’s little sister. if quite literally anyone else showed up and started emulating an arc suspiciously close to what mike’s should look like, something would immediately feel off, but holly doing this appears to be a perfectly natural conclusion. both the audience and the narrative’s expectations of holly to become someone she fundamentally cannot inherently dooms her to failure from the start.

so she plays dnd, and nothing appears off at a glance, because this is Mike’s Sister doing what Mike’s Sister would do, despite the fact that she hasn’t really given any previous indication that this would actually be something she’d do. she conforms into doing exactly what we expect her to.

(not to mention the additional effect this has of further devaluing mike and will’s relationship, since it turns dnd from ‘something we specifically did together because it was special to us’ to ‘something all children do simply Because They Are Children and so mike no longer plays because he is Not.’ so that’s really the icing on the cake.)

so, why have these two tragic stories? why go into the real ending with what is essentially a will who could not be stronger than what he was terrified of, and a mike who never got to be more than what was expected of him?

aside from it being nice thematically for both sides to come together and get their mirrored resolutions together in the end (especially if the rumored patty newby cameo actually comes to fruition, in whatever way that would play out) this now makes the challenge posed to mike appear bigger than it ever possibly could have before.

because, now, the past, present, AND future (because holly is the future generation!!!) are all pointing towards the fact that FEAR WINS. in the stranger things world, FEAR TRIUMPHING is now the NORM.

to break himself out, mike now has to go directly against the idea that VIRTUALLY EVERYTHING is pointing him towards. most repressed guy of all time is now faced with breaking what is essentially the final boss of societal norms.

luckily, as holly’s mirror— and, you know, actual mike wheeler— he has a pretty good chance of succeeding.

there’s just one problem.

actual michael wheeler is still, thanks to the work of vecna, missing his actual will. their relationship has been reframed and devalued to the point that they’ve both come to think that it was never truly what either of them thought it was, and have pushed each other away as a result. so what does that mean for any future content?

well, let’s look at holly’s story— a mirror of mike’s. who are her key players?

we have holly herself, mr. whatsit, max, derek, and the other children. the protagonist, the antagonist, the guide, the unlikely ally, and everyone else stuck in camazotz with them.

holly is mike, obviously, but i don’t think henry would be both holly’s and mike’s mr. whatsit. mr. whatsit is a friendly, familiar face who gently nudges you into permanently staying in a fake world of his own creation. because, deep down, a part of him still wants to keep these people safe, and so he changes them to ensure that they are; keeps them as the type of people that would never be hurt. to step outside the boundary he’s created is to willingly turn yourself back into the sort of person monsters cannot help but go after— and he can do nothing for you then.

holly is to mike what henry is to will.

and michael wheeler is not going to be lulled into staying in his own personal hell by henry creel.

i’ve made it known on here before that i am a firm member of the ‘will is the final boss’ camp, and all of this just has me digging my stake into the ground even further. though i don’t believe will knows that he is being used to create the illusions presented to us this season (not yet, anyway), it ends up inevitably rendering itself as a display of both his and henry’s beliefs.

because that is not el in the void. that is will, conjuring up for mike a scene he subconsciously thinks he’d want to see: the girl will thinks mike is in love with telling him everything he thinks he’d want to hear. mike’s “life started the day he found el in the woods?” well, look at that— el’s felt that immediate connection since day one as well. he has her tell him she loves him, and he has her kiss him, but he cannot make mike do anything in return. and mike cannot say he loves her back.

mike is set to spend the rest of his days in camazotz believing both that will never truly needed him, and that even in her dying moments, he still wasn’t capable of being someone who could genuinely love el back. this is a representation of him being literally gay and unable to reciprocate, being subtextually unable to love the part of himself that is queer, and metaphorically no longer being able to push his feelings for will outside of himself where he does not personally have to handle them— which, due to the recent deconstruction of their relationship, have only gotten harder to hold. again, unbeknownst to will, this is mike’s personal hell. more on all of that in a sec.

so where is el, then, if she wasn’t in that void? how much of what we see towards the end is a complete illusion?

now, that last part, i’m not quite sure on, but…did you notice how many times this season max was referred to specifically as a monster? how holly, trying and failing to be her brother, cannot bring herself to fully trust her even after she’s gone and saved her life?

and do you remember what the one action that finally got mike to fully trust and forgive el was? what said action made mike directly affirm to el that she was not?

i think we’ve found our guide.

mike needs someone to help snap him out of the camazotz haze and go help will, and who better to do that than the subtextual, physical manifestation of mike’s queerness and feelings for will that he’s never able to fully convince himself is truly gone?

(if you’ve never heard of this reading of el before, i…genuinely do not have the space within this post to properly explain it all to you, but @pancak3sandbac0n has an incredibly detailed series of posts where this is explored at length!! they’re very well done, go and give them a read.)

el could perhaps be a little pressed for corporeal forms at the moment, though, so either that or something else is preventing her from appearing in front of mike in person, or perhaps she can only do so momentarily. (my reasoning for this is again based on the posts above, where el subtextually serves as the displacement vehicle for mike’s feelings for will whenever she’s physically close by so he doesn’t have to feel them himself, and the realization train cannot afford any detours here) so mike receives some sort of message from who he thinks is will, can’t help himself from eagerly going to follow it (will needs something from him!) and is instead greeted by the fact that el is alive (the inexplicable, yet undeniable, continued existence of his queerness and feelings for will. tough luck.)

though he can’t physically see el, or at least can’t see her for very long, he cannot go back to thinking she was no longer still alive, or entertain the fact that she’s still out there somewhere where he simply cannot reach her. (so, he cannot go back to entertaining the idea that his feelings for will were no longer there, or even off and far removed from him.) and if el says that will is in trouble, then mike knows he can’t just sit back and leave that alone. he’s never once been able to.

if el can’t be physically in camazotz, though, he’s going to need some additional help. i do believe that mike being holly’s mirror and the heart of the party will leave him better off when it comes to swaying his friends to his side, but something will likely prevent him from being able to go to them at first— will being compromised, perhaps. so he’ll have to find someone from outside his usual suspects.

enter…our unlikely ally. our derek.

this is going to be the biggest hear me out of the entire post, i think, but. hear me out.

derek, to holly, is an annoyance. constantly getting in the way, and not seeming to care about the grief he causes her. he’d been on mr. whatsit’s side at first, but eventually conspires to work against the construction of the world he’s created. usually, people tell him he does nothing but mess things up, but the crew decide to use the in they know he has with the other kids to help them get closer to henry.

derek…is robin.

