MIKE WHEELER : Always the storyteller, never the hero (st5 finale thinkpost)
"And the storyteller? What about him?"
"The storyteller keeps telling stories, stories inspired by his friends....But there is a story that he can never tell."
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Every story has a beginning, middle, and an end, and every good story has well-developed characters.
Each character in Stranger Things falls into a certain trope, and they each have their own arc, except for Mike.
Dustin: the comedic relief, science genius, in season 5, he's grieving Eddie.
Lucas: the one who gets the girl, in season 5 he's the devoted boyfriend who stays by Max's side while she's in the hospital and tries tirelessly to bring her back.
Max: the depressed, combative one, labeled "too negative", in season 5, she's trapped in Vecna's mind-scape and trying to find her way out.
El: the magical one, the first love, the embodiment of childhood, fantasy, and naivety.
Will: the shy, quiet, artistic, hopeless romantic, traumatized gay kid, in season 5, he's learning to accept himself and his sexuality.
Nancy: the independent, no-nonsense badass with the guns.
Hopper: the (former) chief of police, the macho uber-masculine man who hates feelings, in season 5, he's dealing with the fear of losing another daughter.
Joyce: the over-protective, anxious mother.
Jonathan: the glass child, Nancy's boyfriend, in season 5, he's learning to let go of Nancy instead of forcing their relationship to work.
Steve: Jonathan's competition turned...boyfriend? /s
Robin: the ditsy, hyperactive, neurodivergent-coded lesbian, in season 5, she plays the role of Will's mentor, pivotal to his self-acceptance arc
Vickie: Robin's "overbearing" (I hate that they called her that btw), rambling girlfriend.
But Mike? He doesn't get any development of his own. Why?
While the finale was--let's face it-- a massive let down, especially when it comes to how certain storylines were closed, it gave us the revelation of one key detail: Stranger Things is a story, as told by Mike Wheeler.
In other words, he's the one who exists solely to tell the story.
And when we look at it that way, everything-- well, most things-- seem to fall into place.
Not because it's a good story, or because it makes sense, because it doesn't. At all. But because Mike's the one telling it, the holes in the story seem less like holes and more like... a made-up version of what actually happened. Like some details have purposely been left out or skewed by his personal biases.
Let's go over some of the many issues with this finale, shall we? We have:
Plot armor, no stakes, final battle was way too short and too easy
Flawed logic- lack of understanding of physics (that's not how wormholes work, like, at all)
The infinite list of plot inconsistencies/ plot holes
Everything happening "off-screen" (e.g. Joyce and Hopper realizing they know Henry)
How can Max see? How did she graduate? Why is there water in the Upside Down?
Is the Abyss a planet or dimension?
Where were the demogorgons? Demodogs, demobats? Why were the UD and Abyss so empty?
WHY DID VECNA NOT KNOW THEY WERE COMING IF HE WENT INTO EL'S MIND AND HOPPER'S?!!
Why do Mike and Will barely interact anymore?
Why did we not see Will getting hurt during the battle with Vecna/ the MF? How did he survive?
The "Friends? No thanks. Best friends" scene (honestly wth???)
Did I mention the sheer number of plot holes there were this season?
I. Addressing The Elephant in the Room: Byler was queerbait. Period.
Speaking of the "Friends? No thanks" scene, when I first watched it, it felt like a huge betrayal. The fact that this is the only one-on-one interaction between Mike and Will after Will came out to the whole town is an absolute disservice to the characters, considering all the buildup there was for them to end up together. What makes it even worse is that it wasn't even originally included in the script, so there would've been no resolution to Will's coming out arc at all.
First of all, the painting wasn't addressed, despite Mike now knowing that Will had a "crush" on him (so much for it finally paying off, isn't that what the DB told Finn?). And I can't help but notice that this scene was out of character for both of them? Will had been in love with Mike (LOVE, *not* a crush) for years, it would make no sense for him to just magically get over Mike in one day when just hours before, he was asking Robin for advice on asking Mike out. Why bother giving him hope if he was only going to rip off the band-aid again?
Along the same vine, Mike is not Will's Tammy. Tammy was a girl who Robin only knew in passing, the two of them barely ever spoke to each other. Meanwhile Mike and Will have known each other for years. They've told each other everything, even things that they thought nobody else would understand. Mike was even the first person we saw in Will's memory reel when he unlocked his powers in "Sorcerer" to save Mike's life. You don't do that for someone who is just your "Tammy"! And the same Mike who had once promised Will that they'd go crazy together would never say something like this:
(Mike. I love you, but do not piss me off right now I am so deadass. The hope in Will's eyes 😭 If I were him I would've pushed that boy off that tower.)
