A MASSIVE Byler Deep-Dive, Season 2 Rewatch & Analysis 🔎 🌈
I decided to rewatch Stranger Things Season 2 and take notes of all the Byler-centric moments. I highlight visual and narrative parallels that reframe Will, Mike, and El's story with queer subtext hinting at 🌈 Byler Endgame 🌈.
You'll find that Will's whole arc deals with internalized homophobia as Mike is consistently queer coded to be his love interest. Therefore, homophobia (and briefly CA/CSA) are mentioned as I predict these subjects will be a major storyline in ST5. Hopefully this acts as a refresher to point out what you might've missed or forgotten.
👇🏻 Keep reading for my full episode-by-episode breakdown below. 👇🏻
My notes are somewhat sporadic and off-the-cuff as they are my initial reactions to scenes. I try to add in as much context as I can. Again, TW: CSA and CA for some of the bullet points.
Mad Max, Episode 1
"Prostituting my sister" line right before now-memory in arcade. Only the "pa" on the neon "palace arcade" sign flashes prominently like "Papa" aka Brenner (foreshadowing his return). Sign across the street is "Church Street Plaza" as the hellscape flashes drawing upon religious imagery. "I needed some air," Will says when he's reminded of the vine in his throat. Interesting that word about sex happens right before the now-memory, as if it triggered what happened to Will.
"Chief Jim Hopper found Byers alive in an abandoned cabin a few miles outside of Hawkins," on the newspaper clipping with a "zombie boy" note Will finds in his locker. His eyes are crossed/carved out just like Victor Creel in S4. Mentioning Will at the cabin is interesting since that's actually where El is, drawing a parallel between the two. This is also a really big plot hole since no one is suppose to know about the cabin. 🤫
Right after, kids are learning about the brain/nervous system. Mr. Clark presents a brain and Will is despondent, far off. The prop of the brain evoking the Mind Flayer/mind control.
Lucas and Dustin are convinced Max is Mad Max while they have crushes on her. Mike is not convinced but was convinced Will was alive with less information to go on. Max's note "stop spying," then Will immediately gets his name called, is a joke about him being the spy. Mike says "he was quiet today" like he noticed Will being quiet in class. He ends up spying on Will, like the other boys on Max in the same sequence—it's hard not to correlate he has a crush.
"I'm gonna be there the whole time, it's gonna be okay," Joyce says on the ride to Hawkins Lab, and Will quietly murmurs "okay" back. Last time she was there the whole time while Will was just on the other side in S1 it wasn't okay. 💔
Dr. Owens calls Hopper "pop" like he's Will's dad when they go to visit. Says Will lost weight and Will can't remember his fav candy until Joyce mouths it. He's being monitored on camera, a lack of privacy. There are two distinct brain wave patterns on the EEG, as Will says the evil wanting to kill everyone else but him. Just like Vecna, whose vessel is deteriorating.
"It's called the anniversary effect," Dr. Owens explains that is bringing back Will's traumatic memories. It'll be the 5-year anniversary in 1987, season 5. More will be revealed, Will's arc concerns his PTSD.
Barbara's picture frame has ballet shoes, Nancy had ballet shoes on her necklace.
Joyce gets PTSD when the phone rings, an ominous callback to the first season when she gets a phone call from Vecna/MF. Then, Will is up in the middle of the night, gets MF memory after the bathroom where he threw up the slug.
Trick or Treat Freak, Episode 2
El runs down the same school hallway Will does later on in the UD. The logic behind why can El (and Henry) open gates to other dimensions but Vecna/the Mind Flayer can't if iffy, but the shadow needs a host.
Not only does Mike see El in the window, the agents questioning him do too, leading to a manhunt search in the woods, and bro did not try to run and find her. 🤨
El watching the soap opera of the man named MICHAEL(?) confessing to the woman who says "it's going to stun the whole town, the whole world." El and Mike's love won't, but Mike and Will's could. Or it's an insane foreshadowing of Hawkins in ruins after Mike's confession in S4.
