#also both are so will Byers s2 coded

[l1ghth0p3]

Taissa and Lottie mirror each other so much. Lottie’s visions giving her control, Taissa’s taking her control away. Lottie’s giving the team hope, Taissa’s hallucinations scaring herself and others. Lottie being awake during her visions while Taissa is asleep during hers. Lottie losing Laura Lee after thinking she would survive, Van surviving after Taissa thought she was dead. Lottie becoming the leader of the team in the wilderness, Taissa becoming the leader of New Jersey as an adult. Lottie believing in the cult while Taissa is opposed to it. Lottie acknowledging her visions as visions, and Taissa refusing to do the same with hers. Lottie being a spiritual leader and Taissa being an atheistic leader. Them being the only two to have flashbacks to their childhood. Lottie not finding food but Taissa finding Javi. Just Lottie and Taissa being foils of each other, them being two halves of a whole.

[stranger-theory]

OKAY GUYS.

from what ive noticed about the behind the scenes video, i'm gonna say some shit and you're gonna have to go along with it.

spoilers for st5 production !!

1. Dustin is 1000% getting beat up by the jocks. from what i remember, there was graffiti on Eddies tombstone which means the jocks are gonna be weird and write shit on his grave and then Dustin hops in to stop them, only for him to get some owies.

2. ZERO MILKVAN LMAO.

3. there's a weird scene with Nancy and Mike where they both look upset, Nancy because we can see her whole face but Mike has his eyebrows upturned, so. i'm not sure what it could be but she makes that face when she dissociates and thinks about something depressing so maybe they're talking about Holly's disappearance.

4. WE GOT WILL BYERS LETS FUCKING GOOOOO okay so he's falling from somewhere very high, it seems. i'm assuming he'd climbed the tree in an attempt to escape the demogorgan, only to be knocked off (frightened by lightning?). what if, when he falls, something weird happens before he hits the ground ???? like, powers-wise.

5. Holly is definitely the name in the episode titled "The Vanishing of ***** Wheeler", no way she isn't. she was literally in a room with flashing lights everywhere and the second clip was of her looking scared with some sort of dirty goo on the tips of her hair and her chest.

6. Nancy is actually in the candy striper outfit !! so i'm guessing she goes in the hospital to collect info on something, thats probably what they're going over in the weird basement looking room. maybe something on Max ?

7. Lucas, Dustin and Will seem to be surrounding Mike at the lunch table. Mike looks as if he's writing something down, possibly relating to the radio that's, for some reason, on the table. reminds me of the morse code scene in s2, just not sure how that'd tie in. (also Dustin looks bored in that scene ??)

8. William Byers is either getting Vecna visions or he's experiencing the same thing he was in s2 with the "shadow-walking". i also think he could be lying about it for the sake of keeping others from worrying, like in s2.

9. Hopper doesn't seem to be with others through the entire video, the only clip we get is from the Upside Down. El also doesn't seem to be with others so i'm assuming they're together ??

10. Joyce is veeeery similar in costume design to her s2 self so there's gonna be something similar in terms of plot. considering that both Mike and Will also have the same shoes from s2 but inverted, i'm assuming the dynamic between the three is going to be the same. protective Mike and Joyce.

thats all i have for now ! please share and fill me in on other cool stuff you guys have noticed !!

[carigm]

A BREAKDOWN OF THE POTENTIAL S5 EPISODE TITLES!!

Okay, so today entertainment journalist Jeff Sneider shared some alleged insider info about S5 of ST, mainly directors and titles of the first 6 episodes.

Here’s a screenshot

It’s important to keep in mind that this guy isn’t always the most reliable, and considering he also said he believes S5 could come out before the end of this year, let’s not take any of this too seriously. (Many cast members have mentioned they’re filming until December of this year so that’s literally impossible). The information about the possible directors I believe is correct, because it’s been circulating around from other sources too.

The episode titles I’m less convinced about because it’s also possible the Duffers could’ve put out fake episode titles in case they leaked. I remember for S2 all the episodes titles they announced were changed later on lol. But for the sake of fun, here’s an analysis of all of them:

1. The crawl (only confirmed title) is a very broad, open title. It personally makes me think of the UD and vines, or maybe even the idea of Vecna crawling back to life. Could also be an allusion to the military.

2. The Vanishing of ___ Wheeler is arguably the most insane one. The journalist said he wasn’t revealing the actual name of the person because it’s a spoiler ofc. My gut tells me it’s gonna be Holly, mainly because of the recast and her supposedly being involved in the hospital plot, which we have guessed takes place in episode 2. Could explain why she’s suddenly “more important” this season, especially if she’s used as a plot device of sorts. Could also tie into what Ted’s actor said in a podcast back in February about the first episodes being a rollercoaster of emotions, and that comment he made about Ted having a soft spot for Holly. It would be a perfect tie in for Karen to find out about the UD as well. The implications of naming the episode the same as the first episode, which is so intrinsically tied to Will, is very interesting. It’s also a new connection/tie between the Byers/Wheelers that I assume will bring the families closer together. I don’t think it’s about Mike because I doubt he’ll go missing in ep.2, or be dragged to the UD just like Will was. It would be an interesting concept but I doubt it. I also don’t think Nancy’s gonna go missing. Karen could be interesting but I doubt it as well. Ted would be an incredibly funny choice. Imagine he just goes missing while at the house 😭 Nonetheless, I think Holly is the clear choice here, and I do very much worry for her if she goes missing. Mainly because while Will survived this, I’m not sure they’ll do the same for Holly :(

It also ties into Vecna’s threat to Nancy against her and her family.

Here’s an interesting leak from the same anon that leaked the hospital stuff (which seems to be correct)

I think this could be the very same scene Holly goes missing.

3. Turbow Trap 😭 This one is utter nonsense. I have no idea what a Turbow is, so I assume it’s gonna be a code or nickname for something. Absolutely clueless here.

4. Sorcerer is incredibly interesting, and imo a clear allusion to Will. His D&D character being a cleric, basically a wizard. Could also be a reference to Vecna imo. Or both 😉

5. Shock Jock is clearly tied to the radio station plotline. Imo the title could be a reference to Steve, Jonathan, or even Murray (he fits that eccentric, somewhat annoying personality quite well) In case you guys don’t know a shock jock is like a very eccentric radio host.

6. Escape from Camazotz is another crazy title. He’s a figure from Mayan mythology who’s a bat spirit. That immediately makes me think of Eddie, but also Steve ofc. However, camazotz has a larger meaning that goes beyond “bat spirit”, it’s also a representation of death and night. So the title seems to be alluding to someone escaping from death or a perilous situation.

Even more interesting perhaps is that kamazotz is a name of a planet in A Wrinkle Time. It’s the planet where IT resides, the mind controlling antagonist of the narrative. So I guess in this comparison Kamazotz is the UD, and IT is Henry.

[aemiron-main]

do you think the multiple timeline plot is a plot point that’s more introduced in S4/for the HenVecWard TM plot specifically?

Like is there anything from earlier seasons/not related to Henry you would consider as proof that we’ve been seeing multiple timelines the whole time?

I think it would be kinda odd if multiple timelines are so important to the plot but there’s only real proof of it in S4 so that’s why I’m asking

I LIKE COMPLETELY 100% BELIEVE IT BUT IM REWATCHING RN AND I WANNA SEE IF THERES ANYTHING I SHOULD BE LOOKING OUT FOR

OOHOHOHOH SO!! THERE IS A LOTTTTTT OF ALTERNATE TIMELINE STUFF IN PREVIOUS SEASONS!!!

I totally agree that it would be odd if there was only proof of it in S4- thankfully, there’s evidence across all seasons!

So, let’s get into it!

Evidence of Multiple Timelines/Timeline Weirdness Prior To Season 4

So, one of the main things re: multiple timelines pre-S4 is Will’s vanishing. I touched on this in the Edward video too, but I also have a bunch of posts on it!

Basically, we saw two different Wills back in S1, each possibly from a different timeline.

I made this post, this post, and this post about Warm Will versus Cool Will, but TLDR, we see two different Wills on the night he vanished, one with longer, shaggier hair, who looks older & more exhausted & has cooler colour grading (hence why he’s Cool Will) and one with shorter, neater hair who looks younger & less tired & has warmer colour grading (hence why he’s Warm Will):

And there’s also the two different versions of the Byers’ phone- both versions of the Byers’ phone have “AREA CODE 501” written on the white part, but one version has nothing else underneath “AREA CODE 501” whereas the other version has some extra, unreadable line of text under it:

Which, not only is “501” the wrong area code for Hawkins, but “area 501” also connects to NINA (and all of the NINA timeline weirdness as a result), because the NINA coordinates from S4 lead to area 51.

And then there’s also the two different Wills in Castle Byers- the Will that El sees in Castle Byers in the void is different than the Will that the audience saw singing in Castle Byers (see this post and this post).

How are they different? Well, the Will that El sees in the void is more exhausted, barely able to move or speak- whereas the Will that the audience saw singing in Castle Byers has enough energy to sing and shiver.

And each of them also has a different version of Castle Byers- the Will that El sees in the void has drawings on the wall that are a.) in colour and b.) noticeably wet, wheres the Will that was singing and shivering has drawings on the wall that a.) have no colour and b.) are dry:

And one of the BIGGEST pieces of evidence of multiple timelines in the whole show actually comes from the end of S1 & then ties into the beginning of S2- the newspapers.

I talked about this in this post, this post, and this post, but the article we see at the end of S1 about Will’s vanishing has a TON of alternate timeline stuff.