HEAR ME OUT.

derek causes destruction intentionally. robin, as his mirror, causes destruction without necessarily understanding that that is what she is doing. (but, as she tells will in shock jock, people also certainly aren’t eager to tell her she’s been helpful.)

because micheal wheeler has long since proved himself to be quite the jealous type, whenever will is concerned, and he spent a large portion of season 5 watching robin and will giggling and being close and sharing glances and for why, hm? could will actually like her? just like that?? (you were “too preoccupied with yourself” to notice will was gay, michael?)

and because the thing about that field scene that i don’t think everyone got (and this is partly on the fault of the editing, since i think they cut away too quickly for you to properly see the expression on noah’s face you’re supposed to) is that robin is not clocking the reciprocal possibility of byler. the script, which can be heard in videos of them doing sorcerer’s table read, specifies that after mike does not return will’s playful shove, will feels upset and embarrassed. and that is what robin clocks. that is what leads us to the talk about tammy she gives him right after. except robin is not as well-versed in byler lore as she needs to be in order to be having this conversation, and gives will advice towards a situation that does not actually apply to him.

except…whoops! will’s now taken that, combined it with the negative self-perception vecna’s trying to force him into having, internalized them both to hell and back, and now the devastating dismissal of will’s love for mike as something entirely stemming from an issue and failure of will’s is kind of also robin’s fault!

considering that this is the mindset i expect will lead us to final boss will, the consequences of this misinterpretation are so severe i cannot imagine it would go unaddressed. i see this happening through one of two options:

one: robin is flayed, and has been for a while. not the most interesting, to me, and i don’t know why it would only use her to do this one thing and nothing else when vecna’s already been chipping away at will’s perception of himself. but this is definitely plausible, and a way to make it clear that her advice was coming from a wrong place.

two: mike, in need of assistance, now aware that will is gay and the two of them had likely gotten close for some other reason, goes to her to desperately plead his case in moving to help will. and robin, faced with the full brunt of just how far mike is willing to go for will, realizes that she has severely misjudged the situation concerning these two. so if mike’s going to try and reach out to will, then she needs to, too. the comfort of camazotz that lets her not have to think about how deeply she may have hurt her friend may be alluring, and the fear of confronting the weight of what she’s done once outside in those woods is scary, but she knows that she has to set things right.

and unlike derek, i don’t think our mr. whatsit here will be quite as successful at scaring her into backing down (because will byers is more loved than he has ever truly comprehended), though i’m sure he’ll certainly try to make his case. but fear isn’t going to have the upper hand this time!

when mike makes his return, his attempt to rally the troops is successful (sorry, holly), and he’s able to successfully escape camazotz with all of them in tow (sorry, holly).

(though, actually, all of the kids making it out in the end has me leaning towards the possibility that, in their mirror, now someone will not.)

and then…the final boss!will of my dreams. i have a post detailing my thought process regarding him in full, but the long and short of it is: mike and will are both at the heart of the season and this is the best setup to properly ensure equal participation, mike running headfirst into the eye of the storm to try and save will regardless of how he thinks will feels about him in return to prove that everything his entire world is telling him is wrong is one of the bravest things he could possibly do, and GAY LOVE WILL SAVE THE WORLD.

so people have tried to pinpoint the moment at which the events of this season start to ‘go wrong,’ and wonder if this point, wherever it is, could be the point from which further content resets from.

i disagree. sort of.

the point at which the season goes ‘wrong,’ the point at which all signs begin to point towards the ending we get, is the moment holly wheeler is taken instead of her brother, and forced to fill a role she cannot. holly not being mike is the entire reason we are here.

and this, i will remind you, does not actually happen from episode two. it happens right at the end of episode one.

the only episode of the bunch that has been registered with copyright, and thus the only episode that cannot be changed.

so, yeah. the characters are going into cg content with allll 10 hours of baggage we’ve had unceremoniously dumped on us in their momentary absence. thankfully, the road they’re headed down should end up relieving a lot of that weight— mike and will will make sure of it.

[fewpion]

The unfinished puzzle

[abysstrips]

[franwise]

'the fan-favorite 'byler' ship' 'with Jimmy Fallon agreeing they were the best couple' - oh, the byler buzz 🙂‍↕️

[oliveespineapples]

mike wheeler, the straight man who looks absolutely delighted in the presence of heterosexual flirting

[miwiheroes]

tower scene didnt feel like a rejection when i first watched it because i felt the spirit of van scene mike wheeler in that room

[franwise]

thank you, maya and jimmy

Having Byler be acknowledged as a legitimate pairing by Maya Hawke on the Jimmy Fallon show (and Jimmy Bylering out) felt like Max seeing Lucas waiting for her through that portal at the end of the memory maze.

I haven't seen enough people talk about how the pain of queerbaiting Byler, Will's forced and humiliating coming out scene, the misuse of queer-coded/Byler songs, and the queer erasure in the finale of ST was made that much worse by being a complete 180 from the queer joy many of us felt seeing Sorcerer.

The way they tied childhood innocence to queer identity reinspired me to embrace and love my queerness in a way no media had ever quite achieved before (as someone in their late 20s already!). Perhaps I felt it so strongly because the message was coming from a show that was not made for exclusively queer audiences. Seeing Sorcerer then inspire people to make their own home video montages in response to EP4 felt like a form of collective healing. Not to mention all the beautiful Byler edits that followed! I did not expect ST to feel this empowering, and it made me go from a pretty casual viewer to an emotionally invested one.

I'm still finding it hard to wrap my head around how the same show can make me feel so seen and accepted and then so mocked and rejected within the span of a few episodes.

I was expecting some media to at least discuss the queerbait of it all post-finale but instead we got being called 'noise' by the Duffers, that homophobic Forbes article, the GA rejecting the Byler basis of conformity gate, Noah's fan letter being one that avoids any mentions of the 'gay' of it all, etc etc.

Now I'm scared and reluctant to watch the documentary because I refuse to be gaslit into thinking the plot, El, Mike, or Will's arcs were treated with care and respect.

Wdym an abused girl was promised the experience of girlhood and self-discovery only to be reduced to being a one-dimensional weapon representing the loss of Mike's childhood, in the last season! Wdym Will's story was trauma p*rn all along, and he wasn't one of the heroes worth showing in the final battle! Wdym, in the year of our lord 2026, a 16 y/o having only dated a (SINGLE!) girl means he cannot possibly be anything other than straight!! The writers never even gave Mike a chance to respond to Will's feelings...

So in this oppressive climate, even a little thing like naming Will x Mike the cutest couple that never was is a breath of fresh air.