Eleven has a teddy bear at Hopper's cabin (it's brown). Teddy bears this season are tied to parental figures, contextualizing the teddy bear in S3 as less romantic. She watches Frankenstein show, a little girl gives him a flower. This ties into her arc of not being the monster, and Mike mirrors the little girl in S1 when he tells her "you saved us" at the quarry. More platonic parallels.
While trick or treating, Will has MF flashback after being called zombie and freak by bullies, but also when Mike blames him and abandons him over Max (Mike's animosity towards her has no heterosexual explanation). Then Will immediately calls out Mike's name in the flashback. The thing that snaps him out of it is Mike. The overall idea is his fear of Mike abandoning him.
Mike compares Will to El in the crazy together scene: "El would understand." Adds more fuel to his relationship with El being his defense mechanism while Will was practically tortured for being gay. Defense mechanism is a larger theme discussed in sci-fi terms. Another word for it is transference.
Mike calls to El on his walkie-talkie in the void, "I had a bad day today. I wish you were here-I mean we all do" ???? Last season he kissed her, he could just leave it at "I," why panic? Jfc, Queerler. And then he doesn't see her, El can't touch him, he's unresponsive and walks away. His unresponsiveness signifying deep down he's not in love with her or not attracted. This scene is not romantic, it's tragic. The next cut is to the stars, drawing a star-crossed lovers parallel.
The Pollywog, Episode 3
Only Dustin and Dart like nougat. Aw, soul mates.
The next day El is pissed at Hopper but she's also influenced by her hurt feelings for Mike being unresponsive when she implodes the cabin.
The song playing in the car with Bob and Will is ominous. It talks about a man being called away by a tune (a whistle), like a siren song. The lyrics: "buried deep inside of me and I'll be leaving soon." Previous episodes, Owens was saying Will's memories are buried deep. Will admits he was up at night again having "nightmares". Bob says about his nightmares as a kid: "I couldn't get him out of my head. Every night he would come to me in my dreams," and Will gulps, he's relating. A very clear grooming parallel.
Jim basically has El under house arrest for "her own good" kinda like Will being heavily supervised/babied. More Wi11 parallels.
Damn, that Steve scene where he asks Nancy if she loves him saying "bullshit" x3, is so El saying "from Mike" x3 from S4, it's almost 1:1. And Steve was jealous of Nancy going with Jonathan. Mike stayed by Will's side that night of his fight with El, ergo…Mike has true feelings for Will.
Will has another flashback when Dustin shows everyone Dart. It confirms he was impregnated to spawn demodogs (the chittering tie-in). He realizes the nightmares (what happened to him in the Upside Down) are real. Mike, in classic fashion, is the only one who takes this seriously.
Joyce can tell when Will likes someone, noted here. Bob and Will relate to each other with bullies. He says "it's the ones like us that don't punch back, that people really take advantage of". "Take advantage of" has a double meaning, as in sexual coercion. It's an odd turn of phrase when he could've said "push around". Then he says "maybe it makes them feel powerful," this is really close to what is said about groomers…
Nancy says to Jonathan (in the scene that parallels Mike and Will's convo on top of the car in S4) "yeah but Will came home," to which Jonathan replies "yeah but he's not the same." Nancy wants justice against "those people". She means Hawkins Lab. The place they groomed and experimented on children. But the vague language is curious, like this is an allegory for abusers, too.
There is a "No Trespassing" sign on Will's bedroom door. And considering the nightmares he has of the MF visiting him at night, it's more reason to reconsider his issues with trust, privacy, and being violated as CA/CSA-related. 💔
El is on a journey to find her mother. Hopper kinda lied to her that her mother was gone (very much like Patty's story in TFS). This further draws the distinction between her wants (Mike), and her needs (parental figure).
Mike is the first person Will goes to about Dart, him alone first. It's clear he feels most comfortable with him. Mike is super reactive, kicked into overdrive. Umm, Sir. Where was this energy for El? In the AV room, Mike defends Will saying his experiences are real, he and Lucas say they need to go to Hopper (a responsible adult, further lessons for young viewers). Then defends him physically when Dart pops out of his trap. He shows himself to be protective of Will.
