stranger things actually made history by being the first piece of media to introduce a cyrano trope that doesn’t pay off and mass purchase 20 chekhov’s guns just to hang them up on the walls
it’s so poetic that the last stranger things theory ever is something created by the same group of people the show ended up mocking, only to now have a vast majority of the GA believing in it and pointing out every fucking inconsistency and plot hole
the ending of stranger things will always be overshadowed by a reminder of the themes the duffers abandoned something something karmic retribution
the only reason v2 is getting such hate is because of these fuckass volume breaks like i know for sure if this was released all at once people wouldn’t be taking out all their anger on ep7 because they’re just afraid of how the arcs they’ve invested so much time in will be resolved. everyone’s judging this as if this is the finale when we have 2 MORE hours. like if they can “ruin” the whole season with 2 hours of ep6-7 then they can also fix it
THIS IS A CLEAR MISDIRECT they’ve deliberately misled the audience time and time again and they fucked up the plot towards the end just to keep thr twist of mike being in love will a fucking twist for everyone till thr end
we’ve come so far guys i genuinely feel like we have this in the bag
this is a bit of a long one but i kinda want to put this out there:
despite how much the GA is pissing me off rn (as they always do so that’s nothing new), this has to be the biggest indication of where they’re heading with the narrative. there’s millions of likes on will edits and millions of views on byler tweets like HELLO that’s crazy. and at the end of the day it doesn’t matter if there’s arguments and ship wars going on in the comment section because people are talking about them!! they wouldn’t entertain this at all if they didn’t feel threatened by it coming true!! they made the global audience root for will byers within ONE episode while also establishing that he LOVES mike. in fact his superpowers that everyone’s freaking out over are intrinsically tied to queer self acceptance and his need to protect the love of his life. that one look from mike at the end spawned SO many edits and while the powersexual jokes are really annoying, everyone can see something.
this is a classic will-they-won’t-they set up. the audience WANTS will to get what he wants because they like him now. volume 1 leaves us with a lot of questions and one of the main ones is how is mike going to react because will’s feelings are brought to such a forefront by ep4. so it really doesn’t matter if audience is divided over if they were actually flirting or if mike was into it or if mike is will’s tammy or if mike’s look at the end was just friendly because their scenes are imbued with such plausible deniability FOR A REASON. that’s a popular tactic when it comes to slow burn romances. everyone and their mother knows that.
i need everyone to zoom out and look at the bigger picture here. from a narrative standpoint, its a very clear use of will-they-won’t-they. a relationship between two characters that has always blurred the lines between just a special friendship or something more, where there’s seasons of unresolved tension due to seemingly unrequited feelings, which often ends up being resolved along major plot threads in the finale. along the way it ends up acquiring a large fanbase or at least sparks a lot of conversation around it until it finally pays off. does that remind you of something??
the duffers love this trope because it’s been there in some way for all canon couples. admittedly, it’s not as drawn out as will and mike’s relationship but it’s always been there in some form. every writer wants the conclusion to feel earned after having taken the audience along this emotional arc with the main character. that’s what they did in volume 1. which was a crazy accomplishment that we’re not giving them much credit for btw because up until 4 days ago most of the GA wanted will to die. now, either consciously or unconsciously, people will be looking to mike to see if he rejects or reciprocates will’s feelings. it’s a chekhov’s gun being shoved right in front of their faces wrapped in reflective tape under neon lights. people could ignore the painting but not when its followed by this. to me, this is exists as the biggest proof because now the natural progression is volume 2 picking up with mike’s pov.
i also see conversations about how they’re going to do it within half a season because we haven’t really gotten a look into mike’s head since s2 and guys!! they’ve spelled it out for us!! there’s so much careful groundwork laid out. the painting was always one. robin’s snowball to avalanche was deliberate foreshadowing. it’s not a throwaway line, it’s not a far-fetched claim we’re making. it’s literally within the context of will asking robin for signs, thereby establishing to the audience what these signs are so that when they ultimately become too obvious, there’s no shield of plausible deniability anymore. that’s not even considering the history of the term shared looks. it’s a known directorial cue for will and mike and you see it constantly in s4 and s5 to a point where it becomes kinda ridiculous. noah talked about one of the duffers having a shared looks tattoo in an interview. the only time this term is mentioned in canon is when will asks about what romantic signs to look for and you’re telling me it’s not going to come back in a big way later?? and will, who happens to be in love with mike, uses dnd terms to encourage him to be his best self that he actually takes to heart because that’s what will sees in him. do you know who else does that exact same thing?? MIKE. considering all that, all they need to do is just recontextualise will and mike’s relationship.
not to mention, they’ve been so vocal about will’s importance and journey this season and the absolute care with which they handled volume 1. and they obviously can’t outright allude to anything because the moment they acknowledge that it is on the table, it spoils the direction where its heading. also you don’t cite stephen king’s IT as inspiration and add the cyrano trope in your own work for it to never pay off??
i say this from a purely literary perspective. it’s there and it’s happening. i really wouldn’t concern myself with doubt over what the cast says or what someone posts because they obviously don’t want to give anything away. and despite how exhausting the hate train is, it’s pretty clear the GA is beginning to see the set up whether they want to admit or not. so what i mean to say is, go enjoy the absolute banger edits we’re getting rn and don’t let the doubt get to you.
you CANNOT convince me robin’s speech about “brush of the knee, bump of the elbow, shared looks” is not gonna come back in v2 over the MOTHER of all byler montages
snowball into avalanche was established for a reason
queerness equated to childhood innocence and the source of will’s strength immediately after vecna tries to use it against him by calling it his weakness THINKING THOUGHTS
guys im so hopped up on byler i don’t even feel the fact that i only slept for 3 hours last night and have been up since 2AM (+ also attended uni right after) THIS IS STRONGER THAN COCAINE
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