The more I pay attention to the camera language and all the delicate designs and decisions in filming, shooting, and directing, the more astounded I am by the show.
There are so many delicate details and designs in cinematography and photography, so much more than just acting choices, but also the coordination between the actors, the cameraman, the director, and the Director of Photography (show's fifteen-season DP Serge really is unbelievably amazing, no wonder almost all the technical guests in Rob/Rich's podcast would more or less have to mention and praise his work).
Just the stage blocking and choreography alone are something worth noting. All the seemingly casual movements are just perfectly in sync with the shift in mood and relationship dynamics. The effect on the plot and emotion is almost like on a subconscious level. I never noticed before, and now I'm admiring with my mouth gaping. The camera language itself is a whole level of subtext.
An outstanding example is in this three-minute clip, where Cas is trying to persuade Dean to help him interrogate Raphael:
What we see on the surface may be just that Cas pops into the motel room when Dean is packing his duffel bag. During the whole conversation, he keeps himself busy by doing quite a lot of casual, random things, like washing his jacket, putting it on, walking around, cleaning his knife, putting it in his bag, etc..
But if we look a little bit more closely at each of those walking and moving, the timing of those moves in terms of the dialogue, and his relative positions with Cas every time, there is so much more to dig into.
(More gifs and detailed analysis below the cut. Long post warning.)
(Disclaimer: I'm no expert in cinematography or photography. Everything below is just my babbling while I enjoy the analysis. At the end of the day, everything is just my own thoughts and ideas.)
(Also, I'll try to look at the clips without too much ship rotten mind in my head, but I know myself, and I know perfectly that it's unavoidable, so apologies in advance. Forgive me.) (But I know people enjoy it too, so why am I even apologizing?)
Anyway, here we go --
When Cas first pops in, Dean's occupied by the sink, looking down at the tab and cleaning his jacket with a washcloth. Cas appears behind his back, and Dean's startled by the sneaky angel. Instead of glaring at the angel directly, Dean glares at his reflection in the mirror to snap, "Don't do that."
The relative standing position in this case is mainly plot-required.
We may also read into it some more to say that, showing up behind Dean, instead of in front of him, like he used to do more in Season 4 (if memory serves right), it might show that some of the angelic pride and arrogance from Season 4 is diminishing in Cas since his banishment at the beginning of Season 5. He's a little less proud, no longer that "You should show me some respect. I dragged you out of Hell. I can throw you back in" angelic asshole Castiel, but a more reachable Cas. His self-positioning relative to Dean has also shifted since Season 4 till now.
Then Dean turns around to face him. They are standing face to face, chest to chest, way too close in the usual human social distance standard. The move with eyes flickering down to the lips is pretty guaranteed to be jacting joice, but the rest, the standing position and their body stance, that usually should be directed and on purpose.
So, from the directing and designing point of view, standing so close to each other, on the one hand, it can show Cas's lack of knowledge in human interaction; on the other hand, it's a very visible showing to tell how close the relationship between Dean and Cas is, and the slight imbalance in it.
The fact that Cas is willing to stand so close and Dean is slightly uncomfortable, I think, is to show two things: One, that they are different, angels and humans experience and expect things differently, so it is guaranteed that even as their relationship is progressing, there will be unavoidable conflicts and frictions just because of them being too different (And from all the seasons followed, we knew it's proved too many times).
Second, at this stage, Cas is ready to full-heartedly trust Dean (he just died for Dean once, for the first time, that's enough proof), but Dean is still a little reserved. They are close, but still not close enough from Dean Winchester's point of view. He's a man with far too many walls, too thick and too high to cross yet (if ever), and even if he knows how much Cas did for him, how much the angel is willing to give to him, he still doesn't fully give in, or let his wall down, let Cas in. It's not really about "trust", but more about "vulnerability". His "personal space" is his range of self-protection, his wall, and he's literally telling Cas, they're not there yet. They may be friend, but he still only has himself, and Cas is outside his wall.
That also explains his initial hesitation of why refusing to help Cas look for Raphael.
But the fun thing is, Dean has many ways to regain his intruded "personal space", putting distance between them, hiding behind his wall. He can put that distance in by himself by walking away, by stepping back himself, but no, he chooses to point it out to Cas, to wait for Cas to step back, to retreat.
His protest isn't exactly strong or very insistent. The fact that he can't even really tear his eyes away from Cas's face and lips (again, jacting joice affecting here) shows enough that the boundary isn't that hard-defined. His wall is already crumbling; he's reluctant to let Cas in yet, but given time, there might be a time he will, and he knows that. And he's a little uneasy about the possibility. So by telling Cas to back away, it's his soft gesture of self-protection, a hesitant rejection, wishing that he wouldn't have to make any difficult choice down the line, as long as Cas doesn't approach, they'll be just fine. (And in fact, that's practically exactly what happened in the following ten years, up until the very last.)
So right now, from blocking's perspective, they're standing close, face to face, but conflicted. That's also their mental state; they're intimate to a degree, but not quite there yet. So to give each other a space to breathe, one of them or both will protest, and they will put more distance between them, emotionally or physically.
And in this case, Cas is the one who apologizes and steps back. The distance between them becomes socially acceptable, as if to say the definition of their relationship and the tension (or attraction) also returns to a socially acceptable range.
Metaphorically, if the initially half-foot distance is viewed as a romantic relationship-inclined kissing range, taking a step back is to say they both agree to return to a normal friendship range. Dean is the one vocalizing the rejection of potential suggestions, and Cas respects the decision. I believe neither of them really considers their relationship to be anything close to romance as of yet (Season 5 is still a bit too early for that development), but the camera language is somehow already suggesting the possibility.
As soon as Cas backs away, Dean walks farther away from him, taking at least six steps away from him across half the room. When he talks to him, his back faces him. They're emotionally very distant at this time.
Also consider what Dean is saying at the same time: "How'd you find me? I thought I was flying below the angel radar." He isn't exactly thrilled to see Cas, pointing out that Cas shouldn't be able to find him yet. He's really not in a very good mood right now, and from the context, it's mostly about Sam taking off. And Dean has a record of being unable not to lash out at people around him, the hint of anger is all around him.
So this "walking away", is really not about grabbing the jacket and bringing it to the bed where his duffel bag is, but about the motion of walking away itself, distancing himself from Cas, isolating himself physically and emotionally.
"His back to Cas", is saying he doesn't want to be talked to, his rejection to Cas (and the whole world, really). It's his gesture of shutting down the conversation. A silent "Leave me alone. Let me stay miserable alone."
When Cas looks around the room and asks, "Where is Sam?" Dean takes a second before answering, "Me and Sam are taking separate vacations for a while." He doesn't look at Cas when he answers, and he's busy putting on his jacket when he answers.
The topic of Sam is making him uncomfortable; it's the exact topic that he's been miserable about the whole time, and he doesn't want to talk about it. His "not looking at Cas" is another rejection of opening up, so is "putting on the jacket". The jacket is like a physical representation of his self-protection wall, adding another layer to the wall, so he gets to stay farther inside, farther alone, farther isolated and miserable.
All these moves are very literally saying, "Leave me alone, Cas. Let me stay in my wall."
And right after the uncomfortable question about Sam, Dean very actively (and not subtly) veers the topic away. He turns to Cas, and asks about his search for God and the return of his amulet.
It's the first part of the conversation that Dean speaks while he's facing Cas, and they're talking about serious business that is emotionally close to both of them (God hunt to Cas, amulet necklace to Dean), so he's facing Cas, putting his attention back to Cas and the talk.
Then Cas asks for help: "That's why I'm here. I need your help." Without listening to what the help is, Dean rejects instantly, "With what -- God hunt? I'm not interested."
In the meantime, his action is rolling up his sleeves. It's a gesture of showing more skin, which could mean potentially opening up slightly, might be willing to help, depending on the request; or getting ready to action, to leave the motel room and go out to hunt, which potentially could also mean to leave Cas behind, shutting him down without helping.
So Dean's action is basically saying he's currently at the crossroads of decisions, opening to either way. And Cas has to fight hard to make him listen.
And Cas chooses to close the distance between them, by taking four large strides across the room and standing right before Dean. And what he's saying at the same time is: "It's an Archangel. The one who killed me."
He's making it emotionally close to both of them again, while Dean has been trying to emotionally distance them all this time.
Cas reminds him that he was killed last year by the Archangel, a fact coming out of both their choices. Cas doesn't have to further say that his death was because he chose Dean that time, he lost everything for nothing; he already said that once, he doesn't have to make Dean feel guilty again, because Dean is already thinking all that. The weight of his ask is adding on. The causality could lead to the conclusion that Cas's death is partially (or entirely) Dean's fault; therefore, he has no reason to reject helping now.
Dean stops all his little restless actions with his hands when Cas stands right before him. He just stares back at Cas's eyes, getting captured by the heaviness of the moment, the memory, and the conversation with full attention.
(Which, however, is very likely jacting again, simply paralyzed by the extremely close existence of the other man.)
For several long seconds, they stay in the same relative position, standing close to each other, face to face, fully focused, exchanging heated conversation and information, Dean getting to know more about Raphael and Cas's request.
Dean hasn't shown any sign of being willing to help yet, but at least he's paying attention and learning about what Cas needs to tell him. He's listening, that's a good sign and a good beginning of some potentially closer improvement in their relationship, so it also matches the physically close distance in their standing stance right now.
However, as soon as he learns most of the information about Raphael, Dean walks away. Here is a very physical rejection: He walks past Cas to behind his back, so that when they continue the talk, they are essentially back to back. And he walks to the other side of the room again, putting as much distance between them as possible.
Which matches what Dean's saying after a scoff: "So, what, you think you can find this dude and he's just gonna spill God's address?"
He doesn't believe Cas's plan would work, which doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't believe in Cas -- it could be mostly about not trusting Raphael or God to even be able to be found or they'd help in any way. He expressed that same point in Season 5 Episode 2 when they were in the hospital as well, that either God is missing or He doesn't care. And here, finding Raphael is a part of the whole "finding God" mission, so he's still not convinced it's meaningful.
That's why, once again, he distances himself away, from Cas and his God related holy plan, shutting down in rejection and refusal, showing disbelief and no faith. Once again, it has nothing to do with him having to grab a knife and wipe the sink in the motel bathroom.
Cas doesn't turn around yet this time, when he says, "Yes, because we are gonna trap him and interrogate him."
Even without knowing much about human social gestures, Cas knows about the "turning his back", because that's exactly what Dean did in Season 4 Finale when they were both in the Beautiful Room. Back then, when Dean was mad at him for not helping, Dean also turned his back to him and told him to leave. So here, in a way, Cas must already realize Dean's rejection, and his own pride is making him not turn around first to be the soft voice. So he stays back to Dean, telling him his plan over his shoulder.
And this time, Dean is the first between them to turn around. His rejection is never set in storm, which is so visible just by all these times he walks past Cas, back to him, then turns around facing him again. All the back and forth, torn and undecided, all the hesitation right there in all his seemingly restless, random moves.
Dean realizes how serious Cas is about this plan and the mission, his voice turns serious, and Cas can hear it, so he turns around to face him, too. Once again, they start talking face-to-face.
The God hunting mission (extended to searching, capturing, and interrogating Raphael) has always been Cas's lone task; Dean was never really on board, not even until now. All he has done so far is to lend the necklace. But then, now, he really sees how important it is to Cas, and he sees the risk. He starts to very hesitant imagine a version where he helps Cas, opening up a little bit, not completely shutting the chance of them collaborating.
Cas hears that from his voice when he asks, "You're serious about this." Technically, it's not a question; Dean already knows Cas is serious, but Cas needs to answer and reiterate it again, telling him, "Yes."
I have the feeling that this "Yes" is a nod to the conversation they had in the Season 4 Beautiful Room, when Cas asked with his eyes when pushing Dean to the wall: "Do you trust me? Are you ready?" Dean nodded a "Yes". And this time it's the other way round. Dean asks if he's really that determined, and Cas is the one who confirms.
So with that confirmation and determination, Dean starts swinging. He takes six steps toward Cas, first time actively closing the distance between them to stand before Cas, to talk while looking at him in the eyes.
Even that he has a knife in his right hand matches the time in Season 4 Finale when Cas barged in and pushed Dean to the wall, he held a demon blade in his right hand as well. All feel very deliberate and parallel.
For the first time since the beginning of the conversation, Dean allows himself to emotionally get involved, even making the analogy of Thelma and Louise, must knowing full well that's a road trip movie of two same-gender characters having adventures that lead to an ultimate heroic ending.
He finally allows himself to imagine a version where he goes on adventures with Cas, even if the ending would most likely be both of them dead, going out in a swing, very much like Butch and Sundance style. Even though Dean's still talking about it in a joking tone, the thought of helping Cas is already starting in his head. So from now on, persuading Dean should be an easier task.
But they're just not here yet. Once again, Dean walks past Cas to his back, speaking with their back to each other. Which, again, has nothing to do with him having to put away the knife and put it into the duffel bag.
Dean challenges, "Give me one good reason why I should do this."
Which is essentially saying he would help, but with some condition. Which is already so much better than a direct "would not help". So it's practically already very close to a "Yes", only requiring a last push.
That is why Cas spends some long seconds trying to come up with "a good reason". But his understanding of "a good reason" is a little off from what Dean needs to hear.
Cas turns around to Dean again, but now both of them are standing sideways, not fully face to face, not fully back to back, just halfway hanging there, just matching Dean's hesitation.
Cas thinks Dean must be more tended to help if there is a practical reason, that's why the "one good reason" he offers is a promise that Dean would be safe in this mission. But that's not what Dean really wants to hear.
Dean turns fully around now to face Cas, out of surprise and a little hurt, I think. The look in his eyes is basically the same when he realizes he's needed only because he's useful, and all his life, he's been used as a tool, by his father, by everyone else, and looks like right now, by Cas, too.
That is when Cas realizes the mistake and retreats to emotional reasons. Dean doesn't do emotions, but emotional attachment, being needed and wanted, are the strongest reasons to reach him.
So Cas says, very emotionally, very relatably, very painfully, "I need your help, because you are the only one who will help me."
He rebelled for him, he fell for him, he died for him, he's being hunted by other angels and couldn't go back to Heaven, he doesn't have anyone but Dean. The loneliness and helplessness of having no one to turn to, the desperation, Dean knows perfectly well with that. That's why he prayed to Cas for the first time; he had Cas when he didn't have anyone else who would help him, and now it's Cas's turn to ask for his help, because Dean's the only one Cas has now.
There is no way Dean can reject that again.
They stand face to face, close to each other, share a long and beautiful ten-second stare, almost like a ritual between them. And Dean eventually gives up the pretense of self-isolation and dissociation, allowing himself to be physically close to and emotionally connected to Cas. That makes the final agreement, "All right, fine," so much more meaningful than just agreeing on hunting down Raphael together.
This is Dean opening himself up to Cas. This is Cas reaching to him across the walls.
After all the dancing around and turning back and forth, this is finally where they land, standing close, standing together, getting ready to head out shoulder by shoulder. It's like the showdown of a big dancing scene. That's why I deliberately call this sequence's blocking a "choreography", all the times Dean walking past Cas, almost bumping into his shoulder to stand behind him, to have his back to him, to show the rejection, only to always turn around, moving back toward him, the push and pull, the attraction and rejection, the self-isolation and uncontrollable tension, that's all a grand dance, physically and emotionally. And the blocking just shows everything perfectly.
I don't know if it's the director or DP or scriptwriter who came up with all these design ideas (which get translated to markers on the stage floor where Jensen and Misha move around following, no way any of this is improvised). In any case, this less-than-three-minute sequence is really the most impressive textbook-level clip showing how blocking can support plot and emotion, foreshadowing character relationships, without even being noticed. I love it and admire it so much.
This is a part of my argument, The Byler Problem, and I thought I'd post it separately for now as I finish the video!
This is also the second part of my analysis of the trio's arc (Will, Mike, and El). I'd advise you to read Will's arc before this, but it's not necessary. I just mention some things here that belong to his arc. It's wayyy shorter than this btw—Mike is just... Mike.
—
Before I start, I just wanna say this is MY opinion of Mike’s character arc. I know that depending on which side of the fandom you’re on, you’ll have your own interpretation on his character. Either he has internalized homophobia, or learns how to show El love, or is just weird like that. This is what I think his deal is. Also, due to how complicated Mike’s character arc is, I won’t be using the same layout I used for Will. It’s difficult to apply it here and you’ll see why later on, but I’ll refer to it whenever I can.
Things may seem confusing at first, but by the second-half I promise everything will make sense.
This first portion will just be me laying out some things in order to make my future points clear. It’s important to know the following before I really delve into Mike’s relationships with Will and El, and I know some of it is quite obvious, but it still needs to be said. You can skip to Chapter 1 if you want, but I'd rather you just skim this section.
—
What Shapes Mike's Arc
Mike depends on this lie that he has to be needed in order to be “good”. This stems from the bullying he went through when he was younger, prompting self-esteem issues and insecurities to arise inside of him. Also, this is because of how love is depicted to him.
Karen, the parent he is closer to, depends on Ted. He brings her a stable income, he’s of use, but he doesn’t do anything else. As a result, Mike adopts this way of thinking. He’s nice to El and showers her with attention (too much attention as it ends up affecting his friends), and yet doesn’t see why he needs to tell her that he loves her. Ted doesn’t tell Karen that and they’re fine—they’re the standard family, they align with societal views and tradition. Why can’t he be the same with El? Why can’t he have that perfect relationship?
(Now this would be considered The Ghost: What happened to the character in the past that dictates how they view the world.)
Furthermore, Mike also has attachment issues stemming from the way he was parented. Attachment issues can be formed through neglect, and Ted is emotionally neglecting all of his children. Karen balances this out by supporting them and being emotionally available for them, but there was definitely some affect on Mike and Nancy due to their father’s absence.
In this scene, for instance. He couldn’t properly process such a huge loss, especially at a young age, and his attachment issues to Will caused him to do something irrational and dangerous.
This is later amplified by both his want to be needed and Will’s death. His closeness to Will specifically in the group shows that their relationship was special. The honesty that they treasured opposed the half-truths and ignorance in his home life.
“it was a seven.” V.S. Mike lying about being sick to Karen, Nancy lying about staying over at Barb's, and Karen almost cheating on Ted
Out of all of the boys, Will was his main source of comfort. Honest comfort.
But let’s look at this from another angle, why is their relationship different in the first place?
Because Will needs him.
Will screams for Mike in the UD, Mike comforts Will in the Crazy Together scene, Mike comforts Will after the nightmare by holding his hand and telling him that he’s a spy, Will screams for Mike in the hospital, Will only recognizes Mike after the possession, Mike’s voice breaks him out of the Mind-Flayer's total control, Will says it’s not possible to replace Mike in the end of season 3, Will paints for Mike, and most importantly—The Van Scene. “I need you Mike, and I always will.”
In other words, Mike needs Will because Will needs him. They fulfill one another.