This is in the weeds, but Mike calls Dart "bastard," also known as illegitimate child.
Mike looks for Dart in the boys' locker room and yells at Max for being in there (also he uses a mop as a weapon lol). "We don't need another party member!" He's mad at Max for trying to be a replacement to El. When El was a replacement for Will in S1. It's hypocritical. He only thinks in terms of gender, he doesn't see how El is a replacement for Will yet. Max then says "am I in or out?" evoking a closeted metaphor. El watches on jealous, and Mike chases after her, like he's been caught, or exposed.
Will finds Dart in the boys' bathroom, then flashes into the UD. The hallway Will runs down stretches unnaturally, like we are seeing his subjective, like it's his inner psychological experience rather than an objective reality we are seeing. This further elucidates that the UD is a representation of Will's mind.
Will the Wise, Episode 4
When Will stands his ground against the MF in the field he is penetrated. When Will does the same thing against the Demogorgon in S5 flashback opening, he is penetrated by Vecna. Mike finds him: "I think he's having another episode." Calling this an "episode" grounds this experience.
Joyce asks Will what the shadow monster is. Will says it's "almost like a feeling" "I felt it everywhere… everywhere." He makes it explicit that his body was violated. It's also disturbing that a lot of scenes in this episode feature him with less clothing because the MF likes it cold, to expose him. His autonomy is being stripped through costuming.
When Hopper confiscates the TV from El during their big fight, what is on the screen is an episode of Cheers with its main couple Sam/Diane who do not end up together (they realize they are not meant to be together). Taking the TV away is like taking Mike away, their whole fight started because El snuck out to see Mike.
They used Mr. Clark's science class for another MF metaphor. Expose bacteria to a toxic chemical and it will flee or employ another defense mechanism. This is while Mike looks at Will's empty seat. Further paralleling Mike to the idea of having a defense mechanism, not just Will or the MF.
When Will describes the MF and knowing things he never knew before, he gets flashes of the tunnels in his "now memories". The imagery makes me think of his flashbacks are recalling the breeding tube in his throat. This all while Hopper is there. It's like a CSA victim having to try to make a report. Then he draws like young real-life victims often do when they don't have the words to describe what happened to them. At this age, Will wouldn't (or shouldn't) know what oral sex is.
Dustin explains about the MF: "if you're in another plane, you can't interact with the material plane. Theoretically the shadow can't hurt (Will)." Okay, so El and Henry can open inter-dimensional gates, but the MF can't. Henry is no longer Vecna, the MF is Vecna because he needs a vessel.
Actually kinda tweaking because Jonathan and Nancy get a lecture from Owens that if what is happening in the Hawkins Lab basement with the gate gets out, the Soviets will try to replicate it. They release the tape anyway, causing the chaos in season 3. Smh. 🚬🙂↔️
The undershirt Eleven wears while searching for her mother is similar to the shirt she wears in S4 during the piggyback sequence (which Eleven was inspired by her mother). Interesting thread to tie back to this scene through costume. She can't touch her mother in this scene (later she does). Paralleling Mike to family once again when the only people she tries to touch in the void this season are family and him. While El is on her journey searching for her mother, Mike is searching for Will, knocking on the Byers door. That transition and juxtaposition tell us who each of Mike and El's goals are and it's not each other.
Dart ate Mews, Claudia's cat. Henry killed Claudia's cat in the first shadow. Bruh, he has it OUT for the Henderson cats.
When Hopper goes into the UD there is a loud bell SFX. This is odd. Could tie in to the clock chimes in S4, or the saying "for whom the bell tolls," which is has meaning that if one person dies, it affects everyone. "Whom" means the bell tolls for everyone.
Dig Dug, Episode 5
So one of the first shots before we get the scene of Mike holding Will's hand is a (porch) swing. Yk, like the swings where they first met.
Will: "some of him is here too. In this house and in me," right after the missing piece of the map is placed in a shot with the No Trespassing sign. He's shaking and sweating when he says this. Interesting that he is burning up around the time Mike comes. Mike weakens the MF.