The incredibly creative Byler fandom, with all its beautiful art, edits, fanfic, and intellectual analysis of the show, has kept me from regretting my emotional investment in the show. But I sincerely hope that one day the cast and crew will be able to talk openly about what Byler meant to them because I'm sure many felt just as betrayed by the final product they had to make as we did.

[franwise]

calling it conformity gate only makes sense if it's the finale (byler's version)

In what way does the fakeout finale showcase the consequences of conformity in the eyes of the GA, if they reject the interpretation of Mike as closeted? The Wheelers being styled conservative?

For a fakeout finale to occur and actually be about rejecting conformity (rather than some other message), Mike has to honestly address the issues in his relationships with El & Will. Imo the painting lie is the illusion created by Will that keeps Mike from facing the truth and keeps him hurting the people closest to him.

Mike is brainwashing himself into believing El feels understood by him, so as to soothe his guilt. In reality, both Will & El have been pulling away from him, leaving him to be the one living out Vecna's vision for Will.

I have almost no hope that a fix-it finale exists, or if it does, that it would actually do justice to Mike's arc. In all this, it's not even Byler I mourn most, it's the lack of resolution for Mike Wheeler, Mike the Brave who truly was the Heart in S1 and S2.

[rowan-the-sorcerer]

im pissed and disgusted by the queerbait so

here is a masterpost on everything that doesnt make sense because byler isnt canon, plot holes that exist because byler isnt canon, all the ways mikes character was ruined by making him straight, AND how it was homophobic. i include explanations and categorize things by color coding! this includes scenes in the show, interviews, and posts from the stranger things team. (note: im not going to include things noah said-explained in tags)

warning, it’s very long because im including EVERYTHING. I found and listed 108 examples here. enjoy—or don’t.

1. mike and el’s fight in season 4. specifically, “it was like a fight you can’t come back from.” and then their argument is never resolved. they have barely any scenes or chemistry in season 5, and they remain a couple. plot hole because: where is the explanation as to how they got back on good terms? keeping them together is a direct contradiction of the narrative that’s been set up.

2. mike being unable to say “i love you” to el. even when he says goodbye to el in the void before she disappears in the season 5 finale, she is the only one to say “i love you.” mike does not say it back. ruined mikes character because: it makes him out to be an asshole. plot hole because: they never explain why he goes from being able to say “i love you” in season 3 to being unable to in season 4 and 5.

3. mike not reacting to el’s kiss in season 3 at the end of the season finale. plot hole because: he was interested in el earlier this season. what changed? no explanation given. only makes sense if he is no longer romantically interested in her and/or he is gay. neither is true according to the series finale.

4. robin and will’s “signals” scene. plot hole because: why would will ask for signals if he didn’t have anyone in mind? why would he ask clarification with “how obvious?”

5. mike and will flirting in the field in season 5. doesn’t make sense because: why would will flirt back with mike knowing el and mike are together? why would he do so if he “knew” mike is straight?

6. mike being in will’s reel in sorcerer. doesn’t make sense because: robin said her reel only had her in it. robin said she didn’t need tammy to realize and accept herself. why would will need mike, then, if that isn’t how robin did it AND they’re setting up will to parallel robin?

7. will saying “i know he’s not like me” and “he’s just my tammy” and “i HAD a crush on someone” in his coming out scene. doesn’t make sense because: why would will flirt with mike knowing that? how is it possible for will to get over his years long crush in the span of a day? homophobic because: you’re downplaying a GAY character’s love for someone as a crush and being something that could be easily tossed aside. this is not done with any other character.

8. will being the only person in the cast without a love interest. plot hole because: if robin and will are meant to parallel each other, why doesn’t he get a love interest? we get a glimpse of him talking to someone at a bar—that’s not a confirmed partner. that’s not even crumbs. narratively him getting a partner was necessary. homophobic because: you are singling out a gay character.

9. mike not being able to hug will at the airport. plot hole because: we never get an explanation for this. they weren’t in an actual argument, and they ended season 3 on good terms. if mike isn’t gay and didn’t suspect anything, this has zero purpose in the story. ruins mikes character because: he has no reason to dislike or distance himself from will because he is confirmed to not have known about the crush, and he is not gay canonically. he was just being an asshole.

10. mike not reaching out to will when he moved to lenora. plot hole because: again, if mike and will’s ended on good terms and he doesn’t canonically have feelings for mike, then WHY didn’t he call? there was zero narrative or emotional payoff for this, either. it serves no point. ruins mikes character because: it goes against mikes own words. he said they would stay best friends, and then didn’t. and he admits regretting this and missing will. so again, if there was no motive or reason for this underneath that, he’s an asshole.

11. paralleling stancy to mileven through the “you can’t say you love me” plotline. plot hole because: why parallel your characters and relationships only for that parallel to not have any payoff?

12. paralleling rovickie and vickie’s boyfriend to byler and mileven in season 4 through cinematography. plot hole because: again, why parallel to have no payoff? this serves no purpose now.

13. the rain fight between mike and will in season 3. ruins mikes character because: if mike wasn’t projecting, then he was just being homophobic and an asshole. plot hole because: making a callback to that fight in wills coming out scene without an apology from mike is just bringing up wills trauma needlessly and without resolution. homophobic because: that comment is so fucking homophobic i don’t even NEED to explain why. it’s obvious.

14. mike apologizing to will after the rain fight, but not el after their breakup. ruins mikes character because: mike is shown to simply not care about his girlfriend. plot hole because: it is never explained to us why mike cares more about will than his own girlfriend.

15. using the painting to help fix mileven. ruins mikes character because: mike can’t say i love you unless the world is ending and needs his best friends support for it. homophobic because: using a gay characters pain to keep a straight couple canon is fucked up

16. not addressing the painting after season 4. plot hole because: mike had all the pieces to understand the painting came from will. el told him in the letter he was painting for someone he likes. mike now knows will loves him. will used similar language in both the painting and coming out scene. the lack of confrontation doesn’t work narratively and comes off as forgetfulness and an unfinished plot.

17. mike refusing to play dnd in season 3 but playing it again after will moves away. plot hole because: if mike didn’t want to play because “they’re growing up,” then that doesn’t make sense. if he changed his mind, it should have been explained. but mikes back and forth feelings on dnd are never discussed. ruins mikes character because: he’s a hypocrite and bullied will for no reason.

18. mike flirting with will in season 4, specifically “i didn’t say it. you didn’t have to.” doesn’t make sense because: why play it with that tone if it meant literally nothing????