Adding on to my previous point about Will worsening Mike’s attachment issues, his death was sudden and tragic. His death wasn’t quick, it was scary—brutal, even. Mike’s only source of comfort being snatched away from him in such a violent manner affected him greatly. Even after they found Will, the damage had already been done. Later on in season 2, he saw Will lose himself to the Mind-Flayer, which worsened his issues even further—specifically to Will. His source of comfort was taken away from him twice.
The same thing also happened to Eleven. He loved El because she needed him. She was his way of coping. She was the first girl to not be disgusted by him at a time of his life where bullying was constant and severe. When she left, he wanted to kill himself, not because he loved her that much (it’s been like 4 days…) but because that special, dopamine-surging feeling of being needed was snatched away from him in an instant. Again, in season 2, we see him repeatedly try to communicate with her on the walkman. This is an action that shows us how attached to her he was.
Due to what happened to these two characters, Mike sees relationships as something he has to hold onto as tight as he can so that they don't end.
For example, in season 3, Mike spends hours with El just making out, but why her? I’ll say it again, because she needed him. She was the only girl who wasn’t disgusted by him, she stood out to him. But if El needed him, and so did Will, why didn’t he act the same way towards Will?
Because he couldn’t—it was wrong, it was shameful. If we go down the "Byler Endgame" route, which we will because this is the only way this would make sense, Mike didn’t act so obsessive with Will because his feelings extended the boundaries of a friendship.
But here’s the thing—he can’t have a relationship like this with Will. The feeling it brings him goes against Hawkins’ traditional values, and so, it’s shameful. This leaves a hole in Mike’s heart, an empty space, because he’s rejecting fully embracing these feelings. Here’s a shorter and more concise way of saying this: He likes Will romantically.
Now that we’ve established these things, let’s explore the first chapter of Mike’s character arc.
—
CHAPTER 1: Parents
People often look for qualities their parents have when searching for a romantic partner. Some good examples of this in the show is how Lucas sees his mother in Max through her strength and dominance and Billy sees his mother in Karen through her appearance.
Furthermore, Jonathan sees Lonnie in Nancy ↓
She uses Lonnie’s gun, she's sometimes ignorant to his problems, her language can be strong when she gets angry, and Jonathan pacifies her in the elevator fight. This isn’t to say that their relationship is bad, but it further proves the point that people often go after individuals that remind them of their parents/caretakers, even if it may be detrimental to their mental health.
Now, Mike sees Karen in Will.
Will and Karen share some similar qualities, although not all–just enough to get Mike attached. Out of all of the Party members, Will is the one who speaks to him in a gentle manner the most. He offers support and guidance, just like how Karen offers that to Mike and Nancy. He encourages Mike to do what he thinks is right, just like a mother would.
Again, this isn’t wrong. It’s natural for us as human beings to become attracted to things that are familiar to us. We find peace within familiarity, it’s not incestous at all.
—
CHAPTER 2: Will's Presence
Now onto the more controversial take, Mike sees Will in El.
In season 1, El is compared to Will by Hopper who believes that she is him due to her appearance. Benny even thought that she was a boy. Appearance-wise, she was similar to Will because of her masculine haircut and the fact that she wore boys’ clothes.
Personality-wise, she was quiet, timid, and overall small. It’s only until she uses her powers that we see the differences between her and Will. Unlike him, she’s brave and protective, but she also lies.
The first time she lies to them by changing where the compass is pointing to, Mike gets defensive of her until she hurts Lucas. His protectiveness over her was strong at first because aside from Will, she was the only present person who needed him. Mike wanted to hold onto that—that idea that a person could need him. But after they found Will’s body in the quarry, Mike immediately began to yell at her and put the blame on her.
This completely different reaction was triggered because to Mike, El didn’t just lie about anyone, she lied about the person that he saw in her. Her lie about that specific individual felt like a personal attack. She did something that Will wouldn’t do, and for the first time, Mike saw that.
However, when she saved him from the quarry, things changed.
This person who needs him is showing him their loyalty and care for him, and Mike may be conflicted with how he feels about them due to their past actions, but at the end of the day, he still goes after that person because they showed him something that he can openly accept—unlike his relationship with someone of his gender.
(His relationship with El can be considered The Normalcy of Life stage if we’re using Will’s layout: How the character is handling the wrong belief.)
Basically, Mike feels needed by Will, but he doesn’t feel like he can act on that due to society’s standards of what a good man should be.
This is drilled into him by his father and what happens to the boys around him, specifically Will. He sees how Will is treated and realizes that if he gives into these feelings he’s been suppressing, he’ll get the same treatment or possibly worse, given the fact that Mike probably doesn’t think that Will is gay.
As I stated in the other post, I think the rain fight was him projecting onto Will. The harassment that Will is a victim of stems from the assumptions people make about his sexuality, so Mike joining these people and projecting his own feelings onto Will allows him to separate himself from that same assumption.
Although, it doesn’t go away. That thought still lingers in the back of his mind and we see it at the end of season 3.
It was something said in the heat of the moment when his relationship with El, a girl, was questioned.
—
CHAPTER 3: Mike's Maturity
His entire behavior towards Will in season 3 is triggered by how much he sees himself in Will. Mike wants to be “mature” and have a relationship with a girl, but Will doesn’t.
Will’s idea of maturity is drastically different from Mike’s.
Mike thinks that having a stable “adult” relationship like his parents or any other "traditional" couple depicted in media is what makes a man mature.
(Superman & Lois Lane — Marty & Jennifer in Back to the Future)
Will on the other hand thinks that romantic relationships aren’t what measure one’s maturity, but how they communicate through problems and their ability to handle the past. And so, Will is comfortable bringing his past into the present through a D&D campaign, but Mike sees this action as a threat to his maturity—his journey into becoming an honorable, young man.
This frustrates him and causes him to project himself onto Will—the mirror of what he wants to be.
Mike wants to be expressive, he wants to be theatrical, he wants to be comfortable enough to bring his childhood into the present instead of just suppressing it and calling it stupid. But he can’t because in his mind, that’s not what a man should be, and El needing him is just supporting this unhealthy mindset.
Let’s delve deeper into Mileven’s story in season 3.
This is where Mike and El’s relationship transitions from provider x need-er to equals in their independence.
The thing is, Mike likes that El is isolated. His intentions aren’t malicious, he isn’t even the one forcing these rules on her, but it is a positive for him, even if he doesn’t realize it. El being removed from society means that he is who she depends on for fun, care, and entertainment. It’s Mike who brings her these things. He tells her about comics, things that he likes. That reminds me of something... something El's supposed to learn...
When they do go out, they’re attached at the hip. El isn’t used to this life and she has grown dependent on their relationship, it’s something she’s gotten used to. They are constantly in contact and constantly drifting away from the group—they’re in their own world.
But then, things shift and Mike begins to see the cracks in their relationship as El explores herself. I see a lot of Bylers say that Mike stopped being interested in El as a romantic partner because she loses her femininity—but that’s not the case. Mike stops being interested in El as a romantic partner when El stops looking and acting like Will.
(This would be considered The High and The Fall: The points in which the character finally succeeds, or is close to succeeding, only for everything to fail.)
In a shortened way, let’s look at what happened chronologically according to the show.
When El begins to really explore her character with Max, Mike breaks. He doesn’t understand this new-found independence. El is different now—this is the beginning of her not needing him. That scares Mike. He got attached to his idea of her, and now that she was breaking out of it, he doesn’t know how to react.
He literally uses Hopper’s argument of her not being allowed to leave the cabin against her. Mind you, this is someone that he doesn’t like at all. Someone that he shames and makes disrespectful jokes about.
El's response to this is to dump Mike and continue to explore herself with Max. Distraught, Mike falls into this ugly cycle of complaining to Lucas, being rude to Will, saying that he’ll get her back, and repeatedly burping out cheesy chips.
But why is he acting so lazily about losing El?
Because 1) This is when it dawns on him that she will not be needing him in the future and 2) She stopped looking and acting like Will.
In response to this revelation, he acts like his father—a parent who’s meant to guide him and be his role model.
Slowly, he moves away from this mindset that’s hurting him to placing the blame elsewhere: Max, the person encouraging El’s behavior.
Mike’s anger towards her is fueled by the strong emotions of losing El, the person who made him feel needed. Later on in the show, he tries to get her back and succeeds. He even says that he loves her and can’t lose her again. Although, we know that the only reason he “loves” her is because she needs him. His anxiety over El getting hurt because of how much she’s using her powers is out of genuine care for her, but not love.
He can’t lose this person because this person is healing him—they’re healing his insecurities and his self-esteem issues. He’s trying to work around this problem but ultimately fails.
Even though they’re together by the end of the season, the nature of their relationship has changed. Now, El is not dependent on him for building her character.
Buuuut them separating in season 4 allowed Mike to overlook that. He knows that right now, he isn’t needed by her, but he excuses that by the fact that he technically can’t help her from across the country—at least not as much as before.
(This is kind of a reach, but I still want to mention it because I don’t care. At the end of her letter, El says that she hopes that her spelling was better this time. This suggests that Mike, a writer, might’ve corrected her spelling. If this were to be true, it would mean that Mike still felt a bit needed by her as he is the one correcting her spelling. She’s attending school for the first time and needs help with her work, so Mike helping her would make him feel needed. Again, this is a bit of a reach I guess but I still think it’s important to understanding Mike’s character and how he perceives their relationship. He still feels a bit needed by her, even if she doesn’t really need him for spelling checks, which makes their reunion stump him even more.)
—
CHAPTER 4: The Mileven Problem
Season 4 is a jumble of confusing choices for Mileven if they are endgame. Why is their relationship resolved in such a shabby way?
Let me explain a bit further.
Mike is unable to say I Love You to El, who is clearly upset because of this. Even when she brings it up, he brushes the issue off and says that she knows what he feels about her. After separating, Mike confides in Will, who the audience knows likes Mike. Will proves to Mike that El does in fact need him by confessing how much he needs Mike and using El’s name as a replacement. Mike believes these feelings to be true, no matter the owner. He reunites with El, supports her in her fight against Vecna, and encourages her as she almost dies. Why does he do it? Because he believed those supposed feelings that she has for him.
The true owner of those feelings pushes him to tell her that he loves her, and so he does, and her reaction is… strange. She doesn’t smile, she doesn’t look shocked or grateful—she’s sad. You can say that it’s because Max is literally dying right next to her, but a few moments after this El is literally smiling and laughing at Mike’s monologue. It’s when he says I Love You that her face drops. After this is all done, we don’t get any scenes between El and Mike which you would expect if they were the main couple and just resolved a huge issue in their relationship. Instead, she’s distanced herself from him (and Will…) and the writers place emphasis on that.
So, how is this a satisfying resolution to their conflict in this season?
If Mileven were truly endgame, that would mean that Mike’s love for El in his monologue was powered by Will’s love for him. Which, again, creates a conflict with the message of the show.
Now let’s look at it from a perspective in which Byler is endgame.
Firstly, Mike is not dumb. I’d argue that he’s the second smartest person in the Party, right after Dustin, if we’re measuring intelligence by looking at their observation and problem-solving skills.
Throughout the show, we see Mike pick up on things that other characters don’t. He’s the one who sees El as something that could help them find Will, he’s the one who figures out Will is a spy, he’s the one who suggested they burn the tunnels, he’s the one who suggested they move the car with golf clubs—these are just some examples.
Would it be a stretch to say that he knew Will’s painting was for someone special?
In season 5, El won’t be asking “What painting?” because Mike won’t ask her about it—In actuality, Mike’s going to be asking Will “Why would you lie?”, and it’s not because he doesn’t know that Will likes him. He already knows that, sort of.
In the beginning of season 4, El tells Mike about the painting and how it’s probably for someone Will likes since he’s been acting so secretive and weird about it. So, Mike knows that Will is working on a painting and or has recently finished one that’s meant for someone he likes.
Also, I don’t think that El’s assumption that it’s for someone Will likes romantically is something Mike doubts until the painting is given to him. Let me explain a bit further.
We know that in Cali, everything is built off of lies. Every single character’s new life lacks honesty to one’s character or to the people around them. Let's go through the list again: El’s great social life at school, Will’s romantic feelings for a girl, Jonathan’s weed addiction being something good, and Joyce’s love for her new job.
Mike joins them in this fake life. He arrives wearing something completely different to his usual style, just like El who’s wearing Will’s hand-me-downs instead of the style of clothing she seemed to like while exploring with Max. I think the fact that out of the group, they’re the ones who are wearing clothing different to themselves highlights and emphasizes their dishonesty to one another.
Upon greeting Will, if you can call that a greeting, he asks about the painting. Will says that it’s something he’s been working on—Let’s look back at El’s letter: “Will is painting a lot but he won’t show me what he’s working on.”.
If Mike is observant enough to figure out all of those things in the last 3 seasons, then he definitely picked up on that. The painting that Will brought to the airport (for some reason) is the one El mentioned in her letter the day before.
(I also want to mention the fact that the up-beat music fades out as soon as Will appears—the only person who’s acting honest in the trio’s relationship right now. It’s kind of like Will is breaking into their plastic utopia.)
From here on out, Mike’s focus is not on El, but Will.
Let me say it again: Mike is an observant person. If he was focusing on El, then he’d catch onto her strange behavior: her face dropping, her distancing them from Will, her timidness around Angela, and her discomfort at the idea of skating with her.
Instead, Mike doesn’t catch onto anything. Why? Because he’s too busy focusing on Will—the person who he has unresolved tension with.
Just like a lot of people in this fandom, I think that Mike started realizing his feelings for Will at the end of season 3, right after he and El shared that awkward kiss. In his mind, he compared his interaction with Will a moment before to the one with El. From a viewer’s perspective, watching it felt more performative, more shy, than his scene with Will.
(Also the soundtrack playing in Mileven’s scene is similar to the one playing during their reunion—the plastic utopia. I feel like if you remove the music in their scene it will show how awkward the entire thing is, which is normal in new romantic relationships, but knowing what we know, it’s just weird. Mike's facial expression after they both turn around says it all.)
So, watching season 4 with the knowledge that Mike is starting to realize his feelings for Will makes a lot of things make more sense. Why would he act awkward with Will at the airport? Why would he focus so much on Will during Rink-O-Mania, to the point where he couldn’t catch on to the fact that El was in trouble?
The fact that he put the blame on Will for El being harassed and not on himself is like he’s saying “It’s your fault that I was too focused on you to notice El”.
He’s avoiding blaming himself because if he does then it will confirm the fact that he was prioritizing Will over El. Then, he would have to answer the question:
Why am I so focused on Will?
He even takes it out on El during dinner, again acting like his father—the person who’s meant to be his role model. Every time Mike is forced to confront his feelings and the truth about his identity, he resorts to acting like his father.
—
CHAPTER 5: Avoiding Responsibility
Here’s the thing, while I said that I think Mike started realizing his feelings at the end of season 3, I don’t think he fully processed it right off the bat.
In my opinion, the thing that made him understand his feelings more was seeing the painting and realizing that it isn’t for him. His focus on Will was fueled by jealousy—he’s trying to figure him out while acting “casual” about it. He notices Will’s annoyance growing throughout the day, and assumes that it’s because of how he and El were acting (which it was).
I think that he saw Will’s reaction as a threat to his relationship again, which led him to projecting his feelings and shifting the blame to Will AGAIN.
Will is the mirror of what he can be, and he’s what makes him question his relationship with El.
The following day, his focus moves from Will to El, which, in his mind, is how it should be. He wants to fix that bond he has with her—the person who affirms him. Now, she doesn’t need him. What she gives Mike instead is affirmation that he is a good man who fits into society’s strict standards. If he loses her, he will be left with nothing but his confusing feelings for Will. He won’t be society’s man.
Desperate, he goes to El’s room and tries to sort things out. Notice how he doesn’t apologize because he doesn’t think he should—he is still placing the blame on Will, the person who “distracted” him. Currently, he is still stuck in this mindset in which he has done nothing wrong.
He begins by saying that he doesn’t understand.
He doesn’t understand El’s actions that were prompted by the harassment she was experiencing because even now, he doesn’t see how much she was affected. He doesn’t understand why El seems to be angry at him now and why she’s acting cold towards him—he isn’t to blame, right?
Because if he were to blame, that would mean that there’s something going on with him and Will, and there isn’t anything going on between them because Mike isn’t like that.
Then, he tries to sympathize with her by saying that he isn’t Mr. Popularity back home. This is the first time he openly acknowledges that he is, in fact, different from others to El. This vulnerability is prompted by her—the person who is meant to affirm him—shutting him off. He’s trying to reel her back in by sympathizing with her, and in doing so, he acknowledges something about himself that will later help him realize his identity.
Then, El shuts down his attempt at giving her sympathy.
This is because 1) Mike’s comment tells her that he doesn’t understand her position—it alienated her from him, making her feel like a monster, not just a victim of bullying, and 2) El doesn’t want to be dependent on him anymore.
This sympathy is a branch towards understanding one another, but a part of El fears that she’ll regress into her old self, even if she’s already sort of there. I’ll talk more about this when we reach her segment, but it’s good to know this in order to understand the break of their relationship.
Now, looking at it from Mike’s perspective, this is El breaking away from him—not needing him. He already knew that and was trying to ignore the problem, instead focusing on making their relationship fit in, hence the fake utopia they had going on in the beginning of the season.
If they fit in, Mike’s clear of any possible queerness, right? But now, El was making it clear that she doesn’t need him, even when she’s in need of help and comfort. He can’t ignore it now.
We can even interpret the escalation of their fight as El saying Mike’s thoughts aloud. When she said that he doesn’t understand, Mike, who thinks he does, would immediately compare their problems to find the differences—the thing that’s breaking them apart, the thing that doesn’t allow him to understand her.
If we’re looking at it from this perspective, Mike is responding to his own thoughts that El is voicing. Mike doesn’t want to be different, he doesn’t want those assumptions about Will to be applied to him too. He belongs, he’s built this utopia with El and it was holding up well, proving that he belongs to Hawkins—to society as a whole.
Obviously, El is talking about herself, but Mike is comparing their situations in his head, and whatever she says, he’ll apply back to himself. This is what triggers his defensive nature as the fight progresses.
He tries to provide some comfort, saying that the people who look at her like she’s a monster just don’t know her, implying that she shouldn’t listen to them, but El suddenly puts the light on him—on his actions that he was desperately trying to ignore.
She groups him with the people that are hurting her. Now, instead of him being a person who helps her, he’s a person who hurts her. Remember how I said that he was a source of Will’s insecurities in the other post? He’s also a source of El’s.
How he handles these two situations is very telling.
—
CHAPTER 6: You're the Heart Source
In El’s case, he does the following:
(Creds to wiccanlytalented! Their post influenced some of my points here.)
1- Denial.
At first, Mike attempts to deny the idea that he’s a cause of El’s insecurities and is causing her pain. He tries to make sense of his reaction by thinking out loud, saying that he was just surprised or a bit upset at the moment.
This is also the first time he apologizes for the hurt that he’s caused. He’s beginning to see El as her own person rather than someone who can help him heal because she has placed them on opposing ends.
However, he is still in denial.
(implying that he did love her before, when she was still dependent on him)
Mike’s response to her question, in which she is vulnerable about her insecurities about being loved, was quite defensive. Instead of saying “I do”, he immediately criticizes the entire idea and makes it off to be something ridiculous—something that could never happen.
