#byler analysis

[strangelysilver]

The Rink-o-Mania scene is not talked about enough (yes I know it’s talked about a ton).

Like this was my live slug reaction to

“And us?” “We’re friends. We’re friends.”

When I tell you I had to pause and rewind. I literally thought I was hallucinating or something. It’s such a romance cliche that it yanked me straight out of the GA into the fandom.

Come to find out that there are actual people who claim that Mike meant that line in a way that no character has ever meant it? “Oh yeah, we’re just platonic besties and I actually believe that”? I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen this kind of scene play out platonically.

Like correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure every character who has ever answered “we’re just friends” in a vaguely panicked way when asked what they and another character are, had feelings for the character in question.

Mike Wheeler I know what you are

[lune-moon-nuit]

Okay, knowing that "you're the heart" and "being different" complement each other too... this can't be a coincidence. I think the music during the Byler scenes mentioned here that are cut short before the climax will definitely be used in season 5 during the climaxes when the truth about Mike and Will reciprocated feelings is finally revealed

sus music editing in s4 byler scenes (a saga)

i've been wanting to do this for a while but never got around to it. i recommend watching the video attachment (at the end of the post) after reading the whole post, just so you'll have context when watching

ALRIGHT!

will and mike are interrupted in the majority of their solo scenes. the scene in jonathan's room, the scene in will's room, the scene on the car, & the scene in the cabin. i noticed a long time ago that the songs used in the first 3 scenes listed build up for the first half and then kind of explode for the second half. there's a point where the song changes/released after the buildup.

the songs are:

eight fifteen (jonathan's room)

on the bus (will's room)

letter to willy (talk on the car)

BUT, in will's room & the car scene, mike and will are interrupted almost right before the song is supposed to climax. i lined the songs up and listened and i'm right. interestingly, in the scene in will's room, on the bus is edited. in the scene, the song starts like normal at the start of the song. but they cut the middle out so it would skip right to the part RIGHT before the climax of on the bus. THEY DID THAT. so at the very end of the scene just before they get interrupted, the song is teetering on the edge of the big explosive part of the song, but it doesn't happen because they're interrupted and the song ends. in the car scene letter to willy is also edited. maybe im wrong, but there's a note i hear in the car scene that i cannot find anywhere in the song. so it seems like they're purposefully using songs that are building to something but cut off right before the pay off of the buildup. i wouldn't be capitalizing on this so much if 90% of the scenes this happens in werent mike and will staring into each other's souls and then having their gazes torn from each other, but they are. so take that as you will.

now we need to talk about eight fifteen. this is fucking wild.

eight fifteen is all build up for the first half. then there's a moment where it teeters on the edge for a second, and then BOOM! release & loud pretty synths. i lined it up, and the 'teetering' part of the song is in the scene in jonathan's room, but like the others, it's edited. but this one is WAY more crazy.

the song starts from the beginning when will sits on the bed next to mike. it builds while mike talks about his problems with el and not saying the thing she wants. then will says "look, mike, you're gonna see her again, and whatever it is you didn't say, you can say it to her then, okay?" the teetering part starts when will says

"look" and goes all the way until he says "then"

when he says "then", that is the moment when the buildup is supposed to release. but in this scene, it doesn't happen. instead, when he finishes talking, specifically when he says "then" the note kind of trails off. it sounds weird. it's unsatisfying. there was no payoff to all that buildup. i've seen plenty of other tv shows where this is used to emphasize the face that there was no payoff. something in the scene was anticlimactic. something that they wanted to happen or were expecting to happen didnt. the characters are disappointed or left hanging.

and when that note trials off, mike says

"yeah...yeah" and looks down, looking upset and conflicted and disappointed

he wanted will to say something else. will saying "you can say it to her then, okay?" disappointed mike. that's not what he wanted to hear. i think mike wanted will to reassure him and tell him he doesn't have to say something he doesn't mean or doesn't want to say, and that when they see el again mike can explain himself. mike desperately wants to be told he doesn't have to pretend to be in love with el if that's not how he really feels. he wants to be told that el won't be angry if he's honest with her about his true feelings for her, which are platonic. (hence why he later nods after will says 'what if they don't like the truth?')