It’s the article that mentions Richard Brenner, who’s likely Martin’s timeline counterpart or something along those lines (ie if Martin was Henry’s Brenner, Richard was likely Edward’s Brenner, especially considering the connections between Eddie Munson and Reefer Rick versus the subtext there re: Edward Creel and Richard Brenner, especially with Reefer Rick being a drug dealer versus Richard Brenner being the head of narcotics at HNL) (see posts like this post and this post and a bunch of other posts LMAO)

Not to mention all of the weirdness with Joyce in this article, and the fact that according to this article, Joyce claims that she found Will as a test subject at HNL, with no mention of the upside down:

Which ties into something I’ve talked about re: how it’s weird that the lab let will go to a normal hopsital- they were ready to straight up KILL HOPPER to prevent any info about the UD/lab getting leaked, and yet, they supposedly just let will go to a normal hospital instead of keeping him at the lab?

Plus, we never actually SAW joyce and jim leave the UD or the lab with Will- if they somehow escaped the lab & got will to a regular hospital after escaping the lab, how did they get through all of those guarded and locked doors that they had to go through to get to the mothergate?

Especially without a keycard and being vastly outnumbered + carrying a dying kid?

So, I wonder if that scene of Will at the hospital might be a different timeline where Will was found in one of the rooms at HNL, rather than in the UD, and if Joyce and Hopper broke in & got a keycard the way Hopper did earlier in S1/were able to get in and out of the lab & to a normal hospital more easily because Will was in one of the upper rooms & not down through all of those extra guarded doors/quaratine rooms that they had to go through to get to the mothergate.

Especially since that newspaper where Joyce seemingly claimed that Will was found as a HNL test subject also says that Will was currently at Hawkins General Hospital- which is where we see him at the end of S1, so it would make sense for those scenes to be the same timeline as that newspaper clipping (and therefore also in the same timeline as Richard Brenner):

And also, that S1 article is also DIFFERENT from the S2 article about Will’s vanishing despite the two of them seemingly being the SAME ARTICLE, with the same title, the same picture, and the same author (Benjamin Buck), but with different content- they seem to be alternate timeline versions of the same article.

There’s also the matter of Will’s poster and eye colour- the S1 poster says that his eyes are brown, but the Will we see in S2 has greenish-greyish eyes. So, yet again, we seem to have two different Wills, especially since they make a point of showing us what Will would look like with brown eyes when flayed, so they arent just calling his green eyes “brown” as a catch-all term.

Which, speaking of Flayed Will’s eyes, why did Will’s eyes turn brown when he was flayed but Billy’s eyes didn’t?

Why did Billy’s eyes stay blue (although sometimes becoming a more saturated shade of blue much like 1979 massacre Henward’s eyes) whereas Will’s turned brown?

I personally wonder if Will’s eyes changing colour is connected to all of the twinner/timeline stuff, especially with the scene in TFS where Alice asks “Henry” where Henry is and “Henry” responds with “he’s right here,” as if he himself isn’t Henry- does flaying somehow combine the two versions of people from alternate timelines?

And as a result, did we get Edward and Henry in the same body/connected mentally somehow/combined (therefore explaining that Alice scene), and were the two Wills combined, therefore explaining the eye colour change if the other Will has brown eyes?

I feel like there’s something here re: flaying & the idea of the hivemind being active across timelines (ie if two people are flayed, but theyre both in different timelines, would they be able to communicate with eachother via the hivemind/would they be connected to the same hivemind?)

Is that why Billy’s eyes didn’t turn brown? Because Billy’s alternate timeline self also has blue eyes? Anyway!

S1 is also the season where Mr Clarke brings up the idea of parallel universes/infinite alternate timelines:

And Connie Frazier from S1 is likely Alice Creel- but not Henry’s sister, Alice- Edward’s mother, Alice (see: this post ), hence how she’s still alive after 1959- she’s not the Alice that we saw laying dead on the floor, this Alice was an adult in 1959 & is Edward’s mother, not his sister, and is Victor’s wife, not his daughter, as according to the Edward paper/Indianapolis Gazette, Edward’s mother was named Alice and his sister was named Virginia, his mother and sister are swapped compared to Henry.

And then, in S2, we have my beloved 8:15gate, which, TLDR, there’s footage on Bob’s JVC on Halloween when Will was using it to record that a.) has timestamps that change when they shouldnt (ie, when Will was supposedly recording the footage, it says 8:04, but when Joyce watches that EXACT same clip back, it suddenly says 8:15) and b.) has footage that shouldnt even exist, because some of the scenes that he supposedly recorded are scenes where he HAD THE CAMERA DOWN AND WAS NOT RECORDING! That footage shouldnt even exist! And yet, it’s there, with a messed up timestamp.

Not to mention all of the stuff in S2 that directly contradicts TFS & reinforces the idea of multiple timelines (for example, in S2, Bob talks about how Joyce didnt even know his name in highschool- whereas in TFS, not only do the two know eachother well in highschool, but Bob also claims to have known Joyce since first grade).

And in S3, there’s a bunch of stuff (including the idea that S3 is its own weird timeline), but one example is what I talked about in this post re: the reference to temporal displacement in S3 and there’s a bunch more in S3/I’m just keeping this relatively brief LMAO!

And that’s not even all of it across the seasons! Not by a LONG shot, these are just a few little examples! The multiple timeline weirdness stretches all across ST, through every season and affects every character- although Henward is more overtly tied to it than the other characters, ALL of them are still tied to it, and there’s evidence of multiple timelines in every season- hell, like I said, some of the best evidence comes from S1, because that’s where we find out about Richard!

[bottomlessabyssposts]

"Mike don't deserve Will" -> BUT does Mike even want to be with Will in first place???? bc Will wasn't even sure Mike want to be his friend anymore in s4, can you imagine his face in s5 if El and Mike broke up, Mike goes to Will "ei my great love story, which I ignore you for a year for, didn't work but ei, you need me right? and i don't mind swing in your way so" ????? what is it Will a backup plan since plan a didn't work? The second choice, after El? exactly what he was to herny☠️ It will be an horrible writing and a disservice to both Will and Mike's characters. Mike need an arc where he accept the person who he is, forgive himself and stop to push himself in the perfect boyfriend role. Without, any romantic relationship for him would be forced. In this context I said "Will deserves better" bc Will deserves to be the first choice, at the moment he definitely doesn't feels like that with Mike.

have good evening<3

First things first, hello anon. :)

There is a whole lack of understanding of Mike's character in your comment, assuming that he's using Will as a plan B ?? Which is. Not true.

"Does Mike even want to be with Will in the first place" -> Absolutely ! Mike apologized as soon as he could to Will, and made amends with him. He VALUES their friendship, and even states that "Hawkins is not the same without Will". Whether it is romantic or platonic, Mike wants Will in his life.

"El is my great love story, which I ignore you a year for" -> first I'd like to point out it wasn't even a full year. The Byers left at the end of summer, and Mike visited in March... so... not a full year. Also, the whole "ignoring Will" thing lasted no more than three weeks, I believe. Lastly, Mike called (Dustin said Mike complained that the phone was always busy, meaning he called MULTIPLE times), and we know he called Will because he communicated with El through letters. It's unfair to say he "ignored" Will during their separation because Will didn't call, and I do not blame him. But it's time to see both sides, I think.

"Didn't work for El, but you need me so— and I don't swing your way" WHY would you assume he would EVER play with Will's feelings like this ? If Mike WASN'T remotely attracted to Will and knew of Will's love for him, he wouldn't do that, because Will is his best friend. Will is his own category. This is also clearly ignoring Mike's queer-coding and evidence of his own love for Will and ?? What ??

Also, while there is a lot of parallels between Henry and Mike, this one is clearly not it what are you saying 😭 Will has ALWAYS been Mike's priority. In s2, Mike pushed everything away to stay by Will's side, and even gave up on calling El on the talkie. Will has always been Mike's world and was never a second option, especially not to El. -> Mike was desperately trying to act as normal as possible, due to his own internalized homophobia.

The disservice for both of their characters would be that they NEVER know how much the other loves them. Mike's character arc is indeed to realize how important he is, but he can absolutely achieve this with Will by his side. Will is, has always been, and will ALWAYS be Mike's first choice. Mike approached him to be friends, and that was the best thing he's ever done, isn't it?

All in all anon, Mike absolutely can have both a boyfriend, and a better mindset.

Good evening. :)

[wakeupthemembersofbylernation]

They say stuff like, “He was missing for most of Season 1 and possessed for most of Season 2, so that makes him a plot device and nothing more. El has more screentime, has superpowers, and was central to both seasons, so that makes her the main character. Will is irrelevant.”

I think it’s a matter of them “bonding” with El when they watched S1 but not “bonding” with Will. They got attached to El’s dynamic with the Party in S1 and by extension Mlvn, but they just saw Will as a boy who went missing. That’s why, even though Will has been Mike’s best friend since Kindergarten and a key member of the Party way before anyone met El, they often talk about a “Core 4” that excludes Will. And when they hear the show is going back to its early season dynamics, they think about stuff like this:

And not stuff like this:

That’s why a lot of Mlvns hate Season 2. Because it wasn’t an extension of the “Core 4” (Mike, El, Lucas, and Dustin) core fouring, nor did it have a lot of Dustin and Steve being funny together screentime. It exists in a “weird” middle ground where the Party is together, but Will’s there instead of El, who is separated from the group until the end. And then Mike and Will start spending a lot of time one-on-one together. But Will-antis filter everything through the “Will is unimportant” lens, so they see iconic scenes like the Crazy Together scene and wholeheartedly believe Mike was talking about El so it’s a Mlvn scene actually. Even though everything in S2 is extremely gay and Byler-coded, Will’s possession storyline allows them to continue to believe Will is just a plot device as they await the Mlvn reunion. Will antis see S2 as that season Mike was really sad cause he was separated from his girlfriend, and Will was there too, for some reason. And then Snowball happened, so all was well!

