#also tumblr won't let me put a readmore so i guess i'm sorry with this novel

[noctiivagus]

                    MIKE WHEELER + divergences for S3 & S4 

It’s not surprisingly that I have a lot of issues with the way they seemed so adamant to kill Mike’s characterization in the show, so I have quite a few divergences about the last two seasons.

                    ⸻ season 03

          HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH JANE ; Lets start with the elephant in the room. She is extremely important to him and he would do anything for her just like he would do for his friends. But their “romantic” bond was born due to their shared trauma. And the need for Mike to cling to something that made things seems normal, alongside his idolization of Jane. And this is something that takes a while for him to realize. But all the times that was spent with Jane in Hopper’s cabin? It’s spent hanging out, awfully singing along songs, Mike coming out with new stories with Jane & even him helping her with her english. Just those two being the kids that they are.

          TRAUMA & DEALING WITH IT ; Mike just like the other teens went through a whole ordeal of trauma and it’s not something that one overcome that easily. He is the kind of person to feels very strongly, he is ruled by his emotions, and when those emotions are all over the place due to everything that has happened he does not know how to deal with them other than trying to push them all away, to hide them because he believe that he supposed to be strong and if he ignores them long enough he’ll be fine. But he slowly but surely shut down, becoming more and more emotionally detached from the people he cares the most, and oftentimes coming off as an asshole, because he is scared to see them getting hurt all over again. And this also lead to his outburst, when everything got too overwhelming that he is not able to keep it all inside anymore. It’s his trauma response. He suffer from nightmares & panic attacks. 

          HIS FOCUS ON BEING A GROWN UP ; Another can of worms to open. Mike is gay ( at least this is how I portray him ). He started realizing he was different between s2 & s3. It’s not something he accepted, internalized homophobia is a thing he is dealing with, which lead to his almost unhealthy fixation of ‘being a grown up’ and everything being about ‘girlfriends’, he has this belief that liking/being into boys is something that he can outgrow, that once he is an adult, those feelings will magically go away because they were just silly feelings belonging to his childhood. And that adds to his assholei-sh behavior towards Will, which he knows very well, it’s un-excusable ( and something he’ll apologize for in the future ). This is also why he is not able to express his own feelings like he is expected to.

          SMALL TITBITS ; After getting thrown against the pipeline by Billy, he does end up with a broken nose & a light concussion. The only people to know about his panic attacks are Karen and Nancy.

                   ⸻ season 04

          ACCEPTING HIMSELF ; Between the time we left him in s3 & when we see him in s4, he had a lot time to reflect on himself and slowly starting to overcome his internalized homophobia and accepting himself for who he is. it’s a slippery slope and there are going to be times that he stumble and fall back but he is quick to get back on his feet. He does need someone to take him under their wings but he can’t really be open about it at Hawkins, can he ? Anyways, not many knows this about him being, especially not in the beginning, but post return in Hawkins he’ll tell to the people closer to him ( the party, Karen & Nancy, and probably Eddie too ). While he’d still find it weird to be out, it also feels like he doesn’t need to hide anymore. 

          DEALING WITH CHANGES & FEELING LEFT BEHIND��; Mike doesn’t deal well with changes, and that add a whole lot of more stress to his already overwhelming state. He feels like he is losing his friends, with Will and Jane in Lenora, Lucas having basketball, Dustin spending more time with Steve. And he can’t stop it, he is watching everyone finding new interests and he feels like he is being left behind and that weight on his mind constantly. Reason why he cling really hard to the one thing that he had always loved ( and will always love ), playing D&D. 

          STILL DEALING WITH TRAUMA ; Or rather not dealing with it, because with the passing of times he keep bottling everything up more and more, and his emotional detachment is easily spotted ( the conversation about the letters he has with Jane is a prime example of such ). He knows he has a support system that would help him but at the same time he feels like his problems/trauma isn’t as bad as the others, so he keep quiet.  

          THE VAN BACKSEAT SCENE ; Alright so, unless plotted otherwise, my go to for this scene is Will indeed giving Mike the painting but not making it about Jane. It’s just a nice and cute moment between best friends & their attempt to rekindle the strong connection that they once had but was put to test by Mike’s own problems. And in most cases he does comes out to Will, since he is the person that had always been closer to, one of the few people he feels safe around. 

          HIS MONOLOGUE TO JANE & THEIR RELATIONSHIP ; Sometime during his landing in Lenora & Jane getting brought to the lab, they do have a conversation where Mike is completely honest with her about everything. After all they are truly better off as friends, and Jane allowed to experience things. That doesn’t take away from the fact that jane is still VERY important to him. And to follow this, the monologue he give to help Jane pull through and get Vecna’s ass, it’s very much platonic, focusing on the fact that he and the others love and care about her so much, that they believe in her because she had always be strong enough to overcome everything that she set her mind to. It’s a speech to remind Jane that she has a support system that has her back no matter what.

          SMALL TITBITS ; He picks up playing the guitar and it’s Eddie the one teaching him, one of the person he came to look up to, in a way he consider him like his big brother. He feels extremely guilty for missing Lucas’ game because he knew how important it was for him and he does apologize to him.