“You never say it.”
“I say it.”
Mike is confident in his words, doubling down on them.
“Okay, Eleven, you’re being ridiculous! Like, what is this? You know what I think of you.”
He then tries to downplay the issue by criticizing her rather than the problem itself, seeing as the latter didn’t work. He emphasizes that she knows what he thinks of her and that she shouldn’t be upset about ridiculous things.
“You can’t let these mouth breathers ruin you, ruin us.”
Mike is deflecting the blame from him and putting it onto the other sources of El’s insecurities, instead grouping himself with her as a victim of their wrath. I don’t think he did this in order to manipulate her at all, but instead to not acknowledge the fact that he’s the cause of some of the problems in their relationship.
If he’s the cause of some of the problems, it’s because he isn’t meeting societal standards. How could he not be meeting societal standards?
Because he doesn’t love El for who she is, he loves Will.
2- Considerations.
Then, El is taken away from him, leaving him alone with his thoughts—and Will.
Mike still sees a chance in fixing their relationship, placing him in a position where he is needed again. He is needed to put it together, but is he?
The last thing El leaves him is a note saying that she’s off to become a superhero again, referencing Mike’s last line in the argument.
She signs it off with “From, El” leaving their relationship off on a bitter note.
Now that Mike is alone with all of these complicated feelings (Do I love her? Why do I feel so attached to her?) he seeks comfort in Will, what he views as his best friend , and his problem.
Mike reveals his fear of not being able to get El back (his source of affirmation) to Will (the source that awakened his sexual identity issues). I think he felt comfortable being this vulnerable and open with Will because of how he sees himself in him, even if he views it as something negative. Will would understand, right? He’s my friend, one of my closest.
This line from Mike REALLY sticks out to me, because it shows what his true intentions are with fixing their relationship. While he's trying to find a solution, thinking of the possible outcomes if he did say I Love You, he’s only thinking of the result of their relationship, and not how he feels about it. He thinks, if I said I Love You, everything would be good—up to societal standards again. She’d want me to be with her, we’d be good again.
Why doesn’t he think about his own feelings?
If Mileven was in fact endgame, this conversation would’ve gone a little more different: “Do I love her?” — Mike would’ve been peeling the layers off of himself and exploring his identity. He would’ve been working through his complex emotions birthed by his insecurities and family life that didn’t teach him how to love right. His journey would’ve been more centered around figuring himself out and healing his past emotional scars, not how to get her back.
You can’t get her back if no progress is made within yourself since that’s where the root of the issue is, Mike.
3- Avoidance.
This stage is a mix of the one before it and a new addition of Mike’s argument: avoiding the solution. “I should’ve explained myself, cus then maybe Eleven would’ve taken me with her and things would be different, but… I didn’t… I didn’t know what to say.”
Mike knows what Eleven wants him to say, so why is he acting like he doesn’t? He’s trying to avoid the solution because he doesn’t feel confident in it, it doesn’t feel right or true to himself. He’s stuck between these two arguments in his head: If I told her I loved her, she would’ve wanted me with her and our relationship would be normal again—but I don’t feel right in doing so because I don’t feel it.
If he gives into the solution, he’s losing a part of himself—the part that loves Will.
The solution will bury all of those problems (Will), but Mike doesn’t have the heart to pick up the shovel.
(This is so embarrassing but I ran out of image space, so from now on I'll just put the quotes down. Blue is Mike, Yellow is Will, and Purple is El.)
“Sometimes I think it’s just scary to open up like that, to say how you really feel. Especially to the people you care about the most. Because, what if… what if they don’t like the truth?”
Wise words from Will the Wise.
What Mike has to say to El is something that is positive and will fix their relationship—better it. So I think it’s an interesting choice for the writers to make Will put the solution of saying “I Love You” in a negative light.
“What if they don’t like the truth?” Again, if this was setting up for Mileven to be endgame, the pep talk here would’ve helped Mike better understand himself and his emotions, but instead it’s putting the solution in a negative light by prioritizing the truth. Now, we can put a label on the choices in Mike’s head: The Solution V.S. The Truth.
(This idea prompted by Will would loosely fit The Realization stage of Mike’s arc: Eventually, the character will realize that there’s something wrong with the way they’re living and that they need to fix that.)
4- Indecisiveness.
The Van Scene:
“We’re gonna make it, Mike. She’s gonna be okay.”
“Yeah, I know. I… I know she is. But… but what if after all this is over, she—she doesn’t need me anymore?”
Mike’s worry isn’t about El and her well-being because he’s optimistic about finding her, but rather himself. This isn’t to say that he’s disregarding her or that he doesn’t care for her, because he most definitely does, but it’s putting light on what his main concern is moving forwards with El: her not needing him anymore—her not affirming him either.
Now considering what Will helped him realize, that he has to choose between The Solution and The Truth, Mike’s worry about how to support their relationship has amplified.
In my opinion, a part of him wants her to decide for him, which is why he keeps circling back to her not needing him. That being said, another part of him—the part carrying the weight of internalized homophobia—is terrified of her deciding. He’s desperate to get back to normal, but still, what if that’s not he really wants? What if he wants to choose The Truth?
What if he wants to choose Will?
Will tries to reassure him by stating that El will always need him, but Mike (who we assume would want to hear that) says that he doesn’t believe it. This lack of belief sort of helps him, so it’s understandable why he would lean into this conclusion. If El doesn’t need him, then he can tell her The Truth—But god, what if she really does leave him?
Another reason why he would lean towards this conclusion is his own insecurities. He doesn’t think that he deserves to be needed, so obviously that would impact his perspective on his situation with El. Notice how his insecurities didn’t go away even after being needed? Take note of that for later.
“She's special. Maybe I was one of the first people to realize that.”
My interpretation of this line may not be that popular, but I’ll say it nonetheless. I think this was an attempt to reaffirm this belief that he is, in fact, important to her. He’s important to her character and is of some use to her.
We can see the conflict of The Solution V.S. The Truth quite clear here—He’s important to her, and reaffirming that can push him more towards The Solution, but then again, having to say it out loud and yet still needing more reassurance later on shows his lack of confidence in this line, pushing him towards The Truth.
“But the truth is, when I stumbled on her in the woods, she just needed someone. It’s not fate. It’s—it’s not destiny. It’s just simple dumb luck.”
This is when we see how The Truth is supported in his mind. He doesn’t really love El, he just needs her to need him, and here are the arguments for that.
“And one day, she’s gonna realize I'm just some random nerd that got lucky that Superman landed on his doorstep. I mean, at least Lois Lane is an ace reporter for the Daily Planet, right? But… sorry.”
He degrades himself (and his worries), showing that his insecurities haven’t actually been lessened by this relationship with El. I’d argue that they worsened, seeing as he’s comparing himself with El—Superman. He sees El as something extraordinary, something that helps him, that makes him feel better about himself—that’s why he’s so desperate not to lose her.
5- Realization.
“No, it’s so stupid, given everything that’s going on. It’s just… I—I don’t know, I just…”
“You’re scared of losing her.”
Even in Mike’s rambles, Will seems to understand him. It startles Mike—makes him pause and lose his voice. This person sees him. Looking at it from Mike’s perspective, this painting was commissioned by El, right?
No, he knows it’s not.
Remember the airport scene?
"Nothing—It's just something I've been working on."
“Will is painting a lot but he won’t show me what he’s working on.”
Mike knows that this is the painting El mentioned in her letter. Mike was in Will’s room, he would’ve noticed if Will was working on another project—but he wasn’t. There’s nothing else to say; this is the painting Will was refusing to show El, but somehow she commissioned it?
I think Mike sees straight through Will’s bullshit.
He thinks that Will’s trying to make him feel better about El, but why? I’m not sure if he applied the whole “I think it’s for someone that he likes” to himself, seeing as that’s nothing more than El’s assumption, but I do think it crossed his mind.
Now something else is added to The Truth. Will may or may not like Mike, making Mike’s feelings even more confusing. He knows that he has a slight attraction to Will but is refusing to admit it (which is also affecting his decision of confessing his undying love to El), but now that there’s a possibility that Will feels the same, maybe he should give in?
“You’re guiding the whole party—inspiring us.”
Will’s telling him that he’s what’s holding the whole Party together—making him feel needed. As the audience, we know that what Will is saying aren’t El’s feelings, they’re his. But in Mike’s perspective, it could be a number of things.
1- They are El’s feelings, whether or not she commissioned the painting or not, she might’ve confided in Will which is why he knows what to say. 2- They aren’t her feelings, but they aren’t Will’s either. Instead, they’re just Will’s assumptions and half-truths about what El feels about him. 3- They are Will’s feelings disguised as El’s.
Mike feels a connection between him and Will, but it hasn’t been confirmed to him whether or not they’re one-sided. Everyone says that Will is queer, but how could they be so sure? Mike sees himself in Will because of his queerness, right? But what if he actually sees himself in those assumptions of Will’s queerness?
“It’s probably just because she’s scared of losing you, just like you’re scared of losing her.”
Will understands Mike, he sees Mike’s worries and responds. We’ve already established that. But with the existence of The Solution V.S. The Truth, it’ll be difficult for Mike to really give into Will’s words, especially since he doesn’t know for sure who they belong to.
He knows that El didn’t commission this painting, therefore Will is lying to him in order to make him feel better.
If Will’s words are true, then Mike should tell El he loves her because she still needs him. And the thing is, if Will is in love with him, why would he do such a thing? Nevertheless, could he really reciprocate Mike’s feelings? Oh, wait, but Mike isn’t like that, is he?
“So yeah, El needs you Mike, and she always will.”
“Yeah?”
If you watch the scene, you'll see a certain look in his face. That's hope.
I’ve seen some discourse over Mike’s facial expressions here so I’ll only state this once: Mike looks happy with Will’s words not because he’s thinking of El, but because he’s pleased with these feelings someone has for him.
I think this is when Mike truly comes to terms with his feelings for Will—because there’s a chance that they’re reciprocated.
And if Will’s words in the van were in fact his, that would mean that Will needs him. A part of Mike always knew that which is why he felt so close to Will, he wants to be needed.
For that same reason, he distanced himself from him. But now, with losing the thing that’s been distracting him from facing his true feelings, he sees the benefits of such a connection.
How could something so wrong make him feel this way—needed?
Actually needed, not thinking that they need to need him, like in El’s case.
6- Resignation.
(This section would be The Choices stage of Mike’s arc: The character is now forced to choose between what they want and what they need.)
After El is put in serious danger, Mike obviously panics. Luckily for him, Will is there to ease him (“Don’t stop, okay? You’re the heart.”).
“I’m here, I’m right here, okay?”
Mike seems to have not learned anything because what he’s telling El is that he’s right here if she needs him. If she’s scared—he’s right here. If she’s worried—he’s right here. If she needs help—he’s right here.
“And… I Love You!”
The placement of this line was very deliberate. To put it directly after showing that his relationship with El is not helping him, seeing as he still thinks that he has to be needed in order to be loved, is certainly a choice—we’ll touch on that last part later.
A statement showing the negatives of his arc followed by the love confession the show has been building up makes it extremely difficult to believe, because it shows the audience that he has not made any progress in himself.
If he did, then he wouldn’t be saying half of the things he does in this monologue. It makes the entire thing anticlimactic, and as a writer myself, I don’t see the benefits in putting my main couple in a position like this—a position that makes their love for one another confusing to the audience.
It should be clear and there shouldn’t be any negative statements, but there are. It shows that there hasn’t been growth in their relationship, even after two monologues with another character, which funnily enough, likes one of them.
I mentioned this before, but it’s also weird for them to not have El have a relieved expression, or at least a bit of a smile. Instead, she looks distressed, upset, and displeased with the situation. You could argue that she’s crying because of the overwhelming feelings of finally being loved, but it would not fit with the nature of the monologue and would be an injustice to her character.
If she truly believed in Mike’s monologue, that means A) she believed in the false statements he strung together and B) she has also made no growth or progress in her arc.
This will become clearer when we reach her section.
“It’s not because I’m scared of you. I’m not—I’ve never felt that way.”
But in Rink-O-Mania, Mike said the following: "What did you do?" - This was also perceived as fear by El herself.
“But I am scared that one day you’ll realize you don’t need me anymore.”
This is the only part of the monologue that’s actually true. Mike’s being vulnerable by expressing his fears and insecurities in front of literally everyone, including Will. This is the root of The Solution V.S. The Truth—not being needed.
What Mike does now will show us which choice he made. The Solution, telling El he loves her in order to fix their relationship, or The Truth, refraining from saying that to El because he doesn’t feel that way, and instead choosing to believe that those were Will’s feelings in the van.
The choice seems obvious, but the thing is…
Mike is scared.
He’s a 15 year old boy with sexual identity issues in the 80s. He grew up in an unhealthy environment, which resulted in him developing insecurities and attachment issues. If he’s wrong about this, about Will liking him, everything will fall apart. He’ll hurt El, tension will grow in his relationship with Will—with the Byers as a whole, society will view him as a failure of a man, and worst of all, he’ll be right.
Choosing The Truth means that he’s putting hope in a boy reciprocating his feelings. He’ll be coming to terms with the fact that his love for El was never love, but the want to be needed. And even if he is okay with that, what about the others—"What if they don’t like The Truth?"
That’s why it’s so easy to believe that Mike chose The Solution.
“And I thought if I said how I felt, it would somehow make that day hurt more.”
Mike doesn’t want to hurt. He’s scared of pain. He holds onto this relationship because it eases it like drugs. Saying I Love You would just make everything feel more real. And if it’s real, if they aren’t in their utopia, people can see them. What if they don’t like what they see?
“But the truth is, El, I don’t know how to live without you.”
I would consider this a half-truth. He doesn’t know how to live without her because right now, he believes that in order to be loved—to live—he needs to be needed. If she’s not there, how will he live?
“I feel like my life started that day we found you in the woods.”
He did, because from that day onwards he could be needed and acknowledge that. With Will, he couldn’t. It was wrong.
“And I knew right then and there, in that moment, that I loved you. And I’ve loved you every day since. I love you on your good days. I love you on your bad days. I love you with your powers, I love you without your powers. I love you for exactly who you are.”
Mike is putting so much emphasis on how much he loves her, how insane it is for there to even be a consideration that he doesn’t, because he wants to drive the point of The Solution even more. He loves her, he really does. He really does. And because he loves her, everything will be fine.
“You’re my superhero!”
This line shows that even after everything, Mike does not understand El’s character.
Not only does this go against her arc, but it also places her on a pedestal above Mike. There is no equality in their relationship because Mike views her as something higher than a human being, something that can fix him. This is an imbalance that creates multiple problems for both of these characters; possibility of pacifying during arguments, prioritizing them over friends and family to a ridiculous extent, and not understanding the emotional problems of one another because they are not on the same level.
“And… I can’t lose you.”
Mike can’t lose El because if he loses El, The Truth will win by default. If that happens, then everything I stated before about his fears will be true. Mike can’t live with that.
“You can do anything. You can fly. You can move mountains—I believe that. I really do.”
Mike motivates her by comparing her to stereotypical superhero things, and for the sake of not repeating myself, I’ll let you find out the problem in that.
“You need to fight. You have to fight. Fight!”
Mike truly believes in her and her powers. What’s motivating him is wanting to remove himself from being one of the sources of her insecurities. He doesn’t think she’s a monster—she’s a superhero! And he loves her.
To stop being a source, Mike sacrifices a part of himself, further pushing the point that he doesn’t see them on the same level. It’s unhealthy and ruinous. There’s a bigger problem in their relationship which is hurting the both of them. Them ending on a sour note at the end of the season is supposed to mean something. This choice was purposely made by the writers. If they really were the endgame couple, there wouldn’t be this many problems within their relationship—the big love confession wouldn’t be full of lies and things that go against El’s entire arc. That’s where the problem is.
The Truth.
—
In Will's case, he does the following:
Let’s just give ourselves a quick reminder to how Mike is a source of Will’s insecurities. I talked about it a lot in his post.
In season 3, Mike tells Will that it’s not his fault that Will doesn’t like girls, making Will believe in what people have told Will his entire life: He is a mistake. This causes tension in their relationship around the same time tension also arises in Mike and El’s.
Now let’s look at how he handles this.
1- Projection.
“I’m not trying to be a jerk, okay? But we’re not kids anymore. I mean, what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? We were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?”
I wouldn’t even count this as a part of how he handles being a source of Will’s insecurities because he hasn’t even realized it yet. Instead, I interpret this scene as him projecting his feelings onto Will. What he’s saying to Will is what he’s saying to himself.
What did you think, Mike? That you were never gonna get a girlfriend? That you were just gonna sit in your basement with Will all day and play games for the rest of your lives? That’s not how a man should be. You aren’t a kid anymore. Grow up.
2- Taking Accountability.
After letting the situation sink in, Mike’s immediate response is to bike across town in the rain to apologize to Will. He doesn’t give up after not finding him in his house, instead going to Castle Byers. You know what this reminds me of?
"He'll come crawling back to you in no time, begging for forgiveness." - Max to El after she dumped Mike.
“Will! Will, I’m sorry man, alright? I was being a total asshole. Please, can you just come outside and we’ll talk?”
Mike is not in denial about the fact that he is in the wrong, that he hurt Will. He doesn’t try to evade responsibility like he did with El by grouping himself as a victim. What he told Will is what he tells himself, and that feeling hurts. He knows what it’s like and he doesn’t want to hurt Will in that way.
This shows how much care he has for Will as an individual. This does not mean that he doesn’t care for El, it just means that being a source of her insecurities meant him taking the blame AND admitting his love for Will, not solely confronting his sexuality like in Will’s (more on that in a moment).
3- Pause.
Now this is the difference between Will’s case and El’s case.
In season 4, Mike was separated from the problems of Vecna and the UD so that his focus could be on the I Love You issue. However, in Will’s case, Mike was in the middle of the conflict just like everyone else, making it more difficult to talk one-on-one. This paired with Will’s catatonic state stretched the problem of Will’s case over the course of two seasons rather than one.
It’s not until the last scene of season 3 do we see some progress being made.
“Yeah, but what if you want to join another party?”
“Not possible.”
Just like with Will’s arc, it seems like everything is back to normal to Mike. They got over that little bump in their relationship just fine, and Will not being open to the idea of being with anyone else eliminates the possibility of Mike being a source of his insecurities. Why would you want to be near a person like that? Right?
Again, just like in Will’s arc, the answer is no.
Before we head into the mess that is season 4, I want to go over the stuff Will and Mike do have together in season 3.
After the fight, we see Mike doing things that Will complains about him not doing.
“Where’s Dustin right now?” = Mike later on repeatedly tells Lucas to call Dustin.
This even reaches season 4.
“You’re ruining our party!” = Mike trying to convince Lucas to play DnD.
Mike takes what Will says to heart.
A user by the name of timblriche pointed this out in a great post, even comparing it to Lucas’ parents’ conversation.
“First, I apologize. Then I get your mother whatever she wants.”
—
“What if he hurts someone?”
“Or kills someone?”