In Season 3, Will was intentionally sidelined for thematic and plot reasons. But instead of feeling sad for Will, Will-antis see an annoying, whiny bowl-cut boy who keeps trying to get in the way of True Love™️. Why won’t he grow up? Doesn’t he know that you’re supposed to leave behind your interests and focus on making out all day?And in Season 4, they still don’t understand or empathize with Will, so they don’t understand why he’s crying, and they don’t like it. Plot devices should shut up and know their place.

If they took a step back and actually took a second to understand the themes of the show and Will Byers as a character, they would see as we do. They would see that, hmm, maybe if a character haunts the narrative in his absence, possesses the narrative in his presence, constantly gets in the way of the marital bliss of his best friend and makes a love triangle through his swagger, and creates a road trip that is so fruity and tension-filled while also having a powerful and unprocessed connection with the main villain of the show, maybe there’s a reason?

Trying to comprehend how Will Byers antis make it through s1-2 of Strangers Things.

[bigdumbbambieyes]

okay, hear me out. S3 rewrite with Billy in Robin’s role while the Mindflayer makes Neil it’s host.

like, picture it for a sec: we’d get the Billy-Steve friendship we deserved, we’d have an actual human antagonist who was shown to be canonically abusive and controlling in S2, and Billy could be a reluctant (but important) addition to The Party for S4. he’s the brawn and brains that they need.

things to consider:

we’d get Steve and Billy in matching Scoops Ahoy uniforms. maybe they both applied as lifeguards but had a fight in front of the manager so they both didn’t get the position, and they applied everywhere in Starcourt once it opened and surprise!! they were both hired at Scoops and now they have to get along or else they’ll be broke the whole summer!

Billy watching in amusement as Steve fails to hook up with girls, maybe he even makes the same scoreboard. there also wouldn’t be a need to have the moms lusting over Billy bc he has no reason to meet Karen at the motel - no predatory behaviour from her in this timeline!!

imagine the banter. billy would have something to say to everyone and it would be so funny, especially between he and Max. give me one proper sibling fight please!

while a coming out scene would be great for Billy, and i would love to see Steve react to that (like, his reaction to a gay woman he had a crush on would be sooo different from a gay man he used to beef with, let’s be real), i also want more depth from Billy since he’s not flayed and El wouldn’t be looking into his past for us. so maybe instead of a coming out scene, they talk about the fight at the Byers’ during the bathroom scene. we get a glimpse into Billy’s carefully guarded emotions (maybe even his relationship w his dad) and both Steve and Billy get to move on from that night. closure and moving on from it together as newfound friends!

Billy could be shown that he is actually a smart cookie and cracks the Russian’s code (with Steve’s help). Dustin and Steve are impressed and Dustin begins to warm up to Billy a little.

new Scoops Troop!! Billy and Steve and Dustin dynamic omg. and Erica and Billy?? imagine she kinda confronts him about what happened with him and Lucas in S2, so she’s uncertain of him bc of that, but now Billy has the chance to make things right and clear up misunderstandings. and in this timeline, he apologizes to Lucas. because Lucas deserves that so. much. and Billy should have the chance to become a better person like Steve did. and maybe Lucas doesn’t forgive him, which is justified bc he doesn’t have to forgive him at all, but he gets the apology he deserves at the very least.

Steve and Billy getting tortured together oof. that would hit hard bc imagine Billy is being punched and slapped and he’s just laughing and taunting and Steve’s like wtf. it would be a great set up for the bathroom scene - like ‘why were you laughing while we were being literally tortured??’

Billy getting to see Steve draw a charge during his ‘fight’ with the Russian soldier and being proud of him, clapping him on the back with a grin while Steve gives him a shy smile. perhaps even…a meaningful, lingering look?? a spark between them??

also Steve and Billy high as fuck together lol i just want that so bad, please!!

and while Billy is with the Scoops Troop, The Party is focused on Neil. it would be a great chance to see Max’s relationship with her step father and she notices how weird he’s being. he’s nicer to Susan, even nicer to her, but then her mom starts acting weird, too. and when she finally meets up with Billy at Starcourt when the Mindflayer manifests, they discuss everything and Billy is conflicted. he’s happy that his old man is finally getting what’s been coming to him all these years, but that’s still his dad. it’s complicated but not really touched upon but implied. (and i think that would also be a great set up for S4. he gets those weird feelings in S4, thinking ‘i wanted him to die’ but also feeling guilt because his relationship with his father is so twisted from years of abuse).

we could explore Neil’s past a bit with this timeline, too. we could get a glimpse of why he is the way he is, like we did with Billy. El could see the abuse he put Billy and his mom through. she sympathizes with Billy, but she also sees how Neil was abused, too, and feels this empathy for him. which is how she brings him out of the possession, because El is empathetic by nature, under all that anger and naivety. she knows what it’s like to abuse and be abused and want to be better than those who hurt her. and when Neil does break through, he is killed just like Billy was in S3, and Billy runs over once his dad flops to the ground. Neil grits out ‘i’m sorry’ but Billy doesn’t say anything, doesn’t forgive him. he doesn’t even cry. he just…stares, looking like the lost little boy he’s always been. and Max finally runs over to pull her brother up, to drag them both away from Neil, and Billy can’t look away from his dad’s body until it’s finally out of sight.

and ofc the season ends with Steve and Billy both working at Family Video!! with Neil and Susan gone (she would’ve been part of the MF’s army), it’s just Billy and Max now, living in that trailer. that would be such an interesting dynamic to write for S4.

anyways that’s all!! that’s my silly rewrite. Billy deserved to have a support system and a real relationship with his sister and a boy his age and it could’ve been done in S3. 🤍

[wibble-wobbegong]

Mike’s Romantic Hope

I’ve mentioned this topic in a couple of my other Mike analysis, but I really want to dive into the timeline of Mike’s journey with his romantic hope. More specifically, I want to address the hope he held at the end of S3 and the impact it had on his behavior in S4 as well as where he stands going into S5.

The Ending of S3

Now, I’m aware that this is popularly accepted as the point when Mike realized he had feelings for Will. It seems that way on the surface, but I heavily disagree with that theory and I’ll be working off my personal belief that he realized his feelings back in S2.

Acknowledging that Mike is well aware of his feelings for Will in S3, I’d like to step back to an important moment between Mike and Will before breaking down the ending.

The rain fight. As much as this gets discussed, I find it interesting how little the implications of this scene are talked about in regards to how Mike views his relationship with Will. We all know that Mike’s line about sitting in his basement and playing games for the rest of their lives was a moment of Mike projecting his owns wants onto Will.

The thing about that line is that we also know that the idea of playing games in his basement for the rest of their lives is much more than just the surface level implication. Games and childhood are both heavily tied to Mike and Will’s love for each other and the idea of doing that for the rest of their lives implies an “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” We especially see this in the way Mike reacts to the Byers’ moving, as he isolates himself and plays games in his basement alone with his drawings from Will around (he’s been going through them). I also believe that was when he realized that his feelings ran deeper than just a crush, that they were more than something he could get over by growing up. Those feelings were never something he’d simply be able to move past by trying to be normal.

So, Mike attaches his love to the idea of spending the rest of his life with Will in his basement playing games. How does this affect the way Mike views his relationship with Will? Will’s response to this accusation is to say that, yes, he does want that very same thing Mike is afraid of. He feels the exact same way, wants the exact same thing. Mike’s feelings are being reciprocated here, even as Will remains unaware of that.

Mike never gets the chance to talk about that fight with Will, apologize, or even really process it until the Byers have already moved away. He then goes through his period of isolation and realizes that he’s deeply, truly in love with Will in a way that cannot be ripped out of him no matter how hard he pulls. Between the move in July and the Byers return in October (to gather their things), Mike meets Eddie, who encourages him to accept his differences. Mike needed that sort of person in his life at the time, to tell him that his feelings were okay.

By the time October hits and the Byers have returned, there have been four important things established in Mike’s life:

1. He’s in love with Will.

2. Will seemed to feel the same way before he moved.

3. He’s taken steps towards accepting his sexuality.

4. He and El are broken up for good (it’s been four whole months).

At the end of season 3, these things are all true for Mike. These things come together to influence this scene:

He’s speaking in code, the same way Will was when he told him that he was ruining the party. What he’s asking here is more than just, “What if you find a new best friend?”

He’s also asking, “Do you still want to be a part of my party, where we sit in my basement and play games?”

He’s asking if Will still feels the way he felt before he moved, back before they fought. Mike, who realized with the dim light of his Nintendo and the loneliness of his now-empty basement that he is in love, is asking Will if he loves Mike too. Will isn’t aware of it because he isn’t aware of Mike’s feelings, but nonetheless he says it’s not possible for him to let those feelings go either.

Mike’s smile after that? Pure joy. I’m putting him in my pocket and taking him to see the wonders of the world.

This ends fantastically in Mike’s mind, and he approaches El and makes light-hearted conversation. He’s awkward about it, still a little insecure, but he’s being himself. El doesn’t shut him down this time. They’re broken up and it’s the best interaction they’ve had all season. Mike cringes at himself, but he’s making an effort to have a friendship with El even though they broke up.

And then El kissed him and confesses her love. After four months of being broken up.

Mike just got confirmation that Will feels something for him too, and now El has pulled him back into a relationship he can’t reject without breaking the promise he made El way back in S1. He promised her a romantic relationship, and promises are things he feels he can’t break. The situation has obviously grown more complex since then, including El’s crave for comfort after Hopper’s death and Mike being terrified of outing himself before he’s ready, but the result remains the same: Mike has to continue this relationship with El. It crushes him. He’s just gonna through a massive emotional realization and taken many baby steps forward, only to be pushed backwards.