19. the writers referencing korrasami and catradora. doesn’t make sense because: it’s two gay ships that get together in the end. that didn’t happen to any couple at all. and nothing ever came close to either of these ships in this show. homophobic because: you’re promoting your straight, queerbaiting show with genuine queer representation in other media.

20. jancy paralleling byler in season 2, specifically with mike and jonathan helping will and nancy get back safe on halloween. plot hole: again, why parallel if it’s for nothing?

21. “the painting will payoff” in interviews. doesn’t make sense because: that was literally a lie. homophobic because: you lied KNOWING it would give queer fans hope.

22. “byler fans are the loudest” said by the duffers in an interview. homophobic because: why are you mocking a giant part of your fanbase?

23. “will and mikes story isn’t over yet” said in an article in reference to the finale. homophobic because: that was a lie and it was to bait hopeful fans. doesn’t make sense because: it’s factually not true. their 20 second conversation was a throwaway and did not give us any new info about their relationship.

24. mike promising will they would be a team at the end of season 4. doesn’t make sense because: they were not paired up in season 5. they were not a team. ruins mikes character because: he’s an inconsistent friend.

25. creelby and byler parallels. doesn’t make sense because: they said the first shadow content would make its way into season 5 and it barely did.

26. shawn posting only the posters of will and mike on his story. homophobic because: you’re baiting people.

27. hans and leia parallels to byler/mileven. doesn’t make sense because: it was all for nothing

28. paralleling the rink o mania byler fight with high school musical (a canon romantic pairing). doesn’t make sense because: if it wasn’t romantic then literally why?

29. paralleling the byler rain fight to a canon gay couple from another show. homophobic because: it’s literally baiting and uses an actual queer show to hurt queer viewers

30. any and all byler posts on stranger things accounts. homophobic because: obvious baiting and playing into hopes of queer people getting decent representation

31. paralleling “crazy together” to “only love makes you that crazy”. homophobic because: you want us to think they’re romantic in some capacity and then you lied. it’s misleading.

32. forgetting wills birthday. homophobic because: even if it WAS an accident, it’s so fucked up it happened to the one character who’s been traumatized the most, doesn’t get a satisfying ending, and is gay. ruins mikes character because: not only did he forget wills birthday, he complained at him all day. thats supposed to be his best friend. plot hole because: you make your plot about wormholes, have a clock and time theme in season 4, make henry’s birthday the same as wills, make will be chosen for a reason by vecna, and then you never explain any of it with this.

33. “we asked finn and noah to carry a lot of emotional weight” homophobic because: most actors carried more emotional weight than finn did. he had ONE SCENE in the entire season where he showed emotion. meanwhile gaten, natalia, and maya had way more emotion and you CHOSE to single out finn and pair his name with noah’s because you knew what bylers would think. doesn’t make sense because: not true. finn did not.

34. “it’s a shitty knockoff” in reference to mikes california outfit, obviously talking about how he’s not being himself. plot hole: you set us up for that, and then never show us what he’s hiding and/or what makes him not himself.

35. “mike is the heart this season”. homophobic because: you purposefully used language that refers to the painting scene, which is about wills love for mike. doesn’t make sense because: it’s factually not true. lucas did more for the party than mike did.

36. paralleling wills self acceptance arc to robin’s. plot hole because: if you’re going to make wills entire coming out scene, entire self acceptance arc with the film reel, etc using the tammy storyline and robin’s advice—and go step by step in the same order of events that robin went through—then narratively you have to conclude that parallel. robin gets the girl. will does not get the boy. homophobic because: instead of giving will an original storyline, you’re just recycling another queer character’s experience

37. will repeating some of robins exact dialogue such as “it was always about me,” “tammy,” etc. homophobic because: again, recycling another queer character because you’re too lazy to be original. not all gay people are the same for fucks sake

38. “will learning that sometimes your crush doesn’t like you back was the important message we needed to tell” said by the duffers in an interview. homophobic because: first of all, why are straight people telling queer people what we need? you don’t know us. secondly, this is not an original concept. stories have been using this trope and narrative for ages. thirdly, telling other characters they need love to get past their struggles only for that pattern to not follow the gay kid is crazy work.

39. showing a clip of mike looking at will while he’s possessed in the trailer of season 5 as a parallel to season 2. doesn’t make sense because: this clip literally has nothing more to it in the show. it has zero purpose.

40. saying in one interview that the intent was for people to see mike understood will was talking about him in the coming out scene, only to then backtrack in a video interview, AND THEN throw that away with a vague conversation with mike and will in the finale. homophobic because: you were lying to keep queer people hopeful after the backlash so you wouldn’t lose finale viewers.

41. saying you were originally going to write wills coming out scene to be during the painting reveal/in the van. doesn’t make sense because: why did you change your mind? it would have worked better than the shit show we got. plot hole: so mike is oblivious to what the painting means. was he meant to not be oblivious then? that would’ve changed the course of byler.

42. the finale scene where will asks for them to stay friends and then mike says “no. best friends”. homophobic because: i shouldn’t even have to explain that. are you fucking serious? bait bait bait bro. fakeout scene. ruins mikes character because: it’s shitty to give will hope for no fucking reason

43. mike apologizing to will for not realizing will was struggling with being gay. doesn’t make sense because: literally if mike is not gay, what would him realizing this have changed? what would he be able to do? after “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” it’s clear mike would’ve been useless. plot hole because: he could’ve apologized for literally anything else. laundry list of apologies he needs to make for will. choosing this instead was weird.

44. keeping mileven ambiguous until literally the last 45 minutes of the series finale. homophobic because: you knew what you were doing giving people hope and trying to keep views up. plot hole: it made mileven so weak. they had no chemistry. mike and els goodbye scene fell so flat because of that.

45. “see what happens, michael?” comment ted makes at mike for wills disappearance (implying it’s because he’s gay) in season 1. plot hole: why imply mike is gay if he’s not gay??

46. “you can tell me things” karen says to mike about wills disappearance—which is exactly what she says to nancy about steve (canon couple at the time). bonus points because el was in a literal closet during that scene. plot hole: why imply their friendship is different if it never was meant to be?

47. ted wheeler breaking mikes closet during the demo fight. doesn’t make sense: why that symbolism if for nothing?

48. mike having a one way sign into his closet. doesn’t make sense: again, why if not gay?

49. costume designer making robins season 4 outfit have triangle imagery to showcase her queerness and giving mikes custom shirt a triangle, too. doesn’t make sense: why is he gay IF HES NOT GAY?

50. finn saying “mike is just trying to stay on a normal path” in reference to season 4 mike. doesn’t make sense: mike literally says in season 4 that he doesn’t want to be popular. he says he’s been bullied his whole life. this is just not true.

