Something that's bothering the shit out of me is the fact that Joyce's character arc was never actually about trusting Will more and letting him do his own thing without constantly hovering around him to make sure that he's okay. Because... Joyce never actually leaves Will's side. Like, ever. The only time she's not in Will's immediate reach is when Robin and Will sneak out to get away from her overprotectiveness. Then she finds them and Will stands up to her in the car, then her and Will have their talk at that farm where it seems like she realizes that she can't keep Will safe at all times always, and then?
After that she's right there with Will. She goes with him Everywhere.
It's as if she, after her talk with Will, switched from "I need to keep Will safe so I will take and keep him with me and stay at places that are far away from the danger" to "I need to keep Will safe so I will follow him everywhere and always be right there at his side, holding his hands so that I can make sure he's safe even when he's surrounded by danger". Which is not "trusting your child and letting them do their thing while you're working on not being so overprotective". Like not at all.
When they rescued the kids from the macz she stays behind waiting for Will and Mike with the last few kids while she lets Lucas, a 16 year old boy btw, walk back alone while he also has to protect and guide scared young children, who don't know what's going on and are in real danger of being abducted. She Lets Him Do That even though one adult with one group of kids and three teenagers with one group of kids would be much more reasonable and safe. But she doesn't do that. Instead she stays with Will instead, not Right at his side, but she waits for him to make sure he's okay.
When Will passes out during the battle, Joyce is the one carrying him even though Mike, who is taller and likely better on his feet, would be the more reasonable option when it comes to who carries Will in a high stress situation like that. But instead she Again lets a teenager guide children though an active battlefield just so she can hold Will and keep him as close and safe as possible.
When they all come up with the plan to connect Will to the hive mind through the demogorgon, it seems like she's trusting him more, but does she really? Sure, in that moment she allows him to possibly mind fight Vecna... but when he gets reconnected to the hivemeind, who is there standing right behind him? Mike and Joyce!! She is the first person to lean over him when he looses consciousness, she stays right next to him when he's passed out, sitting close to the couch and then with him on the bed, she doesn't even go outside with Mike when El and the others arrive back at the wsqk building!!! And I get it, her son is literally passed out, probably stuck in Vecna's evil memorys and it makes sense she would want to be by his side until he wakes up, but... come on that is not a mother overcoming her overprotective trust issues.
And even after Will wakes up she's still with him like, all the time. The others go to pick up/get out Max, Lucas, Robin and Vickie from the hospital and Joyce stays behind with Will. She sits right next to him when he comes out, she stands next to him at the top of the tower in the upside down, she stays with him in the Abyss when Will starts having his Vecna mind connection again, they arrive together inside the dead Mindflayer so that she gets to kill Vecna, on the ride back she holds Will's arm and they lean on each other.
On the surface it's all cute and sweet and makes sense because Will is in so much danger all the time, but it's not healthy. And it certainly isn't the arc of a mother overcoming her fears of loosing her child by working through her overprotectiveness.
I mean shit, even Hopper let El go into the Abyss by herself because he knew she needed to do that even though it wasn't safe and could possibly kill her without him being able to save or protect her in any way. Hopper Did kind over work through is overproteciveness in s5. In the end he trusted El to be strong and win against Vecna and she Did Win!!! Why were Joyce and Will not allowed to have that same arc??
It's pissing me off because Joyce is such a valuable character. She is so cool, she can do so much!!! Last season she Flew To Russia to go and save Hopper because there was a slight chance he was still alive. And she fucking did save him. She fought and won so many battles and she's so smart and notices a lot of things other people don't. They didn't do Anything with her this season. Her best moments this season were her scaring a demogorgon where it's later revealed that that wasn't actually her and instead Will; and chopping Vecna's head off even though he was already basically dead and defeated and it was really only added in for the emotional effect so they could have a flashback. Like. Joyce's biggest character moments didn't even Need her. She had no plot relevance!!! Instead they actually kind of made her a bit of a hindrance for the plot advancing...
Like, all they did with her this season was make her Will's protector which lbr should have been MIKE'S ROLE INSTEAD!! Though Will also just shouldn't always Need a protector... But if there was the want for a person who was putting a lot of focus on staying with and protecting Will, while also having that dynamic be balanced and not overbearing, then somebody like Mike, who has always been Will's protector, would fit that role much better than his mom. It's not balanced. Joyce's way of protecting Will is too much Because she is his mom. If there is somebody who protects Will it needs to be a person who is on the same level as Will. LIKE MIKE!!!!
So yeah idk this has been bugging me the whole time. Joyce was reduced to 'scared overprotective mom' and they even Adressed It In The Show and then. Didn't change it. Why??
Ngl it also kind of lessens the awesomeness of a lot of Will's scenes for me. Will wants to do so much and he has so much strength and power and Joyce is pulling him down. He needs to become his own person, he needs to be responsible for himself, he needs to be able to be in danger and get out of it without his mother standing right next to him all the time. It also reduces Will's character a little. It's as if Will can only fight Vecna in his mind if Joyce is next to him. It makes it seem like he couldn't do it on his own...
Will's coolest scenes and his biggest moments of character devellopment happened when Joyce wasn't immediately there for him. The field scene with Mike, all of his talks with Robin and seeing Robin and Vickie kiss in the hospital. The sorcerer scene!! Even him trapped in his own memory with Vecna looking through his mind was character devellopment because it lead to Will coming out. Hell, even his talk with Mike on the radio tower. And it's just all these In Between Moments that happen Right when Joyce isn't there to hold Will's hand for it.
Both Will and Joyce are incredible characters with so much strength and power and they can do So Much. But if you keep them stuck together like glue for the whole damn season, then they're not actually getting anywhere. Because they will instead just stop the other from reaching their full potential.
And also lastly I am making this a bit about byler because I feel like Joyce always being there with Will was a big reason for why him and Mike didn't have many moments alone together. And They Show Mike wanting to be with Will, stay at his side, hold him, care for him, talk to him so much!! But he can't do any of that because Joyce is always there too!!! And I'm not saying it's Joyce's fault that byler didn't happen, but it does feel a little off that all the potential byler scenes (Mike holding Will's hand when he passes out in shock jock, him briefly carrying Will during the macz battle, Mike possibly staying with Will in the abyss) all get blocked because Joyce is there instead, doing all the things for Will that Mike wanted to do for him too. And again all the byler moments we get happen in between scenes, right when Joyce isn't looking for a second or is in reach but still far enough away that they can have a moment to speak alone.
It's truely so frustrating cause I noticed recently how few moments Will and Mike have that are truely just the two of them. That are true vulnerable moments of them talking and being open and getting closer, without the possibility of somebody else always barging in at any minute. The only scene I can think of is the radio tower scene. Every Other Scene there are always other characters present in it too. Like even when they can't hear them speak, they are still there and so the moment can never feel truely intimate and special. And there was so much Potential for them to have scenes like that but they never actually happened because Joyce Was There too...
Joyce this season isn't just a mother caring for her son. No, she's overprotective, doesn't trust Will, which leads to him not being able to have as much character devellopment as he could have, she blocks him from forming deeper bonds with other characters, even though Will might want to form those bonds and her always staying with Will leads to him not being able to learn on his own and protect himself and decide for himself. It makes him seem like a little child that still needs to be protected by his mom all the time, instead of a teenager who should be in the middle of finding his own path and getting more independant. It's really just sad
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