Mike doesn’t want things to change again, he wants Will to stay and he wants to keep playing games in his basement with Will. He wants to be with Will, and that’s been ripped out of his hands.

And yet, Mike had no reason to think what Will said about his own feelings isn’t true. It hurts that much more because Mike had hope, still has hope, a hope he can’t chase after.

Impact on S4

That brings me to S4. How does Mike’s ending hope in S3 impact the way he acts in S4?

For starters, let me remind you that Mike believed Will was ignoring him for a vast majority of those six months between the October return and spring break. Will’s actions were directly contradicting his words, and if we know anything it’s that actions mean more than words. He’d promised that he wouldn’t move on, unintentionally said that he loves Mike too, and then is almost radio silent for six months. Almost all of Mike’s calls go unanswered. He likes a girl, now. Everything Mike is being led to understand goes directly against what Will told him.

When he gets to California, there’s a lot going through his head. There’s anger at being ignored, a longing for Will, jealousy of this girl El mentioned (Will bringing the painting did not help at all), butterflies at seeing how Will has changed, and nervousness around having to pretend to be happy with El again. He still has to keep up his role of the perfect boyfriend, the straightest boy on the planet, so everything ruminating around in his brain leads to the most awkward half-hug I’ve ever seen in my life.

That anger at being ignored grows even more when Mike still feels like he’s being ignored by Will at Rink-o-Mania, fueling the fire that will become their fight. Mike lists all these reasons he’s frustrated, and Will tries to explain them away and Mike isn’t having it (Mike actually squints at Will and raises his hands a little at this part, in a ‘are you serious?’ motion).

“Yeah, whatever man.”

The second part of the fight though is what really gets at Mike. When Will asks about them, asks, “What about us,” Mike reacts with romantic intention because, in his eyes, what’s happening is layered with his knowledge of both of them wanting to spend forever together, playing games in his basement. He’s still under the impression that Will moved on and found some girl in California to paint for instead of Mike. He’d fallen for some girl and moved on from Mike. But, the line catches his attention, because now Will is talking as though he doesn’t understand what happened to them. Mike’s demeanor changes completely for that split second.

Then, Will goes on and starts making claims that he thinks are fact, but Mike knows he’s wrong. Mike does care about what he has to say. He did try to call. Will brings up his letters to El, which Mike views as an inherently romantic thing, so he gets defensive. As much as Mike wanted to be with Will, he was still trying to be El’s boyfriend and keep himself safely in the closet. Mike expresses his frustration in the fact that Will never reached out either before cooling down and saying that they should just focus on finding El.

Mike’s perspective is interesting, especially when we see how he seems to contradict himself. He shows frustration at Will moving on, despite he himself continuing to pretend to date El. He’s angry that Will seemingly ignored him all day, but he continues to his behind the facade of El in that first part of their fight rather than approaching the root of the issue. Mike’s perspective would’ve been just as unreliable as Will’s is in this situation because of these contradictions. Neither of their perspectives will paint a full picture on their own (hence the choice of only letting us see Will’s perspective throughout S4).

Now, I’m gonna skip over his fight with El because this post is specifically about his romantic interest, so we’re jumping straight over to after he receives the letter “From, El.”

This isn’t technically a break up. As @heroesbyler pointed out in one of her posts, this is El telling Mike that she doesn’t love him either. They’ve reached an understanding that neither of them are in love with each other (a beautiful set-up for the SBP conversation. i love argyle but GOD DAMNIT). Even though he’s still technically in a relationship, he knows that El doesn’t love him romantically. That’s why I think he was suddenly so much flirtier than he was willing to be beforehand.

He no longer has to worry about hurting El by not being in love with her. A weight has been lifted off of him, and he’s suddenly more free to move in his own feelings. With the knowledge that Will never meant to ignore him, that the girl he thought Will liked was someone Will clearly would never like, and that he doesn’t need to worry about El, Mike is suddenly much more open to reconnecting with Will and flirting.

He’s a flirt here:

And here:

And I think this counts too (hand holding):

His belief that Will might feel the same is brought back to life and spurred on by their heart-to-heart in 4x04. Mike’s hope is alive and thriving. I think that the only reason he didn’t approach the topic of their relationship directly is because he was hyper-focused on saving El once Unknown Hero Agent Man tells the Cali group that El is in danger. Mike puts his friends’ safety above literally everything else, even his own life, so it makes perfect sense that he’d be more worried about finding El than having that conversation with Will. One of those could wait, the other could not.

The next step in this equation is the Van Scene. I have talked about it over, and over, and over, so I won’t delve into it here but Mike did understand Will I’m that scene and it gave him insurmountable amounts of hope.

Something I want to note, real quick, is that while Mike is no longer afraid of hurting El by not being in love with her, he’s still scared that she won’t want him around at all now that they’re broken up. He doesn’t see himself as valuable to her if he isn’t her boyfriend. Those ideas are coexisting, no contradicting.

All of this combined, Mike’s talk with El at the SBP would definitely have been a break-up talk. Mike’s face when El says that she misses him, not loves him, is so happy. El confirms that she still wants Mike around, but she isn’t taking back her stance about not being in love with him.

Mike’s at an all time high right now. He isn’t gonna lose El and he has no reason to doubt that Will loves him back. Things are going great.

“You’re the heart.”

That one line is all it takes to grind that hope into dust. Suddenly, Will doesn’t love Mike back. He was talking about El in the van. El still loves Mike, and not being in love with her would hurt her. She still needs him to be her boyfriend. It doesn’t make sense, but Mike doesn’t have time to question it, so he jumps into action and starts spewing ‘El’s’ words right back at her and throws in some things he’d used to communicate his love in the past. It’s all bullshit, and both Mike and El know that.

At the end of the season, Mike has no reason to believe Will loves him anymore. If he ever did at all. Yet, he’s still choosing to stand by Will’s side and letting El go because Mike is still very much so in love with Will. It couldn’t be torn out of him by growing up, and it won’t be torn out of him just because Will doesn’t feel the same.

Going Into S5

That’s where we’re starting S5 at. Mike has 0 reason to believe Will loves him back, but he’s gonna stay with him anyway. The ball is in Will’s court right now, but he doesn’t know it. Will is unaware of all of this which hurts even more. Miscommunication is such a bitch.

There are a lot of ways S5 could go with their relationship, but the painting fight is gonna be the trigger. Mike is gonna be so, so confused when El breaks up with him and he finds out that she had nothing to do with the painting. He just had all his hopes stomped on, and as stubborn as Mike is, that’ll be hard to come back from. Will has to admit that his feelings were disguised as El’s in order for them to move forward.

I’d have to be Dr. Strange or some shit to give you an accurate prediction of how their plot will go in S5, but I can say that Will has to make the first move and that Mike is gonna go through a shit storm of feelings about it all. All that on top of Eddie’s death, I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts isolating himself again. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s an actual divide driven between Will and Mike that only ~supernatural intervention~ could bring them back together, similar to lu/max this season.

Thank you for reading!!! I know it was a long one, but this is something I’ve been wanting to dig into for a while. I’m sorry if I sound like I’m repeating myself sometimes, it’s just that there are so many angles to come at these scenes and perspectives from. This is definitely one for my fellow mike enthusiasts though >:)

[nyxi-pixie]

double byler are so funny (this is actually not funny at all they make me sad) bc both pairs have relationships in which theyre very dependent on each other for emotional comfort so when theyre apart their relationships suffer pretty badly

both jancy and byler have been shown to have a bond based at least partially on shared trauma. w jancy murray even goes as far as to say its like the main reason they shld get together which. hmm. but yk more to my point. and byler constantly have heart to hearts because theyre each others emotional rock and this probably goes back further than UD shit bc wills been TraumaMan for his whole life (and feels mike is the only one who he can be emotionally vulnerable with without being babied or treated like hes weak-s2 kinda suggests mikes been there for him in Will Byers Trauma Times TM before). thanks lonnie😒😒

its v obvious w mike and jonathan actually bc neither of them seem to talk to anyone else about their issues. like will leaves and mike immediately devolves into isolating himself and straight up depression because clearly theres some family issues which prevent him from opening up abt his feelings (he hugs karen like 3 times in the whole show but he Never talks to her abt shit. despite her attempts to get him to open up that one time w her queer coded as fuck lil speech. anyway repressed lil emo mike only ever opens up with will. so no will=no talking abt emotions=unhealthy michael.)

and jonathan turns to weed (and argyle omg theyre bfs so true) because he wont turn to his family for support bc hes unhealthily selfless and doesnt want to burden them with his issues (likely due to the parentification. oh boy someone help him) but he and nancy understand each other bc theyve been through the same shit (which also means they dont feel like they burden each other bc like. u cant burden someone if theyre already sharing the weight yk?) but seperation=losing that support so their relationship, which relies so heavily on that mutual understanding, suffers.

nancy and will are doing a little better individually. because guess what: they have HOBBIES.(jon also does but he seems to have abandoned it. rip his i wanna take a pic era. and mike has d&d but in the between time between oh no wills gone and oh yay eddie my beloved, hes doing shit. and even w d&d his grades are still affected by his mental place and his rooms super messy so like. doing better but still not great.)

we see that wills super into art (which is known to be therapeutic so double woo points) again after doing it less in s3. and he seems to be specifically using it to deal w his sad gay feelings (channelling shit like the introspective king he is 🤩). also hes got people other than mike to offer emotional support. even with jonathan not available, he can still talk to joyce (st character with positive relationship w a parent❗holy shit how rare❗❗). also its will. if hes in his feels hes just gonna vibe with it. 'oh misery my best friend lets hang out for a bit 😍😍' (prolly bc jonathan put his whole jonussy into making sure will was okay w having emotions. as a part of his mission to spite lonnie. SLAY KING) compared to the wheelers who are like 'um what the fuck is an emotion ive never felt one i swear. wdym u saw me crying yesterday🤨?? no u literally didnt that was my evil twin😒.'

