The fact that the Duffers haven’t mentioned the painting once since s4 yet have said so much embarrassing stupidity in the past few months makes me wonder if they actually believe the painting wasn’t important enough to mention again. It’s an claim many anti-Bylers are already saying: “who cares about the painting? it’s not that important, it doesn’t matter, it wouldn’t magically change Mike if he learned what Will really meant!” Even though that thing was at the center of Will and Mike’s s4 story and made Mike’s entire relationship with El ring hollow by the end of s4! It was set up from the very first episode of s4 and haunted the whole season with the mystery of what it depicted and why Will made it. And then it was the catalyst of Mike’s entire character arc that season, giving him the inspiration to commit to El because he fell under a false impression of how she felt about him. He was saying “I love you” to the person who gave that painting to him and believes he is the heart - with no idea he was actually saying it to a person who knew nothing about the painting and never said he is the heart. And then it continued to define Mike’s character for the rest of the show because in s5 he’s back to being a leader after being decidedly not a leader in s4; the catalyst for that change in him was Will’s speech in that van, which he thought was a mere parroting of El’s belief in him. That painting was the only reason Will’s true feelings for Mike became fully known to Jonathan and the audience, the only reason Mike and El reconciled, and the only reason Mike told El he loved her for the first and only time in the show.