“We can’t take that chance.”
We see them jump off of each other's ideas, reaffirming the fact that everything seems to be fine. In fact, everything is better than fine. They’re understanding and taking account of one another’s points before the rest of the Party, like they have this special connection or something.
“I feel him… He’s activated.”
“Max, get away from the door. Get away from the door!”
↑ Another example.
“They’re conspiring against me.”
“That’s what you’re concerned about now?”
“It’s not my main concern. It’s just a sub-concern.”
“I thought it was already over.”
“It’s not over, okay? We’re just taking a break.”
“She said she dumped your ass, that doesn’t sound like a break.”
*Max tells them she hears them*
“Conspiring. I told you, they’re conspiring.”
Mike and Will seem to be on okay terms unless they’re talking about El and the relationship Mike is trying to fix. Will sees through his bullshit and Mike doesn’t like the fact that he does.
It’s like every time Will criticizes him on this topic, Mike feels threatened.
How could Will know?
4- Avoidance.
As I stated before, I believe that Mike realized his feelings for Will at the end of season 3.
Everything slowly came together—the projection, the closeness, the feeling of being threatened. He suppressed these emotions which pushed him further towards El—towards that utopia.
He tries to distance himself from Will even before going to Lenora. Some Bylers point out the fact that Mike has tried to call and is bothered by Joyce always being on the line, but I’d argue that those calls weren’t actually for Will, at least not all of them.
While the idea is cute, I feel like it’s something Mike would bring up to defend himself when Will complains about him not calling enough. It also doesn’t align with how he’s handling Will’s case. He’s trying to distance himself from him because he’s scared that if he gets too close, things will happen. If he avoids Will, he avoids the problem. At least that was what he was planning to do.
Initially, he avoids even touching Will. He keeps El between them and doesn’t make an effort to include him. The only moment where he and Will are next to each other is when they sit down on the bench, and it’s like he couldn’t contain himself because he immediately makes the dumbest joke ever and looks over to Will for approval.
But the biggest thing that Mike is avoiding and the entire point of this case is that he is a source of Will’s insecurities. In El’s case, we saw how he tried to deny it and weigh his options (since it suggested he had feelings for Will), but with Will, he avoids it altogether.
This is because the root of him being a source of Will’s insecurities is him and only him. There’s nothing that’s actively opposing him, so it’s easy to delay it. What he said to make Will insecure is what he tells himself. Confronting the problem isn’t just confronting Will, but confronting himself too.
5- Fixation.
As soon as the day started, Mike’s focus zeroed in on Will. While a large part of the reason is the painting, I’d argue that it’s also because Will’s annoyance is threatening his relationship.
The reason why he said that line to Will during the rain fight in the first place was because Will seeing through his bullshit relationship was a threat. Yes again, I know. I’m like a parrot at this point.
He gets extremely defensive as his relationship with El is directly connected to his sexuality, and if Will sees that something is wrong and is bothered by it, then there is something wrong
“She's [Lucas' mother] never wrong, son." - Charles Sinclair
He fixates on how Will is acting. He’s annoyed, he’s uncomfortable, he’s “moping”. In Mike’s mind, he’s ruining the whole day—the whole perfect day in him and El’s utopia. When trouble strikes, Mike blames it on Will—his fixation, his distraction.
If Mike didn’t focus so much on Will, then he would’ve noticed that bad things were happening to El, right? But, why would he be so focused on Will? How could he be?
Rink-O-Mania:
“You should’ve told me she was having trouble.”
“I didn’t know they were gonna be here, Mike.”
“Yeah, but you knew she was having trouble for a year and didn’t tell me.”
How could Will, who noticed that El was having troubles, not tell Mike? How could Mike not have caught onto that?
He’s frustrated with this mirror of himself, which is why it’s so difficult to differentiate between being the source of Will’s insecurities and having those insecurities himself.
“I didn’t know she was lying to you.”
Will reminds him that he was in the dark about El’s lies. He didn’t know that El had been building up this fake life, and he didn’t feel like it was his place to speak up for her.
Then, Mike changes the conversation to Will “sabotaging the whole day”.
“You were rolling your eyes, you were moping. You were barely talking. You basically sabotaged the whole day.”
Will was the one who was ruining everything by ignoring El, not Mike. Definitely not Mike. Mike is literally projecting his feelings onto Will here, getting upset with him over the fact that he (as in Mike) messed up. He doesn’t want to admit that he was focusing on Will all day because if he was, then he’d have to answer why.
A boy like him in the 80s would not like that answer, so it’s easier to throw these feelings onto someone else.
“Well she was lying to you, Mike. Straight to your face ever since you got here.”
Will restates the fact that El is in the wrong for lying, not him. As I said before, he’s bringing light onto the actual situation, not whatever the hell Mike’s trying to do.
“And I’ve been a total third wheel all day. It’s been miserable. So, sorry if I wasn’t—wasn’t smiling.”
“Yeah, whatever, man.”
Now that Will is telling Mike how he feels, not what Mike is projecting onto him, he tries to end everything and just walks off. This is when the fact that Mike is a source of Will’s insecurities, his pains, is highlighted. Mike can’t handle the responsibility right now, not with these new developments of romantic feelings.
It’s different from season 3. Back then, he hadn’t realized anything yet. Now, he has, and his next actions show that.
“Well, what about us?”
“What?”
Mike turns around before Will even gets the full sentence out, and his face is full of something—Hope.
“You’re mad that I didn’t talk to you? Seems like you made it super clear that you’re not interested in anything I have to say.”
“That’s just not true.”
Due to how Mike is acting, Will feels like he isn’t interested in him in the slightest. Mike dismisses this, saying that it’s not true, which can be interpreted in two ways. 1- It’s literally not true, Mike is interested in what Will has to say. 2- It’s not true because Mike can’t make him feel this way, right? Mike can’t be a source of his insecurities.
“Meanwhile, El has a book of letters from you.”
“That’s because she’s my girlfriend, Will.”
El is getting all of this attention from Mike because she’s his girlfriend...
...but why is it that as soon as Will is nearby, she loses all of that attention?
Mike put some distance between him and Will because it’ll cause some troubles in his perfect relationship with El. If Will’s too close, he’ll get too much attention from Mike, and that’ll affect his relationship.
“And us?”
“We’re friends. We’re friends.”
“Well, we used to be best friends!”
Mike is emphasizing on the fact that they’re friends, trying to set a boundary between a romantic relationship and a friendship. Then, Will clarifies that he was referring to them being best friends, not anything else. He’s referring to how they were in the past—how they should be right now.
This unresolved tension between them is eating them both alive.
Mike is taking everything romantically because that’s what he’s scared of, romance with Will. He wants to not only distance himself from the idea, but build a wall between them too.
But the thing is, nobody is asking him to do that. Nobody is pushing him too. This is of his own doing.
“Then maybe you should’ve reached out more. I don’t know. But why is this on me? Why—Why am I the bad guy?”
Mike is reluctant to accept accountability and is pushing it onto Will. This isn’t to say that Will didn’t take part in the radio silence between them, he did, but Mike is using this as a way to avoid reflecting on himself.
He doesn’t want to look at what he did, the distance he put between them, because the reason for that is humiliating to him. Being queer isn’t normal, it makes you different.
Mike projected this onto Will, adding onto his pre-existing insecurity about it, which caused him to distance himself in a panic. Still, he doesn’t want to be the bad guy. He’s afraid of being him.
6- Building the Bridge.
After El is taken away, the tension between Mike and Will is put on hold to debrief. Well, for Will to debrief.
Jonathan's Room:
“If you keep staring at that, it’s not gonna change. You know?”
“Yeah. Yeah, you’re right.”
("She's never wrong, son.")
“Whatever you didn’t say to her, you can tell her then.”
“Yeah. Yeah.”
("She's never wrong, son.")
—
“You don’t trust Owens?”
“No—I don’t know. I mean, he’s been good to us and good to El, but he wasn’t able to protect me. That was you guys who saved me. That was you guys.”
Despite what’s happening between them, Mike and Will are vulnerable with one another in this scene. Will places emphasis on the fact that they [Mike] saved him, which builds a bridge of understanding between the two because it adheres to Mike’s arc—being needed.
Even if Will didn’t single him out, Mike’s reaction to what he said shows that he was pleased with it.
“Looks like it’s gonna be up to us again.”
“It always is, isn’t it?”
He groups himself with Will against “The Big Bad” just like he does with El (“You can’t let these mouthbreathers ruin you, ruin us!”) except this time it’s not because he wants to avoid accountability, but rather because he loves Will—Will makes him feel needed, he wants to be grouped with him because it feels right.
7- Taking Accountability, Again.
Will's room:
“Thanks, by the way.”
“For what?”
“For knocking some sense into me. I mean, I was being a total self-pitying idiot.”
Firstly, let’s note the fact that Mike came into the room prepared to talk about how he was acting and ready to take accountability of it. He knew that he was the problem—that he was hurting Will—and is apologizing for it on his own accord. He also calls himself a “self-pitying idiot” which further drives the point that during that fight, his arguments were moreso directed at himself, as they were motivated by his own insecurities.
“Oh, I didn’t say it.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Mike didn’t need to hear it from Will—matter of fact, from anyone—for him to own up to his mistakes. He didn’t need several pep-talks like he did with El for MULTIPLE seasons.
If you constantly need someone to figure out how to handle a relationship instead of just talking with your partner, then there are communication issues in your relationship and they need to be fixed.
Mike is open and honest when it comes to Will—they communicate. They don’t need Lucas to tell Mike what to do. We already know that from Will’s perspective, this is the talk that helped him feel less of a mistake. Meaning that this is the talk in which Mike slowly removes himself from being a source of Will’s insecurities.
We can see it happening as the scene progresses.
“Hey, also, about the last few days—”
“You don’t have to say anything. I–I was being a total jerk to El. I deserved it.”
“No. No, no, no. You didn’t deserve anything.”
Mike (the source) brings up the problem, the fixation. He addresses his own ignorance, and when Will tries to take the blame, he doesn’t let him. He’s taking accountability, again.
“Listen, the truth is, the last year… has been weird, you know? And I mean, you know, Max and Lucas and Dustin, they’re… they’re great. They’re great. It’s just… it’s Hawkins. It’s not the same without you.”
The reason why Mike was a source of Will’s insecurities was because he made him feel like a mistake—he made him feel different, an outcast that wasn’t wanted.
It’s here that Mike tells him that he is wanted. As I said before...
How can Will be a mistake if he is wanted?
It makes him doubt his beliefs. Just like with El, Mike wants Will because Will needs him—but it doesn’t stop there. Will sees him, Will understands him, Will brings him comfort, Will sympathizes with him. Will loves him, and Mike may not be sure of that, but he does.
And because Mike loves Will, he interprets Will’s actions as romantic affection (which they are). This gives him something to compare his relationship with El to, and as I said before, he doesn’t like that answer.
“And I feel like maybe I was worrying too much about El, and I don’t know, maybe I feel like I lost you or something. Does that make sense?”
Now that Mike has effectively removed himself from being a source, he’s moving the light to focus only on his love for Will—his want for him. He’s saying that him losing Will was something bad, something that affected him negatively, something he wants to reverse. Not only has he bettered their relationship, but he’s also trying to move forwards with it.
“I have no idea what’s gonna happen next. But, whatever it is, I—I think we should work together. I think it’ll be easier if we’re… we’re a team. Friends. Best friends.”
What was that thing Charles said?
"Then, I get your mother whatever she wants."
↓
"We used to be best friends!"
—
What did we get from this?
The treatment Mike gives Will and El differs because of how he perceives them and how they help him heal his own issues.
He can’t show El that she’s wanted because he doesn’t want her—he wants Will, and he wants Will because Will needs him. El doesn’t.
There’s a missing thread in their relationship that’s causing it to break, and yet, Mike still chooses to be with her. In the end, he chooses The Solution.
When analyzing their relationship in Volume 2, it is very important to consider the high stakes they are placed in. It drove the conflict their handling at such a fast rate that neither of them could fully comprehend it. This is an interesting writing choice from the Duffers. Instead of giving them space, like they did with Will and Mike in the Cali plot (the Byler plot), they wanted to test their relationship even further. This isn’t an excuse to how they acted, this is to show their lack of understanding of one another.
The writers wanted us to know that before going into season 5. They also wanted us to compare it to his relationship with Will, which is why they spent the most time together this season.
—
So, what direction is Mike’s arc going in now?
By the end of season 4, Mike has professed his love to El in an attempt to fix their relationship. This was his decision—and ultimately, it failed.
When we reach El’s arc, I’ll explain this in a clearer way, but since we’re in Mike’s perspective, this is all we know.
El is upset, she believes Brenner, she doesn’t want to talk to anyone, and she’s never lost like this—and she doesn’t want comfort from Mike, the person who she’s supposed to want, to need.
This is Mike’s problem, he wants to be needed.
But the thing is, this is a very unhealthy mindset. You aren’t only worth it if you're needed—that isn’t what you have to measure yourself by. You don’t have to be needed, you have to be wanted. Being needed means being depended on, and if you don’t have independence and autonomy inside your relationship, then you’ll run into the same issues Mike and El did.
But when you’re wanted—when you’re wanted despite your flaws, despite your “weaknesses”—you don’t have to constantly support a provider x need-er system. You’re free to be yourself because you're loved despite everything.
You’re loved for who you are, not what you can do. This is what Mike needs to realize in season 5 in order to truly be in a stable relationship with someone. Good for him that Will wants him, even though he was bitchy to him, even though he added onto his insecurities.
El is the complete opposite of that.
The things Mike and El want contradict each other’s arcs. They can’t be together if Mike wants to be needed and El wants independence.
—
I really hope that all of that made sense. This is the first draft of Mike's arc and I'm probably going to tweak it here and there in order to make it more concise.
As I said in the beginning, this is a part of my video The Byler Problem. Funnily enough, it was meant to come out today. Mike's inability to be a normal person just hit me like a truck, so I don't know when I'll ever be done w this.
Anyways, thank you for reading! I've put a lot of effort into this. I hope you enjoyed it.
WARNING! THIS WILL COVER THE LATEST UPDATE OF MOTM! IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT YET, PLEASE GO DO SO TO AVOID SPOILERS!
The latest update was a roller coaster. And there is so much to go over. For starters, the butchers and searchers.
The designs Fly has given them are SO CREEPY. I thought the original designs from the Bendy franchise were scary but my GOD. Fly took it to another level. Having ink dripping from Barley's injury and eyes? Adding a bunch of eyes into Edgar's top mouth along with ACTUAL SPIDER MANDIBLES? Horror incarnate. And it adds so much to the terror of the scene.
It's a situation that's dangerous for both Cuphead and Bendy. One is a floating soul with no protection from getting snatched. The other has a leg injury that'll make it near impossible to run away without eventually getting caught. Bendy puts it best,
And then, Cuphead realizes something. His body. If he can get to his body, he'll have a better chance at surviving. This is something established by Mugman in the previous update. "As long as my head's in one piece, they can't reach my soul". If Cuphead can revive himself, his soul will be safe and he can save both of them.
It doesn't appear to be exclusive to the Cupbros either. Cuphead directly calls their culture the Calix Animi (Cuphead game reference, yay!). This means their ancestors were granted similar protections by the Celestials to guard their souls. Most likely for the war against the Blot. Hopefully in the future, we'll learn more on this.
So, Cuphead needs to get to his body to revive himself. But he can't exactly go alone. The moment he breaks away from Bendy, they all might focus on him to take his soul for themselves. Or, they could ignore him entirely to rip Bendy apart. And that is something I don't think Cuphead wants to happen. He's made it very clear he doesn't want to kill Bendy. Plus, once the Butchers showed up, he was quick to try and guide him away and even instinctively protected him. Bendy, however, still doesn't believe he has good intentions.
Now, Cuphead does have a point in that Bendy and Boris separated from each other. Doing so would put one in more danger than the other from Mugman's rampage. However, we also don't know who's idea it was to split up in the first place. It could have been Bendy trying to figure out a way they could both get away by having the faster one fake having the map. It may have been Boris trying to protect Bendy by getting Mugman to focus on him instead of his injured brother. At this point, we don't know! But regardless of whose idea it was, Bendy still defends this decision as something that had to be done. And then he let's it slip.
Bendy has been very cagey about the map, for good reason. He knows for a fact multiple people have been after this map. To the point he has a bounty on him simply for having it. Of course he would be reluctant to inform anyone of the true nature of the map if they didn't already know it. It could lead to even more trouble for him and Boris down the line. But this is a high stress situation. And he can't watch his words as carefully as he normally does. So the truth slips out. And Cuphead has a very... interesting reaction.
There's surprise, desperation, and realization. That what he has been after could save EVERYONE. Including him. Because the machine doesn't just purify ichor. It can make anything. After all, it has ALL of Yen Sid's magic. It's even stated in the prologue that the machine could provide the toons anything they wanted. Even a way to destroy a soul contract. A way to free him, and his brother.
Speaking of Mugman, Cuphead's reaction is vastly different from his reaction to the truth of the map. He doesn't have this sort of desperate realization and hope that Cuphead did. He's more shocked and horrified by what the bbros are after. He outright tells Boris "You have no idea the danger you got yourself into..." and then tries to convince him to give up the morals he has. Because he knows the kind of people that will be after this map. And that the bbros have no chance to save themselves unless they are willing to attack when given the chance. Whereas Cuphead seems to have a shred of faith that Bendy and Boris can get to the machine. That there is a chance they can make it and save everyone. But while Cuphead has some faith in the bbros, Bendy doesn't share the same faith concerning him.
Despite the bonding moment they had, Bendy still sees him as a killer. Someone who attacked him for a map he knew nothing about simply because he was hired to. Someone who downright threatened him by slamming him into a wall and later at gunpoint to get what he wanted. Someone who SHOT him. So why should he trust him? As far as Bendy knows, Cuphead WILL attack or leave him to die the moment he gets the opportunity to. The only way he will agree to getting Cuphead to his body is if he has a grantee that won't happen. And Cuphead realizes this. So, he does the only thing he can think of.
He wants to make a deal.
I want to take a moment to soak in the irony of this situation right now. In every other situation where there is a mortal soul and a demon, the mortal is the one on edge. The one not fully trusting the demon offering a way out. The demon wanting them to accept what they have to offer. Until eventually the mortal is backed into a corner. If they don't take the deal, something bad will happen to them. So they have no choice but to accept the deal and condemn themselves. Here, it's the other way around. The demon is the one who refuses to trust that the mortal has good intentions for him. The mortal desperately trying to convince him to trust him. Until there is no choice left but to make a deal to save themselves. To condemn themselves to be bound to one another until the terms are met. It is an absolute role reversal and I LOVE IT!
So, what does Cuphead want?
Cuphead wants Bendy to not only get him to his body, but also take him and Mugman to the ink machine. In exchange, he will protect Bendy from danger. A generous trade, all things considering.
And we get this lovely little call back from Cuphead.
Bendy does agree, but adds on one additional condition.
