had some beautiful peace and hope and now i’m genuinely freaking tf out not only for the fate of byler but for the entire show. what could we have had bro
mike being in love with will is the vital last piece of the puzzle to defeating vecna
as a companion piece to this post about will's role in holding the UD together, i'm going to reiterate how we can know that mike is in love with will. read that post first because i kind of reference my points in it here throughout.
and first off, can we please remember that we have not seen the season in full yet. i've seen so many people talking like vol2 was the nail in the coffin and it simply is not. vol2 was 3,5 hours long and the finale is 2,5 hours. this is still a lot of time for them to tie up the remaining loose strings.
alright, let's get into it. i know none of you have forgotten the painting scene. and maybe i'm beating a dead horse, because everybody knows this scene in and out by now. but i'll give you my take anyway. because i think the painting scene is more relevant than ever.
in this scene will is using the painting, el and el&mike's relationship as a front to tell mike how he feels about him. in the context of season 4, it seems like this scene exists to have will help mike get the strength he needs to save el and their relationship. but when it comes down to it, in the end we see the execution of mike 'saving her' is shaky at best. because mike's courage was based on will's feelings for him, not el's.
in reality, i think what this scene was meant to do (along with will encouraging mike's monologue to el in s4e9), is lay the groundworks for mike and will's arc in season 5.
in will's coming out scene, they draw direct parallels to the words he used to describe himself in the painting scene. this is to show us that despite coming a long way in accepting himself, will still sees himself this way. like i said in my linked post, his feeling of being different has defined his character arc throughout the seasons, but it also defines will's connection to the UD and how it all ties together.
after this he clarifies:
(excuse the lousy screen recording)
here, we see mike is the only one out of the party (all will's best friends mind you) who nods along as will says "and i am like you". mike is agreeing with will. it's like he is saying "yes, you are like me".
also, when will says "we like playing d&d late into the night", mike is again the only one who physically reacts. he smiles genuinely at will's words. and d&d is really closely intertwined with mike and will's relationship in particular, and i wrote some of my thoughts ab that here if anyone is interested.
a big point in the van scene is when will tells mike how he makes him feel: which is that he is better for being different. mike in particular obviously plays a huge part in will's self-acceptance, and not just because will is in love with him. one of the reasons will is in love with mike, is because he has always made will feel not just like he can be himself with him, he also he feels better for being himself when he's with mike. this distinction matters. and the fact that he wants to tell mike this at this point in their lives, despite the rough patches their relationship has gone through in the past few years, is because he still believes it to be true. will's feelings run deep and true and strong.
by using el and mike's relationship we are of course meant to realize will is really talking about his own feelings, but it is important to note that will is not just lying about el's feelings to make mike feel better. will genuinely thinks he understands how she feels about mike, because he's in love with mike so wouldn't her feelings be just the same as his? and not only that, he also thinks he knows how mike feels about el. but by the end of season 4, it is very clear that he in fact did not know a thing ab the inner workings of their relationship.
so, i think it is not just what will says about el's feelings that needs to be switched around - we also need to switch around what he says about mike's. which is why, without intending to, what will actually says to mike is "i'm scared of losing you" followed by "just like you're scared of losing me". unknowingly he acknowledges that mike reciprocates his feelings. leading us into this:
everything about mike's reaction here should tell us that what will just said does in fact reflect mike's own feelings in regards to will, not el. the soft and wondering heart eyes, the disbelieving "yeah?" and the tender little smile at the end... (you never lost me, duffers)
and what follows in this scene is will turning away to cry in secret, thereby hiding his true feelings, and mike "not clocking it". that, along with "it's not my fault you dont like girls" in season 3, are both referenced when ep7 gives us this:
now, will is seemingly not hiding anymore. he is finally opening up, and letting mike (and the others) in. but then, we get the mike specialty: barely showing any reaction at all. this is how mike reacts to shock usually; he goes blank and appers non-reactive. but a closer look tells us there is more to it than that. as will continues, he looks directly at mike, saying this:
mike's eyes widen slightly, then he looks down thoughtfully. this is him realizing what will is really saying, perhaps realizing what he has been saying all along, that it could be mike that will had a "crush" on.
okay, so, after seeing the flood of aggrieved and horribly negative reactions to both the coming out scene and vol2 as a whole, i want to remind everyone to remember that the season is not finished yet, and also to look at the season as a whole and not the volumes as separate entities. this is what we've seen in season 5 so far:
coming in from what we already saw in volume 1, before shit hits the fan in ep5, will asks robin if her relationship with vickie started after "the tammy and the tape epiphany". this tells us that robin's tammy speech in fact did not deter will's hopes of pursuing a romantic relationship with mike, instead it encouraged him further. robin answers that she "never would have had the guts to talk to vickie back then", but that "eventually she told someone". will is shocked to hear that this someone was steve, because he seems like "a bonkers choice" - which i think foreshadows the rather bonkers choice will later makes to tell everyone all at once.
