#byler analysis

[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.

[love-byers]

i'm losing my goddamn mind. where do i even START

in the arcade scene, there is so much emphasis on mike putting his arm around will. it's extremely clear, in our faces. it's a soft, endearing moment of physical affection and comfort between them. we SEE the moment being initiated. its meant to stick out in your memory. i mean i dont know how else to to explain how different a scene like that is when we can SEE IT. we see it, all of it.

we don't see mike touch el, argyle is in the way. ARGYLE. we couldn't see a nice moment of physical affection between the main 'couple epic love story' of stranger things because they couldn't move argyle out of the shot for two fucking seconds?? and then in the second shot we still can't see his arm around her???? no, this was on purpose. the constant obscuring of mike and el's moments in s4 diminishes how the audience views their relationship. because their moments like that are not meant to be meaningful or stick out in your memory. because they are not in love, and their romantic relationship does not go past the surface level of physical touch. there is no deeper emotion here (as opposed to the byler scene where mike is COMFORTING will, steering him away from the scary moment), if anything it's about mike using that moment with el, putting his arm around her, to escape the awkward moment with argyle. and then when they're walking away not only can we still not see his arm around her, there are so many people around!! it is not a moment of connection between mike and el. meanwhile during the byler scene, we only see one person walk by in the far away shot, well after we've seen the arm grab moment.

we don't see mike put his arm around her because it doesn't matter. we don't need to see it because their relationship is on its last leg, it's going to end anyway. the writers/directors are breaking their relationship down by stripping these moments from us. diminishing the value of these moments by not giving them any attention or care in production. if the directors didn't care enough to show it, why should we even want to see it? or care? (edit: and ofc this is all 3d chess. it's all on purpose. they obscure mlvn on purpose, it's all part of subtextual storytelling.)

also duh the fact that we've only seen mike do this arm thing twice and it's with his girlfriend and the boy who's in love with him is extremely telling

[evilbookworm]

The most obvious Byler evidence to me is the fact that Will has a crush on Mike in the first place. Why did the writers choose to do that? How does this help the plot? What would the entire point of Will’s crush on Mike be if he doesn’t get to be with him? Sure, the duffers had to choose some way to make the audience realize Will is gay, but why Mike? He could’ve had a crush on Lucas, heck even Steve would’ve made sense. But no, it’s Mike. Mike, his best friend, Mike, the boy who’s been on his side since day one, Mike, who told Will that they’d go crazy together. Why would that love ever be unrequited? What was the point then? Just to show that queer people don’t get happy endings? Fuck that, dude.

[glisten-inthedark]

What is it with the Byler fandom picking and choosing what they listen to.

Like, for real.

Some leaker says that David wasn't full of shit and someone on the fandom runs with it and assumes he meant the thing about El and Mike when David also said Hopper was dead but he also said there has been a story they have been building up to since season 1.

Like guys I'm being for real right now, if yall going to spontaneously combust and just believe everything everyone says than you're not going to make it to season 5.

I say this with all the love I can muster, please stop freaking out over everything.

I understand people are jaded, and that they're scared and that they've been queerbaited and all that but you guys literally freak out over anything.

I don't think y'all understand how much solid ground Byler has compared to most other ships that were actual queerbaiting.

I already said this 500 times, but if Byler is queerbaiting it'd be the stupidest, worst case of queerbaiting I have ever seen in the 27 I have walked this earth and I mean it.

I have never - ever, ever - seen a couple that's supposed to be queerbaiting have the same level of care and development that Byler has.

Actually, I have seen the opposite of it.

And when I say this I'm not talking about pockets or lightnings or one way signs, I'm talking about the honest to goodness story.

I am talking about Mike being constantly singled our when it comes to Will, I am talking about the complete 180° in Mike's behavior, I am talking about the writers choosing to have Mike with Will instead of having him with El and choosing to pretty much implode their entire relationship with lies and lack of understanding of one another.

Do y'all understand how unusual it is for writers to actually choose to throw dynamite at the darling couple all the while they're creating a whole ass lie that they didn't address in the season therefore they have to address later, is?

Do y'all understand how unheard of it is that they split the "main couple" the entire season and when they reunite there's no kiss and there not even talking to each other after a grand love confession?

Because I'm not kidding when I say I have never seen this happening in my life.

So to be queerbaiting half of the audience while they're also creating a plot that doesn't need to exist for the queerbaiting to work while also destroying the couple that st the very least they want to end up together is so counterintuitive in the most molecular of levels.

And tbh they didn't even need to address that Will is gay - hell Hawaii 5-0 managed to queerbait thousands without it, so did Sherlock and to some level Teen Wolf.

So yeah, if this is queerbaiting they're shit at it.

[butter-bubbles]

Not these being the exact same argument about how they’re not paying enough attention to each other lmao, Mike is such a cringe fail boy kisser 😂🤣

Extended analysis of this parallel is linked here (yes this is a shameless plug bc if I have Byler brainrot so should everyone else + it took me like ten minutes to write)

[auntiejohn]

[brujadejunio]

¿Que opinan? 🫢

[honeymartinn81]

They are so cute together 🥰😻💓 I love byler my favorite ship I don't ship anyone else but them

[bylerpining]

I think this is what they're going to do 100%, and have for awhile. It makes sense, and it's made incredibly clear just by the last few scenes of s4. Especially knowing that there's going to be a time jump at the start of the season--no question, the season will start and mike and el will have already been broken up for some time, because they already did all the work to establish the breakdown of their relationship throughout the entirety of s4.

