I know I’m an art account BUT I want to share one of my favorite theories for Season 5 Volume 2 (from a Byler perspective ofc)
I am so positive Mike is in love with Will and I’m sure they’ll show them flirting but I think the only way the general audience (GA) will be able to pick it up is if it is spelled out for them in BIG letters.
The concern here is, how are they going to spell it out to the GA in only 4 episodes? Mike needs to be outed to the audience before he is outed to his fellow characters. But how is this going to happen?
My favorite theory is Mike being vecnaed. Maybe not in the same way as shown in season 4, but taunted by Henry. This theory makes the most sense to me and I think it fits.
Mike has been a huge thorn in Henry’s side since the beginning. In season one, he was determined to save Will and he convinced El to help him. In season 2 he didn’t leave Will’s side and was the one who figured out Will was being used as a spy. It was even his idea to put him to sleep. Additionally, in season 2, Mike encourages Will to break through the possession by bringing up the first time they met. That’s how Will was able to communicate, because of Mikes love. Season 3, Mike is doing most of the planning and while trying to capture Billy in the sauna, he taunts him. He taunts Billy, Billy who is being possessed by Henry. He literally says “come get me! Come get me you piece of shit!” If that isn’t foreshadowing, I don’t know what is. He is literally telling Henry to come get him.
In season 4, Will dubs Mike the heart of the party. The leader, the one who keeps them all together.
If you want to kill something, you go for the heart.
Mike is extremely important to Will and Eleven. The two people who threaten Henry the most. Henry uses his victims guilts and fears against them, that’s his weapon. With Will on the path to self love and stability and Eleven having had her arc last season of finding independence and being… Mike is the perfect target. If Henry wants to get to them, he’d have to get to Mike.
Mike has A LOT of baggage, a lot of baggage he “never really unpacked”
From his traumas throughout the series, to being bullied his whole life, to his relationships that seem to crumble because of him, he is the perfect target.
Mike feels guilt, a lot of it. If we are to believe he is in love with Will (which we do) then a lot of guilt would arise from staying with El while not interested in her.
You all know how he hasn’t really loved her romantically since the end of season three, and staying with her only made that guilt grow. Not only is he with someone he doesn’t want to be with, he’s in love with his male best friend.
His best friend he watched be bullied with names like “queer” or “fairy”
The guilt of feeling like you are feeding into that harassment by liking him romantically must be eating at Mike.
Mike being taunted by Henry for these feelings would be a seamless way of outing him to the audience and using scenes from previous seasons to show his feelings for Will were always there. It would also be the perfect opportunity to acknowledge some of Mikes trauma that has been overlooked in the series, like for example, the cliff scene.
Some approaches to this I’ve seen that think I would be neat:
A scene with Mike and Will where Will says “I’ve seen the way you look at me” before Mike realizes it’s a hallucination
The classic “I know what you are, Michael”
Showing him and el together and then “but that’s not what you really want, is it?” And then showing Will