[lesikm]

I'm assembling a team

[lesikm]

As much as I love to joke about Mike being a demogorgon, I actually dislike any theories that place Mike at the center of all supernatural, because I think that goes against the core of his character. The important thing about Mike is that there's nothing special about him. That's his main conflict. That's why he started dating El in the first place. He thought that dating a cool girl with superpowers would make him cool too, but as it turned out, you can't really brag about a girlfriend whose existence you can't even tell anyone about because she's hiding from the government. And his friends couldn't care less about their relationship too. To them, El is El, and Mike is still the same Mike they've always known, except now he's even more annoying. He also knows that the only reason El "chose him" was because she simply needed someone, and he happened to be the first person she came across. That's why he's so fixated on being needed by the people he cares about, and feels useless when they don't need him, since he believes that's his only value.

[lesikm]

[lesikm]

Lol. Why have I never seen this before?

[lesikm]

As much as I love to joke about Mike being a demogorgon, I actually dislike any theories that place Mike at the center of all supernatural, because I think that goes against the core of his character. The important thing about Mike is that there's nothing special about him. That's his main conflict. That's why he started dating El in the first place. He thought that dating a cool girl with superpowers would make him cool too, but as it turned out, you can't really brag about a girlfriend whose existence you can't even tell anyone about because she's hiding from the government. And his friends couldn't care less about their relationship too. To them, El is El, and Mike is still the same Mike they've always known, except now he's even more annoying. He also knows that the only reason El "chose him" was because she simply needed someone, and he happened to be the first person she came across. That's why he's so fixated on being needed by the people he cares about, and feels useless when they don't need him, since he believes that's his only value.

[miwiheroes]

the fact we canonically have the party's letterboxd top movies lists

[lesikm]

They probably thought they were so funny

[boredbylerbitch]

The thing is, it really didn't have to be Mike. It could've been Carlton, or Chance, or even fucking Mikhail, but the Duffers chose Mike. They could've given him another love interest, or at least shown him expressing interest in other boys, but instead they chose to center his entire sexuality arc around his feelings for Mike and only Mike.

I love Byler, but I could've gotten on board with another love interest for Will if they'd made an effort to write one for him. They had several seasons to do so. They could've written a flirty interaction between him and another boy in Lenora. They could've subverted our expectations and revealed that the painting was actually for someone else he had a crush on. They could've made the bar scene with Carlton longer so we could finally see the "snowballs" and "avalanches" conversation pay off. But they didn't do any of that. They dragged out his feelings for Mike until the penultimate episode, stunting his character development, and then had the nerve to claim they didn't give him another love interest because they wanted his journey to be "more internal and about himself."

Still, I might've been okay with this half-assed self-acceptance angle if they hadn't also established that Will wants romantic love. No, I don't think anyone needs sex or romance to be happy, and as poorly written as his coming-out arc is, I am glad he learned to love and accept himself before he started dating anyone. But we are repeatedly shown how self-sacrificing Will is, and one of the few selfish desires he has is to be loved romantically. Not only is it cruel to deny him this after all the horrible shit he's endured, it's also bad writing to establish this as one of his central desires then fail to meaningfully resolve that aspect of his character arc. If they were really so determined not to give him a love interest, they could've at least used the vision Vecna gave him about his future to explain the sudden change in his feelings for Mike. But in typical Duffer fashion, "it happened off-screen."

It didn't have to be Mike, but Mike is what they gave us. So every time the Duffers try to play dumb and act like Bylers were delusional for thinking Mike and Will might end up together, I start throwing imaginary tomatoes at them, because they're responsible for all of this. Even if Byler was "never in the cards", they still should've addressed the ship once they realized how popular it had become. Mike and Will barely interact in season 5; telling us Byler wasn't going to happen wouldn't have spoiled anything. Instead, they leaned into it, both in the story and in the marketing, because as the "loudest" subsection of the fandom, they knew we'd give them the most money and attention.

And I don't expect them to ever take accountability for any of this, but I really wish they'd stop trying to rewrite their own narrative by scapegoating us.

[lesikm]

Exactly, I would have been fine with byler not being canon, if they had made a little effort to give these two some kind of closure. Will didn't have a storyline of his own for the last three seasons, he just suffered from his unrequited love. By the end of season 4, it seemed like this had been resolved, Will finally gave up on Mike and realized he didn't stand a chance, when suddenly in season 5 they gave him hope only to break his heart once again.

I would have even accepted all that Tammy nonsense if Will's revelation hadn't happened off-screen over the course of a day, and if they had actually shown that he had moved on. Instead, what happened was that Will once again buried his feelings for Mike and El's sake, not to be a burden to them. It's obvious that he hasn't moved on at all in the finale, and he continues to suffer in silence. What was the point of all this?

[lesikm]

Wait, why were people saying that the red blur was Will, when Mike was supposed to be the one in the middle?

[lesikm]

[lesikm]

[lesikm]

No, I really can't do that. This is pushing me over the edge.

[lesikm]

I decided to give the cartoon one more chance and quickly regretted it.

[lesikm]

I'll probably get criticized for saying this, but no matter how tragic Rue's fate was, part of me is satisfied that her story ended this way, given all the romanticization of drugs that the first two seasons sparked among teenagers. Yes, she could have gotten a nice arc about how everyone deserves a second chance, but in some cases, the best message might be not to start doing what will kill you in the first place. And it annoys me that people are already comparing her to El. These are two completely different situations. El never had a choice, while Rue kept going down that path willingly and unfortunately, there is no easy way out of the path she has chosen. Rue's story is a social commentary on real-world issues, whereas for the Duffers, El was always an alien, and they dropped all social themes after the first season. El's death was meaningless. Rue's death might discourage many from following in her character's footsteps.

[lesikm]

I'm afraid evil bisexual Mike Wheeler is real

[lesikm]

Just remembered how Westworld made it canon that Game of Thrones is a simulation park within their show, and they even invited DnD to make a cameo. I actually expected something similar from The Boroughs. They didn't have to make the plot directly connected to ST, they could have just hinted that everything takes place in the same universe. More people would be willing to watch the show, and it could help rehabilitate ST brand, considering that the show isn't bad.

[lesikm]

your post bitching about the picture random ppl online are using of Will and somehow blaming the Duffers for it is funny. That's why I can't take this fandom seriously, oh my god two people have so much control over random asses online 🙄. It's their fall little kitkat10998 is using that image, how dare they? Jesus, blame them for what they can control and stop being a 5 years old with a complex.

People suck, a lot hate Will, they always have and they always Will, they don't have to like the same character you do, newsflash. Everyone in this fandom is so weird, holy shit just let the show go if pisses off this much.

Well, yeah, it's definitely not the fault of the guys who wrote the storyline of their only gay character in the main cast in the most homophobic way possible, mocked him and his feelings for years, never defended the character or his actor from all the homophobia they themselves unleashed, but laughed at "I like dick" jokes on SNL, while homophobes were screaming at the top of their lungs that Will would die of AIDS and making rape jokes about Will and Noah. You must be a complete idiot if you don't understand the root of the problem and think it's simply a matter of not liking the character.

[lesikm]

So ready for half of the Euphoria cast to die tomorrow at the hands of criminals they willingly started doing business with, and people on Twitter will complain about how this is bad writing and unrealistic.

[lesikm]

I got the release date of the final episode wrong. I'm so ready for it to happen today.

[lesikm]

The Wheelers 🥹