The gold outlining certain sentences shows what Cuphead will be bound to with the deal. Not only will Cuphead have to protect Bendy from harm, but he cannot harm either of the bbros. Ever again. This deal ensures that Cuphead cannot betray him once he's returned to his body. It's a rather unbalanced deal, and Cuphead knows it.
He's the one who suggested the deal, but still, he hesitates. Because he knows what this means. What he's about to condemn himself and his brother to. Again. Another deal with a demon. A risk, one that could end poorly. But one he has to take if it means seeing Mugman again. As well as potentially freeing them from their deal with the Devil. Neither he nor Bendy really want to make this deal. But, there's only one thing for it.
The deal is sealed. And we get to see first hand what a demon deal looks like. Gold wispy magic, mirroring what happened when Bendy used the magic earlier, surrounds their hands. It seems to be innate to Bendy. Tied to him in some way. But accompanying these wisps are chains. A display of the heavy weight of this deal. As well as who is chained by it.
The chains wrap around Cuphead, illuminating even his shackles on his neck and wrist. A burden on his soul. It shows clearly on his face. It was his idea, but his face shows only regret about what has been done. A stark contrast to Bendy.
Bendy's face is filled with shock and awe at the power rushing from the deal he's made. I don't think he's ever done something like this in his life. I'm sure he's made more than a few verbal agreement here and there. Maybe a deal or two. But never a soul contract. A deal that binds a person to you. One they can NEVER break. But you just might be able to.
The next few panels look fantastic. But there is still something... unsettling about them. Cuphead's pupils are missing in the first panel. As if the contract killed him for a moment. They return just fine in the next panel. But the expression he shoots towards Bendy. It's a mix of unease and regret. I'd even say a bit of fear. Of what he just did. Binding himself to a demon. Again. Something he just can't seem to get away from.
As for Bendy, the smile he gives is confident. Dare I say manic. It shows no hesitation to use his new found power. Any fear he had is gone. He holding the cards now and he's not afraid to play this hand. Another thing to note is his eyes. When he first used the power Cuphead "let" him "borrow", his eyes simply had a golden glow to them. Now, they have reticles much like the ones the Cupbros get in their eyes. Perhaps because this time, it's an official exchange as opposed to a temporary one.
One last thing I noticed, the wisps of magic seem to mirror the chains on Cuphead's body. As if it's mocking him. As I said before, the deal is rather one sided favored towards Bendy. He just has to get Cuphead to his body and the Cupbros to the machine. There is nothing in the deal about what state they have to be in when they arrive. Cuphead however? He HAS to protect Bendy from anything that tries to hurt him and can NEVER hurt him or Boris ever again. And the magic binding them reflects this. The chains weigh heavy on Cuphead, while the mist on Bendy just lightly moves around him. A showcase of the freedom Bendy has over Cuphead.
Now then. Over to Mugman and Boris.
Yeah. He's struggling. But it's due to his magic sapping his strength. He's established that his ammo is his soul, and he's currently out. He can still use his finger blasts, but they take their toll once your on empty. The magic can't draw on the strength of your soul to attack. So it gets it from somewhere else. Your body. Each shot further exhausts Mugman without his soul to empower them. Just shooting one on empty was enough for him to start breathing like he ran a marathon. And he can't stop. If he does, the Searcher wins and gets his soul. But the more he shoots
The more the exhaustion sets in.
Until he has nothing left.
If he were alone, he'd be a goner. But he's not.
Boris. When the searcher started to attack, Mugman insisted Boris make a run for it while he fought it. Between the two of them Boris is in more danger. A bit of an inverse of the other two. And Boris does listen to him. At first.
But his conscience gets the better of him. He KNOWS Mugman isn't a bad person. Not only did he save his brother, he just saved him and is fighting to give him a chance to escape. He may not like to fight, but neither does he like leaving someone to die. Add the guilt of killing his brother and it leads to him doubling back to save Mugman's life. He even tells him as much.
He wants to make up for it. To help Mugman like how he helped Bendy. And Mugman knows how he can "settle the score".
Help him revive his brother. I'm not sure where this will go. But one things for sure. Next update? Things will be very hectic and interesting.
AHHHH THAT WAS LONG! I HAD SO MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS UPDATE I JUST HAD TO GET IT ALL OUT!
Rick and Morty's dynamic for each season! I finally finished it!
THIS POST IS VERY VERYY LONG, THE WHOLE POST IS UNDER THE CUT
Heyyy, happy Easter to my followers! This is my easter gift for y’all! Don’t say I never do anything for you! Sooo, since I reached 300 followers! I love you all, by the way! Mwah! Mwah! And to celebrate, I made a poll to ask you guys what you'd like me to do, anddd you said that you'd like me to make an overanalysis of Rick and Morty's dynamic each season! This doesn't exactly surprise me; a lot of people said that they followed me because of my analysis! So this doesn't surprise me too much! And this will be the 2,000th post on my account! I honestly never expected to keep this blog going for this long, but I'm glad I did! Because if I didn't, I would've never met so many kind people! Okay, okay, enough with the sappy stuff before I turn into a tree (I stole that joke from a youtube, who did I steal it from? I'll never tell! Mwah-ha-ha- wha-? This is a Wendys? Oh uhm yeah of course, sorry) Now let's jump into it starting from the beginning!
~ Season 1 ~
Okay, let's begin with them in season 1! This was definitely their dynamic at their most exploitative, I'd say. In episode 1 alone, we see that Rick:
1. Barges into Morty's room while he's sleeping and DRAGS HIM OUT OF BED BY HIS ANKLE so they can go on an adventure
2. Drags Morty out of school so he can help him on an adventure, then pressures Morty when he's hesitant
3. Didn't care when Morty's legs broke due to Rick not telling him something, then acted like it was Morty's fault for not knowing information that Rick didn't give him, and only fixed Morty's legs when he was rightfully pissed at him
4. Encourages Morty to stick megaseeds up his uh...bottom so they can smuggle them through interdimensional customs, then didn't do anything when they dissolved, which made Morty lose his motor skills and brain functionality for 72 hours
5. Lied to Morty about the security guards being robots, so Morty shoots them, and showed no sympathy for Morty when he was horrified that he shot them
6. Used Morty's temporary super intelligence so he could get himself out of trouble, then ranted to Morty, telling him that he will keep his mouth shut about their adventures
And that was in the first episode alone, and we can clearly see that he has very little to no respect for Morty. Only using him for adventures and not caring about Morty's feelings or autonomy, outright forcing him to go on adventures when he doesn't want to. Even in Rick's worst season (season 4), he never forces Morty to go on adventures with him, even if he is mean or annoyed when Morty doesn't want to. It's pretty safe to say that for the first few episodes of season 1, he didn't even see Morty as a person but instead as a tool that is useful for adventures.
We see him again, disregarding Morty's autonomy in episode 3. Dragging Morty away from a family Christmas without making sure he's ok with it. Even insulting Morty's intelligence for literally no reason afterward. Calling his brain his "little walnut" and casually mentioning to him that he has to hold his breath before he minimizes him or his organs will collapse. He also minimizes Morty's girlfriend in this episode, keeping Morty isolated and preventing him from having a relationship with someone his age. We see him doing something similar when he drags Morty away from Jessica at the end of episode 1. While I heavily doubt that Rick is grooming Morty (For non-sexual reasons, ofc), and if he is, that's not what the writer intended; he does fit the isolating step disturbingly well. However, he is most likely doing this to keep Morty dependent on him and not to groom him. It's still fucked up either way.
Then we see him disregard Morty's autonomy yet again in episode 4, where he drags Morty out of class, speaking for Morty when Mr. Goldenfold says if Morty leaves he's giving him an F. (Granted, Rick knew that this wasn't real, but he knew that Morty didn't know that, and believed that Morty was real)
Mr Goldenfold: If he leaves, I'm giving him an F!
Rick: He doesn't care!
Now, Rick does actually care about Morty in season one and has episodes where he shows that, but these are few and far between, and the bad in this season heavily outweighs the good, but for argument's sake, I will point them out.
1. Episode 4, he gets angry and protective when he finds out that aliens watched Morty while he was...uncovered, even attempts to lunge at them for doing so, which is sweet considering that Jerry, Morty's dad, didn't give 2 flying fucks.
2. Episode 5, comforts Morty after what happened with Mr. Jellybean, and even kills Mr. Jellybean for the sick shit he did, which is absolutely deserved.
3. Episode 9, Rick was happy to see Morty when he was alone at the Smith's house, but quickly covered it up because feelings are for losers, ig.
4. Episode 10, Rick angrily tells the other Ricks to "leave my Morty out of this" when they take him to the council.
5. Episode 11 has cute bonding moments with Summer and Morty at the end of the episode.
Now, Rick, despite still caring about Morty, was very exploitative and saw Morty more like a tool he can use on an adventure instead of a person. A good example of this is this exchange in episode 10
Morty: Oh my god, Rick! There's a bunch of people strapped to that building!
Rick: Not people, Morty...Mortys.
Soooo yeah, that line straight up shows that at this moment, he didn't see Morty as a person, he even admitted to fiddling with the concept of torturing Mortys to hide from other Ricks (He says that he did it "On paper" but we can see when the memories are scanned that he did do this) and he took a voucher for a free replacement Morty. Again, showing that he saw Morty more as a tool that can be replaced easily, and not a real person...but that was until...
~ Season 2 ~
We're at Season 2, baby! Now, Rick and Morty's dynamic was still toxic in season 2, but Rick is finally seeing, or at the very least starting to see, Morty as a person rather than a tool. A VERY good example of this is in the very first episode, A Rickle In Time, I'm sure if you've watched the show, you know what scene I'm going to bring up, the scene where Rick, without hesitation, gives Morty his time collar. This is a huge moment. Also, in that episode, the timeline splits whenever a character is uncertain about something, and when Rick gave Morty his time collar, letting himself be stuck in a timeless oblivion so Morty will be ok. And his literal only request was that Morty be a better person than him.
While this scene is adorable and is the only proof that you need to see how much Rick truly cares about Morty, it also shows that he still sees himself as "above" Morty in some way, due to his delusional god complex, which was still strong here. Considering that he said, "Be better than me," saying that he doesn't see Morty as above him, it could be implied that he sees Morty as equal in this scene, but considering how he treats Morty in this season, I doubt it. Now, in this season, Rick is definetily less exploitative. He still doesn't treat Morty great, but he doesn't exploit him as much as he did in season 1.
Now, this isn't to say he treats Morty well; he still emotionally abuses him regularly, not caring when Morty is hurt by what he said. Like in A Rickle in Time, when Morty tells him, "Words hurt!" and Rick has no reaction. He also insults him a lot in Mortynight Run, even when he thinks that Morty is hurt after Fart left. Completely willing to kick Morty down, and the way he does it so gleefully doesn't exactly help. He also wasn't worried about Morty when he left in These Ricks Must Be Crazy, which will wildly contrast season 3, where they went HARD on Rick caring about Morty. Not that I'm complaining!
Rick also leaves Morty twice in this season, adding to Morty's abandonment issues, which, uh...isn't something a good grandpa would do. He fully meant to abandon Morty in Auto Erotic Assimulation, but only came back since Unity left him. He also left Morty to turn himself in in The Wedding Squanchers, which, whether Rick notices it or not, is a common manipulation tactic for codependency. Showering someone with attention, then leaving, which will make people so desprate for more attention that they will quickly become depedent on you, which is what Rick did here, although I am pretty sure it wasn't intentional, as he did what he did out of a desire for the Smith family to have a normal life, after he heard Beth crying saying that she'll let Rick do whatever he wants because she doesn't want him to leave again. I refuse to believe that was a cold, calculated move, as I doubt that he would want to willingly relive his trauma in the season 3 premiere. But whether Rick intended it or not, he did use this manipulation tactic, which caused Morty to become very codependent on him, since I would argue that he wasn't as codependent in earlier seasons as he is in later seasons. Especially considering that Morty threatened to kill Rick in Look Who's Purging now.
This is where tension starts to build in their relationship, and we see more of Morty's seething anger towards Rick and repressed rage. Rick is aware of Morty's repressed rage, but doesn't do anything about it, making Morty believe that he doesn't have it at the end of the episode by lying to him that a candy bar he ate amplified his violent tendencies. This may seem sweet, and in a way, it is, since Rick did this to clear Morty's conscience. But Morty deserves to know about his repressed rage so he can do something about it and work on it. But Rick is inherently keeping this information from Morty, making the inherent power dynamic they have, considering it's a younger family member and an older family member, even more unhealthy. Since Rick knows something big about Morty that Morty doesn't know about himself, Rick is purposefully keeping this information away from him. Although we never see Rick attempt to exploit Morty's repressed rage, keeping something this big from him isn't ok.
Again, Rick still cares about Morty in this season, sacfricing himself to save Morty, saving Morty in Mortynight Run, although he bitched and complained, being worried about Morty when Unity blew up a town, watching a movie with Morty and Summer and happily getting ice cream with them, etc., etc.
We do get more moments of him and Morty caring about each other and bonding since Rick is seeing Morty as a person instead of a tool he uses on adventures, but their dynamic is still heavily unhealthy with a huge power imbalance, and has Rick making Morty's codependency on him worse.
So while Rick exploits Morty less and is finally seeing Morty as a person, their dynamic is still very unhealthy, with a huge power imbalance and codependency galore. Now, let's get to season 3!
~ Season 3 ~
In season 3, we not only get more tension with Rick and Morty's relationship, with Morty shooting Rick in the head and yelling "Who's stupid now bitch!?" To be fair, it was a fake gun, but Morty didn't know that. Morty also tricks Rick into taking Jerry on an adventure since he just wanted a break from the adventures. But we also see the codependency leak into other parts of Morty's life. Morty starts to have repressed rage towards Jerry, as we see him attacking people while pretending that they are Jerry in Rickmancing the Stone.
You may be wondering how this has anything to do with his relationship to Rick, while codepedency can lead to estrangened relationships with other family members (https://castimonia.org/2021/09/05/codependent-families-family-roles-whats-yours/) since family members may struggle for power, which is something we see Jerry do with Rick, another reason why Morty may have repressed rage towards Jerry is because people who are codepedent on others may adopt their opinions on the belief that it'll give them validation (https://codependencyrecovery.org/2022/11/04/worrying-what-other-people-think/) so another reason could be because Morty recogonized that Rick hates Jerry and adopted that same opinion without realizing it, causing him to seethe in anger before his repressed rage for Jerry formed. It could also be his way of getting his repressed rage out by taking it out on unrelated people, he literally said this in season 3 episode 2, "What if we...didn't do it? What if we just went back to the blood dome and kept taking our baggage out on unrelated people?"
Rick also isolates Morty more with his season 3 premiere speech.
"I just took over the family, Morty! And if you tell your mom and sister I said any of this, I'll deny it! And they'll take my side because I'm a hero, Morty! Now you'll have to go and do whatever I say, Morty! FOREVER!"
This is a common manipulation tactic. Making your victim believe that nobody will believe them, so they may as well not even bother telling anyone, also burdening your victim with a big secret, and expecting them to keep it, which allows the abuser to hold more power over their victim. He knows that Beth has abandonment issues and knows that she'll take Rick's side if Morty tries to tell her just how dangerous his adventures with Rick are. It's chilling how many manipulation tactics Rick takes with Morty, to keep control over Morty and to keep Morty codependent on him.
Now, for Rick, this makes sense; he craves control. This codependency is something that Rick doesn't get, he's uncertain about it, and it doesn't make sense to him, so he tries to control Morty so he can regain the feeling he likes of having everything under control. He also sees that Rick KNOWS that doing these manipulation tactics is giving him control over Morty, which makes it VERY unlikely that he's doing these on accident, as he says this to Morty when he's in his toxic form in season 3 episode 6:
"You can die when I say so! I control you! I control the universe!"
We also see just how badly Rick's emotional abuse affected Morty, with toxic Morty being HEAVILY insecure, saying things including but not limited to:
"I don't want to be on camera, I'm ugly and gross, please!" "I did it, Rick! I got the tank! I'm a piece of shit, but I got the tank!" and "I think my voice is annoying"
We also see him agreeing with Toxic Rick with everything, something that emotional abuse victims tend to do to minimize abusive events, this becomes even more apparent when we find out that Mortys are breed to be as forgiving as possible, and a lot of emotional abuse victims tend to be forgiving towards their abusers (https://psychcentral.com/health/coercive-control#recap)
Morty also being heavily insecure is another sign of codependency, as when someone is codependent, their view of themselves is heavily tied to what the person they are codependent on thinks of them. Morty also saying that he dislikes confrontation in the episode could be tied to emotional abuse, or it could be that and a mix of codepedency, as people who are codepedent have self worth tied to the person they are codepedent on, and because of that will avoid conflicts with them since they want to be liked by them. (https://www.simplypsychology.org/signs-of-codependency.html)
Another thing I want to point out is Morty’s lack of boundaries with Rick. An example of this is in Rest and Ricklaxation. Rick goes to drag Morty out of school again, and at first Morty says no since he found out that Jessica was single, then Rick is dismissive of him, and continues to pressure him. Which Morty agrees to. Also in the season 3 garage rant, Rick repeatedly invades Morty’s personal space, and while Morty is clearly scared, he doesn’t do anything about it. This is a common sign of codependency (https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/family-members/codependent) We do see Morty begin setting boundaries with Rick in season 7, but after years of neglecting his own boundaries when it came to Rick, it will take a while to undo this. We also see this in season 1, with Morty being able to successfully share his boundaries with Jerry about coming to his room without knocking, while we see Rick do that exact thing multiple times, and Morty just lets it happen, not setting clear boundaries with Rick, letting Rick have more control over him. Now this is NOT Morty’s fault, as Rick is the one who got Morty codependent on him, but that’s just another way for Rick to control Morty, as Rick is a control freak.
This also seems to be the season where Rick's codependency on Morty gets worse, so he desperately tries to retaliate by controlling Morty more. An example of this is in episode 4, where he gets jealous of Morty seeing the vindicators as his heroes and not him. Rick probably doesn't feel this a lot, it's weird to him, he doesn't know why he cares so much about what Morty thinks, and why he's so mad at the thought of Morty seeing other people as his heros, so he does what he knows best, he goes to drink so he can numb himsef and feel like he's in control.
Rick seems to crave control a lot; the reason for this most likely stems from his backstory, Diane and Beth dying from Rick Prime. This was a situation Rick wasn't in control of. In the few seconds he had to gain control, he was frozen in shock. In Rick's mind, their deaths were his fault because he didn't have any control over the situation, so he wants control over everything. He hates being uncertain and confused. His dynamic and codependency with Morty confuses him. He hates caring about others, scared that if he cares about people, they'll leave him, be put in danger because of him, or die. He cares about Morty. He should hate Morty, but he doesn't. It confuses him so much that he tries to control Morty as much as he can to combat this feeling, but it doesn't work. It never does. Rick also revisits the memory of Beth and Diane's death in the season 3 premiere, he is reminded of what happens when he doesn't have control at all times, people he loves die.
While season 1 was their dynamic at its most exploitative, seasons 3-4 were their dynamic as it's most controlling. Rick can feel the codependency becoming worse and tries to combat this with control, yet it still doesn't work. Let me quickly list off moments in season 3 where Rick attempts to control Morty.
