Here's my thing. Here's why I'm still here, still...confused, by the idea of them not doing Byler. In every other plotline, every other theme? They exceeded my expectations this volume.
They addressed that bonding over shared trauma is not a healthy basis of relationship, saying that it only creates a feeling of closeness for a few years before it feels stifling. I had NO expectation that they would say this about them. Wonderful job. The unproposal together instead of just Jonathan realizing he shouldn't and never telling her he was going to was so sweet, I loved that scene.
I expected them to address Dustin's grief and the parallel between Steve and Eddie in his life, but I did NOT expect them to directly address Steve's jealousy in season 4 and how it affected his relationship with Dustin and Eddie's death! That was AMAZING! I was very impressed.
Honestly, overrall, that whole group's season 4 plotline and my analyses of it I did not expect to be so brought to light. I said that Nancy wasn't interested in Steve just, finding ways to distance from Jonathan, and she SAID that. I said it wasn't about Nancy for Steve, it was about feeling rejected by Dustin and he SAID that. Both those topics were only really clued into by one or two lines in the whole of season 4 but they came back to them very directly!
Max directly telling Holly that not acting in a situation where you could not have helped and only would have endangered yourself too is not the same as cowardice is what I've been saying about Will's plot and the themes of the character deaths - including Eddie's, which was MENTIONED in this context - for YEARS! And they had her directly address it to Holly. That not stabbing Vecna with a fire poker because you know it won't help and standing by at the sight of violence are not the same thing. Sometimes your body paralyzes you because it knows there is a reason for your fear, and you should NOT overpower it out of some moral self-berating. That is a LIFE-SAVING message I have praised in this show for YEARS but never have they said it explicitly like that and they DID.
I also really liked that they came back to El's anger at Hopper for planning to sacrifice himself. That was a smaller, side one for me but I didn't expect them to, I kind of expected it to be swept under the rug and them move on in their fight, but it wasn't. She did lose him for almost a year and she was hurt by his decision to risk that again. It makes total sense and I think it was very strong for them to address that.
And actually TO talk about Will's queerness, let's do it.
They started that coming out strong out of the gate. With his fear not just being rejection, but change. Even in allyship, that his loved ones would treat him as some fragile thing again and their relationship would change. That they wouldn't leave him on purpose but that it would just naturally cause them to drift over time. Those are very real and common fears that are extremely under-talked about. The grief over connection in adolescence he mentions, that he's saddened by the fact that they have always shared so much that it felt strange when he couldn't relate to them on something. It isn't always that he wanted to be straight but that he wanted to continue to be the same as them.
Those are all very specific details not usually addressed or acknowledged. It's usually simplified to "fear of homophobia", because that's about all that straight people understand of why people don't come out. But "I'm afraid you'll try your best to keep me in your life and support and accept me but we will ultimately drift apart because we won't be able to relate to each other in the same way anymore" brought back VIVID memories for me.
And the actual framing of the coming out itself. I already felt great when we started with that conversation between Will and Robin. Coming out was not described as a goal. It was described as a step. That made me very happy. It is rarely done. But queer stories should not center straight people finding out. Straight people patting themselves on the back for simply not rejecting you. As if straight people provided you your happy ending in choosing not to harm you. It is a step TOWARDS your actual personal desires. Coming out is an important step TOWARDS the romance that is actually your goal. The want you realized that started this all. It is a checkbox, not a finale. It is a jumping off point.
Everything but Mike hit the nail on the head for me. Honestly. That's what confuses me. Because it is the same values they just demonstrated so beautifully that would save his character in this finale.
That's what confuses me. That's what I keep coming back to.
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