anyway that brings me to nancy. who. yk shes doing Okay. the second anyone brings up jon shes about to commit crimes against them so yk not totally good but coping. bc she kinda just full body throws herself at that school newspaper stuff so she has a distraction and its working okay. until her new friend-w-glasses-destined-to-die- horrifically, dies horrifically.

but then she has emotional support through surrounding herself w people who Get It. (woooo robins around and nancy feels comfortable for once!!!!) i mean shes also almost reverting to steve bc nancys trauma response is just 'i can only ever be emotionally vulnerable with romantic partners bc i havent had a friend since s1 and my family dont know shit abt the monster dimension (plus ted is actually just a cardboard cutout with a robotic voice box that blurts out 1 of 10 phrases on a timer). apart from mike. but idk hes busy crying over his bf and we can never open up to each other in a genuine way bc repression is the Wheeler Way To Slay' but yk shes at least partially coping.

but their relationships basically get totally fucked bc oh no if we cant have heart to hearts in physical proximity we are going to Die. also communication without magical telepathy through eye contact??? whos she??? (esp w byler. u cant have effective coded conversations over the phone. and theyve got all their other reasons for not talking: will doesnt wanna reach out first and have mike brush him off bc oh dear the 3x03 fight really fucked with him didnt it. and mikes desperately trying to call but for fuck sake how is their phone always busy. and he wont use letters bc idk hes too gay for that he keeps signing them w 'love mike. ps im in love w u in case u didnt get that😍😍😍')

and jancy. oof. jons like 'i have to appease literally everyone in my life apart from myself and i cant do that bc yay nancy means boo family and yay family means boo nancy so now i think i will have a crisis bc if im honest with her she will Hate me. yes i am so rational' and nancys like 'wtf is going on does he hate me or smthn. i am also totally rational' and they wont talk abt it bc theyre scared of pissing each other off. (and have no example of healthy relationships to follow)

basically. double byler are codependent in a way that isnt Necessarily unhealthy - in fact when around each other, they seem to do better Because of that reliance on each other. it allows them to be emotionally vulnerable in a way that they cant be w anyone else (even will who has like the most supportive family ever <3 still feels most comfortable being open w mike as evidenced by his talk w jon in s2).

BUT. seperation fucks over their relationships and their individual mental health. and thats where the unhealthy aspect comes in. bc over reliance on one person is gonna Fuck Shit Up. (it wouldnt be so bad if they still communicated regularly thru letters and phone calls but yk self hatred is a bitch and theyre all very insecure.)

[ilynotes]

okay i first want to say i really really like your take on the whole superhero situation in season 4 because i have never seen anyone view it like that before and it actually puts a whole new perspective on a lot of things. specifically mike restricting el’s independence too, because i feel as though most of the main audience, including mike&el shippers, don’t actually pick up on that when it’s sort of been a theme for a few seasons now. the most popular take on that situation was that mike reduces el to her powers, yet there was always a part of me that felt like that take was off in some way. like, the idea of mike “losing feelings” for her once she loses her powers just felt very fake and not in character for mike at all. but as established in season 4, el’s entire arc is independence and her learning to love herself and choose herself and make choices of her own. which backs up your take very well. we see that with dr. owens offering her the choice of going to nina or going home, and previously in s3 with max helping el discover herself outside of mike and hopper. el choosing to be a superhero on her own violation makes SO much sense and i really love that for her.

i’ve personally never been a fan of the idea that mike never held feelings for el because i always thought it was too much and didn’t make sense but honestly i definitely can see your pov of him using her as a way to try and grow up faster and hide from his sexuality. because if there’s any internalized homophobia coding mike has it definitely comes from s3-s4 most obviously. pointing out that he might’ve realized something at the end of s2 falls in line with that very well. it also gives explanation to probably the biggest question everybody in the main audience has about mike’s character: and that’s why does he act so different in s3-4 compared to s1-2? why is he almost a completely different person, going from being there for will and looking out for him, to shutting him down and being mean, etc. ? like you said, mike never had problems sticking up for will against homophobic remarks in s1, so something has to happen to cause such a transition of that to his own homophobic remark during their fight in s3. and while i think that honestly is genuinely just an unfortunate product of boys growing up and slowly being fed things like misogyny, homophobia, etc. which would especially be more prominent in the 80s, mike still realizes his mistake after he says it to will, and immediately tries to fix it. so it’s not like he isn’t self-aware of his actions and where they’re coming from. especially if where it’s coming from is a place of fear and confusion.

i guess rather than thinking mike realized his feelings during the pre-s4 period, you could say he just sort of came more to terms with it? via him going back to his interests and the things that made him comfortable in himself and actually embracing himself and his self-expression. that or maybe you could argue him going back to d&d was definitely his way of showing he misses will since his and el’s absence both definitely probably forced him to confront his personal feelings for them both more.

i also want to point out something in regards to you mentioning him at the end of s3: i had rewatched the ending scene to season 3 just the other day, and i noticed that the camera focuses on mike’s reaction to the byers moving away specifically, and nobody else’s. like, the camera slowly zooms in on his reaction, and he is the only one that lingers there behind everyone for a few seconds, looking back at the house, etc. you’d think we’d also get lucas and dustin or even max’s reactions but they only really put a strong emphasis on mike’s. definitely trying to show to the audience that something more’s going on with him than we think or can see.

so you’re kinda based!!! i definitely love these theories because it puts a new perspective on all the seasons and really mixes things up. i’m definitely curious to know what exactly is planned for season 5 in regards to this situation with mike; if they’ll make him reveal he’s known something about himself the whole time and he can’t force himself to love el, or if his feelings for her faded away and he feels guilty for having those feelings for will instead.

honestly the whole mike being gay theory kind of parallels el’s character story in a way as well, with how they’re both slowly learning to accept themselves for who they are and that there is nothing about them that makes them bad or wrong. it definitely provides solidarity to platonic elmike which i’m a sucker for. :)

i think people have been very deeply misinterpreting mikes character and struggles in s4. his relationship problems with el aren’t about him “trying to be normal” and fearing abnormality, it’s about his codependency and his fears of being alone.

mike wants to be someone’s favorite person. he wants to be someone’s special person. he wants someone to need him, to rely on him, just as he can do the same to them. i see a lot of people say mike needs to learn it’s okay to not be needed because you can still be wanted without being needed, and sometimes that's enough, but i disagree. i don’t think there’s anything wrong with wanting to be needed, because that’s what literally all of us want deep down. it’s easy to be wanted by anybody. to be loved by anyone. to be liked by someone. but to have somebody love you so much that they need you in their life, that they need you around, and cannot live easy without the presence and love you give them — that’s a whole different thing. to need each other is a much more intense and raw form of love. when mike tells will so many times that he “keeps telling himself el still needs him,” but he “doesn’t believe it” that he thinks they really might not come back from this fight, will tries to reassure him and say, no, of course she needs you. how could she not? but will is misreading els feelings for mike, when the truth is, mike is right. she doesn’t need him anymore. not in the way she used to or the way he wants her to. and that’s a soul crushing thing for anyone; to realize the person that made you feel like you had a purpose, that looked at you like you were something so special, that made you feel larger than life — doesn’t feel that way anymore.

the thing about mike is he doesn’t know how to live for himself, he doesn’t want to. he lives and shines when he has someone to love with his whole being, and to lose something like that is worse than dying. mike is so codependent on el because he so desperately does not want to lose her, does not want to lose himself through the process of losing her, he is terrified of her not needing him anymore because if he isn’t needed then who is he? where is he supposed to go? so he projects onto el and desperately wants to believe that el needs him the way he needs her. but she doesn’t.

mike doesn’t realize will is that special person for him, he doesn’t realize will is the one that needs him the way he wants to be needed and desired. that will cannot live easily without mike in his life, just like how mike couldn’t live easily without will and el in his. and el and mikes relationship isn’t toxic, or fake, either. el loves mike, she always has. but she doesn’t really need him the way he does. and mike needs el, but does he love her the way she does?

i just think people have been missing the point. mikes feelings and actions make sense when you consider everything he’s bottling up and worrying about inside. it’s hard to read how he feels when he hides everything but what he wants more than anything else is to belong, to be loved and needed so unconditionally, to have that special relationship with someone. he’s deeply insecure of himself and always worrying he isn’t enough, he craves reassurance, he tries so hard to be enough and hide from his fears of being alone or rejected that he fucks everything up. mike doesn’t even have all his feelings and emotions figured out for himself — so of course it’d be hard for us to understand them too.

[wakeupthemembersofbylernation]

smth smth... this is just something I noticed and spitballing into some type of sense - maybe nonsense - the covers of the scores/posters colour coding

start with season 1 and 2 having blue and red as main colours, season 2 you can see yellow in the heart of the red - mike and el (and will creeping back into the narrative in S2)

season 3 - blue and red are the main focus, but you can see the yellow from the sidelines - this is the season will felt the most hurt from mike/a lot of people think mike realised his feelings/when el moved in with the Byers - their stories are intertwining

and season 4 - blue and yellow take up the majority, with red being a sliver onto of the blue.. - mike and will rekindle their friendship and will plays a bigger role in both of their lives, but el is still with mike.

and on the poster for season four that has the four paths - we see yellow for cali directly across the blue-toned snow for Russia, the red on top for hawkins and green tiles on the bottom for the lab... if that's insane colour coding idk what is -- its as if they're saying these three will walk to the gates together? cause everyone is walking towards the gate in the poster? and mike and will join for green with el having her own arc, maybe mike and will or even el will get stuck in the upside down because the colours are on top of each other? <this is where I lose what little sanity I had left

Wait, hold on, I think you might be onto something.

