#but he didnt and the painting lie is still unresolved so 🤷‍♀️

[paintingformike]

i haven't had byler doubts for nearly a week now its kind of crazy...like ive been on a steady 100% confidence ever since and its kind of an achievement

like i used to get creeping doubts when i remember the monologue and if it was meant to be genuine or not. but then i realized that whether or not mike was intentionally lying...it still doesnt take away from the fact that el’s reaction to his words were meant to have negative connotations (the thunder and tightening vines we’re obviously put there for a reason so 😭).

so even if mike was trying to tell the truth (though i still believe he was unintentionally being untruthful), its either el couldnt feel the weight of his words/didnt believe him, or she felt bad because prior to the monologue, she’s already come to terms about not needing him and his confession didnt make her as happy as she thought it would. this is actually what made me believe that maybe the monologue wasnt necessary if we were just taking byler’s case, but its ABSOLUTELY necessary for el’s arc and imo it was a way for her to realize and come to a conclusion once and for all that hearing an “ily” from mike wasnt the be all end all to everything, that it was time for her to outgrow their failing relationship. thats why she couldnt draw out any of memories of them together (like the snowball, the first kiss, etc), possibly because she couldnt feel any romantic love for him anymore (or atleast she realized she was never in love with him) and she didnt feel it from him either.

also, the duffers saying it was a “more emotional” mike doesnt necessarily have positive implications. we can still be impacted negatively by an “emotional” monologue. what we were supposed to take away from the monologue wasn’t happiness because he finally confessed, but doom/sadness (hence the thunder right after every single “i love you”). thats what i think anyways, cause if we were supposed to see el reacting positively to his words, she wouldnt be continuously choked by the vines the more he talked, and there wouldnt be any thunder effects that signify negative undertones. plus the fact that she obviously wanted to see him eye to eye but she couldn’t, mightve made his words feel even less impactful to her.

alsooo if the duffers were trying to make the monologue come off sad/negative on purpose, then it obviously worked because most of the viral posts about it werent even happy but most people just felt bad for will everytime it panned to his face 👍