Although I have many qualms with this scene, technically from Mike's perspective, Will already seems to have "moved on", and Mike is just being respectful of this. Will is the one who friend-zones himself first (hehe). You can see that Mike is still acting nervous and pretty flirty for someone who doesn't like Will back. He even offers his water bottle, which was a big deal back then because of the AIDS crisis (people thought you could catch the gay through touch, as if it was a disease).
Also, something nobody ever really talks about is the fact that Mike admits to being too self-absorbed to notice Will's feelings for him. Now, what could he possibly mean by that? And why oh why do we not get to see what he was thinking at all this season?
Maybe it's because... he doesn't want us to know? He is the one telling the story after all, if he left out that detail it was probably for a reason.
The same reason that we barely get to see Mike and Will together in the next few scenes.
II. Reading Between the Lines
There's no denying that byler has always been hinted at since season 1 episode 1. Mike and Will have a special dynamic that is introduced to us from early on: they are closer than the rest of their friend group, always gravitating towards the other's side. They never lie to each other, except the one time Will lied about the painting in the van.
And guess what? Someone is still lying about their feelings, even now. The clues are all there, you just have to read between the lines, to pick up on the signs that they hid in plain sight.
Mike still can't take his eyes off of Will.
Mike and Will still don't know what personal space is.
Mike's the first to run to Will's side at the first sign of trouble. When Will has a vision, Mike notices and asks if something is wrong, like always. He reaches out to him, though at first he stops short of touching his friend-- he can't be seen touching his gay friend who had a crush on him, too gay!
But oh, wait! He does touch him. It's just cropped.
When Will collapses, Mike drops on his knees at the same time as Will's IMMEDIATE FAMILY, and places a hand on his shoulder, because he cares. Though Will tells the others to leave him behind, Mike hesitates before also leaving, indicating a desire to stay by Will's side, but his need to blend in wins out. The fact that he's wearing camo foreshadowed his ending-- he chose conformity over being a hero.
In this shot, Mike and Will switch places, just like in the van scene. In that scene, Will was lying about the painting being from El, concealing his feelings to comfort Mike. But when Jonathan, an outside observer, looks at them through the rear-view mirror, we see the truth:
What's the truth that's being hidden in the Abyss scene? Could it be the truth about how they feel about each other? About how they're still something unresolved, unrevealed that is hindering their relationship from progressing? Hmm...
It says a lot to me that Mike is, in both the van scene and this one, not really stating out loud what he's thinking in these moments. Will is the one who assumes it is about El and tries to reassure him that she's going to be okay. However, in both instances, Mike doesn't sound fully convinced, almost as if his mind is on something else instead. It's frustrating that we will never get to know what that something really is, but such is the nature of being emotionally repressed.
When Murray starts the timer to detonate the bomb, Prince's "When Doves Cry" plays-- a song that talks about parental trauma and repeating unhealthy relationship patterns. It's foreshadowing that Mike will make the same mistakes as his parents by trying to force himself and El to work when they aren't meant to be together. It hints his relationship with El falling apart and failing. The song is also about misunderstandings and poor communication, just like Mike fails to understand El. Essentially, they are calling mileven toxic (it's so over bro- midleven is bones💀💀).
BTW, the B-side for "When Doves Cry" is "17 Days", which is extremely byler-coded, especially after the epilogue. Here are some lyrics I find interesting:
I called you yesterday
You didn't answer your phone
The main drag is knowing that
You probably weren't alone
So here I sit in my lonely room
Lookin' for my sunshine
But all I've got is two cigarettes
And this broken heart of mine
So let the rain come down
The rain come down
Called you yesterday
You didn't answer your phone
If you're the one who's always lonely
Then I'm the one who's always alone
He doesn't say I love you back to El, even as she's dying. El initiates the kiss between them, like she always does (meanwhile, Mike initiates most of the interactions between him and Will -- just sayin').
In the epilogue (bear with me, I can't show any more pictures here), Mike puts on a set of vampire teeth and flirts (yes, that was Mike's dorky self's version of flirting) with Will. I made a post about this earlier today, and vampires are inherently queer-coded, historically speaking. They represent the outcasts, the taboo--forbidden sexuality, freedom from societal restraints, and desire that is not societally accepted, while also being symbolic of the things we fear.