51. the party’s bullies throwing homophobic insults about will at mike SPECIFICALLY. doesn’t make sense: why at mike and no one else? it only makes sense if it’s because those gay comments are also about him

52. mike is bullied by being called frog face, while everyone else is bullied for being a minority. doesn’t make sense: why is mike the only one without such an insult?

53. the cali plotline as a whole, which only existed to establish and build upon mike and wills relationship. plot hole: if mike and el were built up for a breakup, and an entire season was spent discussing how in love will is with mike, then why did it lead to nothing? the narrative flow abruptly ended.

54. “a brush of the knee, a bump of the elbow, a shared look” all being signs someone likes you, and season 5 gives us all of that with mike and will. homophobic because: BAIT. plot hole: why build this narrative only to abruptly end it?

55. “in the closet” playing when mike starts to regret fighting with will at rink o mania. doesn’t make sense because: it could’ve started playing when we saw el but they chose to make it on mike.

56. “we’re friends. WE’RE FRIENDS” plot hole because: no one implied you weren’t. that was all you making it have romantic connotations, mike. confirmed by the fact that mike was oblivious to wills feelings here. ruins mikes character because: he has learned nothing from “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls.” same shit different font.

57. “the first i love you” playing only during breakup scenes. but it plays with mileven…only for no breakup to happen. doesn’t make sense because: you can’t keep making parallels and patterns and breaking them.

58. mikes reaction to will gaining powers in sorcerer. doesn’t make sense: it was shot romantically and choosing to focus on mikes reaction more than wills mother was…a choice.

59. mike constantly correcting everyone on will being a sorcerer. plot hole: why is mike the only one being so pushy and adamant? how is this supposed to be read if it’s not romantic? the other characters reacting weirdly to his insistence speaks volumes.

60. small town boy being on mikes official playlist. homophobic because: bait.

61. mike liking butthole surfers and robin disliking it. homophobic because: bait.

62. will asking robin if she got with vickie after coming out. plot hole: sets us up narratively for will to end up with someone. doesn’t happen.

63. “jonathan helps will get something he wants” said in an interview. doesn’t make sense: didn’t happen. was a lie.

64. the blue and yellow lighting. plot hole: building a pattern and storytelling with cinematography for nothing.

65. the lighting choices in the field scene: soft romantic and hopeful. doesn’t make sense because: all this for what? im tired.

66. the van scene taking 12 hours and specific comments being made on how they tried to get the lighting just right. doesn’t make sense: why then? just why.

67. mike having imagery with women and frowning, and then having imagery of men and smiling. homophobic because: obvious queer coding for nothing.

68. mike being paralleled to brenner in season 4 with “what did you do?”. plot hole: why make him look so bad and incompatible with el only for them to never resolve the arguments and be a couple in the next season? ruins mikes character: bad bf for not comforting el after she was bullied at rink o mania.

69. mike doing a triple take in season 4. homophobic: gay for nothing bro. playing into romantic tropes to have no payoff.

70. will talking about being scared because “what if they don’t like the truth” only for mike to nod and agree in season 4–in reference to will being gay. plot hole: mike is scared to open up. and then he never opens up. to anyone. for season 4 AND 5.

71. mike not reacting to will being in danger. or his parents being in danger. or holly being in danger. or nancy. for all of season 5. ruins mikes character: if it’s not because he was bottling up his emotions and hiding something—which we now know wasn’t the case and he was just genuinely acting this way—then he’s an asshole. we know he can react and emote, he’s done it in seasons prior.

72. having will be in love with mike for 3 entire seasons at minimum. plot hole: narrative build up tells us it was a slow burn. but then the candle went out and nothing happened. it doesn’t follow narrative storytelling. homophobic: giving will the character and us the viewers hope for YEARS and knowing it wasn’t going to happen is cruel

73. having will be in love with mike. homophobic: for will to have an acceptance arc and a gay arc, he didn’t need a crush. he didn’t need a love interest. making it canon and then treating it this way is queerbait plain and simple.

74. mike telling el “i feel like my life started that day i found you in the woods”. homophobic because: will byers has to listen to his best friend say his life started the day he went missing. like what the fuck? ruins mikes character because: it contradicts what he said in season 2—he said the best thing he ever did was ask will to be friends. it also just makes him an asshole because he knows how will has been traumatized since that day.

75. this

homophobic because: self explanatory. bait.

76. this scene

homophobic because: someone in production literally told them to hold hands. the bathroom is named dick. come on. queerbait.

77. ALL of the dick jokes. robin saying “i like dick” then panning over to mike and will looking at each other. the bathroom being named dick. homophobic because: come ON. QUEERBAIT.

78. will being in almost every shot of mileven in season 4. doesn’t make sense: genuinely if not for the love triangle imagery, why was will haunting mileven constantly?

79. mike and el reuniting in season 4 after they find project nina. mike looking at el and then will smiling. and then the smile drops when he looks back at el. doesn’t make sense: if not romantic confusion, what purpose does this serve?

80. mike and el reuniting at project nina EXACTLY like will and el do with a hug and pressing foreheads. doesn’t make sense: why compare SIBLINGS to a ROMANTIC PAIRING?? weird weird weird if not meant to be read as platonic mileven.

81. robin looking at mike and will in the field being framed exactly like how steve looks at vickie and robin in season 4. doesn’t make sense: for the billionth time i am asking WHY the parallel if it was for nothing?

82. “i don’t believe in coincidences” -lucas in season 5. plot hole: you say that but then the whole season is FULL of coincidences—either plot holes, or mistakes, or things that straight up don’t work. homophobic: arguably bait.

83. mike being oblivious to the painting, will flirting in the field, and literally the past 5 seasons, but understanding that will was talking about him in the coming out scene. plot hole: you can’t paint mike as oblivious and then make him not understand concepts that are handed to him on a silver platter, but then write him to understand will is talking about him when ZERO indication is given in the dialogue. ruins mike character because: you pick and choose when he’s emotionally intelligent and when he’s not. you’re calling him dumb when he is NOT DUMB. homophobic because: willful ignorance of canon and purposeful twisting of mikes character to avoid addressing the romantic subtext.

84. “i miss clouds. i miss you” doesn’t make sense: this is not giving the “he’s just a crush” energy you claim.

85. mike finding a new party after will saying he’s loyal to their group. ruins mikes character: he had no reason to hate on will. he’s a hypocrite.

UPDATE/EDIT: i remembered more. he’s a screenshot of my reblog.