but will doesn't understand that. will thinks they are in love, he thinks they're perfect. so in his mind, it's fine because mike can just say it when he sees el again. but he thinks that because he thinks mike actually means it, when in reality he doesn't. and by doing that, will only further pushed mike into giving his false confession. now mike thinks even more that he just has to spit it out and tell el what she wants to hear even if it's not how he really feels. this just breaks my heart because mike is so hated on but he's a GOOD BOY💔💔 he's just a 14 year old kid who's afraid of failing the people he cares about but also hates lying about his feelings and just wants to feel free from the expectations others have for him. he just wants someone, specifically will, to tell him it's okay, and that he doesn't owe anyone anything, especially not his own feelings. and it hurts extra bad because if will knew the truth about mike not loving el he would shower him in support because of course mike shouldn't have to lie just because it's what el wants to hear.

and just in case anyone tries to say otherwise, YES mike lied in the monologue. it doesn't need to be proven, it's simply canon.

like there's no denying this. believing it's just a mistake by the writers before believing mike lied is CRAZY heteronormative copium. like come on💀

anyways, the things mike says and does in the scene in jonathan's support this theory. he threw away el's note. "a fight you cant come back from" "maybe if i just said that thing then things would be different" his phrasing sticks out so much. "said that thing" and not "told her" or "told her how i feel". to mike it's just saying words he doesn't want to say. and "a fight you cant come back from" its almost like he's hinting to will that he and el need to break up and he's hoping will will catch on and support him. he trusts will and values his opinion and wants his support. usually he and will very easily communicate non verbally and are naturally in tune with what the other is thinking and feeling, but this time will doesn't catch on (because of his own heteronormativity and assumption that mike and el are in love), and mike is disappointed. he brings this up over and over, like he isn't satisfied with will's answer, and is a little more honest every time. the only thing that seemingly satisfied mike was hearing will's feelings. why did it even get that far?? why would what will said in jonathan's room not suffice if he is actually in love with el??? it just doesn't make sense.

(unless it actually makes perfect sense)

i'm very confident in this since this lies less with the continuity within stranger things itself and more with basic film/video/sound editing. i even got some comments from editors/musicians who agreed with me!

"It's a tactic I've actually used before in editing. It keeps the audience engrossed, and really makes it FEEL interrupted for the audience."

"Woah that's crazy! And it literally stops on the fifth so it's totally legitimately unstable/ unresolved."

stopping on the fifth refers to a technique used in music composition to make a chord progression sound completed. i actually know a bit about this because i took music theory in college, but if anyone knows more than me feel free to share! a completed progression is like a circle. you must begin and end with the same chord. you start with one chord and move down a fifth to the next chord, and do that until you end up back at the original chord. that way it sounds nice and satisfying and completed. in 'on the bus', which the commenter was referring to, this process is cut short, which would serve no purpose other than making the music sound and feel incomplete or interrupted or unsatisfying.

if i just butchered that whole explanation please let me know, but im pretty sure that's accurate.

here is the video with two of the scenes i talked about, using 'Eight Fifteen' and 'On The Bus'

and just as a reminder, on the bus has only played twice in the entire show. first in the lumax talk on top of the bus in season 2, and second in the byler talk in will's room in s4. 🙂

anyways i hope this was comprehensible😅 i remember my tiktok followers being very confused so feel free to re read and re watch as many times as necessary or reply with any questions! and anyone who has more input on editing/music pls share with the class if you'd like!!

anyways byler endgame, thanks for reading

[bonskidin64]

The absolute HURTTT in his eyes after Troy said what he said.

[zom61eboy]

Let’s say Mileven is endgame. Do you think it is a satisfying way to fix their relationship problems in s4 by using Will’s painting and Will’s feelings (disguised as El’s) to inspire Mike and give him the courage to confess to her? Are there any other pairings that needed external help to save their relationship?

And not only they needed external help but a gay character’s feelings were used to fix a straight relationship. If they are such a great pairing why not use something that El actually said/did to inspire Mike? Why did Will have to resort to lying and using his own thoughts to help Mike?

If the Duffers wanted to make them look like they have a beautiful and strong relationship they could have written it differently. But they didn’t.

And besides that, imagine how bad it would look for them if a gay character was used as a plot device to further a heterosexual relationship.

[vihbrj]

Me when Mike pull his hair behind his ears while talking with Will

[megamhafan]

i made a post on the reddit today, let’s see how people react

[bombaysapphireice]

Absolutely beautiful. Tears really.

About the Byler scene that changed it all

The van scene is by no means my favorite Byler scene because it hurts. A lot. But at the same time, the power that it holds cannot match anything else between Mike and Will for me.