Later in that scene, when Will walks up the stairs of the basement, Mike is shown in the shot, passing by him on the way to the bookshelf. This symbolizes Will moving on while Mike is realizing his feelings too late. Mike caresses Will's binder lovingly while crying, because he knows he's screwed up and he's lost the love of his life.
The basement is washed with shades of yellow and blue as Mike closes the door on his childhood and tries to carry on with his life. The door of the basement is yellow because Will escaped (ie. came to terms with his sexuality). The basement stairs are blue-- Mike accepted his fate (being alone), but with time, he'll be able to escape too. This is also a hint towards the possibility of a romance between Mike and Will in the future.
And there's the whole thing about theories and the cringey chorus of I believe's-- telling us it's okay to believe. As long as we believe, our theories can be real. That's what makes this scene so... meta. The Party represents us, us saying goodbye to Stranger Things and theorizing one last time (Still a cop-out, but it's better than nothing imo).
So what I'm saying is... Mike sucks at pretending to be straight. He can't hide as well as he wants to. You just have to read between the lines, and all the you can see through attempts at erasing the queer from the narrative. These subtle hints of Mike's true feelings will be clear as day.
And if ST is giving us permission to believe in our theories, who can tell us that we are wrong? MIKE IS GAY, EVERYONE. YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST.
This is a bit unrelated, but I just want to point out that once again, Jane is referred to as Supergirl by everyone except Mike, who is the only one to refer to her as Superman, and himself as Lois Lane.
Besides the obvious indication that that boy is gay af and has a think for buff men (don't think I forgot about the posters on his bedroom wall...) it also shows that Mike perceives things differently from everyone else. He's not operating under the same reality.
Just as Lois Lane is known for being Superman's love interest and starts out as a "damsel-in-distress type of character, Mike's only role in season 4 was being El's boyfriend. To Mike, El is his hero, and he's the one who always needed saving. Both Lois and Mike have a passion for writing: Lois Lane is journalist, an ace reporter for The Daily Planet whose job is to uncover the truth. On the other hand, Mike is a storyteller, who writes campaigns for his friends, yes, but these campaigns are often make belief, a fantasy. His stories may be inspired by real-life elements, but what happens in them ultimately is a fabrication of events based on his own optimistic, rose-colored worldview.
III. Oklahoma - aka the Fakeout
In The First Shadow, Joyce is in charge of putting on a play for the school. Originally, they would be performing Oklahoma, but Joyce changes the plans at the last minute without telling the rest of the school. The only ones who knew about this new play were the cast.
In the same way, this finale is not actually the true ending, but a fake-out, a cover-up of the real story. Whether you think it's deliberate or not, it is obvious that things aren't right here. We know this, and the characters know this.
When the group enter the Abyss, they admit that it wasn't what they expected.
Looks to me that they are just as confused about the lack of any monsters as we are! Why are they able to cross dimensions so easily? Where are all the threats, where is the danger? It doesn't make any sense!
That's not the only weird thing going on here-- seems like in the second half of the season, none of the characters feel like themselves anymore. They all lose their own individuality, becoming more and more indistinguishable, from their personality changes to the overused repetition of similar lines and tropes. (I am a firm conformitygate truther, in case you couldn't tell; I still feel like they are all in some sort of "play".)
Robin seems to share this same thought in the epilogue - "Maybe it's not the town that's changed. Maybe it's me that's changed. We probably all have." (she even looks dazed as she says it- go back and watch, unfortunately can't add any photos).
This is made even more apparent once they enter the abyss, when this story receives a heart transplant. The dynamic/ heart-to-heart that should've gone to Mike and Will goes to Jonathan and Steve instead.
Speaking of Stonathan, this scene is oddly reminiscent of Steve and Eddie's talk in season 4 episode 7. Two unlikely friends who couldn't be more different from each other gain a mutual respect for each other, while talking about Nancy (they do not pass the reverse- bechdel test).
And it is interesting how Steve and Jonathan end up being paralleled with Mike and Will, respectively. Think about it:
Steve had an unrequited crush on Nancy, and Will had a (un)requited crush on Mike. Jonathan's and Mike's character arc had in the last couple of seasons been largely revolving around their girlfriends, and both of them had strain in their relationships caused by lies-- Jonathan lied to Nancy about applying to Emerson, and Mike and Jane were both pretending to be happy in their relationship even though Mike was unable to tell Jane he loved her and Jane was lying about having friends in Lenora.