1. Rickmancing the Stone attempts to push Morty into doing stuff he doesn't want to do and continues to push Morty to do the things, even when Morty doesn't want to. An example of this was him trying to push Morty to leave, even when Morty said that he wanted to stay. Or him volunteering Morty into the blood dome and not caring when Morty was mad at him for doing so.
2. Pickle Rick. He tries to manipulate Morty into lying for him. Saying this: "Morty, I assure you I would never 'find a way' to 'get out of' family therapy."
3. Vindicators 3: Return of Worldender. Put the Vindicators into a SAW so Morty can see what horrible people they are and hopefully idealize Rick over them. He didn't actually want to kill the vindicators, but still.
4. Rest and Ricklaxation. Toxic Rick controls Toxic Morty for this whole episode, bossing him around and straight up saying, "I control you."
5. Morty's Mindblowers. Rick literally removes memories from Morty that make Rick come off as pathetic, are embarrassing for Rick, or even a moment where Morty gets the slightest bit of power over Rick. An example of this is when Morty made fun of Rick since Rick thought that "Take things for granted" was "Take things for grainte" or when Morty won a checkers game against Rick. Then acting like Morty was overreacting when Morty was rightfully pissed at Rick after he found out the truth.
But, Rick also slightly softens up in this season, letting himself be a little more relaxed with Morty, like when he always tells himself to just have a fun time with Morty at Atlantis. This was off-screen, but in the after-credits scene, it's clear that they both had a nice time and were fondly talking about their adventure together. Rick also takes Jerry on an adventure, despite not liking Jerry, because he thought Morty was genuinely worried about Jerry and wanted to make Morty happy. Even if he tries to brush this off by saying, "You know how Morty gets when he gets emotional, it impedes my work." We also see Rick and Morty geuinely enjoy Minecraft together, without Rick making any snide or backhanded remarks towards Morty, while this was their dynamic at it's most controlling, we also see them become more like friends...but then we reach season 4...ooo boy, aren't you in for a treat...
~ Season 4 ~
So in season 4, we get another attempt at Rick trying to control Morty with him trying to control Morty as usual, but he was trying to drag Morty on an adventure without caring about if Morty wanted to do it or not, but Beth actually stops him, since now she's having Rick ask Morty, giving Morty more autonomy, sadly though, it's not nearly enough considering how controlling Rick was of him in season 3, and this season. Morty did agree to the adventure, but when Rick died, Morty chose to let Rick stay dead so he could die with Jessica. Again, this shows the budding tension between them, with Morty coming to hate Rick, or at the very least not love him. This will change, though, as it tends to with codependency, as Morty will begin to trauma bond with Rick.
Rick did 3 VERY fucked up things in season 4. I like to think of it as the fucked up triology. So, first he manipulates Morty into hating heist movies like him, so he doesn't get too busy with it to go on adventures in One Crew Coocco Over Morty. Gave Morty a BLACK EYE in Rattlestar Ricklatica, and traumatized Morty into being terrified of ever defying him again in Vat of Acid.
There are also very few moments where he cares about Morty here,
He shields Morty in the premiere and has a cute garage rant with him.
Tells Morty that he loves him in the ending of Never Ricking Morty (We’re ignoring the lips if you want part, thank you very much! Although it is another good example of how Rick ignores Morty’s boundaries and Morty lets his boundaries be ignored)
He and Morty have a bonding moment in Promortyus.
And uhhh that’s about it! Now, let’s talk more about the fucked up shit he did because…whoo boy, is it MESSY.
Now, starting off with the heist episode, this is another attempt by Rick to get more control over Morty’s life, which sadly works. So, a quick refresher in case you forgot (I doubt it, what Rick did here is pretty infamous for good reason), Morty was writing a heist script, and because of that was flaking on adventures with Rick, which annoyed Rick to no end. Then, when he heard from Summer that Morty could get a Netflix deal, he heard 4 words that set off alarm bells in his head.
“You could lose him.”
Rick is also codependent on Morty, relying on him far more than anyone should rely on a 14-year-old. So the thought of losing Morty terrifies him, so he said that he would “Nip this in the bud” but luckily Beth butts in. Telling Rick that he won’t be doing anything bout it, and if Morty gives up, it better be his own choice, and not because of Rick.
Now Rick hears this, and, like the emotionally stable, well-adjusted man he is, took this as he’s supposed to manipulate Morty into giving up on the dream, so he remains codependent on him and so Rick doesn’t lose him, as he is terrified of losing Morty, since he lost 2 people that were so, SO important to him, and Morty quickly became the most important person in his life after their death, so he would do anything not to lose him. Even if it means doing things that he knows would be damaging to Morty’s psyche.
This is what I mean when I say that Rick does love Morty, just not in the correct way. He loves Morty, but in a selfish way, as he doesn’t care about how his actions affect Morty, only wanting Morty to stay with him, no matter what the cost it may have on Morty’s psyche. Now, Rick does treat Morty better and cares more about how his actions affect Morty, but this realization came a little too late; his actions already damaged Morty immensely, and I don’t think Rick realizes this. As he never even considered that Morty’s greatest fear could have something to do with him in Fear No Mort, but we will get to that, TRUST ME. I don’t think Rick is being intentionally abusive, he’s just doing whatever he thinks he has to do to protect Morty, as he believes that caring for people is basically a death sentence for them. So he tries to pretend like he hates Morty, terrified of admitting and showing just how much he cares about Morty, but this didn’t make him hate Morty; it only made Morty hate himself. And Rick’s manipulation of Morty seems to be his attempt to keep Morty around him by any means necessary.
Now I am by no means defending Rick’s actions, they are ABSOLUTELY abusive, but I don’t think Rick realizes that, as very few people are intentionally abusive and manipulative. They mostly do not recognize that they are abusive (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/invisible-bruises/202210/do-abusers-understand-their-behavior-is-wrong). Although this does not excuse their actions, it is interesting to bring up. They also tend not to realize how their actions affect their victim, as the change happens slowly. Which is also something I believe is true for Rick. He definitely doesn’t realize how much he has hurt Morty, although this doesn’t make Morty’s hurt ok. Rick truly has no idea how deeply he’s scarred his grandson.
Vat of Acid is another VERY fucked up thing. This also has to do with Rick’s fear of losing Morty. So, Morty saw firsthand that one of Rick’s plans failed, and he lashes out at him for it. He then manipulates Rick into making an invention for him by using reverse psychology, which works, of course, since Rick has the most fragile ego known to man. But it turns out Rick didn’t do what Morty wanted, instead transporting Morty to a different timeline, killing the Morty that was originally in that timeline, eventually revealing this to Morty, traumatizing him. He also had Morty merge all of the timelines together, so only one Morty did all of the things Morty did in that episode. Take a shot for every time I say Morty in this post! I’m kidding, don’t do that. You’ll definitely die of alcohol poisoning. So Rick did this, one to preserve his ego, as he wants Morty to see him as cool, despite not wanting to admit it, because basic human emotions are for losers! And two, did this to keep Morty with him. As he says in season 6, after he believes that Morty hates him:
“This is what happens when you let people in and they stop respecting you!”
Morty didn’t respect Rick here, and Rick, being terrified of what that could mean, makes a whole contrived plot to keep Morty from ever critiquing him again. Hoping that this would keep Morty respecting him.
Rick is an incredibly fucked up indivual, but he typically does have a reason for doing the reprehensible shit he does, which makes it interesting to anaylze, and shows how complex he really is. So while season 4 was Rick at his worst, it IS a pretty interesting season to use to analyze Rick’s character.
This is also the season that kicks off Rick’s redemption arc. In the finale, Rick realizes how much of a terrible father he is, which leads him to sit alone in the garage and reflect on his behavior in this season. Unable to face the family after he realized just how horrible he is. This is a MASSIVE moment of growth for Rick, as he realized how much his actions hurt Rick, and how horrible it is to look at those actions play out.
Now let’s get to the REAL reason why any of you are here for this post! Season 5! Rick’s redemption arc is starting, babbyyy! Let’s go!
~ Season 5 ~
Ok, so at the end of season 4 with the whole clone Beth thingy, Rick realizes what a truly bad person he is, and sits in the garage thinking about how horrible he’s been in season 4. Since, imo, he was at his worst in season 4, and Rick seems to agree since he begins his redemption arc in season 5. With the very first episode, we already see how different he acts. He tells Morty to leave him and save himself when they are literally in a life-threatening situation. Another example of how, while Rick may be a horrible grandpa, in the end, he loves Morty more than he loves himself. Which isn’t saying a lot because he hates himself, but uhhhh y’know what I mean. In this season, he respects Morty’s autonomy a lot more. For example, in the first episode again, Rick tries to drag Morty off so Morty can watch him sign a peace treaty with Mr. Nimbus. This was right after Mr. Nimbus says that this has to be someone Rick would trust with his life, by the way. But when Rick tries to, Morty yanks his arm away and says, “Rick! I did everything you asked today! Now, can I just spend some time with my girlfriend?” And Rick, instead of just ignoring Morty’s protest and boundaries again and just dragging him off, as, say, season one Rick would’ve done, he doesn’t try to drag Morty away and just says, “Your girlfriend?” Which, I would normally say that this is rude, buttttt considering how this is Morty’s 1st date with Jessica and he’s already using the “girlfriend” label, thissss is pretty fair I’d hate to say it. We also have Morty saying this line: “Y’know, sometimes you have to BE an asshole! My grandpa taught me that!”
Hell, Rick even let Morty off the hook for screwing up later in this episode, even if he’s snarky about it (“I fucked it up, ok?” “It’s ok Morty, it’s what you do, now lemme Deus Ex Machina this shit and let’s go home.”) when usually season 2 Rick wouldn’t hesitate at the opportunity to repeatedly insult Morty for it, and when he’s in the middle of an argument with Nimbus, he immediately drops it when he hears Morty screaming for help, with a: “Screw this. What am I even doing?”
We do see more of Rick’s jealousy and possessiveness over Morty in this season tho (In a platonic way to any proshipppers who are reading this, GET OUT!) in “A Rickconvient Mort” Morty ditches plans he had with Rick to hang out with Planetina (FUCK PLANETINA) and Rick actually doesn’t force the plans him and Morty had on him. So obviously in this season we’re getting more of Rick actually respecting Morty’s autonomy, which is really cool! Buttttt this is where his jealously and possessiveness comes in, he drinks a lot, calls Summer his favorite grandkid right in front of Morty to get under his skin and hurt Morty like how he hurt him (DAMN that is fucked) andddd basically ignores Morty for the rest of the episode. While Rick is a smart man, no doubt about it, he acts very immature when it comes to Morty. The best way I can describe Rick’s possessiveness and jealousy when it comes to Morty is…y’know, when a toddler has to share their favorite toy? Yeah, kinda like that. They get huffy, fussy, and won’t admit what’s wrong. Yep, that’s how our emotionally closed-off boy acted in this episode in a nutshell. He’s scared of showing how much he cares about Morty, since bad things happen to people he cares about; they either die because of him, are put in danger because of him, or leave him. Take, for instance, his original Beth and Diane, Unity, Birdperson, Squancy, hell, Mr. Poopybutthole’s life was ruined because of him. He also just isn’t really the best at dealing with his emotions, considering how much he represses them.
Now, he does slap Morty here in season 5 episode 7 (“Gr-grandpa fucked up, glasses on! Act like a turkey!” “Wha- Are you scared?” *Slaps* “ACT LIKE A TURKEY!”) But this slap was a lot softer contrasting the punch from Ricklatica, as he doesn’t leave a fucking black eye on Morty’s face. But still, hot take…slapping your younger relatives…is bad…*gasp!* I know, I know that’s very surprising and a very spicy take, but…I had to say it.
There’s not a whole lot to comment on for this season, since it focused more on Rick and Morty’s dynamic with other family members, but there are a few important things. One is…despite it being from one of the worst, if not the worst episodes of the entire series, we do get some good moments of Rick caring about Morty in…eugh…Rickdependence Spray…
Ok, this episode is completely shit, and is an abomination, BUT, there IS some good parts about it…and by “parts” I mean Rick, so, he get him greeting Morty in a weirdly nice way “Oh, hey kiddo, how’s your Saturday?”, and he also is pretty protective over Morty in this episode, telling him to step away so he doesn’t get caught in the blast, shielding him and putting Morty behind him when Sperm monsters were attacking, immidately grabbing him when the ship was going down, yeah even though this episode was absolute pure unadulterated garbage, these moments still managed to get an “Awww!” out of me…what can I say? I’m weak! I love me some protective Rick, even in a shitty episode. Also, when it comes out that Morty uh…”used”...a horse machine and because of that all the sprem monsters happened…i-it makes slightly more sense in context, ok? He does shame Morty a little for it, whichhhh is honestly kinda deserved, sorry baby, but the insult is very minor “Morty, you nasty little, lying, world-ending pervert!”, “I always knew your hormones would start a world war Morty, I just didn’t think it would be like this” and “Not really accepting apologies here while I’m stuck as handjob solo here…” but again, these are very minor, and aside from these lines, he lets Morty off the hook for it.
But oh boy, then we get to the toxic cesspool of the season 5 finale…so, in season 5 episode 9, Forgetting Sarick Mortshall, Rick is terrible to Morty, which is kinda essensital for the plot to happen and so one of the best episodes of the series can happen, but it’s still a dick move no matter how you slice and dice it. He calls Morty replaceable, had a wheel of better things than Morty, and purposefully attempted to hurt Morty so Morty will come back and, ideally, have less complaints now since he’ll believe that Rick is fine with replacing him…fuck…I absolutely love Rick, he’s my favorite without question, but he can be SERIOUSLY fucked up at times. Making this analysis made it all the more blatant. One thing I do like about this episode is that it had the BALLS to tell the audience about how fucked up and toxic their dynamic is, many shows will try to brush it off, or make excuses, like “Oh yeah, but they care about each other when it counts” it actually acknowledged the intense toxicity between Rick and Morty, I just kinda wish they directly addressed it more, since this episode didn’t really have a satisfying end to it…actually the episode ends with Rick LEAVING.
Yeah, Rick fucking LEAVES, because I guess giving one of his relatives abandonment issues wasn’t enough. (Yes, ik he never abandoned his original Beth, but he still abandoned this one multiple times) He had to do it with his 14-year-old grandson…yaaaay…
Now, it does try to say that the reasons why he’s leaving are because he’s abusive towards Morty…but if that were the case, he would work to make their relationship better, instead of continually removing Morty’s autonomy. Since now, he can’t even choose to leave Rick, because Rick has already made that choice for him. Making Morty even more dependent on Rick, since he probably feels incapable of making decisions on his own, considering how much autonomy that Rick has taken away from him. Hell, at times it’s like he’s not even his own person, he’s just Rick’s tool for adventures, he does get slightly more autonomy, but this just zaps it all away. Now, I do think Rick did have good intentions with this, buttttt now we’ve got abandonment issues as well! Which makes codependency even worse! (https://codependencyrecovery.org/2024/05/05/the-fear-of-abandonment-in-codependency-how-it-shapes-your-choices-and-what-to-do-about-it) yay….I mean, he did fix Morty’s arm and was genuinely worried when he saw Morty hurt, and gave Morty his portal gun as a parting gift, so like…that’s something, ig. Who cares about abandonment issues when you get a portal gun that you get to keep for a few days out of it!?
Rick does come back in the very next episode when the crows…I don’t wanna use the weird terminology that the show uses…soooo I’ll just say stop adventuring with him. Annnndddd just about nothing has changed, with Morty being ready to go back to how things were before, even when Beth tries to get Morty to tell Rick that he wants his respect, Morty refuses…my poor baby. It’s still nice seeing Beth take a more active role in Morty’s life, though, even if a lot of what she does is the bare minimum, it’s still nice to see. Especially since it shows that her love for her son is stronger than her abandonment issues. Beth is a LOT of things, but she does love her son.
Now, Rick is actually treating Morty like…*gasp*...a human being! He agrees to a dinner with Evil Morty despite not wanting to, since Morty wanted to. Let Morty find out about his past, even picking Morty up, even though Morty chose to do it at like the most inconvenient time. And gently put Morty down. And he AGAIN tells Morty to leave him for dead when Evil Morty offers Morty to come with. And Morty, being the codependent bby he is, chooses to save Rick instead, despite Rick admitting that he only came back because he didn’t have the crow anymore. He was too guilty to admit it, but his silence was answer enough, and after Rick admitted that he didn’t have a plan to get out…damn codependency is crazy, now obviously I do believe that they genuinely love each other, but you have to admit that there is a LOT of stuff that’s done due to codependency.
And the ending that I hate to admit brings me to tears, when Rick is handing a ship, he sees a booster control that says that it will only work with a partner, he takes Morty’s hand with a fucking SMILE on his face and they work TOGETHER as equal PARTNERS instead of the usual Rick being the leader and Morty being, for lack of a better word, a sidekick. This, to me at least, is when Rick consistently starts respecting Morty as a person, instead of only respecting Morty when he acts like him.
Nowwww, let’s see the moments Rick cares about Morty in season 5!
Rick tells Morty to leave him in Mort Dinner Rick Andre, drops an argument with Nimbus to help Morty when he hears him screaming for help, and lets him off the hook for screwing something up, instead of dogpiling on him like usual.
Genuinely wanted to have a good time with Morty with no ulterior motive in Rickmancing the Stone, even if Planetina ruins it (FUCK PLANETINA)
Being very protective over Morty in Rickdepedence Spray and mostly letting him off the hook for screwing up
Fixes Morty’s arm and gives Morty the portal gun in Forgetting Sharick Mortshall
Trusts Morty with his past, carries him, tells Morty to leave him to save himself, AND works with Morty as an equal partner
Woo! Ok! That was season 5! I had a LOT more to say about that than I thought…what can I say? I love yapping about my boys! Now we’re onto the 2nd to last season…for now, I mean Rick and Morty will be getting like, 12 seasons, so we don’t gotta worry about it ending for a while, season 6! And we get more of Rick’s redemption arc here, baby! Ohhh, this will be fun!
~ Season 6 ~
We’re almost at the end! We’re at the home stretch! Keep reading this for just a little bit longer! Even though at this point, assuming you read it all in one go, you’ve read for abboooutttt…25 minutes?! You could’ve watched an episode by now…fuck…uhmmm but you’re a fast reader! I’m sure you took a shorter time…HAHAHAHA! Please don’t stop reading. You don’t know how much time I spent on this…I actually…RESEARCHED and…LEARNED SOMETHING! EUGH! Alright, moving on, sorry, Wendy’s waitress.
First, we have Solaricks! GOD, I love this episode! I love it so much! Now this whole episode is great…butttt that’s for the episode ranking…that’s coming soon, I PROMISE! For this analysis, we’re just focusing Rick and Morty here, but DAMN is it good! So, the cold open show Rick and Morty about to die, since the ship they escaped on is out of gas, and get this, when Rick and Morty were legit about to die, Morty’s FIRST instict was to go over next to Rick, curl up, and cling onto his arm…and Rick, instead of shrugging Morty off or doing an asshole move like that, he actually lets Morty hold onto his arm, and leans his head on Morty’s.
