#but max gets lucas who tries so hard to understand without being told

[brionysea]

when max is depressed we know something's wrong because lucas says with his words that he knows something's wrong but when mike is depressed we don't think anything of it because will's right next to him rolling his eyes about how stupid straight people are

[klausinamarink]

Thinking of an AU where after Starcourt and Billy’s death, it’s the Mayfields who leave Hawkins for California while the Byers stay. With her family fractured, Susan Mayfield decides to take the opportunity to return back home if not slightly pushed by the men in suits who gave her and Max special forms to sign. They won’t go back to their old residence in San Deigo but Lenora should be a better start.

But Lenora turns out to be worse for Max. She’s too angry and scared to make any new friends - friends who wouldn’t understand the horrors of the Upside Down with its cat-eating demodogs and giant fleshy Mind Flayer. The closest person she might consider a friend is one of the stoner dudes at Surfer Boy’s Pizza who always gives her free slices of pineapple pizza whenever she comes in.

Usually her behaviour works in pushing her peers, but instead it attracts the annoying popular girl Angela’s attention and makes Max her favourite “friend”. Their fights are often verbal but sometimes Angela’s words strike better than Max’s. She doesn’t tell her mom, who’s been working long hard hours at her new job, or her friends back at Hawkins whenever she writes back to their letters. Even when calls with Lucas bring her close to tears, she keeps her voice even and lies through her teeth about how she loves her new home and classmates.

This predictably comes to a head when Lucas and El tag together to visit Max for the spring break. El quickly realizes Max’s lies and confronts her at the skating rink, telling her that if Lucas finds out, he’ll be devastated too. Max tries to brush this off, pretending to have a normal, Angela-less day with her boyfriend and best friend.

Well, we all know what happens at the rink.

This time, El (albeit more accidentally) trips Angela and her goons before they do anything worse. This time, Max had enough of Angela’s bullshit and beats her face with her skate, yelling at her that if she dares to pick on her again, she’s fucking dead. This time, Lucas is horrified by what just happened and heartbroken that Max’s been having a difficult time without telling him.

They don’t really have the time to talk about it before the cops come the next morning to arrest Max for assault. But El steps forward and, to protect Max, says she’s the one who did it, much to Max and Lucas’ chagrin. So El gets taken to jail, Max and Lucas get Susan to help El bail out, survive a sudden shootout in the house, they get Argyle, and then the Nevada road trip takes off from there.

Throughout this, Susan gets told about the Upside Down and the truth of Billy’s death. She also starts having a more heart to heart with Max, apologizing about being so distant and seeing herself as the start of this mess they’re in. But Max tells her not to blame herself and that Susan’s only been doing what’s the best for both of them. Max also apologizes to Lucas for lying and sweet Lucas forgives her, but says that he’s always still here so Max shouldn’t have hid away from him. There’s a lot more talks on the road, some ending with tearful smiles and a new hope for the future.

Meanwhile in Hawkins, Vecna might’ve missed Max as a potential victim but he finds someone better…

[thestrangestthing89]

Season 1. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Season 2. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Season 3. Part 1 Part 2

Mike Character Analysis: Season 3 Part 3:

So now that we understand internalized homophobia a little better let's get into this inappropriate make-out sesh with Mike and El. Because if we understand that Mike internally realizes he's gay and is repressing his feelings (just like mom and dad told him to in season 2) because he's confused and afraid, his behavior here makes a lot of sense. His body language tells us that he is uncomfortable. El puts her hand on his face - he moves it off of him. El tries to lean in - he gently shoves her away. El wants to kiss - he wants to sing. And the thing that drives it all home for me is his behavior toward Hopper. A person who he's previously gotten along with fine. But now Hopper was there for Mike's melt down at the end of season 2 and knows some things. I wrote more about the Hopper/Mike dynamic here.

So Mike is hostile towards him, but the Hopper/Mike interactions are the only time we see a return of the quick-to-lash out Mike was saw in season 2. He doesn't repress his emotions around Hopper. Because Hopper showed him he doesn't have to -he can get mad and yell at him and Hopper is still going to be there. But Mike is also deliberately picking a fight here and we know this through Hoppers complaining about it Joyce. This is a nightly ritual with them. Mike breaks Hoppers rules and Hopper kicks Mike out of the house. Once again this is not simply Mike acting like a teen. Because if a teenager wanted to stay at his girlfriends house to make out with her, would he go out of his way to piss off her father so that he gets kicked out? Of course not. He would be following all the rules and possibly sucking up so he can stay even if he was annoyed by it.