EDIT NUMBER 3: there’s more!

and guess what? even more

UPDATE/EDIT 4:

101. having mike linger on will’s dnd book and crying. doesn’t make sense: why is he crying over will????

102. wsqk hinting at byler via songs and talking segments. homophobic: queerbait

103. having the show pop up when byler was written in the netflix search bar, but not doing the same with mileven. homophobic: queerbait

104. mike telling hopper he was going to run away with el in the epilogue. plot hole: he said he wanted to leave with the whole party initially. also el didn’t gaf about his dnd storytimes. ruins mikes character because: it’s uncharacteristic of him to want to abandon everyone.

105. mike having the painting in his future room. plot hole: does he even know it was from will? no, he does not. he still thinks it’s from el and his final perspective of her is based on a lie

UPDATE 5:

106. the end of season 4 pairings in the field, putting byler with canon couples and having el stand on her own. doesn’t make sense: why do this if jancy is bones and mileven is still together?

107. 70/30 split of yellow and purple flowers from mike to el in the airport scene. “there was too much yellow” which is will’s color. doesn’t make sense: if it doesn’t have any greater meaning, why spend so much time explaining?

108. those flowers dying in the field at the end of season 4 and in the hospital during the season 5 rovickie scene. doesn’t make sense: why use the exact same flowers if there is no symbolism?

[pancak3sandbac0n]

Hopper: Mike's sense of self-preservation (S3-4)

Even though the Duffers apparently didn't intend to write an allegory for internalized homophobia and self-denial, that's absolutely what we got.

In part 1 of this series, I went over examples from S1-2 showing how Hopper subtextually functions as Mike's self-preservation instinct. He learns about the UD threats at the same rate, and he tries to keep Mike away from El, who subtextually represents Mike's queerness, in order to maintain his self-image.

This part covers S3-4, where Hopper threatens Mike to stay away from El (tries to keep his conscious mind away from his gay feelings), eventually gives him permission to start changing (the letter), gets stuck in a Russian prison (is far enough away from Mike's conscious mind that Mike can start exploring the possibility of changing his identity), and ultimately ends up back in Hawkins (reasserts his need to maintain Mike's comphet identity).

(Links to other parts: S1-2, S3-4, S5)

Season 3

We start S3 with Mike and El making out all the time (Mike's conscious mind interacting with his gay feelings in an explicitly romantic way and being really overwhelmed by his love for Will), and Hopper is sick of it.

Hopper's subtextual job is to keep Mike safe, and all of this time spent with his feelings is causing a ton of cognitive dissonance between his feelings for Will and his comphet. El represents Mike's queerness and acts almost like an imaginary friend for him that allows him to interact with that part of his consciousness without recognizing that it's actually a part of him instead of something separate from him.

Hopper's subtextually worried here that if they spend too much time together, Mike will get more comfortable with his gay feelings and may start to realize that they're actually part of him.

So he wants to break them up. We see him say this to Joyce:

It's not normal. It's not healthy. Hopper's subtextual concern is that if Mike consciously realizes that he's gay, he won't be "normal," which in Hawkins in the 80's may cause him harm (not healthy).

So he threatens Mike. He lies to Mike about his Nana being sick to get him out of the cabin, but he reveals his true intentions once they're in the car. And Mike is pissed.

Remember that Mike hates lying, and he punched Hopper while calling him a liar in S2 after finding out he'd been hiding El (he'd been lying to himself about being in love with Will). But Hopper is part of Mike, so both of these times Mike's really calling himself a liar. He's calling himself a piece of shit here because he wants to be with El, but he's getting close enough to her (getting too comfortable with those feelings) that his self-preservation instinct is kicking in, and he hates it.

Mike tries to leave the car, but Hopper locks him in:

Mike doesn't want to separate himself from his queerness (El), but his subconscious need to protect himself from it (Hopper) is overpowering his conscious mind (keeping Mike locked in the car).

On the drive home, Hopper intimidates Mike into not going to see El the next day, and he's so happy when Mike stays home.

From there, Hopper's free to focus on the UD threat, which, again, he learns about at the same rate as Mike does. He goes to check out the lab after Joyce figured out the thing with the magnets in the same episode as Will told Mike and Lucas that he could feel the Mind Flayer again, and Hopper and Joyce find Alexi the same episode that the kids do the sauna test.

Now that Hopper doesn't have to worry about Mike and El being close, he doesn't even have to be in Hawkins to try to keep them apart (similar to how he was able to focus on the UD threat when El was locked away in the cabin in S2).

We get this line from Mike:

Which shows that as soon as the UD threat is greater than the gay threat, Mike's self-preservation instinct can take care of that on its own instead of diligently monitoring Mike's queerness. Mike's a natural leader, and he can make a plan to protect himself and others from the UD threat without too much extra effort. It's maintaining his comphet that takes active work.

Of course, Hopper comes back at the end of the season when El and Mike have started reconciling. Mike tries to tell El he loves her in the supermarket right before the kids go to Starcourt, where they're joined by the adults pretty quickly. As soon as Mike starts trying to reconnect with El (his queerness), Hopper's back to monitor the situation (make sure he's not actually integrating that into his conscious identity).

After Starcourt, Hopper gets captured by the Russians, but we think he's dead at the time. And we get to hear his letter in the epilogue.

Keep in mind that while it seems to be written specifically to El, the original talk was meant to be to both El and Mike. Also remember that El is part of Mike, so Hopper's subtextually talking to Mike even when he's specifically addressing El. Also remember that Hopper is part of Mike, too, so this is all just Mike talking to different parts of himself.

Here are some key points from the letter:

Mike's subconscious has been repressing and dissociating from his feelings for a long time. His sense of self-preservation (Hopper) is so strong that he wouldn't let himself feel things out of fear of being hurt.

By distancing himself from his feelings, he's isolated himself from others and from his true self. This cave can also be read as the closet.

Once El (Mike's love for Will) came into Mike's life in a way he could recognize and interact with in S1, he started feeling happy in a way that he hadn't experienced before (feeling connected to Will and finding part of himself that was missing).

Note how Mike's the focus of these shots. Hopper's talking to him (Mike's conscious mind) now. By getting so close to his queerness (El) this season, Mike's been pulling away from his old self image that his self-preservation instinct (Hopper) has been trying to protect. Note that this letter is read soon after this sequence of scenes:

Mike is pulling away from his comphet and realizing that he's in love with Will on a conscious level.

Mikes sense of self-preservation doesn't want things to change. Even if Mike's queerness brings him joy, as he said earlier in the letter, it's still scary. There's still a risk.

The part of Mike that wants him to stay stuck in his safe comphet view of himself (that emotional cave) knows by now that it can't make that happen anymore. Mike is in love with Will, and he's figured that out.