Rick is gentle and vulnerable with Morty in a way he NEVER is with anyone else. He never lets anyone else in the series touch him in such a close way. All Morty wanted was to die while holding onto Rick, and Rick actually let that happen. I honestly, honestly couldn’t see season 4 Rick doing this, but since season 6 Rick is finally letting himself be vulnerable, he’s letting Morty do this. And, more importantly, he’s letting himself do this, he’s letting himself be close with someone else without pushing them away. Because he’s FINALLY beginning to trust himself. Also, in this episode, we find out that Rick Prime was our Morty’s, Morty Prime’s, original Rick. Do you have any idea how big this is? To let a relative of a man you despise, the man who killed your family and ruin your life, to not only not hate them, but to love them, more than you love yourself, for them to be the only one you can trust with your life, to be close with them in a way you never let yourself be with any else ever since your wife and daughter died by that same person’s realitive? THAT’S one of the reasons why he considers his attachment to Morty so irrational, because this is the grandkid of your enemy, and even if you know they can’t control who they are blood-related to, realistically, you should have some resentment towards them, right? I mean, logically, rationally. And Rick, being a very logical and rational person, just can’t get why he holds no resentment towards Morty at all. Holding him in very high regard, even if he’d never admit it, since uhm…feelings are for people who want their families dead, ig.
Man, I REALLY yapped about that for a WHILE, huh? What can I say? I love my boys, I mean…of course I do, this analysis is nearly 8000 words as I’m writing it right now. Hell, I’m writing this instead of sleeping…it’s 4 in the morning and I just have ICP in my other tab and writing about Rick and Morty in this one…what is my life?
Okay, enough with that existential crisis, you came here for an analysis about an abusive grandpa and his anxious grandson! …You weirdo.
Now, later in the episode, we have one of my favorite scenes…I-I think in the whole series? Oh, you think I’m overexaggerating?! …Maybe. But this scene is really great, I made one too many posts on it. I’ll just show you the exchange.
“Get outta here! [When Morty was about to do something stupid and dangerous…awfully hypocritical of you, Ricky] You did this last season! You’re like a suicide bomber!”
“Takes one to know one!”
“Yeah? Well, you get it from him [Rick Prime], not me!”
“I don’t know him! You’re my grandpa, Rick! Rick and Morty, 100 years!”
This scene is soooo good, I CAN’T! I love how Rick lost his anger at hearing that, I love Morty immediately disowning Rick Prime, I love the found family, I love the callback to the pilot, GOD! I love it so much. Seriously, that callback was so good, even though Morty was literally rendered immobile because of Rick when he said that, and Rick had zero care about that, it still meant SO MUCH to Morty! Ugh, I need to stop gushing about this scene and carry on with the analysis already…ok, so this is a pretty good example of the genuine (I shouldn’t even have to specify this, but whenever I say “love” I’m talking about PLATONIC and FAMILIAL love! Ok? Ok.) love between them, there is a LOT of codependency between them, but they both do genuinely love each other a lot, Rick just isn’t in the right mental space to show it in the right way, he’s getting there, but he still has a WHILE to go, due to all of his trauma and a whole buncha self loathing! Ahh, THIS is why I relate to you, Rick! I hate myself, too! …That’s not concerning, right?
This is also what makes Rick go back and help the girls, who are in trouble. Morty is the ONLY person who’s able to talk Rick out of doing stupid and self risking stuff, since he’s aware of Rick’s self-destructive tendencies, that just shows how well they know each other, and how much they DO genuinely love and care for each other, even if it can seem hard to believe at times with all the emotional abuse, codepedency, and toxicity.
Also, a bit before this scene, when Morty was stuck in his original dimension, despite him saying “I knew you wouldn’t leave me!” to Rick when he came back, thissss isn’t exactly true. You see, he was talking with Jerry Prime, and, if he actually believed that Rick was coming back when he was talking to Jerry about it, he would say “When Rick comes back,” Butttt well…I’ll just show you what he said.
“If Rick comes back”
If, despite everything, Morty’s abandonment issues are still strong, of course they are, he’s terrified of losing the most important person in his life, the only person that gives him consistent attention, and now he knows that Rick would leave him on a whim, he knows that all of that could be ripped about like, *snap*, that. Who wouldn’t be terrified of losing the only person who actually pays attention to you after you’ve been lonely your entire life?
And it doesn’t help that when Rick came back, Morty was so overwhelmed with relief that he ran to Rick with outstretched arms to hug him, and Rick, being uncomfortable with physical touch, takes Morty’s shoulder and gently pushes him away, leaving Morty feeling more alone than ever.
That’s all I have to say about this episode, but damn, it’s even better than I thought, it reveals SO much about Rick and Morty’s dynamic in one episode…Or I could be overanalyzing this silly drunk grandpa cartoon….nahhh, that’s not it! This was all intentional, and I’m NOT crazy or obsessed, who said that!?
We also have Rick: A Mort Well Lived, and I’m…split on the episode, I WILL give credit where credit is due, it DOES say a lot about Rick and Morty’s dynamic. It sets the stage for the best episode in the series by showing that Morty thinks Rick doesn’t care about him. This was first introduced as a throwaway line in the season 3 premiere (“Because he doesn’t care! Because nobody is special to him, Summer!”), So it’s nice seeing it expanded on in this episode.
So, basically, Morty was split into a lot of little pieces because of a Roy game…it makes just as much sense in context. I gave you the context. And this, as multiple lines showing just how badly years of Rick’s abuse affected Morty, they straight up just don’t think Rick cares about him…or…them…? I dunno, it’s confusing, the truly heartbreaking thing is, you can’t really blame him, after years of emotional abuse, of course, he would start to believe that Rick doesn’t care about him. We have to remember, we are watching them on TV. We can go back to the moments where Rick cares about Morty and gush about them all we want, but Morty can’t. For Morty, these moments are just that, moments, quick and fleeting. Then after this, he just goes on with his life like normal. So why would he think that Rick cares about him, if all he hears is negative things come out of his mouth 90% of the time? I mean, put yourself in Morty’s shoes for a moment, your grandpa constantly insults you and made it very clear that he considers you 100% precent replaceable, he does have moments where he cares about you, but these are very quick, yeah, you probably wouldn’t think he cares as well.
Also, while Rick is getting better, we have to remember that Morty is 14, and again, he isn’t watching this on TV. He can’t go back to different episodes and analyze the differences in how Rick treats him, the change is slow and gradual, it makes it all the more realistic, but also makes it all the harder to spot. Of course, a 14-year-old isn’t going to pick up on this, how would he? The Rick he knows the majority of the time in the manipulative, sarcastic, rude Rick, not the kind, gentle, loving Rick that we can see over and over again.
Also, the one piece of Morty that Rick admitted was a good grandson, was going to admit that he loves, AND was the only one to challenge him and demand that he shows affection towards him…or…uh…her…? If he…she…? Is going to follow what he says. And guess what? She’s the only one who gets left behind on her own request. The only part of Morty that could challenge Rick is gone forever, set to die in a video game. Morty again loses more autonomy, he straight up says: “You know best, Rick! I trust you implicitly!” I swear, he’s becoming more and more like a lifeless husk with no personality that Rick just drags around.
There is also JuRicksic Mort. This doesn’t really reveal much about their dynamic, but they have a really cutesy dynamic here. Hell, Rick even tells Morty, “Give me a hug!” and playfully ruffles Morty's hair when he finds that piece of the asteroid. He also gently elbows Morty and asks, “Get it?” after he tells a joke, and actually attempts to defend himself to Morty when Morty is bitter about Rick not laughing at a joke he made. Which is…weirdly adorable? Rick also takes Morty to Boobworld with no hesitation after he fixes portal travel. Happily saying, “Figured my guy deserves a vacation.” Also, him calling Morty “my guy” is adorable, shut up. Also them gently punching each other’s arms is so fucking cute. MY BOYSSSSS ARGHHH! Also, this has literally nothing to do with the analysis…but I can’t NOT mention Rick absolutely failing at skateboarding, I’m sorry that’s too funny not to mention.
We also get Full Meta Jackrick. And DAMN. This episode is good! It might seriously be S-Tier for me, it is SO good! This episode is a great example on how much Rick changed. He’s physically gentle with Morty, gently holding his arms and hands, helping Morty up, hell, this is also a great protective Rick episode! When Rick thinks Joe Campbell got Morty…uh…pregnant…which, considering how Morty is amad, I…don’t know how that’s possible. Rick’s first reaction? To kill the only other male who could’ve done it, Joe. He did it by drowning as well, a surefire way to make it as painful as possible. Hell, even when Morty says, “It wasn’t him, Rick!” Rick angrily asks, “Then who?!” Clearly wanting to deal with the man who did that himself. Also, you are INSANNEEEE if you think I won’t mention him putting his lab coat on Morty when Morty was cold. That was legitimately adorable, especially since we rarely see Rick give someone else his lab coat. This was the first time he did, actually. He did it a second time in Mort: Raganrick (I thought it was called 90s Fad Toys for the longest time bc the site I pirate Rick and Morty from got it wrong, but shhh, that’s a secret between us) was when it threw it to Bigfoot in Summer’s body butttt I thinkkkk that has more to do with the fact that Summer was naked…
Ok, next up! Anaylze Piss, Rick and Morty don’t interact a whollleee lot here, we do get a pretty empowering scene for Morty setting some boundaries with Rick, not agreeing to keep a secret of a man’s suicide for Rick and telling the rest of the family. Rick also goes to therapy! Which is something season 3 Rick turned into a pickle to try to prevent. So yeah, Rick has grown a LOT from season 3, and I’m really proud of him!
Alright, so that’s about it for season 6, Rick and Morty has a much healthier, more cutesy dynamic, sure Rick can still be emotionally abusive, and manhandles Morty when they are running away from others, but he’s a lot gentler now, and treats Morty like an actual person instead of just a tool for adventures that vast majority of the time, now onto season 7, the final one! Then we’re done with this analysis that took way…WAYYYY too long. Wait- what!? No! I don’t want to talk about the last 2 episodes! I don’t want to, I’m not gonna, you’re not gonna make me! Wait…you’ll buy me a Rick plushie if I do…?
…
Damn you comfort characters. (I say despite making an entire analysis on how abusive Rick is, yes, he is still my comfort character. Meeseeks and Destroy. That’s it. That’s my reason.)
Ok, so, in A Rick in King Mortur’s Mort, damn these long titles, Rick straight up abandons Morty...again. He’s tryna win the Olympic gold medal for how many times he can traumatize this kid, istg. Give him DOUBLE the abandonment issues, why not!? He did make a robot designed to literally make Morty happy, which, y’know, is sweet in that special Rick way. But he still abandoned his grandson for months because he couldn’t pull himself out of his obsession with Prime.
Why is this?
Because of Morty.
Morty insulted him once, and it caused him to spiral.
Rick never really cared about Morty’s insults, but now he’s finally starting to respect Morty, so now those insults actually hurt, insults are a lot harder to brush off if you actually respect the person they are coming from.
It actually broke Morty that Rick would do this, he cries, and it’s heartbreaking. “He’s [Rick’s] busy…and I hate him, and I lost my lightsaber, and now it might destroy the earth, and it’s the worst Christmas ever!” Hell, after Rick lashed out with the most victim-blaming speech I’ve ever heard in my life, he immediately feels bad, and starts to blame the president, even now he’s incapable of holding Rick accountable, that’s how bad his codependency is.
And Rick still doesn’t see why what he did was wrong, why would Morty love him? He insulted him, that must mean that he doesn’t care, shouldn’t he be happy that Rickbot is nicer and more thoughtful than him? Why did Morty even care? Rick felt like a victim because he assumed Morty didn’t care about him, at least in Rick’s eyes. He probably thought Morty just finally realized how shitty of a person and didn’t understand how Morty could still love someone like that, forgetting what Morty said in Solaricks.
“You’re my grandpa, Rick.”
That’s why he hated Rick replacing himself with Rickbot; he loves this Rick, Rick C-137, his grandpa, and he just replaced himself with an impostor for months, not the Rick he chose over his biological grandpa, but a robot. He straight up tells Rickbot this.
“You’re not my grandpa, you’re a fucking robot.”
Morty is so terrified of being replaced, and Rick replacing himself terrified Morty that Rick got sick of him, and was going to replace him and leave him, again.
By the time Morty insulted Rick, Rick thought Morty truly didn’t care about him, so he just replaced himself with a better, nicer version of himself so he could focus entirely on finding Prime, thinking that that’s why he’s no good to anyone. That if he could get rid of Prime, everything would be fixed.
Also…Morty was the reason why Rick stopped hunting Prime, but Morty was the reason he came back to it. Sound familiar?
“The corrosion of 2 personalities that reshape each other until they’re incompatible”
…
And with that, we move on to season 7
~ Season 7 ~
Season 7, baby! We’re in the home stretch!
After spending hours on this and continually getting sidetracked because Depression is a fucking BITCH, we did it! So, sadly, we don’t get as much of their dynamic in season 7, since Morty got sidetracked a LOT in this season, butttt, we still got a lot to talk about, because this season has Fear No Mort!
This season is when their dynamic is at its healthiest, they seem a lot more like friends, which is nice to see. Rick, of course, still insults him, because this is Rick, of course, he’s still going to be emotionally abusive, ya can’t just erase that overnight, but like before, these insults are a lot less harsh, making him seem more like a rude friend than anything. He only insults Morty, like, 7 times throughout the whole season. Which, while it isn’t uhm…great, it still is a massive improvement. Morty is also more of Rick’s level, snapping back at him more than once, which makes their dynamic seem a lot more equal, than it just being a poor kid getting emotionally abused by his grandpa, which, don’t get me wrong, that still is definitely what’s going on, but it’s more equal now than it was before, the power dynamic is still there, but it’s not as unequal as it used to be, which is a definite plus.
Also, Rick actually lets Morty hug him! Contrasting season 6, where he lightly pushes Morty away when Morty tries. In Unmortricken, Morty hugs Rick, and Rick stiffens up, but lets him. And again in Fear No Mort (Oh, we’ll get to you later) Morty hugs Rick, and Rick, despite being obviously very confused and stiffening up again, does albeit awkwardly and half-assed, does try to hug Morty back, butttt Morty does pull away, and Rick, instead of being upset, looks more worried that he did something wrong, although he quickly returns to his resting bitch face afterwards. I love this man so much.
Rick also has a pretty good handle on his anger here, mainly in Mort: Raganrick, when Morty messes up things again, and Rick, instead of showering him with insults as usual. *Cough* Mortynight Run *Cough* He seems a lot more like a frustrated parent, more mad at the situation rather than Morty. He does insult Morty, but it was pretty tame and only once. And to be fair, it was after Morty insulted him, and he does reassure Morty afterwards, despite being stern about it. (“You’d rather stay dead until you win than live as a loser, Christ, maybe you belong here with these idiots.” “Yeah, I could probably teach them how to hit a red button!” “...I said I was sorry….” “And I said keep killing them, while I finish the relay, and I will find a way to get us back home, ok?”) We also see them being equal here, when Morty complains to Rick to get them back home, Rick, instead of hand waving Morty’s concerns away, actually explains his point to Morty (“You need to find a way to get us back to life!” “Without my infinite energy, Morty? I don’t think you’re understanding this, Morty…if I get back, we won’t have another shot at this, you think next time these idiots see an old guy on the battlefield, they’re going to give him a beer?”)
We also get a lot of protective moments between both of them, not only in this episode, but in Unmortricken as well. With Rick wanting Morty to stay away from Rick Prime, since he’s very dangerous, and actually getting angry at Evil Morty when he brings Morty Prime along. (“You brought Morty?” “I’m not worried about him, I’m evil.”) And with Morty getting mad at Evil Morty when he insults Rick (“Reallyyy learned your lesson about chasing this guy…” “Hey, man, you can leave now.”), There is also, of course, the ending, with Morty’s lips trembling when he was waiting for Rick’s response after asking Rick if he was ok. And when Rick says yes (Rick, you fucking liar.) Morty hugs Rick, and Rick, instead of pushing away, lets Morty hug him, just giving him a weird look and stiffening up, I mean, hey, baby steps. Rick also pretends to be happy for Morty which is just…so fucking sad.
And in Rickfending your Mort, we get to see Rick spoiling Morty, and them having a genuinely good time together, hell, despite them arguing here, they actually get over it pretty quickly, and the insults they hurl and each other feel a lot less personal than usual. Just basic ones like bitch and stuff. And even then, Morty still didn’t like the observer talking down to Rick. We also get Morty calling Rick “Grandpa” instead of “Rick”, which is always nice to see. (“It’s some weirdo Grandpa hired to prove I’m a bad person.”) And we get Rick encouraging Morty when he comes to talk to the observer (“Yeah, get ‘em Morty!”) and not being angry when he sees that Morty steals money from his wallet. We also get an adorable ending. (“Rick and Morty! We’re back, baby! Check the glovebox!” “Woah! Another gun!”) Now, despite this episode being adorable, there issss a downside. This is another example of Rick relying too much on Morty, I mean, he literally relies on Morty to keep him mentally stable, which is something you should never put on anyone, much less a 14-year-old.
There’s also Wet Kaut Amortican Summer. Buttttt we don’t get much of their dynamic here, but we do get confirmation that Rick now regularly spoils Morty, which is adorable, and Rick is actually able to take criticism from Morty without traumazing the poor kid. *Cough* VAT OF ACID *Cough*
Anddd now we get to the one! You know the one. FEAR NO MORT BABBBYYY!
Now, I could gush about this episode till the cows come home, talk about how it’s funny, a great character study on Morty and Rick, how the ending scene is the best ending and twist in all of Rick and Morty…buttttt that’s not what you’re here for, so! Let’s just explain what it means for our boy’s dynamic!
So, in Fear No Mort, we find out Morty’s greatest fear is Rick not caring about him, which is so fucking heartbreaking. And Morty’s realization of the fear is awful, also yes I memorized this scene (“I’m afraid that if I jumped into a hole, you wouldn’t even bother jumping in after me! You’d just stay there and watch! This entire thing has been about ME! YOU’RE NOT EVEN IN THE HOLE ARE YOU!?”) And holy hell, the voice acting is wayyy better than it had any right to be. Harry fucking KILLED it! What hurts the most about that line is that Rick actually DID jump into a hole for Morty in A Rickle in Time, but Morty can barely remember it since he had so many memories of that same moment where Rick didn’t jump in for him, and it’s absolutely heartbreaking. He forgot one of the biggest acts that shows how much Rick really did love him, where he gave his life for Morty’s. AUGH FUCK!
What also hurts is when Morty gets out of the hole, Rick was just waiting for him. He did just sit there and watch. To Morty, at the very least, his greatest fear was confirmed. Morty jumped into a hole, and Rick didn’t bother jumping in after him. He just sat there and watched. And that breaks Morty’s heart, you can hear him begging that Rick did try to jump in with the amount of pain in his voice (“Oh no…aw jeez no…you…you didn’t go in at all…?”) and Rick said that he didn’t breaking Morty’s heart without realizing it.
