#byler rewatch

[gayofthefae]

Thinking about what this face really is

Will just opened up to her for the first time this morning after a lot of effort and even then, he could barely even say it out loud and was mostly just head nods.

Mike hasn't even seen Will today, he didn't have access to a drawing so Will could silently communicate it with him.

Joyce asked for days and only got an answer after a big event, asking repeatedly, and allowing him to answer silently.

And Mike just said Will already told him.

THAT'S why she lets him inside. Not because he's in on it so he can help. Because Will told him.

That is HUGE.

He told Mike before he told her. That boy is coming inside because Will needs him if he trusts Mike that much. She knew they were close, but know she knows. This is her realizing that.

Just like the posts I've made about how the romantic thing about the crazy together scenes is really that both of them have been keeping secrets from everybody and it seems like they're going to continue that path this season but then open up to each other immediately the first time they're alone together. Still don't open up to anyone else, so it wasn't about overcoming their fears. It's just different with them.

That's what Joyce is realizing here too.

Will didn't tell her for days, he hates lying and he lied to her face about it repeatedly, he could barely speak when it came up and she had to use other resources - resources Mike didn't have.

All the while, Will told Mike DAYS ago.

Yes. He can come inside.

[gayofthefae]

"Did you know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?"

Mike spends so much time with the Byers that he even knows details about Will's mom's new boyfriend's childhood.

[gayofthefae]

Sometimes I'm like "does the 'Will voice/face' really exist?" And then I see shit like this

These are the last second of one shot and the first second Mike is onscreen in the next. These are 5 seconds apart. And of what we see onscreen, we literally go immediately from one to the other the SECOND Will is upset.

He switches from "in public mode" to "Will mode" in an instant. Like the flip of a switch.

[gayofthefae]

Rewatch time and confession I did not see Will's crush in that it was a seven scene. I saw the genuine guilt over a simple lie and desire to tell the truth.

But this time, I did see Mike's.

The way he watched him as he left.

This look, since my first watch, I've always felt this quality to it of "why would you tell me? You didn't have to. You could have just said nothing and won." There's confusion and admiration at his values to make that choice, even in such a low stakes situation. That's what it evokes in the audience and that's what it evokes in him.

Will was being honest because it's his nature. But just like his choice to "put himself in danger to help the party", it stuck with Mike.

So yeah, it surprised me, and he likely has one, but I didn't see Will's crush here. He doesn't like lying, so he unburdened himself, then we see him immediately move on.

But we see Mike thinking about him after he leaves. And that night, more confirmation with Mike recounting Will actions in the D&D game, as he was visibly sitting in front of the board thinking over it just before he called.

From episode 1, Mike puts weight on everything Will does. He told the truth? He's so honest, unfathomably so. He cast fireball in a game? He's so heroic, he would lay down his life for any of us.

Will went on his way and joked with Dustin and biked along home.

But even in a normal dialogue for them, even before anything out of the ordinary happened. Mike was thinking about Will after he left.

And part of it is that unreciprocated nature to it. That Will had already moved on was riding off on his bike, thinking of the next.

But Mike was still standing there. Watching him.

I wonder how long he would have if the lights hadn't flickered to snap him out.

[gayofthefae]

The scene of Mike ignoring Will for El(the phone ringing) where he bonds with Lucas over it but then chases after Will the second he realizes he's sad...

is immediately after the scene where Dustin tells Steve to stop dating for social approval and be with someone who actually makes him happy

[gayofthefae]

The thing about the crazy together scene being romantic in its singling out of them opening up to each other is it's almost...

Anti-climactic.

This has happened to me with Byler a couple of times now, before I was officially a Byler, where 2x01 and 2x02 are happening and I'm like

"I see, Mike and Will's respective season plots will incorporate them struggling to open up to anybody about th- oh. They just....told each other as soon as they were alone. Okay."

"Bummer, they're fighting, well I hope this season plotline of them making up isn't too stressful and by the end they can- oh. They're just...back to normal as soon as being alone. They just kind of agreed they're good now the second they were alone....okay...cool."

It isn't that it's romantic because they're opening up. It isn't that it's romantic because they say they'll go crazy together. It isn't that it's romantic because they're spending one on one time together.

It's romantic because they're conveying that they behave differently without other people around.

THAT'S what it is.

We even see Mike and Will together, alone, but in public in 2x02 trick or treating. And Mike is still grumpy and defensive. They are alone in their interaction in 4x02 when they're fighting. But Mike is extremely defensive. Because in both cases, there are still witnesses.

Whether it's strangers passing by in the town or their own friends, they behave one way, we're led to believe this is how they are and these are their struggles, trouble opening up - things that apply to each other as well because well, we've seen them do so, really.

This plotline is gonna build to them opening up over the season and then- oh. The first moment they are alone together it's like they just...relax.

It isn't romantic to tell your friend what's going on with you. But adjusting your behavior when you're alone with him is.

I've said before. I'm not preaching any behaviors that are inherently romantic. I take those cues off the characters.

And Mike and Will told me that their true relationship......is a secret.

I don't think it's romantic. But Mike and Will do.

And if they say so, I believe them.

[gayofthefae]

Even the fights parallel.

3x03: What did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends...

3x04: What did you think, huh? That you were gonna make star reporter in a month?

[gayofthefae]

The way epilogues foreshadow the following season and narration reflects what's happening onscreen and "You're changing" playing over Mike at the end of season 3. Right after his scene of panic after El kissed him and he couldn't respond/say he loved her back.

More importantly, "That what scares me. I don't want things to / change" cutting from Mike to Will right in the middle of that line.

Showing HOW things change.

"So I guess that's why I came in here. To try and stop that change."

They play Mike and Will back and forth an out of the ordinary amount of time from the rest of the montage in which they're pretty evenly rotating between the characters. But they return back to Mike immediately.

Foreshadowing and the fact that what it was actually foreshadowing wasn't his change but his rejection of that change when we see him next.

He's realizing he's different. But the real foreshadowing is, he doesn't want to be. That the next we see him, he will be pushing back against that.

Trying to "stop that change".

The real difference though is, though his behavior seems similar to the beginning of season 3, it's not. It's active now, conscious; forced. Before, he was oblivious to the fact that this wasn't how he was supposed to feel.

In season 4, he's trying to make himself feel "right".

THAT'S what that foreshadows.

Not "You're changing". But

"I don't want things to change. - [I'm trying] to stop that change.]"