Mike says Will remembering what happened to him, seeing the "now memories" is good, "that's how we can stop him". Mike says the MF won't spy back holding Will's hand: "we won't let him". This scene furthers the idea of touch as their protection spell and how to stop the MF.
There is a crack on Terry's front porch that reminds me of the crack-like gate under Hawkins Lab. When El closes it up later on, it's like she's finally closing the wound of her paternal figure loss/overcoming the grief of losing her mother (or it's a band-aid solution).
Jeopardy plays while El sees Mama Terry, contestant is named Mike. Mike is in jeopardy hint. But also it's another juxtaposition between El's goals, placing Mike in the periphery (her subplot).
I never noticed or forgot that the paper Will draws the tunnel map on is Christmas wrapping paper. Reminder of the day he threw up the slug and started to remember his (CSA) trauma.
El finds a teddy bear in what was supposed to be her crib. Teddy bears = her mother.
El's mom is suggested to have telepathy, or be stuck in another dimension when she uses light to guide the way to her. Interesting metaphor of using light to guide the way, light being equivocal to love.
Pac-Man and Mrs. Pac-Man signs above Lumax's head as well as the Pac-Man sign "love at first bite" at arcade.
"Them," Murray points to a wall of TV screens in his bunker. "They like the curtain. It gives them stability, comfort, definition. This would open the curtain." Said about Nancy's secret recording of Owens. Brenner has Henry open a portal on a wall of monitors in TFS Broadway. He wanted to prove there was another dimension too. (The UD is an uncomfortable truth, something something science versus religion). Murray says the best way to get through to people or change minds is to water down the truth. This is a meta conversation about Byler and the GA while also being about true-to-life government human experimentation.
There's MF dust in Hawkins Lab. Just like in the Russian Prison in S4. MF dust is extracted from the vines. This is never addressed but the Russians could have gotten their MF from Hawkins Lab. Also, how have all the tunnels with MF dust not been a bigger part of the show? A little bit of logical lapse.
El can touch Mama but not Mike. There is a true love here, but not with Mike.
The Spy, Episode 6
Mike witnessing Will's seizure and screaming in the hospital 💔
🚨 QUEEN SONG 🚨 right after this scene. "Hammer To Fall", Queen's song about the Cold War, nuke race, total annihilation, played as the demodogs spread. Vecna and the MF look for total annihilation of Hawkins/their world, Will is used as a sleeper agent (spy), almost synonymous with Soviet KGB tactics during the Cold War. But also, Will's virus spreading all over him is juxtaposed to a man who died of AIDS.
There is a scene transition between Nancy's tape and Will, that suggests Dr. Owens was full-on prepared to kill Will, his dialogue was "stop the truth by whatever means necessary." Though, he later fights to save him and is a misdirect.
"Friends don't lie" is said often throughout by El. Then we get to the Murray scene of Nancy lying about Jonathan and their friendship, hinting at romantic feelings. Thinking thoughts about Mike not being able to lie to El in S4 but holding the truth from Will all season. Ergo, he sees El as a friend, and Will as something more. Nancy: "retreat" Jonathan: "trust issues," paralleling Mike and Will's defense mechanisms. Well, well. Byler^2.
Erica: "they're in love," as she makes He-Man kiss Barbie. Lucas: "no actually they're not, they don't even exist on the same planet." El to Mike in S3: "well maybe I should be with my species" El being in the UD all season 5, not on the same planet/dimension. All throughout S2, El talks about "home," (Phone Home) and this joke (as well as Dustin's E.T. statue constantly featured) is saying El is E.T. Mike is Elliot. They have a friendship and connection, not a romance.
"Pretty sure Dart is a baby Demogorgon" - Dustin. The next evolution of Will's "babies" were to be Demogorgons. I'm getting strong Frankenstein vibes, which is about abortion/miscarriages as well as the horrors of male hubris. The book parallels Victor to a god, and the creature to Adam (in a critical sense); therefore, Will is almost god-like in his ability to create life. The parallel I'm making is also kind of queer-coded as Victor rejects the idea of Adam and Eve, just like Will being gay rejects this traditional mindset. Will is notably paralleled to Jesus in S4, too.