And it finally gives Mike permission to change. To get hurt. To be himself even if it's dangerous because it's better than being alone in the closet (cave).

The timing of this letter is interesting because Hopper wrote it before threatening Mike in Ep1. He was almost ready to admit at the start of the season that they were growing up and that he has was just scared of things changing (scared of Mike changing his conscious identity to something that didn't fit his comphet), but he changed his mind and went off on Mike instead.

That was Mike's self-preservation almost giving it a rest and allowing Mike to be himself but then getting freaked out and overreacting in an attempt to regain control and keep things the same.

The fact that the letter is read at the very end of the season, when Hopper's presumably dead, but is really locked away in Russia (either way, he's far away from Mike/deep in Mike's subconscious), indicates that Mike's starting to let go of the part of himself that feels the need to deny who he is.

The fact that Hopper's still alive (even if he's hidden from Mike) suggests that Mike's not entirely ready to let that fear of accepting himself go yet, which we see in S4.

Season 4

Hopper's still in Russia for almost the entire season. At this point, Mike has realized he's gay, and his self-preservation (Hopper) just gave him permission to start growing up, even if it hurts.

But Will and El (Mike's love for Will) are in California. He's not being constantly reminded of his love for Will, so there's no cognitive dissonance to protect him from.

But Hopper's still alive, and he's trying to get back home.

@timblriche made this amazing post about the parallels between Mike's and Hopper's story lines in S4. They point out that every time Mike starts to let El go, Hopper makes progress in breaking out of the prison. They interpret this parallel as showing that Mike's comphet is a prison, and I agree that's a great read.

But in the context of the analyses presented here, I'm going to argue that this subtextually represents Mike's self-preservation trying to reassert itself (Hopper breaking out of prison and get back to Mike and El) whenever Mike starts to accept himself as gay (lets go of El).

Subtextually, Mike has split off the gay part of himself into an imaginary friend of sorts (El) so he can interact with it without actually recognizing it as part of himself. He keeps that separate and not integrated into his conscious identity.

Letting go of El doesn't mean letting go of his feelings for Will, it means letting go of his need to compartmentalize and dissociate from those feelings. It's the traumatized child healing and not needing their imaginary friend to help them interact with parts of themselves or their experiences that scare them anymore. Like an imaginary friend, El has always been an extension of Mike's consciousness, but now he's starting not to need to externalize those feelings anymore. He's moving towards being whole.

I'm not going to do a play-by-play like I've done for the other seasons here because the @timblriche post linked above already does a great job (and you should go read it!). But I will note that even though Mike's been moving in the direction of integrating his queerness into his conscious mind, he's not done, and his reunion with El at the end of the season signifies a retreat away from that integration after Mike got overwhelmed (and thought Will rejected him) in the van scene.

Mike got close to acceptance but then pulled back, much like Hopper did with the letter in S3. He's back to feeling the need to protect himself, so Hopper's back in Hawkins with Mike and El. But we get this little exchange when Mike and Hopper reunite:

What seems like a throw-away comedic line is actually really important subtextually. Hopper's actively back in Mike's life (enough has happened that Mike still needs protection), but Mike has grown (learned more about himself) and Hopper has shrunk (his previously desperate need to protect himself from the knowledge of who he really is had diminished). It's not gone, but it'd grown weaker than it was before over the course of the half year he and Will/El were apart.

Unfortunately, now that they're all back together, Mike's need to protect himself grows again, and Hopper is not so svelte in S5.

(Links to other parts: S1-2, S3-4, S5)

(I'll edit when I post S5, which might take a bit because I'm having a hard time bringing myself to interact with the finale again.)

[flickergatedaughter]

as messy as that coming out scene was, i still stand by the fact that it was important for the other characters as well as will.

the choice on whom the camera zooms in on during each line reflects what that person is scared of facing themselves. but will was the first to admit his biggest, most personal secret to everyone, which was essential for the other characters' self reflection too. *especially* a certain repressed white boy with internalised homophobia and a fuckass beanie.

mike the brave you better lock in like you have never locked in before

[beaulesbian]

It's important that we set these boundaries moving forward, so we can build an environment where we all feel comfortable, trusted and open to sharing our feelings. - S3 letter from Hopper

[franwise]

we love to see mike fanboy over will but when will puts himself at risk, and mike starts losing his shit, and lucas says that's how he felt when max acted as bait, and mike can't suppress it anymore, what then???

people better start clocking their shit asap in vol2

[ontheswingset]

above all, you don’t emphasize offer, choice and consent like that (“i asked if you wanted to be my friend and you said yes. you said yes.”) and reiterate it as an emotional climax three seasons later (“do you wanna be friends?”) if a rejection is what should ensue. especially not when the reciprocation resulted in it being “the best thing he’s ever done”. he hasn’t regretted it. the basis of their friendship is built on mike offering and will accepting. it’s built on reciprocation. it’s built on one of them gathering up the courage to step out of his loneliness and offer the other his company, even if he doesn’t know whether it will be accepted. and he gets accepted. it’s built on a question and a nod; on “do you want us two to be anything at all?” and “yes”. the only thing that’s ever been separating them is this newfound dishonesty, and now they both feel lonely and scared again. and last time they mutually decided to break through the static and send out signals to disrupt it. to swing together. to start something new and see where it leads. and it was the best thing that they’d ever done. the story doesn’t come full circle with will offering and mike rejecting this time, leaving will ultimately alone on the swing set. not after it’s been reinforced. not after it’s been visually shown to us and in it perfectly established as the basis of a potential parallel. because any sort of rejection or a lack of reciprocation in general would now negate and annul their initial interaction. that would be going back to the very start to erase it. it comes full circle with a different question and the same answer. with portraying how much their relationship has changed and grown, but still left them the same, because this was always a mutual possibility. there could be a swap of roles, with will being the one to offer the disturbance, the change, the fulfillment, and mike being the one to say yes this time, which is implied by will taking the initiative for once this time. but even if mike is the one to ask again, that’s how you tie the end to the beginning in a satisfying way. it feels inevitable, really. not only do people not write slowburn rejections, especially not while dragging the slowburn on for as long as humanly possible, all while going out of their way to imply it’s reciprocated, packing each interaction with signals and shaping the couple’s arcs by basic romantic tropes, they can’t write it like that this time specifically because this couple’s very basis is reciprocation. and they made sure we’re reminded of it. not only would it be odd and unsatisfying from a writing perspective, even if we don’t consider any of the specific factors and just look at it as a rejection which took 5 seasons, it just CAN’T HAPPEN with them. not when their friendship exists because of emphasized reciprocation, because of a nod. they wouldn’t have existed at all without it. adding a rejection in annuls the reciprocation that made them. it would undo them as a whole. and they wouldn’t do that to such a central dynamic between two main characters, especially when they’ve prominently drifted apart and gone back to each other already. there’s no way to go from this point but forward.

