#im absolutely devastated

[choi-san-makes-me-wanna]

the rose - coachella 2024 👹

[giibiiiii]

Ok, thoughts before I go to bed.

To me, Byler is open ended.

Those futures he described could be real, but could also not be. They also included El going to the three waterfalls place - which based on their reactions is clear to me that it is made up, as a way to help them cope with the grief. El herself said "you don't get to write the ending".

And then we see the way Mike looks at Will's (yellow) name on his DND board and hesitates before he puts his own right next to it (his name in blue), and has the most heartbroken and regretful expression on his face I have ever seen.

(btw i think that if they got together in the epilogue or just before it, Mike would be feeling wrong for being with her brother when he hadn't properly processed losing her yet)

There was also Hopper's talk with Mike (which I loved, his own dad couldn't be that for him so I'm glad he had Hopper in that moment), how he has two paths; to accept her decision, or be overwhelmed with guilt and regret and push people away.... And he has only just chosen a path of acceptance (similar to Will when he began his self acceptance arc at the start of the season), and not guilt/regret. So it could take some time ... But also, why are we still seeing him looking like he regrets something, after the campaign and the imagined futures segment?

I think that talk with Hopper about pushing people away can be interpreted to tie in with Wills worries about pushing people away, too. Vecna showed him what could happen in his future as a gay man, drifting away from his friends and family, so he chose to take that outcome away so vecna didn't have anything over him. And Hopper showed Mike what his future could be if he goes down a dark path, and this leads Mike to chose the path of acceptance, and not pushing others away. So that in mind, I believe Mike can be interpreted as being on a similar journey to Will, but he is just a lot further behind. I believe he will get there, one day. Or he won't, and it could just become another tragic story of a closeted gay/bi kid in the 80s who was too scared to do anything about it and let the chance pass him by. But I don't think he will do that, eventually he will be brave.

We also see Mike has the painting up in his imagined future dorm room. Even in his fantasy, Will is there in some way.

And also! There was the - what I believe to be intentional, for better or worse - voice over of Vicky saying "what's taking them so long" after they had a heart to heart going up the tower. They've done that a lot, played the next scenes dialogue over a previous one, a la Holly saying "it doesn't make sense" over Hopper and El after El says she believes the military have Vecna. And no, it didn't make sense, cause he was using his powers. And in the same way, "what's taking them so long?" Could be a way to say it will take them a long time. Perhaps, being optimistic, they just decided to back out at that moment, bad opt for the cop out ending of very vaguely (if at all) leaving it open to interpretation that it could happen a lot further in the future and not in the timeline of their show.

And after the last campaign, Mike's fond look lingers on Will a beat too long (to be platonic), after Will says he believes until, once again, cue the interruption trope. I'm choosing to believe the snowball will one day become an avalanche, I just wish we could have seen it happen. Like how the characters choose to believe Eleven has gone on, and is in a peaceful place, I'm choosing to believe the ending that makes me feel better about all this, too.

And also! (I keep editing this to add more stuff lol) There was Karen at graduation saying she is proud of him, so proud. Idk about you, but to me that echoes Joyce's monologue to Will in S2. I want to interpret that in my own way. And Will still had a long way to go on his journey at that point, when Joyce said it to him. Will had the urgency of the supernatural plot propelling him forward in that way (by being linked up to it), but Mike didn't have that. What we see of Mike's story in the show is his connection with El, their painful separation, and then him taking 18 months to even begin to move towards healing from the grief and trauma of that. Really... I believe he was not in the place to start his own snowball rolling, not while El was around (literally or in his thoughts/regrets). But I think he might just be in the right place now, or almost is, to start his own acceptance journey just like Will did before him. Wills outfit towards the end of the 7th episode was confirmed to represent his first outfit, and I think that reflected how he was reconnected with his inner child. And hey, during the last campaign, Mike was like his old self again, and it even started like the first scene - with the sprinkler - and he does his goofy nerdy roar thing and falls to the ground like he did in the first campaign so.... I'm chosing to believe that he is reconnecting with his inner child now too.

Something something Will begging to play DND and Mike being mean about it in S3, to Mike being the one to suggest playing it, instead of going to the party the 'cool' girls (not my fault you don't like girls) invited them to in s5.

I think Mike wants the future he imagined for Will too. A different world, but a more accepting one. Without the clip played over it, it would sound even more like that, like mike's hope too. Something that he could want with Will. That's how I see it, and his expression of absolutely painful grief at the end kills me. To me it looks like he's feeling like that's something he'll never get. I honestly wish we could just fucking get some clarity about this. Not just for byler, but for Mike too. I hate his story ended on that note, and his final shots included him looking like that. Absolutely broken. Gdi. At least we saw silly nerdy goofy Mike again just before that.

So yeah, to me it's open ended and I'm chosing to stick with that. It can be interpreted however we want. Milevens included, they can believe in that ending and imagine them reuniting one day if they want to.

That still fucking sucks because in some ways it keeps the ship war alive indefinitely (unless the duffers make a statement), and obviously I would much fucking rather have had byler realised on screen and not just be left as a theory or as open ended.

But anyway.... To me, it wasn't cut off completely. Crumbs, the tiniest ones. And it's so shitty, the duffers made us think they were cooking us something really good, but they never were. And yes, all that's left are the crumbs because the cake existed, but somebody else ate it.

And, yeah. That's my thoughts on that.

But hey at least the straights got their unambiguous happy endings!!! (even broken up Jancy had more intimate moments in the epilogue then byler or rovickie lol 🥲)

I may write a fanfic based on this open end and my interpretation of how their story could continue, but I wish I didn't fucking have to. We will write our own happy endings. Again. And again. And again....

Sigh.

Performative allyship is not allyship. You fight with us, not simply hand us the guns.

***

(side note the last mileven scene was fucking heartbreaking, my god. I was sobbing. They made mileven actually have a strong emotional moment - right before she fucking died. Oh milevens.... I am so sorry 😞)

***

Another side note, I wonder if the duffers wanted to do it, but were scared that we wouldn't like the way they did it so they just left it open so we can imagine it however we want to, and they can be free from criticism of how they wrote byler happening - cause you know we all had our own ideas lol, and the anti bylers would have got mad

And! I hate how we didn't get to see where rovickie are at in the epilogue, not even through discussion (and the opportunity was there - they could have even had her be her radio assistant or something, idk)

Also omg. Purple rain. Fucking hell. That was just.... Fuck. I'm never going to be able to enjoy that song again lmao 😭 I really wanted it in the show, but not like this. Not like this ...

[medicinelarrie]

.

[ilikekethcupsblog]

The ending was truly something else. No like seriously it RIPPED me into pieces, absolute PIECES.

I'm stuck on the fact, Johnny never got to come out to his mom or Ed or anyone in his family besides the liars. He never got that option and he never will.

In absolute TEARSSS thinking about the last few moments of this show omg. ESPECIALLY THE ENDING??? WHAT THE FUCK

[weetbixcuits]

Why didn't you reblog that post ab sexy knights from ME:((

[haven-of-trash]

My dismas has perished and I am devastated.

Who's gonna hold reynaulds hand now???

Devastated that this happened but... Nothing I can do about it I suppose...

[apynae]

I will burn them

[siilkeye]

the rest of the islanders talking abt qmax