But there is something Morty didn’t realize, when Morty woke up and was safe, Rick happily said “Morty!” with a smile on his face, clearly happy to see that Morty was ok, but Morty of course wouldn’t realize a small detail after the overwhelming terrifying experience that he just went through, and to the overwhelming belief that Rick truly does not care about him at all.
Also Morty asks Rick, just to see if he was still in the hole “Rick…am I…irreplaceable?” Since irreplaceable was the very word that set Morty off, the one word that caused Morty to realize that Rick wasn’t even in the hole, and it was “You’re irreplaceable!” He truly believes that Rick would just replace him at any moment, and when Rick answers that question with: “I mean…define ‘irreplaceable’” This, this fucked up sentence, Rick being a dick, is what caused Morty to realize that he wasn’t in the hole. This made Morty so happy that he hugged Rick, he loves Rick for who he is, for being the asshole that simtaniously ruined and changed his life forever. Rick is single-handedly the reason why Morty can’t have a normal life, and Morty still loves Rick despite this. And Rick stiffens up and looks confused, but actually hugs Morty back. And this terrifies Morty, causing him to break apart and scream “NO! I won’t know if I’m out!” He’s so accustomed to receiving negative attention from Rick, that even the smallest amount of affection from him feels alien, it doesn’t feel real. Now, let’s get something straight, Rick is changing and is getting better, this doesn’t take away from the fact that Rick has deeply traumatized Morty, and Morty is still dealing with the trauma that Rick has put on him after 6 years.
We also see something else, in the hole, Morty was terrified that if Rick had to choose between him and a fake version of Diane, he would choose Diane, but guess what actually happened in the end, when Rick gets that choice?
He rejects it.
He rejects the ability to see his dead wife again, and instead just looks at the hole, takes a deep breath, takes a picture of Morty that was carefully folded in his wallet, mind you, and puts it on the wall of people who went into the hole and successfully came out, then walks away with a smile, clearly proud and happy of Morty, content with walking away from the past to spend the rest of his evening with his grandson. Fuck, I hate how just describing this scene is making me tear up.
~ Conclusion ~
Now, season 8 hasn’t come out yet, but it will come out soon! But according to staff, Rick and Morty will have more of an equal friendship, sooo this should be the healthiest we’ve seen of Rick and Morty yet!
So, what did we learn from this? Well, Rick and Morty, despite everything, do genuinely love and care for each other, although this mainly gets overshadowed by their codependency and the general toxicity of their dynamic. And while Rick is getting better and is treating Morty a lot better overall, this doesn’t erase all of the trauma Rick has put on Morty, Morty is still very deeply traumatized from the, at fucking BEST, 6 years of consistent emotional abuse, that even sometimes turns physical. (Rickstar Ricklatica, I’m looking at you) And despite the fact that Rick is changing for the better and does love Morty, and Morty loving him back, Morty still has no obligation to forgive Rick for all of the trauma Rick has dumped on Morty.
Their dynamic is so insanely complex and layered. I love how it shows that abusers can love their victims, but just not in the right way. Honestly making this analysis of their analysis made me respect the writing of this show even more, as they did a legitimately awesome job at show what can happen to someone with codependency. And it is legitimately so insanely interesting to anaylze, and I absolutely love it! Ok, after multiples months, multiple hours of procrastinating and getting distracted, so SO many spotify songs, and nearly 12k words, this analysis is finally finished! I really hope that you did enjoy reading this analysis. I know it’s long, but I hope it gave you a new understanding of their dynamic! I know it did for me, and I did actually learn a lot when I was researching for this analysis, so it was legitimately an educational experience for me! I think I need to stop saying legitimately- But yeah! This was a very long post and analysis, but I did genuinely enjoy making it! And I hope you enjoyed reading it as well! Thank you!
Invader Zim Analysis: What's the deal with SIR Units?
Y’know, the SIR units in “Invader Zim” have always fascinated me, even though the show doesn’t feature them much except for GIR. I feel like I don’t see many people in the fandom talk about them much, so I figure I’d take this opportunity to throw in my own two cents about these little guys. As a quick memory jogger in case you forgot what the SIR units purpose in the Irken Empire is, they’re small Irken-built androids that are only assigned to high-ranking Irken invaders. They act as robotic assistants who aid their masters in gathering weaknesses on the planet they’ve been assigned to invade and double as bodyguards who eliminate any threats to their masters. Also, as a random side note, according to Almighty Tallest Red, they apparently double as thermoses for some reason.
Given that a bloodthirsty imperialist race built them, it’s not surprising that SIR units store deadly state-of-the-art weaponry, such as lasers, missiles, saws, and bombs, all in their heads. Despite looking like tiny and weak-looking robots, they’re deceptively durable and powerful. If an older model like GIR is any sign, they can easily lift thousands of tons, even with its noodle-looking arms. They also possess the ability to move at high speeds.
Now, a detail I find funny is the possibility that the only reason the SIR units are built as small as they are is because of the Irkens’ obsession with height. The Almighty Tallest obviously wouldn’t want their invaders to boss around a robot servant that appears to be taller than them because that would set a bad precedent. One could make the argument that it’s also because the SIR unit’s small size means that it could hide and gather information more easily, but knowing how the Irken Empire runs, it’s most likely the former reason. That being said, another advantage of the SIR units’ appearance is that an enemy encountering them for the first time wouldn’t realize just how truly dangerous the SIR units are before it’s too late.
Now, if you recall, I mentioned earlier that the Irken invaders are the only ones granted access to SIR units, but it’s implied they don’t keep them after finishing their missions. For example, in the episode “Battle of the Planets,” Invader Skoodge is the first invader to complete his mission of conquering his assigned planet. Interestingly, when he presents himself to the Almighty Tallests, he doesn’t have his SIR unit by his side. In fact, we never actually see him with his SIR unit on screen at any point, but we know he had one thanks to promotional material. Anyway, it’s likely that any invader who completes their assigned mission gives up their SIR unit so that it can assist another invader in the future with the data it collected during its time with its current master. This lends credence to the idea that most invaders don’t really get very attached to their SIR units, just viewing them as expendable pieces of technology, especially given what we see in the episode “Megadoomer” which I’ll elaborate on later. The closest the Irkens get to humanizing them in any way is giving them nicknames and giving them male/female pronouns; however, only Tak has done this, naming her SIR unit MiMi.
It’s possible that Zim and Tak are the only non-invaders who not only own a SIR unit but also have full ownership over their SIR units instead of the Irken Empire because of the unusual circumstances of their robots’ creations. The Almighty Tallest built GIR to fool Zim into thinking his mission was real with the added belief that GIR was a top-secret model. It’s unlikely that even if Zim completed his “mission,” he would have to give up GIR because he’s a broken and outdated SIR unit and the Almighty Tallest would rather have GIR continue to be a hindrance to Zim. As for Tak’s SIR unit, MiMi, it’s heavily implied that Tak created MiMi (along with her ship) from scrap and other useful materials during her time on Planet Dirt. This would explain why MiMi has such a drastically different appearance to the other SIR units. For instance, she has the same outdated chest plate GIR has, but also has a mouthless head similar to the modern SIR units, with her most stand out feature being her giant extendable claw. MiMi, simply put, is not like any of the other modern SIR units despite being just as advanced, but she wouldn’t fit in with the Irken Empire’s pre-existing SIR units lineup at all.
Well, I’ve rambled enough about the SIR units’ role and treatment in Irken society, but something else I wanted to cover was the shoddy and questionable programming of the SIR units themselves. While we know nothing about who specifically created the SIR units or how long they’ve been in production in the Irken Empire, we at least know who programmed them. An Irken scientist named Hok designed the original programming of the SIR units, as revealed in Issue #23 of the Oni comics. Hok also uploaded a digital brain-scan version of himself into the SIR units that acts as an error-correcting software, but its effectiveness is very questionable as you’ll see later on.
So remember earlier how earlier I brought up how the Irkens only see the SIR units as expendable pieces of technology? Well, that’s because of how we see how they deal with broken SIR units in the episode “Megadoomer” or lack thereof. At the beginning of the episode, we see the Almighty Tallests at a storage planet doing an inventory check on the titular Megadoomer to give as a gift to Invader Tenn in aiding her conquest against Planet Meekrob. And a few floors above the Megadoomer is a bunch of malfunctioning SIR units attacking each other. The Tallest's nonchalant reaction to them gives off the idea that malfunctioning SIR units are a fairly common problem in the Irken Empire. They aren’t interested in getting them fixed and instead decide to have them sent to Zim hoping they’ll kill him. This can be yet again chalked up to the laziness and apathy of the Almighty Tallest not wanting to fix them. Granted, what we see of these broken SIR units is that they are incredibly dangerous, so maybe getting them fixed isn’t worth the trouble.
Anyway’s if you remember how the rest of the episode goes, a rogue slave switches Zim and Tenn’s packages at a planet shipping facility. This leads to Zim getting the Megadoomer (which has its own set of problems) and Tenn getting the deadly package of SIR units, which ends up destroying her base. While it’s an enjoyable and funny episode to watch along with Zim’s little lore drop about the Vortians being recently enslaved, the malfunctioning SIR units especially fascinated me. When we first see them on screen, you might think their actions are like how GIR normally acts. However, they are a lot more destructive than GIR is, and they have no agency over what they do at all. Yes, GIR has had a few destructive moments, with the most notable examples being “Invasion of the Idiot Dog Brain” and “GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff”, but in both instances there was at least a reason for it. In the former episode, GIR’s rampage when he became the base’s computer was because he wanted tacos, and the library rampage in the latter episode happened because he was trying to destroy Zim for his incompetence. The malfunctioning SIR units, on the other hand, have no autonomy over what they do, but I might have an explanation for them attacking each other.
In the previous paragraph I mentioned the episode “GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff”. In this episode, Zim tires of GIR’s goofiness and stupidity and locks him into duty mode so he’ll be an effective servant. At one point in the episode, GIR in his serious state brings up an Irken law called the SIR unit code. This law allows SIR units to act of their own free will if they and their master’s mission are under threat. One example we get of this behavior in a fully functioning SIR unit is MiMi destroying Zim’s base in “Tak: The Hideous New Girl” without Tak ordering her to do so.
However, GIR is an example of a SIR unit who almost never functions properly at all, but is still aware of the SIR unit code to begin with. A lot of GIR’s goofy moments in his malfunctioned state make a lot more sense with this information. To put this into perspective, as long as Zim is around, the mission is always at stake, and therefore, GIR will always have his SIR unit code enabled to do whatever he wants. Only after GIR was locked into duty mode for a long time did he become more acutely aware of the SIR unit code’s true purpose, which is why he also tried to wipe out Zim the moment he got the chance.
I bring this all up to say that the SIR unit code itself is likely the culprit for causing the malfunctioning SIR units. The SIR units in “Megadoomer” were all likely in a situation that granted them temporary free will, but some sort of glitch could’ve caused them to stay in that state of free will that Hok’s self-correcting program could not fix. Also, since these SIR units are implied to be newer models (GIR and Mimi have older parts), it’s possible they still don’t really understand this code and, by extension, their free will like GIR does. By the time the Invader figures out their SIR unit is malfunctioning by it not responding to commands correctly or worst trying to attack them directly they’ll have already had it sent back to the Irken Empire to have them stored away assuming they haven’t gotten severely injured or killed by it.
GIR’s understanding of his free will even in his malfunctioned state is thanks to his circumstance of creation being different compared to the other SIR units. There’s also the fact that while on Earth he’s learned a bunch of fun skills just by watching TV, since that’s where he gets his information from. That’s why he’s able to do many things like cook, socialize with humans, and eat even if he can’t digest food. In a way, he’s still gathering information like a normal SIR unit, but none of it is useful information to his master’s mission. He watches what he wants because of his free will.
However, when you compare that to the standard SIR units, they don’t have this frame of reference because their purpose was solely for combat and scouting. It makes sense that their first act of free will would be to test their weapons. After all, what would a robot built for espionage and combat really know or do with its newly gained sentience? However, another explanation for the SIR units attacking each other in “Megadoomer” is that their “mission being under threat” protocol is still active, even in their malfunctioned state. That could be why they’re all fighting each other: they all think of one another as a threat to their masters and their missions, even if none of them have masters anymore.
With all this said and done, I honestly think it’s impressive and kind of wholesome that Zim’s kept GIR with him for so long, even if it’s only because the Tallest lied to Zim about GIR being a “top secret model”. When I said that Irken Invaders treat SIR units like expendable pieces of technology, I meant it. Even Tak had no problem dismantling MiMi when GIR took control of her in “Tak: The Hideous New Girl” and started destroying her ship. True, MiMi was an active threat to Tak even if she wasn’t really herself, but Tak didn’t care about MiMi after disassembling her. Zim has never once tried getting rid of or destroying GIR, even when GIR attacked him in “GIR Goes Crazy and Stuff”. Given Zim’s affinity for robots (which is a discussion for another time) he treats GIR more like a sibling than a servant, which is definitely something the other invaders would never do with their own SIR units. You could say that it’s a good thing that Zim got GIR instead of a regular SIR unit because he likely wouldn’t have a good relationship with it.
If you made it all the way to the end of this gigantic post, then I can’t possibly thank you enough for taking time out of your day to read this. I can only assume you're as much of an Invader Zim mega-fan as I am to search out and read about minor background characters for a cartoon that’s no longer airing or producing anymore comics. I should mention I’ve never written an analysis on Tumblr before, so I’m sorry if it’s kind of wordy. I’m actually not sure if anyone will even read this, but honestly I had a lot of fun just writing and researching. Regardless anyone reads this or not then I’m happy I could give my personal thoughts on a topic I thought was fun to discuss. I got a lot of inspiration to write this analysis from other Invader Zim posts I saw on this site alongside some non-Invader Zim analyses of other media I love. I’m not sure if I’ll ever write another analysis post like this, but with how much fun I had, who knows? Maybe I’ll make another one Invader Zim related or not. The only other similar type of piece I’ve written was on the dragons from G4 My Little Pony that I wrote a few years ago that I never really shared anywhere. Who knows, maybe I’ll share that one too when I go back and re-read it.
I should mention before closing out that some of my points in the later sections of my analysis actually come from my reply to a YouTube comment on the “Malfunctioning SIR Units” video that brought up this neat little idea:
I thought it was pretty interesting, so I wanted to give my own thoughts on it that were far longer than the initial comment. And many months later that led to me wanting to go even more in-depth which resulted in this posts creation. So big thanks to that random YouTuber's comment for this post even existing in the first place.
Abosulte bop of a song (Memento Mori: the most Important Thing in the world by Will Wood.) That reminds me two much of Rui Kamishiro. I can totally see him singing this just randomly (any will wood songs actually). Also people who are more dedicated Rui fans, tell me if I did good on this analysis or it sucks and I got everything wrong. There will also be random Memento Mori quotes.
⚠️tw: suicidal ideation, a swear word, death, terminal illness mentioned, murder mentioned, hopelessness about life⚠️
Be safe everyone.
This is will focus alot on Rui's present and middle-school self. I have a lot of thoughts on this so hopefully I can actually phrase them. Firstly, I will focus on the sound progression.
Anyways, the song features piano-like and trumpet-like sounds and plastic-soft drums hit by sticks. The song starts off relaxing and jazzy and just starts getting louder and more manic on. It keeps a incredibly Romatic and Hopeful theme completely contrasting Will Wood screaming about Life Doesn't Matter and How Everything You Do Will Eventually Become Useless. Very similar how Middle-School Rui was hopeful but still incredibly certain that he would most likely die and be ultimately useless after 50 or so years. He comforts others but in his own way. The Song ends in people clapping and cheering and laughing showing how despite life being meaningless, the life you choose to live is Meaningful. You WILL find people who care, even if only for everyone to leave. Rui(now present) is aware that everyone's memories aren't enough to live but that doesn't matter as he's alive with his friends. It also ties in to the Theater Troupe Performing so a crowd is there. Rui is performing for a crowd who won't care after 5 years most likely, probably less! But they were happy in the moment, like he was.
There's also a overwhelming message that the way you died was probably determined and that there's nothing in the afterlife, but maybe there is. Rui is lucky is to be surrounded by those he love ("If your Lucky, you'll be surrounded by those you love) there's also a innate Nilhilty in the song. Tarot cards, future telling, and predictions just cause more stress. So FXCK WORRYING ABOUT DEATH AND JUST ACCEPT IT!! :D Rui doesn't care much (but still does) that what he's done is a waste. He knows that the way you died ("everything goes with the passage of time, whether it's murder, cancer, or suicideeeee") won't matter much if you stop worrying about what happens. ("YOUR LEGACY NOT YOURS TO SEE AND YOUR EULOGY EITHER") Any Impact you have, you won't even know the severity of it because your *dead*. That's why you should cherish the present, with the people you care about.
The generations after Rui won't care what he did, he could be amazing, set records, but it will disappear. His friends will see him die, peacefully or brutally, and he will see them die. But the sooner you stop worrying about that, it'll be alot better, in fact it did. Rui was bullied, suicidal, and terribly depressed. He kept alive, despite the pointlessness of everything, he made it through and Look!, His friend Mizuki lived and was accepted by her friends like he was, his friend Nene managed to get over her stage fright momentarily once and is consistly doing it, he met new friends Tsukasa and Emu whom he shares adventures with and connect to, and despite their accomplishments becoming useless in the 50 years after their deaths.
One thing I really appreciate about malevolent is how well established the character motivations are.
Like, there’s a pretty sudden shift from season 1 Arthur-is-the-murder-happy-one to season 2 John-is-the-murder-happy-one but the shift makes sense! In season 1, the supernatural creatures are alien invaders into Arthur’s familiar world and he’s still freaking out that they exist in the first place, so he reacts to them with fear and violence. Meanwhile John is just as much an unwanted invader as they are and has no idea who he is except for a creeping suspicion that he might be one of them, so he’s sensitive about Arthur’s violence towards them
But then in season 2, Arthur’s no longer in his own world, he can’t rely on the familiar rules of human society so in that insecurity he reaches out to try and find allies. Plus he’s grown accustomed to the supernatural and has learned though John that even the KiY, the worst thing he’s ever encountered, can become a friend. On the other hand John is now in his own world, where he is the one who knows the rules and he’s needs to impress upon Arthur how dangerous it is, keep him safe. He knows who he is now, and while it’s bad, he still knows now that he isn’t one of the ordinary monsters they face and perhaps that lessens the empathy he can have for them
Then the switch to season 3 means it’s back to Arthur’s turn for murder-happiness but that’s just because he’s having a mental breakdown
Arthur and John also just have different priorities. Arthur’s a detective at heart, he always wants to know, to get all the answers and truth. Also, although his moments of truly being suicidal are rare (part 26 👀), he’s certainly not very precious about his own life or that worried about dying. Meanwhile, the very first seed that went into the John we know was being FUCKING TERRIFIED OF THE DARK WORLD. It is unfortunately one of the cornerstones of his new identity, that he knows exactly what happens when he dies and will do anything to avoid going back there (/not stay there, part 40 👀). His objective is to keep the two of them alive no matter what and the clash of that against Arthur’s desire for knowledge is the cause of most of their fights