We’ve seen years of Mike worrying about Will from the very first “that’s weird. I don’t see him.” To the “it was the best thing I’ve ever done.” From “it’s not my fault” to “I’m sorry” to “maybe you should have reached out more” to “friends. Best friends,” Mike is sincere. Over. And over. And over again. He loves out in the open for all to see, yes, even in his mistakes, but that’s what makes him human. That’s what makes him who he is. He’s sarcastic and quick and irritable, but oh, when he’s leading, inspiring, and guiding?

Will plays an important role in Stranger Things wherein we rarely get to see his heart. But no, of course we do. He’s the one everyone fought for since season 1, so of course he’s known to us. But that’s just it, everyone else fights for him. They say that proof of good character is if other people recognize it in you, and Will has been the center of that treatment from the very start. Sure, he’s also seen in very negative lights, being made fun of even when he’s assumed dead, but I don’t care about the people who don’t know him. I care about the people who do. And those who do search for him until he’s found. Never give up even when it seems theoretically impossible. Protect him, family and friends alike.

And those things may just be givens in most loving relationships, so let’s take it a step further. What do people say about him? In season 1, Mike asserts that Will risked his character’s life for The Party - an imaginary compromise - and Lucas immediately understands the signal to go out and save him, taking even a fictitious virtue and ascribing it so meaningfully to Will that it’s worth fighting for him in real danger. Then in season 2, Joyce recounts about Will giving a little girl his own toy truck simply because she was sad. In season 3, when Will is explaining what he thinks happened to the Mind Flayer and why it inexplicably seemed to return, Mike is at his defense, saying he’s right without a doubt. Will is trustworthy, and the rest follow. Then in season 4 in arguably one of the sweetest scenes in the whole show, Will and Jonathan are on the verge of tears, and when Will says that he’ll always be there for Jonathan, Jonathan says that he knows he will be. Will is selfless, venerable, caring and wise in a sweet mixture, and when he loves, people know it.

For everything. Everything except his love for Mike. His love for Mike is something that cannot be easily digested or explained. Looking back at that Will and Jonathan scene by the tub before the mind fight, this is something that takes a step into the part of his heart that no one readily sees or pays attention to. If it is, again, it’s pushed in ridicule, covered in insensitive names, not celebrated. It’s something that makes him cry, something that he can’t even say out loud. Jonathan was the one to recognize that things were complicated for his brother and he reached out, knowing that it was hurting Will.

But despite the pain. Despite all of the shame that comes with being who he is, he lets his love out in a big reveal, the most anticipated hint all season long in season 4. And who does he reveal his heart to? Mike. He both risks it all in front of the very person of his affection and gives everything up for him, including his own love.

But be not despaired, because love is not a finite resource.

I know that this scene hurts on so many levels, especially because of what Will says about himself, but look at how Mike sees Will. I don’t think that I even need to put evidence here, but it’s just so tender and important to realize that this is not a hopeless scene.

This is the one who’s on the other end of Will’s message. This kind of attention is not going to become, ‘oh, hey, Will, I’m sorry, but I can’t accept what you said because you lied to me about who it’s from.’ If Mike does say this, he’s a liar. Look at him. He’s seeing Will plenty without a guise on his end. This is Mike falling in love with what Will is offering him.

And given everything that we know about Mike who stops at nothing to protect the ones he loves and Will who would give himself up for the ones he loves, both loving to the point of sacrifice, hand in hand, how can you come away from this scene saying that Mike would easily reject Will? That Mike won’t listen to Will and consider both of their own affections? That they won’t find an understanding? That forgiveness is foreign to them?

Will has given Mike the power to decide to buy the lie or realize it. And in a show that revolves around “friends don’t lie” and uncovering hidden truths, I doubt that Mike is going to simply buy it.

And from there, how beautiful would it be for Mike to openly accept him? To give the boy who thought he lost it all the chance to be loved in a way that makes him feel not different in a world that hates him? And how much more sweet would it be for Will to forever make Mike feel special, unceasingly, without the need to lie? To let him know how adored he is and how he doesn’t have to fight his heart anymore over a romance of obligation rather than bliss?

Byler is endgame. We’re almost there. It just makes sense.

Happy Byler Day. 💙💛

[gaysforbyler]

I find it interesting how right before the rain fight, Lucas suggests calling the girls to apologize, and Mike’s response is, “We can do that?”

Meanwhile, the second Will stars getting mad, Mike tells Lucas, “No, we want to keep playing, right?”

Mike always feels the need to check if things are “allowed” when he’s with El. He lied to her because Hopper made him. He complains to Lucas that Hopper isn’t allowing them to see each other. He goes to the mall to buy El a present, because Lucas told him to. He listens to the straight men around him and follows their rules.