Hopper spends one night in the Upside Down, is immediately trapped by vines then lurching for a whole day after being saved. Meanwhile Will survived a whole week, the MF, a Demogorgon, and Vecna. This experience builds a bond between him and Hopper.
Owens referring the UD as a cancer to Hopper who lost his daughter to cancer because of Agent Orange. They keep talking about toxins, which is what Agent Orange is. The MF can represent the effects of Agent Orange too.
"That's my friend, Mike." The MF knowing who Mike is means he's Will's loved one. That's ominous since the MF will attack loved ones, use them to torture its victims (like in Vecna visions). Or, the positive alternative is, Mike (and Joyce) are the key to defeating him (I say him because Mike and the show refer to the MF as him, either in a god-like sense or a groomer sense).
They pulled out a tentacle/vine on Will, like the one that was in him (it looks like the thing he thew up in S1). "Our best guess is that it's some kind of a virus," said Owens. More AIDS parallels to the hive mind, or the virus being homophobia as he specifically says "neurological".
While talking to Steve, Dustin is referred to as Romeo and doesn't get the girl. Mike is referred to as Romeo in S4 and doesn't get the girl. Sexual electricity compared to a electromagnetic field cloud, which is literally what the MF is (explained in TFS Broadway). Just prior, Will, who has the MF in him remembered Mike, denoting an attraction or the chemistry between them.
Just after Joyce freaks out about potentially losing Will, Hopper has Sarah's bracelet on calling El. 💔 Will and El are consistently made to be a reminder of Sarah.
Putting a "band-aid" on Will will kill him. Band-aid is the burn (torching the vines). Will was never safe when Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan burned him at the end of S2. It was a band-aid solution. He never stopped being infected by the Mind Flayer. Which is to say, there is no cure for PTSD or SA survivors, only treatment. Then Will says in S4, "it's like ripping off a band-aid," as in letting go of his love of Mike. Will letting go of his love for Mike could kill him, and it's not the proper solution as the show lays out in this metaphor.
Them building traps—one the MF does to the Hawkins Lab and the party at the junkyard—parallels the Turnbow trap in S5. Also, the song that plays over this part always reminds me of Mulan, the scene where she transforms into a warrior and leaves home.
So Will sets up the demo-dog trap but no one blames him for doing it ("He made me do it"). This is because by the end of the day, he's completely overtaken by the MF. They show Will's brain charts being overcome by the MF virus. I don't know why people do not see that this literally happened to Henry. Like Vecna ain't Henry anymore, he's a husk for the MF. He'll only be awakened by something deep in his memories he loved. He might try to reach out like Morse code but idk.
Internalized homophobia killed Bob. If we take the MF virus to be emblematic of homophobia and pay attention to the Will and Bob parallels of their experience to bullies, him saying the weaker get "taken advantage of," this makes sense. Bob and Will are referred to as "super" also in this season. But the word "superhero" is used for El in S4. El is compared to Bob in Mike's dialogue about her being his "superhero". Mike using this term is emblematic of his internalized homophobia.
The Lost Sister, Episode 7
Kali makes Axel see spiders like Henry makes Virginia see spiders.
Heart to heart with Kali and El (who are "sisters"). Kali saying "we belong together. I think this is your home. Yes, home," uses the same BG music they played over Byler's "crazy together" scene (where prior, Mike says "I'm going to take you home" to Will). Ergo, Byler endgame cause they use the "we belong together" music for them.
Kali asks Eleven to find something that angers her. She thinks of Mike. Then Hopper. Then Brenner. All in a flashback montage, a filmic device that compares ideas. I mean… Mileven is bones, folks. You can not have a healthy relationship if your partner reminds you of your (abusive) father. It just tells us there is an unbalanced power dynamic between Mike and El.
They give El a baby mask (in her rebellion phase). She keeps this in her room shown in S3 while kissing Mike where the music plays about not falling in a trap. The baby mask denoting she has not fully matured or ready to be in a relationship.