Jonathan tells Steve that he realized their relationship problems had nothing to do with him. In the same way, in his coming out speech, Will said he realized that the key to his self-acceptance journey "was never about [Mike]."
Then there's the fact that they say almost the exact same thing about taking a long time to understand themselves.
Ultimately, both brothers try their best to let go of the person that they love(d). Though from the interviews about this finale, it seems like the Duffer Brothers are leaving open the possibility of Jonathan and Nancy getting back together in the future. And if that means Jonathan hasn't actually fully moved on, then who's to say Will has, either? To me, this only further cements the fact that they have all but shut the door on possibility of byler becoming endgame in the future.
And there's also the fact that both Nancy and Jane are independent and need to find their own place in the world. Steve says he knew for a while that he and Nancy were never in the cards, just like Mike admitted to Will in the van that he knew that meeting Jane wasn't fate or destiny, but "simple dumb luck". Steve confessed to Nancy that he had feelings for her, but he and Nancy wanted different things in life. Mike told El he loved her, but he wasn't able to give her what she truly wanted because she knew he wasn't telling the truth.
If Mike had stopped trying to force the relationship between him and El and accepted that they were never going to work, byler could've happen sooner.
Steve then goes on to say, "Listen, bottom line, end of the day, I'd rather have her as a friend than nothing at all. You know she's... she's just really-"
Jonathan cuts in and finishes for him: "Special".
This is exactly how Mike feels towards El-- he cares a lot for her, but he doesn't really love her. He tries to verbalize this in the van, calling El special, but recognizing that they are on two different levels (I'm just some nerd that got lucky Superman landed on his doorstep). He's afraid to lose her, and that's why he feels backed into a corner where he can't tell her he loves her (bc it's a lie) but can't tell the truth, either. He doesn't want to lose her as a friend. So, with Will's help, he does what he thinks he has to to save her, to keep her in his life: professes his love to her. Just like Steve did with Nancy.
And of course there's the "hey, lovebirds!" of it all. Which like. Basically word for word what happened between Mike and El during that moment on the rooftop- the interruption trope. Something similar happened with Will and Robin in the tunnels (both times by Lucas -- always at the scene of the crime 😭) Something something subversion of the trope where it's platonic friendships being interrupted rather than romantic something something.
Another thing that I want to point out is that other characters get the story arc that should've belonged to Mike (+Will). Holly, Derek, and Hopper are prime examples of what I mean by this.
Let's start with Holly. As Mike's younger sister, Holly's story arc is about passing the torch to the younger generation; she represents a younger Mike. In episode 1, when Holly and Mike talk about monsters in Hawkins, Mike gives her a figurine of Holly the Heroic, saying that she will protect her. All Holly had to do was think about Holly the Heroic, and she'll feel less scared.
This is a literal example of a torch-passing, because Mike is inviting her into something that he grew up enjoying and finding strength and comfort in. But there are other metaphorical ways in which Holly resembles Mike (and in some ways, his trauma with Will.)
Why does Holly get taken? Why do any of the kids get taken? We know Vecna tells Will it's because they are weak, easily broken, and easily molded, "perfect vessels for reshaping the world."
But what do kids represent, truly? Innocence. Naivety, the carefree, fleeting nature of childhood. The childhood that Will lost when he was 12 and dragged into the Upside Down. The childhood Mike lost when he stood over that cliff at the Quarry after El ran away, after he thought he'd lost Will forever.
From this angle, it's not a coincidence that the day the world ends is the day Will went missing-- it's also the day Mike's life "ended" (hence, "I feel like my life started that day we found you in the woods").
Because Mike sees himself in Holly, he must also see a bit of Will, too. Holly goes missing, just like Will went missing. Holly has people looking for her, like Mike went to look for Will in the woods.
Holly represents Mike's trauma, Mike's fear of losing the people he loves. She represents Mike's guilt at not being able to protect anyone, to save anyone. His inability to be Mike the Brave.
But where Mike failed at becoming like his D&D character, Holly succeeds.
You know how Max tells Holly that she is just like her brother? It's true. Holly not only is great at problem-solving, like Mike, but she's a natural born leader. She is compassionate, witty, clever, quick on her feet, and she's able to encourage the other kids, to motivate them. She helps them feel safe, protects them, even when they are facing danger. All traits that Mike possesses.
She's able to escape the horrors of the Upside Down, of Vecna's mind-scape, of the Abyss. She comes out of it unscathed. The UD can't hurt her anymore since it's been blown up and the MF is dead, so she has the ability to remain untainted by the trauma associated with it and preserve these traits in a way Mike never got to.
