#finn wolfhard

[hazawhite]

Forget him.

[svbmb]

today a film student came to our school and taught us about different filming techniques AND SHE MADE US ANALYZE THE BYLER RAIN SCENE

i tried not to TWEAK but when i tell you, I WAS SHAKING

[bylrlve]

Warning! Spoilers for Stranger Things 5 mentioned,

Rewatching episode 2, and I’m genuinely staggered by how many times Mike peeks at Will. It’s very clear his mind is on Will, in fact. I am also staggered by just how many small byler details are in here.

His whole face drops after no. 4 too, as @starbylers observed here.

I also want to include these @chirpsythismorning gifs from the roller rink scene, as they’re brilliant:

Mike watching Will get out of the van, and seemingly offering a hand to him.

Mike openly watching Will as they take their skates.

(X) (X)

These are very deliberate acting choices from Finn Wolfhard, and he was certainly doing it on instruction.

Some other notes on 402:

The transition from Mike and El being fake -> Murray looking up looking like he’s experiencing his Seeing Clearly -> Robin talking about Vickie laughing ‘and not like a cheap, fake laugh, but a real, genuine laugh’, right after we saw Mike hiding his genuine disgust at burritos for breakfast behind a tone of fake laughter.

Mike’s whole face just drops into an unhappy, spaced-out espression when it zooms in on El - this is after Will ignored his sock joke (video here by @buckybxarnes)

As many have observed, Mike and El look genuinely miserable when viewed from Angela’s perspective, as opposed to the shot of them skating with Will miserable behind them

It’s occurred to me that in s2, 3, and 4, the byler plot really takes off in episode 2. I’m wondering if that’s also the case with s5 - I’ve reconsidered my theory that the Mike + El rooftop scene takes place after the hospital plot in ep 2, as I’ve heard that the paparazzi at the filming site were told it was in episode 1.

The door slam/open transition between Joyce going to the bank to get the 40k random for Hopper, utterly singleminded, and Mike barging into the womens’ bathroom, being kicked out, and subsequently starting an argy-bargy with Will as opposed to continuing to prioritise El… well!

The disparity in time is so interesting. El counts off 185 days since she last saw Mike - which is roughly six months, as is canon within the show (Sept-Oct 1985-March 1986). And here Mike is, saying ‘you knew she was having trouble for, like, a year’ and Will saying ‘it’s been a year, Mike’ and, in 404, Mike saying ‘the last year has been weird.’ It’s pretty obvious the last one is Mike referring to their fight nine months earlier, plus the time prior that Mike had spent pulling away from the rest of the Party to focus on El. The second one is Will potentially referencing the time that elapsed since their fight - even if it’s moreso subtext from the writers. What, then, to make of Mike saying Will knew El was having trouble for, like, a year? What subtext could be meant by this? I’d love to hear your guys’ thoughts because u can’t quite deduce this.

Mike listing off everything Will did is so hilarious given the surveillance he carried out all day on the boy, and given the fact that poor El being humiliated publicly and assaulted with liquid before she skated off bawling did not, apparently, ruin the day. On second thoughts, I understand what Will meant… she’s in trouble having Mike’s gay ass for a boyfriend.

What’s striking me now is that this fight + El’s iconic roller skate moment, are the real emotional climaxes of this episode’s M/E/W plot. It could have been Mike finding El and comforting her before she lashed out at Angela. It could have been him talking to her afterwards. It could have been at the house - him following her up to her room and silently comforting her until she fell asleep. No, no. Mike and Will airing out their grievances (and Mike betraying which of the two truly emotionally affects him more) + El handling her own shit, while Mike thoroughly disapproves.

The way that Will just wants to be Mike’s friend, but it’s Mike making it so deeply weird.

The way, also, that they stick together at the rink even after the fight, and Mike openly is more preoccupied by Will in the van. I’ve seen it observed before: the parallel between El and Will staring out the same window in the van crying: Mike looks at Will in the shot. He does not look at El in the shot.

I think it’s hilarious that Mike ends the fight by feigning concern for El - he offered her no comfort whatsoever, actively stood away from her when she was waiting for Jonathan and Argyle to arrive, ignored her crying in the van, and of course:

She didn’t look fine.

Mike and Will are blocked together, not Mike and El

The sincerity of Mike’s concern over El juxtaposed with the rank falseness of ‘no, that’s…that’s not true, maybe I was a little upset in the moment’ etc really sticks out - the defensiveness is reminiscent of the tone he took with Will during the fight, but even then he was more sincere-sounding because he was more emotionally affected.

Bylers don’t talk enough about the insanity of ‘who… who said that I didn’t?’ In context, thinking logically, Mike is very likely referring to Will here (the bullies were shouting at her, he could hear what they were saying)- and why would his mind immediately go to ‘Will thinks I don’t love El, and has told her his suspicions?’ Why would he take a defensive tone?

Seriously, 402-403 M/W/E may well be the plot that (potentially) spells out byler endgame the most.

[queen-of-hawkins-why-ler]

Ross should post a single BTS pic of Mike Wheeler and only Mike Wheeler on the first day of pride month for maximum chaos

[bymarara]

Hello, Mara is with you.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but it's pretty interesting looking that Nancy's appearance in season 1 and Will's appearance in season 5 are very similar.I'm not sure I fully believe that Holly will go missing, as the episode titles have yet to be officially confirmed...BUT! If it is, we do know something.

-Mike will find himself in a similar position as Jonathon was when Will went missing in season 1. That means parallels between Mike in season 5 and Jonathan in season 1.

We know that Nancy and Jonathon will "team up" in season 1, and we remember that Mike has already laid the groundwork for that with his "I think it's easier if we become a team."

Does that mean we'll get parallels between Will in season 5 and Nancy in season 1? I've been thinking about this and while rewatching season 1, I realized something:

plaid shirt on the bottom, blue shirt on top and a jacket over it. I can clearly see peoples similarities, just different color schemes for obvious reasons and whatnot, they are similar enough as it is.

Plus, we remember that in season 1, Will could user gun, and Nancy has gun already as a symbol.

There used to be other parallels like Jonathon/Will and Nancy/Mike..... Will something change in their dynamic? Or maybe (maybe) the Jonathon/Mike and Nancy/Will parallels won't be as prominent, and we're just shown the fact that Mike will be just as responsible about finding his baby sister, and Will will be just as serious about helping Mike. Maybe also Will will become more stale(?), hope you get my point!

[cloudycleric]

im working on a little something

[will80sbyers]

Finn Wolfhard as Mike Wheeler in STRANGER THINGS 4

[finnoahsource]

finn with the s5 rain kiss hair in the pic for his new music website....

OH your mind......

rain kiss truthers have this crumb!

[hazawhite]

Happy pride month 🌈🌈🌈

[pinkerthings]

i looooove how mileven’s just spread misinformation like real ones know they DID NOT EVEN KISS IN THIS SCENE ! 😭

cr to @/klausexsired on insta

[twoelectrichearts]

I’m not gonna be able to contain myself when we get our first Byler content of season 5. If we get it during THIS month, ✨🏳️‍🌈PRIDE🏳️‍🌈✨ month, I’m scared of what I’ll become lol

[spookystarfishzombie]

[beepingmemesauce2727]

Silly pookie

[holyvirgilscriptures]

this mike wheeler kisses this will byers

[kingsteve-more-like-dadsteve]

Eddie, on the phone with Steve: Turn around

Eddie: No, the other way

Eddie: Again, the other way

Eddie: Okay, one more time

Steve: OH MY GOD, WHERE ARE YOU?!

Eddie: I'm not there yet, but the thought of you aimlessly turning around in circles amuses me