Season 1 Poster:

Definitely blue and red as you said. Also Will, El, and Mike are all in the center of the poster.

Season 2 Posters:

All three of these have yellow creeping in. For the main poster, Mike, El, and Will are in the center again but Will and El switch places, just like they do in the narrative.

Season 3 Posters:

You’re right about blue and red being the main focus but there being yellow in the distance. Also, in the main poster Will is minimized (like he was in the narrative, sort of, but he’s wearing blue and Mike is wearing yellow). And in the poster on the left we get Will directly staring in the direction of Mike and El holding hands (also El isn’t staring at Mike; she’s staring into the distance as well, which I remember freaking out about when the poster dropped). In the poster on the right, the Ferris Wheel and the sign saying Fun Fair are yellow which probably doesn’t mean anything but is interesting. Dustin is also wearing yellow and HE’S in the center (which is also interesting cause his plot revolved around the “when blue meets yellow in the west” Russia plot so maybe it’s also implying that there’s another code to crack). And because Mike was caught up in relationship drama, Dustin really does take center leadership stage in a way (and it also connects to Will’s comment about Dustin in the Byler rain fight)

Season 4 Posters:

You’re right! On the poster on the left half of the frame is blue, and half of the frame is yellow. And the same is true for the poster on the right. And all the additional stuff you said about the green color coding is brilliant and fascinating. If Season 5’s poster commits to the bit and has a green color scheme I will spontaneously combust.

Bonus (Season 4 character posters):

Also, obviously we know about the character posters for Mike and Will that are yellow, with Mike looking to the side, implying he’s hiding something.

I’m not sure if any of this made sense, and it might all be incoherent or just coincidental, but your message was super interesting, and there may be something there!

[kaypeace21]

ignoring the fact that they sound like a married couple arguing, mike and will are also bickering over whether or not el and mike are still together. it was written in the script, rehearsed, performed, and kept in the final cut that will OUTRIGHT SAYS “she said she dumped your ass, that doesn’t sound like a break.” and max yells “it wasn’t!” :@;$:@/&$:&:??!?! they literally said they’re not endgame. they aren’t endgame.

i KNOW right! Based on the s4 movies I think things are reversed and it’s El who can’t accept they are broken up. A lot of films said to inspire s4 have ex gfs refuse to accept the break up -one even hits on her gay ex-bf ( ‘birdcage’ ). Similar scenario in ‘clueless’ with girl hinting on gay guy who just wants to be friends.  Max in s3 having to correct El that Mike is her “ ex boyfriend” and Will saying “that doesn’t sound like a break”. And Max agreeing “it wasn’t!” is foreshadowing they never actually got back together.  IT WASN’T A BREAK! But El may not accept this.

It’s similar, to the random telemarketing joke where they had Mike say on the phone “El, sorry not interested “ and hang up . It was foreshadowing.

In the films the exes constantly call . Mike telling El “i’ll call so often you’ll have to turn your walkie off” was also foreshadowing of what Mike will do to her in s4. Since ,he hung up on her in s3 when she called demanding to know where he was at 9:30 in the morning.  In  ‘swingers’ the guy name mike (whose friends call him ‘gay’)  hangs up on his ex gf who wants to get back together . He hangs up on her so he can talk to his new love interest (Will) . Specifically, Hangs up on his ex as she says  “I love-“. Then in ‘splash’ he breaks up with his gf on the phone and says “do I love you?well what about you?” To dodge the question (then yells at a family member ease dropping on the other line -Karen). And they break up on the phone. And he tells a friend later he never loved her. 

2 movies the ex says they’ll get back together and their new relationships are “just phases” etc ( waynes world,  high fidelity, dumb and dumber). Saying they’re still together when they aren’t  (wayne’s world). Loads of movies had the crazy ex sabotage new relationships, call constantly, stalk, and flirt despite the exes discomfort and repeatedly saying it’s over (despite the ex not loving them and just be possessive and not wanting them with other people).

The exes are cray in the films (el stalking and never apologizing for spying. And mileven dancing to the song ‘every breath you take’ a song about a stalker ex who doesn’t take no for an answer -after their ex hooks up with their friend, wasn’t a coincidence). Along with El watching ‘days of our lives’ where she mimicked erica who was in a relationship with Mike roy. And it ended messy with one of them sabotaging their new relationship, stalking them, and claiming the stalking victim still loved them. (Although, they eventually accepted that wasn’t true).  

El  stalked Mike in s2 (all that stuff milevens found romantic- El watching him without him knowing. Mike said he was not ok with it in s3). And in s3 (like the song) she stalks him after their breakup, and when he said not to do that she just says ‘i make my own rules’. I think s4 shows just how ‘un-cute’ this behavior can get.

 I’ve already talked about that awkward kiss scene to death. But i think it indicates Mike assumes they’re broken up and el assumes they’re back together. 

FIrst he  LIED AGAIN (the cause of the breakup)- and pretended he didn’t confess to her at the end of s3. And never said “ I love you’ back! He even tries to take the words back and  says about the prior love confession “ “Oh! Oh, yeah that.Man, that was so long ago. Um…”  and starts to scratch his head and says everything he said at the cabin was “in the heat of the moment stuff and we were arguing…”

They even frame the scene right before the kiss strangely, making El look larger and imposing, as she approaches. Mike feels cornered (you the viewer subconsciously are supposed to feel claustraphobic/trapped/cornered/stuck along with Mike).

We see him furrow his brows (uncomfortable and confused ) when El initiates the romantic moment, saying “I love you too.”

 And cue most awkward kiss in history- where he keeps his eyes open the whole time and doesn’t kiss back. (In Will’s room, mike in front of an open closet, as el holds Will’s s1 bear.)

 During the kiss, the song ‘the first i love you ‘played. The only other time they played that song in s3,  was when Robin rejects Steve’s  romantic confession and she comes out as gay . Interesting choice for that awkward mileven kiss/confession shown later where El says she loves Mike (and mike keeps his eyes open, doesn’t kiss back or return the ‘I love you’). It’s foreshadowing of Mike rejecting El (in the future) cause he’s gay.

We even see El’s reaction first (happy, smiling and giddy). Assuming they’re back together. But then we blur the screen to see Mike’s opposing expression. He looks confused, bewildered and even furrows his brows again.

Then we see El initiating all the romantic stuff outside.El seems to be the one trying to make it romantic- like Mike hugging el and lucas with one arm identically (hand on their upper back), but El caresses his chest.

And as Mike stops the hug El shoves his head into hers (it actually looked like it hurt honestly XD)

the byler centric ending with the Hopper monologue reinforces this theme. Mike while looking at both cars driving away was thinking of Will . They show this by having Mike be sad as Will drives away (alone) twice as Mike  sadly watches him leave- this was done to show that he’s actually upset the 2 later times where Will and El leave at the same time -because of Will. I showed it in one of my vids here, at 23:11

When we first see Mike during the Hopper monologue , it continues to pan to only Mike and Will (not El) cause what he says is mostly about them. “I’ve been feeling distant from you. Like you’re pulling away from me or something” (Will does this both figuratively/literally). I miss playing board games every night (d &d)”. Then Mike looks back at the Byers house (he just lingers there and looks back as his friends leave without him) like how Will turned to watch Mike leave and hold hands with El  (as the crew  go up the hill without Will).  “But I know you’re getting older, growing, changing. And I guess, if I’m being really honest, that’s what scares me. I don’t want things to change.”

It pans to both of them on  “i don’t want things to change’ cause that’s how they both feel. Mike , ‘doesn’t want things things to change’. He doesn’t want their friendship to change as they ‘get older’ because he’d have to and acknowledge his feelings for Will are romantic and if he’s “being honest” that “scares” him (especially in rural 80s conservative-Indiana at the height of the aids epidemic).  Why we see Mike trying to act like a adult while dating El, and Will trying to act like a kid- they’re both trying to escape  growing up to be gay in different ways. Will reverting to childhood activities and saying he’ll ‘never fall in love’ (after his double date with lumax). And Mike trying to act like “old people’ saying “we’re not kids anymore... what did you expect that we’d never get girlfriends?” Cause he equates straight romance with being an adult and his feelings for Will as something he has to grow out of . Which he learns in the very end isn’t possible.

Right after that scene it switches from Will crying,  to Mike entering his house. His face is visibly red from crying and he looks shocked (almost as if he realized something) before he hugs his mom- to mirror the time he thought Will died in s1. 

And the dialogue in this scene says “So I think maybe that’s why I came in here, to try and maybe stop that change. To turn back the clock. To make things go back to how they were.” He goes back to his mother for comfort, like he did the 1st time he lost Will. But also to reverse back time, to s1, before he realized his feelings for Will are romantic.  When things were simple. I think the last episode is when Mike truly realizes he’s been in love with Will this entire time and he can’t fix it and transfer his feelings for Will on to el (something he’s been trying to do all of s3). El said he loved him and he felt nothing-and he was heartbroken over Will leaving (not El). Which is why he just seems almost shocked/numb as he’s processing this fact. This whole scene only showed Mike and Will transitions- el was never there, cause Mike wasn’t upset over her.

In the last ep (in s3) Mike mirrors the scene in s1, hugging his mom, since he feels like he’s losing Will all over again. In s1 the romantic/queer coded lyric from the song ‘We can be heroes’ plays as he hugs his mom “And we kiss as though nothing could fall. And the shame.”. And during the s3 move  (‘we can be heroes’) plays again!  And David Bowie wrote this song and Jonathan even said to Will  in his ‘being a freak is the best speech’ “who would you rather be friends with David bowie (a queer singer) or Kenny Roggers?”

It’s why finn wolfhard after s3 liked this byler pic. cause s3 was all about Will and Mike denying their feelings for each other.