With Will, he doesn’t think. He does what comes naturally to him without any regard for societal norms. He doesn’t ask Lucas if he can run off to apologize to Will. He doesn’t need permission to hang out with him.

(Also, in s1, Mike only started liking El because Lucas said he did. Lucas and Hopper and his dad also told him not to go looking for Will, and what did he do? He went against social pressure)

[bkdk-bylerthings]

Why I think we’ll get a Byler dance scene in season 5

While getting ready for the snowball..we have a montage of the kids getting ready for it starting with Will. Johnathan records his brother and his mom teaching Will how to dance right as Joyce spins it’s focused on her then flashes to Mike.

In film it’s always important to have details like this for example someone in a scene could be talking about ‘I need to take a shower’ the next clip is a completely different character turning on the shower, I’m pretty sure this called momentum and to have a flow in said show.

So for it to switch to Mike it’s almost like Will was/is supposed to dance with Mike. I’d also like to point out this is all from a camera pov, 1st Jonathan ‘s video recorder to Karen’s camera

These clues are all over the place, you just have to pay close attention to notice them and realized they were done on purpose.

So this scene is just waiting to be finished just like many others in this show, season 5 will resolve everything.

[grandmasterinsider]

Please Mileven shippers try TO ANALYSE. You will LOVE this show even more after you stop the nile.

[beepingmemesauce2727]

Happy Birthday to our favorite clueless dork, Mike Wheeler!

[strangelysilver]

Mike constantly trying to call Will but never writing him actually makes a lot of sense.

Letters are tricky. They force the writer to consider the relationship between them and the person they’re writing.

Picking a greeting forces you to evaluate the level of intimacy between yourself and the recipient. There are “rules” to writing salutations. Use this for your girlfriend, that for your mother, that for your teacher, etc. “Dear Will” has different connotations than “To Will” or “Hey Will”, or like, “To whom it may concern”.

It’s the same with closings: “Love, Mike”? “From, Mike”? “Best regards, Mike”? I mean, Mike and El literally argue about this. There are expectations for which specific words to use with which specific people depending on the situation, relationship, and topic.

Calls are different. They’re much more like normal conversations, where words are said but the exact phrasing is much more flexible. There’s less worrying about how a specific sentence will be received because there’s less room for that sentence to be pulled apart for its implications.

Basically, Mike wanted to call Will instead of writing him because writing letters would force him to clarify their relationship via a greeting or closing… which would force him to confront his feelings. Ha.

also I’m personally a huge fan of the idea that Mike has a bunch of half written letters to Will that he gave up on because they were too revealing— to himself

[love-byers]

will byers may be a shy gay but he's more ballsy than ANY OF US COULD EVER BE

the boy he likes, his best friend, said "did you really think we were never gonna get girlfriends and just spend the rest of our lives together??" and without an ounce of shame he said YES I DID.

like it's insane that part of what mike said was literally "you thought we were never going to date girls" and will was like Yup sounds about right

and not only that, he manages to make mike FEEL BAD????? he made mike feel bad enough that he biked across town in the rain, banged on wills door, apologized, called himself a 'total asshole', and when will didn't answer didn't just accept that will didn't want to talk to him, he WALKED THROUGH THE WOODS IN THE DARK RAIN LOOKING FOR WILL

will don't worry you have that boy wrapped around your finger

[bonskidin64]

Guess who’s the birthday boy tomorrow!🤑

[brujadejunio]

Para quienes piensan así, me gustaría decir algo; primero que nada, Byler no encasilla la felicidad de Will solo en Mike. Will está deprimido porque se enamoró de su mejor amigo y no sabe cómo actuar, y sentirse al respecto. Will tiene mucha gente que lo quiere más allá de lo que siente por Mike ¿Lo necesita realmente para ser feliz? Por supuesto, pero también Mike necesita de Will para serlo. El propio Finn lo dijo de niño en una entrevista insinuando que Mike se sintió completo de nuevo una vez que Will apareció.

Si Finn lo entendió siendo un niño ¿por qué cierta parte del fandoM no?

Sumándo también lo que el propio Mike le dijo a Will antes de buscar a Eleven: "Hawkins no es lo mismo sin tí" "Sentí como si te hubiera perdido"

Entonces, ¿en qué se supone que somos hipócritas? ¿en desear que Will sea feliz con la persona que ama? Creo que dan por hecho que la felicidad plena de Mike es Eleven y viceversa cuando en realidad aún no sabemos cuáles son los verdaderos sentimientos de Mike.

En fin, siguen asumiendo cosas que aún no se aclararon dentro de la historia