Then we have Derek. Delightful Derek, or Dipshit Derek, you decide which one. He can be a bit of both-- just like Mike. Notice that Derek is dressed in both Mike and Will's colors-- red, green, yellow, and blue. Is this by accident? Signs point to it being very intentional.
Derek possesses traits similar to both Will and Mike this season. If Holly represents Mike, Derek is a foil for Will, and such their dynamic is in many ways similar to the Will and Mike dynamic.
Like Will in episode 6, when he is put in a trance and Vecna shows him a vision of his future, Derek is also shown a vision, in which his entire family is killed. Vecna uses this vision to scare Derek into submission, just as he does Will. In turn, Derek ends up lying to protect himself and his family, at the expense of Holly. He claims to not know what she's talking about when she tells the other kids about who Mr. Whatsit truly is, and his entire personality seems to shift out of nowhere.
This is the same thing that happens with Will, except that time we aren't shown what vision he's given. We can only assume Vecna threatened him with his sexuality, warning him what would happen if he told anyone he was gay. It would explain why he doesn't seem like himself anymore from that point on, why he reduces Mike to just a crush-- his "Tammy". It's out of fear, not because he truly believes it. He self-sabotages any chance he has with Mike because he's afraid Mike would despise him or they'd stop being friends if he found out.
But if Holly and Derek are Mike and Will, what do we know happens between them later in the season, particularly in the epilogue? Though Holly and Derek may not have started out as friends, they end up being very close by the end, and when Mike watches them play D&D at the table in the basement, they are even sitting in the same seats Mike and Will used to sit when they played.
Where one relationship "ends" (not really), a new, more hopeful one begins.
Lastly, let's go over Hopper's story. In a lot of ways, Hopper and Mike are similar. They both fear emotionally vulnerability, making them severely repressed and self-sabotaging. Hopper wants to kill himself, Mike pushes people away and retreats inwardly. They both have fears of losing people they love, too.
Vecna uses people's fears against them, and in their fear, they end up only causing chasms in their relationships. Out of fear, they lie to each other and fight with each other, and only by confessing and being honest are they able to save each other, save themselves. When Vecna manages taunts him after seeing into his mind, Hop shoots the tank accidentally, thinking he was attacking Vecna. Henry uses his fear of losing another daughter against him, making him think he accidentally shot El and pulling her out of the tank too early.
And in the end, Hopper ends up losing yet another daughter. Why?
"You are as you fear. You are the curse."
Before El dies, she tells Hopper she wasn't a kid anymore and gives back the hair tie that belonged to his daughter. In doing so, she reminds Hopper that she isn't Sarah, but her own person, and that he shouldn't try to project his grief over his daughter onto her. Rather, she's asking him to trust her and respect her choice.
Had he been less self-absorbed, drowning in his own grief and trying to project Sara onto El, maybe Hopper could've gotten through to her. Maybe he would've noticed sooner that she was going through something. But he he let his fear of losing her and his distrust of Kali cloud his vision.
Mike was the same way-- he tried to project Will onto El. He saw her as a more acceptable version of his love for Will, so everything he did this season, every interaction they had where the future was brought up, was based on a fantasy rather than reality. As we know, he had no idea the painting was from Will, so the feelings Will described to him in the van are still attributed to El in his mind-- that's why he's suddenly so obsessed with the idea of the three waterfalls and comparing everything to their D&D characters.
Before El dies, she tells Mike in the void that he will one day understand her choice, that he understands her better than anyone else. Wait, what? Since when was that ever true? Could it be Mike is projecting onto El again what he feels for Will, because he still thinks she's the source of the feelings that motivated him to finally say he loves her in s4? Even though we know that it was actually Will? Is El a substitute, a metaphor even, for him mourning the loss of Will, who he thinks already has moved on?
That would also explain why Heroes plays in the after credits, because he thinks he's lost Will again (it always plays when he loses Will, first when he saw Will's "body" being pulled out the quarry, then when Will moved to California. All three times, Mike hugs his mom the same way). Why Will was erased from that one drawing of Mike and El at the Rink-o'-Mania and why he was always in the frame (metaphorically or literally) in all the memories during that flashback. It was always Will, Will had always been in the back of Mike's mind when he was with El. Things make no sense if you try to take him out of the equation-- you can't.