Not to mention,After s1 Finn quoted the  Duffers saying Mike thought of El as a “puppy’ (dart) or “et” , and then said  Mileven was a  “first summer love thing”- foreshadowing mileven’s downfall during the Summer (aka s3). He repeats this “first summer love” phrase 2x.  Millie when he mentioned what the duffers said rightfully thought the puppy thing was “awful”, but Finn was clearly told mileven doesn’t last -very early on- and most likely the Duffers told him “it’s like a first summer love thing”.Summer love” by definition fails-as it only lasts during the summer.

[mayabruhbruh]

Stranger Things 4 Analysis and Theory

I don’t know if anyone else has done posts on this stuff yet (it’s really likely, but i’d not want to take the credit if i’m not the only one who’s thought of this)

I know @kaypeace21 has made tons of posts on the s4 movies from Video Store Friday, and many others have theories and analyses, but back in July I took it upon myself to research more into the very last few scenes of s3. Specifically the three months later time stamp, where Steve and Robin are in search for a new job.

My main focus was the four movies that they mentioned for Keith at the counter. “Animal House”, “The Hidden Fortress”, “Children Of Paradise”, and “The Apartment”.

(reminder that if you read this, it could be spoilers for the final cut of the actual show if i end up being correct about some of this, so read at your own risk)

My first theory, which I’ve already discussed in a separate reblog, is about The Hellfire Club. But i’ll say it here too.

Basically,

(sorry for the sucky quality)

Animal House is about two awkward freshmen going into college and joining a fraternity of rejects. It matches Mike, Dustin and the Hellfire Club perfectly! Personally, my lowkey theory is that they’re going to have to go though an entirety of initiation activities (possibly drugs too, if what we’ve heard is correct) and Lucas and Max will be in their own storylines up until the supernatural threat brings them back together again. This could be wayy off, but still its my idea.

As for Max and Lucas...

I’m not sure about the entirety of the plot of this movie, but the last line sounds a lot like something that would happen between Lumax. Lucas is a basketball jock now, I think that’s crystal clear now seeing from the Pep Rally poster, and how he’s always been the one in the group to be able to mask his nerdy side. For Dustin and Mike, I know it’s much harder for them. Anyways, Max, I’m pretty positive by now, is going to be extremely distant and defensive from everyone just like she was in the beginning of s2, since she just had a big change happening in her life. It’s the same now, except with the grief and loss of Billy. My guess, from the hints of this movie and other stuff, is that Lucas is going to come face to face with his reputation as a popular kid, and his love for Max. Like the summary says, he must decide between the advancement of his career or the girl that he loves. Real hard hitting stuff.

Onto the next one. MIKE WHEELER. (or will byers)

I watched an analysis video on this movie, because I haven’t seen it yet, but again the very last line is what I’d like to focus on.

My. Jaw. Dropped.

I’ve read many analyses of Mike Wheeler being gay (courtesy of @kaypeace21 @hawkinsschoolcounselor and MANY others), but I dunno, I was always just so skeptical no matter how much it made sense. But when I saw this WHAT THE HELL?!?’);/&? It’s stupid of me to not have believed it sooner, but I hope this is the movie that foreshadows Mike’s storyline this season. I’m assuming Mike will have to “prove his expertise in battle”, or perhaps prove he can go through with all of the initiation shit for The Hellfire Club, while hiding his growing revelation that he might be gay/bisexual.

BUT a possibly more likely scenario would be that this movie connects with Will Byers’ storyline this season instead. Perhaps the hardships of a new school and a new town has Will shaken up, and he also has his sexuality awakening that he has to hide from new people. I say that it’s more likely for him, because Will has always been more heavily queer-coded (not exactly heavier, but just extremely much more apparent and obvious opposed to Mikes queercoded subtext that we really had to dig for).

I also didn’t mention this in my reblog from earlier, but I want to address my opinions on the apparent cheerleader that meets Mike and befriends one another. One of my friends on twitter said Chrissy (her name, or so we think lmao) might be a key component to Mike being able to discover and come to terms with his sexuality. But then again, a different friend of mine thinks that the amount of content were getting is oddly suspicious, and that the Duffers are feeding us all the wrong information to lead us to all the wrong conclusions. But, at this point, why not both. At the moment, everyone thinks that Chrissy is Mikes new love interest, but what if she really isn’t, and they’re pulling a Robin on us (i call it a robin because it was technically straight-baiting in s3 LMFAO). I’m not saying that she might be a lesbian (although 👀 it says on her character info that she’s 18 (robins got some game to work with now ahaha)) but it could be a straight-bait up until she helps Mike realize his sexuality (i would have said realizes his love for Will😍😍 but recently ive been trying not to input byler into everything i fucking say, so theres how that’s going). Anyways. Last movie!

Now, I’m currently not super concrete on this one to be completely honest. I have a few in mind...

Okay, so don’t attack me, but this could possibly be a mileven storyline. It sort of fits. They have an undeniable connection, but “their fortunes shift considerably and they’re pushed apart” aka the misfortune of the mindflayer and hawkins not being safe for them leads them to moving away and literally being pushed apart. I don’t know about the pursuing other relationships, but we still have no idea what’s going on with El Hopper tbh, i havent a single clue what’s going to be happening with her storyline atm. But either way, that could be it.

ORRRR the MUCH more likely scenario, Jancy :)

Bloggers on here have already predicted that they wouldn’t be endgame, and I was only slightly skeptical because although their relationship was built on shared trauma, a very unstable foundation to have for a ship tbh, i still hung onto the fact that they cared for eachother a lot :,( But the entirety of their season 3 bickering and this summary kind of sealed the deal.

Just like Mike and El, Nancy and Jonathan have been pushed apart aswell. It was already seen in season three that they’d be better of leading separate lives, aka Jonathan was doing fine at the internship, whereas Nancy could have been somewhere better for herself. I doubt they broke up at the end of season 3, but there’s bound to be new relationships for them seperately. It sucks bc I love Jancy, but s3 showed how badly they snap at one another when there isn’t a life threatening event at hand. Jopper on the other hand, I thought their bickering was adorable, but i’m getting off track, sorry lmfaoo.

Once again, I probably am not the first to talk about these, but jsyk if you steal this from me specifically i will track you down and end you. I’ve been speculating about these things since April and July, which is pretty weak tbh, but that was when i had nothing better to do LMFAO. i hope i got at least something right, but i haven’t seen many of the video store friday’s movies, which sucks bc those could really help. But whatever.

(i wrote this really late at night, and it’s poorly edited bc my eyesight sucks lmfao, but i hope you get what i mean)

And that’s it! I hope you like it, or had some sort of impact from it idk, just sharing my thoughts tbh. Anygays, if you have any questions/added ideas/thoughts of any kind, my inbox is always here, you can private message me, and comment if you want!! i love y’all sm lmfao, so excited for the upcoming content were about to get soon, byee!

[aemiron-main]

(I apologise in advance for my possibly wacky English, I'm not native)

Ok so hi I'm sending you this cause 1 you're my favourite ST blog skdjsk and 2 I don't have an ST centred blog therefore this won't reach as many people yadayada

So idk if this has been said before or if it may be a reach but I was rewatching the shed scene from s2 where they have possessed Will tied up and Joyce, Jon and Mike are telling him these happy memories and shit and I was wondering if it maybe could serve as Will having powers proof?

Cause when he wakes up he starts screaming "let me go!!" over and over and the lights start to flicker like crazy, so we're supposed to think that's the mind flayer/vecna/whatever doing it. But the lights flicker in a way that kiiinda resembles morse code? So what if the part of Will that was still there was trying to do morse code by flickering the lights with his powers (trying to communicate by them as he did in s1) but realizing that he can't control them properly bc of a mix between not knowing how to control his powers fully/being possessed/vecna trying to stop him/him basically panicking, etc? And then he tries to do it with his fingers after the whole happy memories thing when it actually works

And of course, just as he didn't remember having the power to control the lights on the UD during s1, he doesn't remember controlling the lights there either cause idk cons of being possessed and shit

So yeah this might be a reach or something but idk I wanted to hear your thoughts on it

Anyways end of the rant, hope you have a nice day!! :))

Omg no need to apologize!! This is all super clear!! :DD 💕💗 I’m sorry about the delay in answering!

And HELLO AND THANK YOU SO MUCH OMG THAT MAKES ME SO HAPPY!! 💕💗💕 and hell YEAH!!

This is absolutely BRILLIANT, I never even considered that, the fact that you noticed that the flickering lights resemble Morse code blows my mind!!

I definitely think everything you’ve said here is plausible, and it fills a gap for me, because I always wondered why they not only showed the flickering lights in the shed, but also the lights flickering inside of the byers house- they may have been trying to draw a parallel between the shed scene lights flickering vs the season 1 lights flickering, both having been done via Will’s powers. And I especially think that what you’ve said makes sense because powers seem to be dictated by emotions in some circumstances (ie el breaking the windows during her fight with hopper), so Will’s high emotions could have been what triggered his powers at that moment. And it also makes sense that he wouldn’t remember using his powers because yknow. posssesed + the fact that he seemingly doesn’t remember using them in the upside-down in s1.

What you said about will saying “let me go,” also sparked a thought for me- what if there’s a double meaning to that? What if it’s not just the mindflayer (via possessed will) yelling at joyce and everyone to let him go, but also will yelling at the mindflayer to let him go, hence why he also uses his powers in that moment. Which would parallel to the scene where will initially got possessed on the field + took bob’s advice and started yelling at the mindflayer to leave him alone.

But yeah, I think this is brilliant and it makes sense!!! I love it!!!!!

Thank you so much!! I hope you have a nice day too!