[franwise]

Upon finishing the Birdcage (a movie about gay lovers, Armand and Albert), Netflix's suggestion was a still of Will and Robin. So you're saying my next queer watch should be ST? 🙂‍↕️ I'm choosing to take this as an extension of searchgate haha

byler doubt, who?

[roman-god-of-ikea]

Ok so I had a massive epiphany about why m1levens think their ship could still be endgame. And this belief stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of the circumstances that led M1leven to being together.

Let’s start with what “endgame” means. It’s, quite literally, the end of the game; aka what happens when everything is over. For m1leven to be endgame, they would have to still be together when everything with the upside down has been dealt with. Which is the opposite of what their relationship is based in.

M1levens have the belief that “if only the monsters stopped attacking they could finally be happy together”. But Mike and El’s relationship problems have never been caused by the upside down. It’s actually the opposite! The supernatural interference is the only thing that has repeatedly pushed them together. It’s only when that fades that they have problems.

They only met because of what happened to Will. They only became close because El had powers. And I’d go as far as to say that the only reason they had such intense longing for each other in s2 was because El was presumed dead at the s1 finale. Think about it. If El hadn’t gone missing, Mike would’ve been incredibly grateful to her for helping find Will, and they probably would have tried a relationship since they thought that’s what was expected of them, but it wouldn’t have the same intensity as it did in canon. Because El sacrificed herself to save Mike and the others, his feelings of guilt and gratitude were amplified and led him to think that what he felt was strong romantic love. All their time apart between s1 & s2 built this big idea of each other in their heads. They absolutely cared for each other, but I think their time apart and the assumptions made by other people (Lucas and Nancy) that they liked each other romantically just led to a mix up of feelings. In s3, they weren’t really interested in repairing their relationship after they broke up. Mike especially was just going through the motions of what he thought a relationship should be. It was only once the mind flayer became an issue that he and El were brought back together again. He saw how she was being targeted and his same protectiveness (that he’s shown towards the whole party) resurfaced - which was again misinterpreted as romantic feelings for her. If the upside down hadn’t reappeared, would they have been pushed together as strongly again? I doubt it. This just shows how much their worry for each other is confused for romantic affection.

S4 is the biggest example of their relationship not working until they are pushed back together by something supernatural. That’s exactly what Mike’s speech was. He seemed conflicted before giving it, and he only gave it after assurance from Will that saying he loved El would be able to save her. He wouldn’t have given a whole profession of how much he “loved” her if it weren’t for her being in danger! After the van scene, he doesn’t have a new sense of determination about how much he loves her - he still looks conflicted. Because he doesn’t love her. He just pushes himself to pretend that he does because he thinks it’s the only thing he thinks will save her. Mike’s whole life has been pushing down his feelings (internalized homophobia babyyy). Again, these moments where they get pushed together only ever happen because of extreme circumstances. And their conflicts? They only ever come from times when they’re able to reflect on their relationship.

S3 they break up because their relationship was dysfunctional and El wasn’t given freedom to find herself. She is way happier after she gets independence from Mike! This issue would have arisen even without the upside down’s reappearance. I mean, it literally happens before anything supernatural, showing that their problems come from them.

In s4 the same thing happens. They again have a moment of freedom from the upside down and their relationship is worse than ever. Because they just don’t work as a couple. Mike is incapable of telling El that he loves her for some ~mysterious~ reason. And yes, you can argue that this is because of his trauma around losing her or because his family doesn’t show love or whatever, but I just don’t believe this was the real issue. Because he was able to say he loved her in s3! But only when she was in danger. Again, it’s the stress of the danger she’s in that has him confuse his feelings. I think this theory goes hand in hand with the end of s3 to the beginning of s4.

Mike’s famous confused expression after their goodbye s3 kiss was definitely him realizing that without their lives in danger, he just doesn’t feel the same. During the time skip before s4, he’s trying to deal with these feelings. He holds onto their relationship because he’s scared of what it means to let it go, but doesn’t let himself get close to her because he’s realized that he doesn’t really love her. When it comes time to visit her, he has the choice of either acknowledging that they aren’t working or pushing his feelings down like he always does. Their s4 reunion was a performance from both of them. El wants a day free from her bullying, where she can feel cool and loved by her boyfriend. She pretends that everything is fine in both her life and their relationship. So does Mike. And then at rinkomania, things fall apart for, again, both of them. El’s life struggles get exposed and Mike’s relationship struggles get exposed - less directly than El’s, but Will calling him out on his behaviour just makes him confront his (lack of) feelings for El.

I definitely think Mike’s trauma around losing El played a role in their relationship, but people often use this as an excuse for why Mike was too scared of letting her get close. I see it as the opposite. Mike was so scared of losing her in any way that he stayed in a relationship with her even though he already realized that it wasn’t what he wanted.

Their talk in s5 just confirms all of this. Mike literally asks what could stop them from living a life together after everything with the upside down has been dealt with. Even the most stubborn m1leven shipper has to admit that that is insane foreshadowing. Obviously something other than the upside down is going to keep them apart. Because it’s never been the upside down keeping them apart. It’s always just been because they don’t work together. This conversation sets up that even once everything has been dealt with and they’re finally free Mike and El still won’t be together. Defeating the upside down will literally end the one thing that has kept them together the whole series.

One final note is that Mike never had problems like this with Will. He cared for him in every circumstance - whether the upside down was causing problems or they were fighting on their own (s3 rain fight I see you - Mike decided to go after Will and fix things of his own volition). Their conflicts only arise from Mike’s internal issues around his feelings for Will. So when Mike tells El he “loves her with or without her powers” this is actually more in line with his relationship with Will - maybe not Will’s powers in s4, but his struggles - Mike loves Will even when Will is in danger, when he’s safe, when they’re fighting, when they’re close - the change of circumstances doesn’t affect his feelings like it does for El.

In conclusion, m1leven is so bones.

*Editing to add you know what ship IS held back by an external force outside of their control that needs to be overcome in order for them to be together?? BYLER. Stop trying to give m1leven smth it fundamentally doesn’t have 😭

[franwise]

the more shrouded in mystery episode 7 becomes the more I fear its cliffhanger will break my heart like a certain other piece of media with “bridge” in the title