This reminds me that Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was one of the inspirations for this season-- Will essentially "forgot" his memories of Mike by reducing him to a schoolyard crush. Mike, noticing this, tries to in turn erase his memories of Will, but fails. He can't move on. He can't let go.
Like Hopper, he misses the mark when convincing El to escape Hawkins with the rest of the Party because he doesn't truly understand what she wants (I stand on the fact that Will would've been able to, for the record, and that's why he was knocked out for an entire episode lol).
But when Will comes out to the group, Mike realizes that it was his self-absorption that caused a drift between him and Will, that he's at fault for their friendship fizzling out because he was so busy chasing a fantasy with El that he wasn't paying attention to how Will was feeling. He kept ignoring the signals because he never imagined Will could love him back.
And in the end, he lost both Will and El, because he wasn't honest with either of them.
Remember how in episode 6, Jane told Mike that real life wasn't like one of his campaigns, that he didn't get to write the ending? How did Mike respond?
(Interesting that Mike says the story starts with getting Will back- a callback to season 1. For Mike, Will has always been the center of his story 🥲)
Again, Mike is an idealist-- he believes that everything will work out for them, that the bad guys will be defeated and they can all live happily-ever-after. He lives in a fairytale where good always wins against evil and good things happen to good people. He doesn't operate on the same page as the rest of the group, who realize that real life isn't always that simple.
That's why when the final battle takes place, they are able to defeat the Mind Flayer so easily, why nobody faces any real consequences. They need to win, and they need to live on as heroes, because that's what Mike wants for them.
And in the epilogue, nothing groundbreaking happens. The characters fall into their new normal. Steve becomes a baseball coach, Robin has long hair and wears frills now, Jonathan makes anti-capitalist films about cannibalism, Nancy quits her dream school for a trainee job at a newspaper, Jopper get engaged. Mike shares the future he envisions for his friends after they play one last game of D&D.
It's all way too convenient. We expect a happy ending, so we don't really feel like there is anything at risk for the characters. This makes us feel less invested in what happens to them, because of course everything will work out for them like it's supposed to.
But maybe... that's the point.
This show, it turns out, was never about the monsters. The monsters were always a means to an end, a manifestation of the characters' internal struggles. Stranger Things is, and always has been, a character-driven show.
That's why the characters all have to survive, because the show exists for the sole purpose of giving them a "happy ending".
IIII a. Camazotz: the three doors
Recall episode 6, where Max talks about the three doors you have to choose from when you're trapped in a prison like "Camazotz":
In the finale, we are shown what happens when you take each door.
Door One was taken by El. El chose to sacrifice herself to save the world.
Mike took Door Two. He chose to stay stuck in the past and accept a life of misery and solitude. A life where he becomes like the thing he feared the most--someone who conforms. Someone like his father.
And Will--he got to take Door Three. He's the winner in this story. The main character. He got to find happiness in accepting himself for who he truly is.
While in the Abyss, before the final battle, Mike asks Nancy for a gun so he can contribute to the fight. Instead of a real gun, however, Nancy hands him a flare gun.
Nancy's reluctance to give Mike a proper weapon shows again how Mike is never awarded the opportunity to be a hero, instead relegated to a supporting role. He's essentially rendered useless when it matters the most. (remember the candlestick in s2?)
Why do I bring this up here? Because it proves Mike was never supposed to be anything more than an outlet, a means through which the story unfolds. He's the character life happens to, but he doesn't happen to life. If you've noticed he has had no character arc since s4, that's precisely why. He exists so the others can tell their story-- so that characters like Will and El can shine brighter. The essence of a tragic character, doomed by the narrative.
And so that makes his ending, as well as Will and El's, the only possible one-- at least, the only one that can be told. That doesn't make it the true one, though.
IIII 1a. Forced Conformity
(I was jumping from point to point during my rewatch trying to write all my thoughts down in real-time before synthesizing them into a coherent post, so if things seem disconnected in any way, please forgive me.)
In season 4 and season 5, the central theme is how forced conformity is killing the kids. This line comes from something Eddie says in the cafeteria in st4, when he expresses his distaste for parties and basketball because he hates doing things that everyone else does just to fit in (Which makes the ending where Mike suggests playing D&D instead of going to Stacey's party so sweet, because in a way he's honoring Eddie's legacy).
Eddie died because of forced conformity, because society saw him as a freak solely because he refused to change himself to fit their standards.
Max almost died because Mike tried to force himself to conform in the grandest way--forcing himself to tell El he loved her when he didn't. He lied in his speech to El, and El knew. The monologue didn't work, and Hawkins was still destroyed.