But Mike pisses him off and gets kicked out and as he's biking to the movies El is on the walkie telling him she misses him already. And Mike briefly makes this disgusted and confused face. Earlier I mentioned that Mike and El exhibit signs of codependency and that all of their making-out is a symptom of that. Codependency is complex and has a number of characteristics present in this relationship but I'm just going to say that Mike and El constantly cancelling plans with their friends is not healthy. They don't set good boundaries with each other and spend every second of the day together. Making-out. All day. In the cabin without an adult. And if Mike's doing this then he can't be gay right? He's trying very hard to convince himself (and the audience) of this. So Mike gets to the movies late and Lucas, Max, and Will are annoyed. Lucas calls him out for spending too much time with El and Mike gets defensive. He's just spending time with his girlfriend. But Lucas is also spending time with his girlfriend and his friends at the same time. Lucas and Max are here as a point of comparison for what a healthy romantic relationship is supposed to look like for this age group. And it's basically the same thing they did as friends. Hang out. They don't even kiss this season. Because they just finished middle school. Mike is immediately self-conscious about this comparison. He's trying very hard to be normal by being in a relationship with El and if people think he's not normal then he's wrong again about how he's supposed to be behaving.

We have a very interesting scene here with Mike and Will in the movie theater. The two are sitting next to each other and Mike immediately clocks that Will isn't ok. Now Will barely moved - he went to touch the back of his neck because Mind Flayer - and Mike notices and asks if he's ok. They both are blushing and staring at each other intensely for a lot longer than necessary. It's a charged moment. Will says he's fine and Mike doesn't believe him (Will doesn't lie and the rare occasion when he does Mike notices - remember this for next season). But Mike doesn't push and lets it go. So what the hell is with all the blushing and staring? Because it almost seems like they are trying to indicate that something happened here with these two off screen. It's clear the audience isn't being given context for something.

Later, Hopper tells Mike to stop coming to the house and Mike chooses to lie to El about (which is not what Hopper asked him to do for the record) and El immediately registers that he's lying. So Mike spends the day passively doing what Lucas tells him to do in order to fix it. It's important to note here that Lucas's advice - get her a gift - is wrong. All Mike had to do was apologize to her. But he spends his day looking at things he can't afford at the mall. Mike could have easily found her a gift he could afford if that was what he wanted to do (and he does this in season 4 with the flowers. An obvious and free gift he could have easily given El here). But Mike is just doing what Lucas tells him to do and he's not thinking for himself. Because he doesn't know how to act in this situation with her. Which stands out, because Mike is about to get into the same situation with Will and handles it correctly. Mike's avoiding doing the thing he's supposed to do - talking to El. It's a thing they don't do. He knows that he should. He does it with Will. But he's trying to be normal and Lucas knows how to be normal so he is listening to him and second guessing himself, because his real self (with Will) is the problem that needed fixing. Mike is complex. El dumps his ass and this scene is funny. It's meant to be lighthearted. Cold as Ice is playing and the sun is shining and Will is laughing in the background. Back in the basement, Mike is complaining - about Hopper. Not the breakup. He doesn't understand how he got into this situation because he did what he was told (he didn't exactly but Mike doesn't take responsibility for anything when it comes to El). Mike is not complaining about El breaking up with him or indicating that he wants to get back together with her. He is complaining because to him, he did everything right and it still backfired. Will wants to play D&D and Lucas and Mike are ignoring him. They get mean here. They make fun of Will and Will gets upset and leaves. This is the only time we see Mike being unaware of Will's feelings and it's because he is trying to be Lucas. He is mimicking Lucas through this whole scene (and through most of season 2). But the second Mike realizes he actually hurt Wills feelings he is done pretending. He practically climbs over Lucas to get to Will. Now Mike and Will are fighting and it's in stark contrast to the fight with El. It's dark and pouring rain and they are both upset. Please explain to me when, in the history of movies, there has been a fight in the rain that was not intended to be romantic? "It's not my fault you don't like girls". Yes, Mike is projecting here but it's also important to take the context of the fight into consideration. Lucas and Mike think having a girlfriend makes them adults. They think playing games like Will makes them childish so, Mike at least, pretends not to like D&D. And we know he's pretending because he's playing in season 4 and he's happy. But this whole fight is about how Mike isn't acting like himself. He doesn't hang out with his friends anymore and he's focused on El too much. He's right and Mike knows this (he acknowledges as much next season). So when Mike says "it's not my fault you don't like girls" there is a "yet" implied. Mike never expresses himself well when he is defensive and emotional. He's calling Will a child. Which is especially ridiculous because Mike and Lucas are so immature this season it's actually annoying and it's Will who is showing emotional intelligence. Mike then says "Did you think we weren't going to get girlfriend and we'd just play games in the basement all day?" Again, he thinks playing games in the basement and not having a girlfriend is childish.

Part 4