Kali's hallucination powers only last a minute and a half.
They announce Brenner is alive here and don't do anything about this until season 4. But it's clearly stated that he is Eleven's wound.
Kali projects a wall when she and El have a falling out. There is a wall in the S5 trailer, which might be a projection hiding something, but also a metaphorical wall between who she has a falling out with (Mike).
The Mind Flayer, Episode 8
They called the other character named Will (Billy) the f slur by an abusive dad. Coincidence? I think not. Will is currently lost to the MF, internalized homophobia, while this occurs. While I'm on the subject, Billy's car is blue and so are Will's tunnels. Blue has the association with toxic masculinity and internalized homophobia.
Jonathan kneeling by a comatose Will stroking his hair saying, "Sorry I wasn't there. I should've been here." Very much S4 vibes, and Jonathan seeing Will's gay heartbreak. 💔
Jopper by Lovers Lake on Will's map. Directly paralleled to Byler by Lovers Lake on the map in S5. But literally right after, the next cut in this sequence is Mike watching Will on the couch. They're lovers too.
Dustin literally says the MF is an "analogy". An analogy of grooming, homophobia, etc. Fire doesn't work on the MF says Dustin, just like the doctors in Hawkins Lab. It doesn't work on Vecna in S4.
Mike says if anyone knows how to kill the MF it's Will. Will being the key to defeating the UD set up in S2.
Nancy was eyeing Steve in the shed (before they break up). Nancy has so many boarding up scenes between Jonathan and Steve. She is known to "retreat," battling with covering up the truth or not.
Mike is STILL convinced that the Demogorgon took El in episode 8 when talking to Max. As if he didn't see her at the beginning of the season through the window. He's not looking for her. He's also still pissed off at Max here while talking about El, holding onto the past instilling anger in him. He's rarely happy when talking about El.
Them building the shed to trick Will has the same Mulan music, istg. Recalls the trap gone wrong. Everyone else is waiting outside while Mike is the only one from the party in the shed. Rainbow lens flare in the shed. Will (the MF) flickers the lights.
Joyce mentioning Will's birthday when earlier in the season we see an "I forgot your birthday" card on Will's bulletin board.
Joyce talks about Will loving his multi-color crayons he got as a gift from her (when his friends gave him Star Wars figurines, which is supposed to represent masculinity here). He drew a colorful rainbow ship versus the tunnels that were distinctly blue and drab, reflecting his internalized homophobia. This is an example of the themes openness and repression being symbolized in rainbows versus monochrome crayons/colors respectively. Joyce was proud her son was gay, proud of the rainbow ship.
Then Jonathan brings up their dad leaving to further these themes, the homophobia he faced. Castle Byers was his safe space to be a kid/be who he was.
Mike talks about when he and Will first met in a scene that is HEAVILY queer-coded. He was alone, Will was alone. Will is gay, Mike is… 🌈.
Steve asks what Morse code is and literally everyone and Will's mother knows it except him, kills me. Morse code being used like the queer coding in the show. Steve being the straightest man in the room. Thoughts.
Mike talking about D&D like Jonathan talking about their mixtape, giving it the same importance. Jonathan made that mix tape to drown out Lonnie, their homophobic dad. Will used D&D for the same thing perhaps. Mike going on and on about D&D in S5 to bring Will back to him, and illuminate their bond is safe, supportive. "Then you cast fog cloud and saved us. You saved the whole party." Another nod, to Will saving everyone. Fog Cloud is another metaphor for the closet.
I can only see Mike with the candlestick now. Lucas is shielding Max, Nancy is shielding Jonathan. Will's in Jonathan's room, but Mike is standing by the hallway, protecting it.
The Gate, Episode 9
There is a butterfly pillow behind Mike and El when they reunite, which reminds us of Kali's rainbow hallucination butterfly that isn't real. Do with that what you will. Mike saying "I never gave up on you," hmm, sure Queerler. Anyways, they list the number of days they've been apart like El does in her S4 letter to Mike, which was full of lies and not something to be paralleled.