And in this season, Mike continues the pattern. He is the one responsible, in a way, for El's death-- Mike built the bomb that blew up the UD and killed her. El died because Mike chose conforming/ following the rules and camouflaging instead of being true to hisself.
Everyone hates the use of Purple Rain for that scene with Mike and El in the void, and I get it. But have you forgotten that Mike originally planned on using "Human Cannonball" by the Butthole Surfaces as the track that played when the bomb is detonated? It's only after Robin (also wearing camo, mind you, because she's not fully out to everyone yet) forces him to follow "one simple rule" and pick a good track that he gives in and changes it.
Ironic isn't it? The one time he follows the rules, the worst thing possible happens.
BTW, Purple Rain is a song about the end of the world and moving on, letting go of pain and embracing a new beginning. It also has religious implications about letting faith guide you through a storm (so essentially you got your churchgate. The B-side "God" was literally even more overtly religious). It's actually the perfect choice of song for the end of the UD, even though it being tied to Mileven is a bit "ehh".
(Side note: Prince isn't a queer icon guys, he was actually straight and a Jehovah's Witness. Not sure if he was exactly a huge fan of the gays. Sorry.)
This leaves us with one last question: Why was the battle so easy? Why did Vecna not send an army of Demos to attack them? BECAUSE HE DIDN'T HAVE TO. THEY MAY HAVE KILLED HIM AND THE MF, BUT THEY STILL LOST. WHY? BECAUSE FORCED CONFORMITY. BECAUSE THEY HID FROM THE TRUTH, ALLOWING DARKNESS TO WIN. THEY LET FEAR WIN. MIKE LET FEAR WIN.
The Duffer Brothers said in an interview that El is supposed to represent childhood magic. And if it's forced conformity that's killing the kids, Mike choosing to conform killed his childhood. In other words, Mike became his fear (losing El/ his childhood). He became the "curse".
If El is a metaphor for first love and the magic of childhood, then Vecna represents trauma. If Vecna is trauma, the military represent the prejudicial, oppressive nature of forced conformity.
They are the pinnacle of one-dimensional, cartoonish villians, because they have no clear motive, no backstory, no purpose for even existing. All we know about them is they are for some reason focused on finding El to use her to continue the cycle of making more Henry's, more super-soldiers they can mold to obey their will. But by refusing to let them control her narrative anymore and choosing to end the cycle of abuse, she resists the pressure to conform to the role society has placed on her. The military disappear after El is gone because without her, they don't have much of a need to be there anymore. Their role had already been fulfilled.
After El is pulled from the tank and disconnects from the mind-scape, the military find the plans for the final battle when they raid the Squawk, revealing their location, just like they found El's letter to Mike after Mike throws it in the trash and figured out where she went. This can't be just a coincidence. It's almost as if they are just a plot device for creating more of a sense of danger in the characters' lives, rather than actually being one...
El was an innocent kid when she was found in the woods by the Party, one with absolutely no life experience or prior contact with the outside world. She introduced Mike and the others to a world of adventure, but also a world of danger. She brought magic into their life, but she also brought years of trauma. Her "death", as sick as it sounds, was the only way for them to move on with their lives, to heal from their trauma and let go of their childhood.
But just because childhood is gone doesn't mean the feelings attributed with it are gone. They will always live on within us. In the same way, El will always live on in Mike, and so will his love for Will. He's able to make peace with the way things went down, so he imagines El in a land with waterfalls, living the life he's always wanted for her for himself.
I also think it's important to talk about Kali as a foil to Jane. Where Jane is hopeful initially and wants to seek another way out, Kali is pessimistic, fatalistic. She is jaded and disillusioned by how the world truly works. Kali tells Jane ending their lives is the only way to put a stop to the cycle. On the other hand, Hopper tries to convince El to choose life, to fight for a better world. Both Hopper and Kali want Jane to reclaim her power, to reclaim her autonomy over her own fate, but in different ways. Hopper wants her to see that she has options. In Kali's eyes, death is the only option.
Kali's story was over before she reunited with El, because she had no more fight left in her. Kali also didn't have love or family like El did, didn't have people who would fight for her. She stopped trying to resist her fate -- she chose door one.
Same with Henry and Will, who are foils for each other-- Will had people who would love him no matter what, and he had reassurance from his friends and family that he would never lose any of them. Even despite the trauma he went through, he showed compassion to Henry, recognizing that he was also a victim. That's his nature--to see the good in everyone, just like El tried to see the good in Henry when she realized he was being used by Dr. Brenner.