[spectraling]

My problems with S3

Salty rant in no particular order below the cut

What the HELL happened to the Byers? They went from being the emotional heart of the show to literally having one brief scene together in ep1 and then Will and Joyce had a hug by the end of ep8, which btw Jonathan DIDN’T EVEN JOIN IN ON??? He was literally in the background in that scene, are you trying to tell me my boy Jonathan Byers would not come out to hug his family after all that shit they just went through???? Jonathan and Will spent like what, four episodes standing next to each other and they barely even exchanged a single line?? Not a comforting touch, a hug, anything??

The Byers’ financial situation and how that could’ve given them some interaction, weight to Joyce’s desire to move and also the Byers talking about that AT ALL was lying right there for the taking. Joyce and Jonathan both had obvious concerns about losing their jobs

Joyce got to spend time doing something else than worrying about Will this season which was nice (instead running after manchild Hopper, great), but where are the repercussions of that? With the growing up theme I was hoping for Joyce to start to look into herself, about letting go and who she is when she’s not a mom

Jonathan was once again reduced to being Nancy’s sidekick, spending most of his time following her around and standing next to her while she drove the plot forward with a vengeance. He spent most of his time in the beginning being an abrasive grump and his pov was barely there with the lack of Byers fam content, which made his argument seem as weak as it did in s2. His scenes with Nancy hit the ground running, were rushed and few and far between. As soon as Jonathan was not by Nancy’s side he disappeared entirely from the plot until she called on him again. He didn’t have one single scene without her

Nancy Wheeler would never, ever stoop so low as to mock Jonathan for a) his socioeconomic position and b) his trauma with his dad. A super ooc low blow. Nancy can obviously be ignorant about how economical strife affects others, but actively mocking him??? This is not the Nancy that approached Jonathan “the freak” in s1 and expressed her concerns despite the entire school side-eyeing her. At least Jonathan got to sass back at her later

Where was Nancy’s backstory that was hinted at before the season? Was hoping for her to get some development OUTSIDE of her rallying to save the world 24/7

Will starts out the season having a semblance of an interesting, very relatable arc (abandonment issues, afraid of growing up, done with The Straights) that then goes nowhere in lieu of The Plot and Will just... doesn’t have a lot of beef with the MF. This thing and the other monsters of the UD fucked him for life, let him have something badass to do like I dunno, give him powers you cowards, let him fight the MF you cowards

Also let Will talk to his family about his issues, or have it be a point that Jonathan is now busy with Nancy and how he misses him. Jonathan being somewhat conflicted about spending all this time outside his family and the potential guilt and effect that has on him. Will destroyed Castle Byers that he and Jonathan built together, where the hell were my brotherly feels???

There was a lot of talk about “new pairings” with the characters, but everything felt very same-y. Jopper goes off on their own, jancy does the same thing, El and Mike have a ton of screentime devoted to just them, Steve and Dustin amped up their bromance to eleven, etc. Even when characters that usually aren’t grouped together were in the same scenes, they barely got anything to say or do (Lucas being said to “become closer with Jancy” was a flat out lie or referred to literally physically standing next to them). Where was Nancy and Joyce solidarity, El and Will siblings, Mike and Nancy bonding over their family falling apart, Jonathan and literally anyone but Nancy?

Villain focus completely shifted from the US government to the spoopy, evil Russians with their spoopy language. Stereotypical, tacky and bland af. Being American is Great and in no way problematic! Go patriotism/capitalism!

The abundance of action and cgi. Omg all of the action sequences. It felt like 70% of the season was spent on El throwing shit around with her powers and Hopper fighting Russian dudes. I remember being halfway through the season and thinking they really should’ve slowed down the plot. But that’s an issue with too little time for too many characters. I had no time to bond with any of the characters I liked since the plots were So Big and So Many that they ate up every opportunity for emotional intimacy and reflection. We had time for a goddamn ad for coke but not for the Byers to interact like once???

Also the whole infection/MF working in the shadows thing? Completely wasted potential. It was set up to induce paranoia in the characters and the MF tricking, playing with and torturing them, people not knowing who to trust which could’ve lead to some really compelling scenes. Nope, it’s just a big meaty version of the MF and now it’s running around town trying to fuck El up while nobody conveniently notices and tons of people died but who cares

Robin was shoehorned into the plot and magically had all the skills it took to figure out the code, could decipher Russian with no previous knowledge (the languages she listed as knowing are not at all related to Russian and why tf does she know so many languages??). At least she slapped Stobin in the face and gave us some actual LGBT rep since the doofuses are hellbent on beating around the bush with Will infinitely

Erica was 100% SASS and nothing else. It got old really quick

The entire plotline with Steve/Dustin/Erica/Robin took up about 60% of screentime with memes and sassy jokes and provided about 5% of relevance in the grand scheme of the plot. Everything they found out in the Russian facility could’ve been relayed by the Russian guy Jopper kidnapped

Which btw, why did a random Russian dude take up that much screentime? He had way more emotional development than 80% of the core cast. Also did we need that much Murray?

Speaking of, I did not need Murray doing his creepy, invasive psycho analysis thing on Jopper like he did Jancy last season. It was terrible and lazy writing then and it’s terrible and lazy now

Steve complaining about popularity “not being that great really” made me want to punch him in the face even more than usual. Nobody gives two shits about a rich white boy who got everything he pointed at, all the popularity and more girls than he could count at school while stomping on the outcasts

Also didn’t need that jab at Nancy in his heartfelt scene with Robin (which was funny bc Robin has a lot of similar traits to Nancy)

Karen and Billy was gross, but at least Karen stopped herself to go back to her unfulfilling but legally sound marriage. No need to rock that boat unnecessarily! A completely mediocre man is just fine for her I guess. At least she got a kickass scene with Nancy

Why in the fucking world did Billy get as much screentime as he did. Why on earth did this asshat, racist abuser get some bs sob story about his awful childhood when we have 47 other, way more sympathetic and interesting characters that could’ve been explored instead. And then he did some stupid “grand heroic sacrifice”. I cried more when the Russian dude died

Max was a victim of Billy’s abuse for years which was completely undermined by her ooc constant concern for him and overblown grief at his death

El being oh so concerned about Billy when she knew he was the asshole who had abused his friends Max and Lucas (and beat up Steve) before felt really insincere

Hopper was a huge, loud, violent jerk this season and I’m not having it. I felt sorry for Joyce having to put up with him and then he presumably died heroically (??? he’s obviously still alive guys) and I...didn’t really care? Was kind of on the Jopper train but have no hopes for it now. Where was their supposed “history” together that was hinted at before the season? It just felt like Hopper constantly acting like a huge, controlling manchild and Joyce having to pep/comfort/discipline him. No sense of back and forth support

What the fuck was that music number with Dustin and Suzie?? Omg cringe. I could feel how the characters all died inside

On the subject of music, they stole Jancy’s theme song and gave it to Steve and Robin and then Mileven. Mileven also stole Jancy’s “I love you”, which was clearly hinted from the name of the song on the soundtrack titled “The first I love you”, which is literally a rehash of their theme “The first lie” in s2. A huge slap in the face to end the season with

[insert-witty-comment]

I’ve been seeing a lot of heartwarming support for Will in light of recent clips/footage of: him in his Will the Wise robes; the less than enthusiastic reaction from his friends (Mike of all people, his closest friend, pushes him away); and his crying in Castle Byers. That boy has been through so much...In s1 he was physically separated from his family and friends while being hunted 24/7 by a terrifying creature in a place that looked like the hell dimension of his home. And before all that, Will had a difficult childhood: the only one of his friends from a low-income family; his father abused him verbally/psychologically (homophobic slurs and who knows what else); bullied at school; etc.In s2, he tried to go back to his normal life but kids bullied him at school (again), his friends and family treated him like he could break, he had PTSD and continued to be pulled into the UD, and oh yeah a primordial evil or whatever the Mind Flayer is violated and possessed him, making him indirectly responsible for the death of the kind and supportive man who would have been his new father. (That one really gets me. Can you imagine Will ever confiding in Lonnie, or Lonnie giving him advice the way Bob did? Me neither. Bob would have been a fantastic father to Will.) So, again as in s1, he was mostly alone/isolated and tormented in various ways.(It endears me so much to him that despite all those things he can still smile brightly and is such a kind and sweet son, brother, and friend. Not to mention, braver than people 2-3 times his age.)And now, s3. While he was busy in s1-2 surviving all those horrors from his real life and the UD, all his close friends formed new relationships/interests. He alone seems to not be in any hurry to “grow up”, to leave one of the very few places in which he felt safe and happy: the basement, playing D&D with his friends. So /again/, it seems he will be alone/isolated and tormented in some form.(And if Will’s sexuality will be addressed at some point, as many expect, then there is an underlying whole other axis of isolation.)So it’s nice to see so many comments cheering Will the Wise. Winona did such a fantastic job in season 1 as the distressed and fiercely protective Joyce that Joyce’s quest to find her lost son became the heart and soul of the show for me. (It was also his friends’ quest, but it was with Joyce that the emotional beats resonated most strongly.) And Will Byers is still the heart of the show for me. Preparing myself emotionally for s3...Hoping for Will/safety, Will/happiness, Will/El bonding (so many parallels, so much in common), and Will/powers (I strongly believe he was special, like Eleven, all along).edit to add: I don’t see Will as just a victim. In both seasons 1 and 2 he was active in his own survival, whether it was effective or not: 1. Skillfully and quickly arming himself with a rifle against the DG despite being scared to death 2. Evading the DG in the horrific UD for a whole week 3. Facing the MF head-on 4. Fighting through the MF’s possession to send a Morse code message, one that held the key to defeat the MF but that also meant his own deathSo what I’m saying is, give this kid a fair fighting chance and he will shine. via /r/StrangerThings