Mike fights Hopper about hiding El, in Will's room. "Nothing about this is okay. Liar. Liar. Liar." I can't help but feel Mike is mad at himself here as well when he cries into a hug. Mike is mirrored in Hopper throughout the season. The Will and El parallels culminate to this, hiding El is like hiding Will. Mike hits a dad that forced his child to hide, mirroring the internalized homophobia themes of this season.
El asks to see Will. This is their first ever meeting in person, but Will is unconscious. El is the last person to see Will before he is assaulted. She knows he is not okay in her dialogue to Joyce. El is also a CA victim.
Karen reading a bodice-ripper romance novel with a cover that looks like Billy (aka William) listening to "Memories" by Barbra Streisand. Put that joke in context: romantic memories with William = Mike's swing memory with Will is romantic.
Mike straight up saves Will's life by telling them to expel the MF out of him before they close the gate. HE saved his life by coming up with the plan. How does he know exactly what Will needs? Well, let me tell you… 🌈.
Poetic full circle moment as El starts in the cabin and Will ends his journey there. Vice versa, Will starts his journey in the lab then El ends her journey there. They are mirror images of each other.
A direct cut from Nancy and Steve breaking up to Mike and El. El leans into the kiss, Mike has the same expression as at the end of S3. Keeps his eyes open and is frozen, not leaning in—interrupted by Hopper, who she needs.
Mike watching from the Byers house as both El and Will leave just like in the end of S3. Hopper has a conversation with El that is literally word-for-word the beginning of the "from Mike" scene in S4. Mike father parallels once again.
Dustin and Steve putting the demodog in the fridge. 🤣 Why? Headcannoning that being the Demogorgon Hopper kills in the Russian prison.
Mike saying, "We're not even in the game. We're on the bench," to Steve's sports metaphor, which harkens back to Ted's line in the beginning of the season, "It's strike 20. You're on the bench son," about Mike's self-sabotaging behavior after losing El.
Will and Billy share the same needle. Both infected with the same virus in the show. Both called the f slur, dealing with toxic masculinity and paternal abuse. Mike starts respecting Max after she stands up to her bully for Lucas. Like Mike stood up to his bully for Will. "Woah incredible" "told you, zoomer," when she drives them to the tunnels. They are literally the same person. Mayhaps Mike was afraid Max would replace him, hmm. Jealous at being replaced by a girl.
Jonathan clinging on to Nancy while Will is in pain. 💔 The MF attacking Joyce, Will's loved one, as the vines in the tunnel attack Mike. Admittedly, Mike gets paralleled to family a lot, for both El and Will. Except, Joyce and Will coexist in harmony.
The MF looks like a demon possession and the gate looks like the portal to hell. The UD is an allegory for hell, or what is perceived to be hell. For Will, homophobia is being told he'll go to hell for being gay ("fairyland").
The end is Brenner saying "you have a wound Eleven. It's festering. Eventually it will kill you." She closes the gate but her wound isn't fully resolved. That is what she was still dealing with in S4, and will hopefully overcome in S5.
The MF was reaching out to make Eleven its host, like it did with Will. Bruh, the parallels are never ending between these two.
Before the Snowball, Mike and Will are the only two to be photographed in the end, notably coupling them when the whole party was photographed before in their ghostbusters costumes.
"Hey zombie boy wanna dance?" "I don't…" Mike pushes Will to dance with the girl, then has an immediate look of regret. "Time After Time" plays which is kind of ambiguous if it's a romantic song, but the lyrics speak about enduring love and "secrets buried deep inside." 🚪🌈
Dustin's shoes at the dance are scribbled with the Ghostbusters logo (eta: a recall of the "crazy together" scene in the GB outfits).
"Every Breath You Take" is very much a song from El's POV, who watched Mike. "And every vow you break. Every smile you fake." A song about someone's first marriage and themes of jealousy playing as Mike and El kiss. This is made even more ominous as the MF, internalized homophobia, lurks on the other side. The song being from his POV, too. A shadow hanging over Mike and El's heads.
#BylerEndgame