This differentiates both Will and El from Henry-- Henry was hated by his family for being different, he had no one who loved him, making him susceptible to the forces of evil. It's why he was ultimately unredeemable.
You could make the argument that Kali wasn't actually shot. She has the ability to produce illusions, and we never see her be hit by the bullet. Is it possible that the blood El and Hopper saw was also an illusion she made so that they would leave her behind? We might never know, but it's something to consider! And if it is the case, then it would explain how she would be able use her powers to get El out of the UD without being noticed, if Mike's theory proves to be correct.
As for El, it's left intentionally ambiguous for the audience -- and Mike-- to decide on her fate. That is because depending on how you perceive the world, you could either choose to believe, to have hope for a better future, or to accept a reality where childlike innocence has to die because the world is too cruel and corrupt to accommodate for it.
And that is the question all of us are left with as Stranger Things comes to a close. For many of us, this show has been our childhood. It's been a source of comfort and escape from the harsh reality of the world we live in. Now, it's holding up a mirror to it and asking us what we will choose. Do we believe? Do we continue to stay true to ourselves in the face of adversity, of oppression? Or do we give up, and take door one like Kali did? Do we choose to stay stagnant, to pretend to be someone we're not and remain in denial in order to blend in with society, like Mike, or do we embrace the things that make us "different" and take door three, like Will?
Or, like Henry, do we choose to let our hatred fester, to succumb to evil? Do we choose to let our circumstances define the people we become, or do we define our circumstances?
It's a choice we all have to make sooner or later. If Mike Wheeler's story has taught us anything, it's that the more we try to repress our feelings and hide from the truth, the more unnecessary pain we bring ourselves and the people around us.
Mike Wheeler is way more complex than the on-screen story allows for, misunderstood and mistreated by his own creators and many fans, simply because we never get to hear his side of the story. And that to me is what makes him one of the most beautifully tragic characters ever written.
I can only hope one day, he'll find the courage to finally tell his story -- the true story. Because the truth as we know it will always set us free.
Hey, how could I forget? The Library! The place Barb ( I think?)'s body was found in season 1. The place Dustin goes to find out what Dart is. The place Hopper finds out about the lab and about Jane's mother. The place where Robin and Nancy go to prove Victor Creel's innocence. The place where the gates merged in s4 after Max "died".
That same place is what's left behind when the UD gets blown up. Mike is the one to confront it at the end. What is it's significance? (Hint: it's personal revelation.)
Could it be that knowledge and the quest for truth is what saves us? What helps us confront our worst fears and deepest, hidden secrets? Could that be the answer to what Mike needs, to find the truth about himself? To accept himself for who he really is, without shame or fear?
As Dustin would say, "Why are you keeping this curiosity door locked?"
Mike needs to look behind the door, to discover himself. And the way we discover information is through learning. The library is the hub of learning.
Just one last thing to think about: Hopper's speech to Mike, when he finds him at the memorial instead of his graduation. Mike's guilt over El (his childhood trauma) prevents him from growing up and taking that last step into adulthood. Hop tells him this:
"What happened is not your fault. El made her choice. Now it's time for you to make yours. And the way I see it, you got two roads ahead of you. You got one road where you keep blaming yourself for what happened, you keep going over it in your head, over and over, what you could've done differently. You push people away, and you suffer, because that's what you think you deserve.
And then there's another road, where you find a way to accept what happened. Find a way to accept her choice. Doesn't mean you gotta like it, doesn't mean you gotta understand it. And never think about it. You just accept it. And you live the best goddamn life you can.
I've been down that first road before. And I don't recommend it. And as for El (your inner child), I think you know what (s)he would have wanted for you."
That, guys, is the story of Mike Wheeler. But it's not the end. It's only the beginning.
Tagging A LOT of folks bc everyone needs to see this: @rana-sentimental @pjo-tvs-version @nevyobjects11 @izorfia @cheezaer @spacer4t @rosiedoesart @imstillalive22 @bylerbabies @iamanlazyartist @icollectspecialinterests @blueberry-waffles @starchaser-thewise @sad-n-bored @norwhae @schlock-the-great @spookytreerebel @momentaryl0ss @gyrovagus-bibliophile @rockwellhenry @nivea-ah @reaalexii @rose-red-doors @silvermoondarksky @arstoryels @bluemeetsyellowinthewest777
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