robin then says that "saying it out loud to someone and hearing them be cool with it was like a weight lifted" and it eventually led to her having the courage to open up to vickie. to which will asks her if she has any more "truth serum" left - meaning he wants to tell someone, because he wants to get the courage to open up to mike.
and will's big moment of bravery where he opens up to everybody about his sexuality, really only takes place in the way it does to prevent vecna from being able to use his secret against him. this is a parallel to robin's "truth serum injected by evil russians", which made her admit this personal and scary thing to steve, that she might not have done otherwise but still led to a positive outcome. just like will's coming out ended up doing for him too.
but all this is to reiterate that will is still not being truly honest about his feelings for mike. he calls mike a "crush" that he "had" using past tense. and as explained above, this season has made it abundantly clear that will's feelings are as strong as ever. but then in ep7, he seemingly does a jarringly sudden 180 - saying he now sees mike as his "tammy", and the reason it feels so jarring and out of place because it's a lie. will lies about the true extent of his feelings for mike, because he is too scared of what might happen if he does share them.
interestingly, his fear of mike rejecting him seems to run even deeper than his fear of being alienated by his friends for being gay. like will said in the van, he is scared of losing mike. in the months living in california he "felt so lost" without him.
and because will was not fully honest, still hiding the true extent of his feelings for mike, vecna still has leverage over him. we, the audience did not see what vecna taunted will with, only what will told the group about. they left this unresolved, because it is going to be brought back up in the finale. and it is definitely about will's fear of mike reacting badly to learning that will is in love with him. this perfectly explains why will seems to do an abrubt switch up in regards to his feelings for mike.
which is why it has to be mike who saves him when vecna inevitably uses will's remaining fear against him: that his feelings for mike are not reciprocated and that he will lose mike if he finds out about them. mike needs to defy every aspect of will's fear. it won't be enough to say he 'doesn't care about that' and 'still loves his best friend' and that 'it changes nothing', because will's fear directly comes back to mike's rejecting his romantic feelings. it's all up to mike now.
mike is the heart, remember?
"without heart, we'd all fall apart. even (me). especially (me).".
mike being in love with will is not just a possibility, it is a narrative necessity and the only sensical outcome here. this isn't a one-sided love story at all, it is the story about a boy who always grew up feeling like a mistake, except for with his best friend. it is about a boy who was traumatized right on the cusp of his teenage years, which permanently marked him and made him fall out of sync with his friends and loved ones, feeling lost with no longer having the boy who used to make him feel better by his side. it is about of a boy whose internal battles are deeply entwined with his connection to the looming threat to the world as he knows it. and it is the story about a boy who fell in love with that best friend who makes him feel better for being himself, gives him the courage to fight on, and who leads him when he feels lost.
that is why mike's feelings for will are the big plot twist. it is the last piece in will's coming of age story; to make will be able break his tie to the upside down and the hive mind mike needs to reciprocate his romantic feelings.
will needs mike, he always will. and mike will always need will, too.
(and this is just mostly just drawing lines to the painting scene... there is sooo much more to go on. other strong signs are: "it's hawkins, it's not the same without you", the rain fight, the rink o mania fight, mike's apologies, mike rejecting dnd with el still around and diving headfirst into it with will being gone, mike crying in his mom's arms (twice) after losing will, mike staying by will's side like lucas does for max, and i could go on but i think you get it.)
Yes, Will's coming out scene was weird and everyone was present and he hated himself in it BECAUSE VECNA TORMENTED HIM INTO DOING IT.
WILL KNOWS VECNA WILL USE HIS QUEERNESS AGAINST HIM, SO HE'S TELLING PEOPLE BEFOREHAND. SO THEY CAN HELP.
Yes, Will went from loving himself to talking lowly about himself again in the coming out scene because Vecna has been torturing him with visions about his sexuality!
Is it sad he was basically bullied by Vecna into doing something so hard and heart attack-inducing in front of everyone just to keep himself safe? Yeah. Absolutely. But thats what it was: Vecna tortured him into it, and that's why it's something he wouldn't otherwise do and he's so self-hating in it.
You know who can help now though? A certain someone who loves Will back and now finally knows that Will is gay. A certain someone who was told by El she didn't know anything about the painting, and then was told by Will that El commissioned it. That means either Will or El is lying here. And since El mentioned Will potentially liking a girl, which Mike now knows Will didn't because he's gay... He will put two and two together and realise the painting was about him.
A certain someone who now sees a chance to be with Will. He'll help bring Will back from his pain and false assumptions inflicted by Vecna.
idk about y'all but i still have byler hope, why are we relying on will’s words when we know he’s an unreliable narrator, plus we have been relying on analyzing and looking past the SURFACE LEVELLL (will just saying mike is his tammy), we still haven't seen mikes perspective, nor has the painting lie been addressed and we still haven’t seen the screen time they stated they had together, not to mention the duffer brothers favorite ship is korrasami which was made canon in the FINAL episode and people said it wasn’t going to happen, idk y'all!!!!!
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