Just made a post on all the things that made the ily speech so anti climactic and one of them is
THIS REVEAL SHOULD HAVE BEEN *WITH* ELEVEN
Because it was a reveal. Before this point we had no insight into specific reasons for why Mike was behaving the way he was with El. This speech from him is the first time we hear that it is a result of his insecurities.
Something, in the later monologue, he only references surface level "scared of losing you" "hurt more". We've talked about how as characters, she should have been the one to help him work through it, but this isn't about. This is about the puppeteering of an audience's attention.
Because by the time we get to the ily speech...we don't care. Not as much, at least. Because this was the big reveal of what was going on - in the van.
The reveal of specifics should have been like Will's. It WAS the confession. We got hints and buildup but not specifics any sooner and that was the climax of that buildup. That was the payoff and it was the first time we heard these things from him.
For Mike, he told Will a bunch of stuff and Will essentially said "great! Now, go tell her that" and he...did. Okay? It's new to her, but we don't feel that from her perspective because we as an audience already know.
This doesn't pack a punch. It isn't a surprise anymore the contents of what he's going to say. Before, even if he said it, we would be listening with baited breath for the explanation we did not yet have, receiving it WITH her.
They spoiled their own payoff on purpose by giving it to us an episode before the big moment. 2 hours earlier. Many did not watch both those episodes in a sitting, so a day to multiple days long of already knowing this information for some.
For my friend who I showed it and we could not work out our schedules to watch the finale for a bit, it was old news to her by then.
They gave us the explanation with Will in 4x08. Then they told us Mike was gonna say it in that scene with El that Argyle interrupted. Then they just mashed those two things together with the only thing left to engage us being performance and the bells and whistles of music and editing, not content. Not script. There was nothing to care about anymore, we'd heard it all - in 4x03, in 4x08, an hour prior this episode, but certainly not for the first time right now.
We are motivated by curiosity as people. That's common knowledge. And they weaponized that against us by pre-emptively quenching it, so that we didn't care any more. They made it so that by the time the payoff came, there was nothing to be curious about. We know that he'll say it, we know what he'll say, we know how she'll react to him, and we know how it will help her now.
NOT TO MENTION THAT THIS IS A HORRIBLE TIME TO MAKE SOMETHING FEEL USELESS. "Someone will die if you take too long" is kind of the premise here and since we aren't still on the edge of our seats for new information, even if El is, we feel that it can be cut off at any time. He said the three words girl now hurry up let it give you strength and save Max. Go. Okay, now, go. Go. Do it. It is one thing to make something seem skippable. It is another to put it in a life or death context that makes it feel wasteful.
They DESTROYED their own payoff on PURPOSE.
...Because it wasn't a payoff. Had it been, we would have experienced it with El. Surprised by both the event and the reason, learning it with her. Waiting, baited breath, for every new sentence, with the desire for it to keep going.
But we were with Mike. A Mike POV of a love confession would be like Will's - an unburdening of something we were shown he was struggling with throughout the season. But we weren't shown that. We knew he was struggling but we didn't what with even enough to know what kind of unburdening to root for, no, we were with Mike in what the situation actually was:
A frantic, desperate filibuster grabbing at any sentences that are guaranteed based information we already know will work for her, for the sole purpose of giving her strength and getting her out. It was not a confession, it was a strategy. A strategy born out of love, but that is not the same as a love confession.
We knew everything he would say so that we could experience it with him. The actual thing he was doing: reaching back into his memory for things she had confirmed from him either directly or, to his knowledge, through Will would be helpful to her in this moment. "New information", any sort of reveal would be a risk, and unlike a love confession, this is not about leaps of faith, this is not about vulnerability. It is life or death in a way that, in this case, is about playing it safe.
The reason we know the script is to convey that Mike is sticking to it. Mike is sticking to the script he already has, the script we have already been shown, whether said by him before or by her to him. This isn't Mike working up the courage to tell her a truth we happen to already know. We know how this ends and that isn't really a risk for him for that reason. Because just as we experience it, Mike is not taking an emotional risk. This is exactly what we experience it as: Not a vulnerable, personal leap of faith. It's Mike sticking to the script he knows works.
That's why we were made to know that script too. To feel it. To feel the reaching back for old, sturdy information. To feel the regurgitation, recitation instead of spontaneity and vulnerability. Because that is exactly what he's doing. He is reciting to play it safe, not confessing to take a risk.