this is why it's insane to me that so many mlvn shippers are still convinced it's going to be endgame. all you have to do is watch s4... it's all there. the end of their relationship is cemented. to anyone with media comprehension it'll make perfect sense when they find out there was an offscreen breakup, because everything about the end of s4 implied it.

it's smart, imo, because this way it'll have been established that they ended on mutual terms without any hard feelings, and enough time has passed for them to spend the whole season building up byler without mlvns being able to accuse will of "being a homewrecker" or some shit

milkvans after calling bylers insane for years just to watch the first ep of s5 and mlvn is already amicably broken up, will's feelings are revealed and mike is acting gayer than ever

[myname1sca1]

When Finn Wolfhard's nervous lying tell (pursing his lips) shows in his acting

[love-byers]

mike watching will dance with a girl vs jonathan watching nancy dance with steve

both in s2 btw

[bylerpining]

wait fr bc what kind of response is that?? instead of reassuring your partner that you do love them or even saying it isn't true, your first reaction is "whaaat? nooo that's crazy... why, d-did someone tell you that..?"

"care...but you don't love me anymore?" "who...who said that i didn't?" i think it's interesting that besides not giving el the reassurance she's looking for, mike is worried that someone might have told el otherwise. he's literally worried about other people's opinion of him and how they perceive him. the internalized homophobia inside of him goes crazy.

[ghostlyaces]

Byler Kiss 🤭

[glisten-inthedark]

I was reading such a lovely Byler post and I lost it 😢

It was about Will falling for his friend and never having his feelings reciprocated and that being the experience of queer people and how ST could break that stigma by going another direction.

It had the rain fight scene in it. Does anyone have the link?

[butter-bubbles]

How Mike's S4 Rink-o-Mania Fight Parallels Will's S3 Rain Fight....

OMG, OMG, OMG. So while allowing chronic Byler brainrot to consume my thoughts, I had a revelation and I'm not okay. Like at all.

Okay, so in S3 with the iconic Byler rain fight, Will says this:

This whole fight stems from two feelings.

Will's upset that Mike's ignoring and neglecting their friendship to "swap spit with some stupid girl", thus ruining their party.

Will feels abandoned by the person who he's developing romantic feelings for and doesn't know how to handle it.

This was never about the party, not really. It was about Mike's failure to be a good friend to Will and Will's frustration at not being a priority in Mike's life when Mike is a huge priority in his.

Now, let's look at what Mike says to Will during their Rink-O-Mania fight:

This is an interesting choice of words, as it's not an exact parallel to "ruining". Instead, he says "sabotaging", as though Will was actively trying to ruin their date by being snide and sarcastic. Implicitly, it reveals to the audience that Mike believes Will has enough influence over his and El's date to ruin it at all with some very minor sass.

But let's put that aside for a moment and think about what Mike is actually talking about here, since it clearly has nothing to do with El

Will is attempting to sabotage his relationship by... not being as nice and emotionally invest in Mike as he usually is.

Now we know that at the end of S3 that Will promises not to join a new party, and Mike breaks out into this absolutely elated smile.

But at the beginning of S4, Mike fiinds out that Will might have a girl he likes via the letter from El.

Will brings the girl's painting to the airport, Mike does not ask about the girl/crush (like most friends would) but instead very weirdly/passive aggressively questions Will about the painting after awkwardly ignoring his hug, and then spends the remainder of the date pretending to ignore Will and getting pissed at him.

So for reason number #2 we can deduce:

2. Mike is upset that Will is neglecting their relationship for a girl by bringing her painting to their reuinion at the airport and not paying attention to him/acting rude during his date with his girlfriend.

If you look at the reasonings side-by-side, they're basically exact parallels to one another, even down to the immediate denial from both Mike ("That's not true!") and Will ("She was lying to you!"). In fact, I'd argue Mike's accusation is even more damning because it's basically admitting that Will has influence over his relationship with his girlfriend and that he believes Will is intentionally ruining something dear to him, while Will's accusation is more about Mike's inconsiderateness/selfishness. Mike lets Will know Will has influence over him through his willful acts of sabotage whereas Will doesn't even think Mike is considering him at all/he has no influence over Mike because he's too wrapped up in his relationship with El. Will accuses Mike of "ruining our party" because his feelings for Mike go deeper than friendship and therefore he feels neglected when he isn't Mike's priority, and Mike accuses Will of "sabotag[ing] the whole day" because his feelings for Will go deeper than friendship and he feels neglected when he isn't Will's priority.

This parallel just seems like further proof that Will's feelings are reciprocated because there's no way it's a coincidence that both of their signifcant fights in S3/S4 mirror each other so perfectly if the show wasn't trying to communicate that they have mutual romantic feelings/crushes towards one another. They're literally having the exact same argument, but this time it's flipped with Mike expressing disproportionate anger at Will's lack of interest in him. This is great foreshadowing for the #WillfellfirstbutMikefellharder agenda!!

[teambyler]

My video "A LAWYER'S EVIDENCE that Mike and Will become a romantic pair in Stranger Things" is out!

Many of you have followed me ( @teambyler ) or read my essays analyzing Byler (I've linked some of the most-shared ones below). I am actually also a LAWYER who has a YouTube channel called RONALD OFF THE RECORD, and I just released my big video on Byler! (I also have another YouTube channel with 45K subscribers that I mention in the video)

I'm prepared to put my professional reputation as a lawyer on the line to comment on a piece of science fiction, because goddammit this is important to me! It is not "delusional" to think Will and Mike will become a couple, and there is nothing wrong with you if want it to happen! This is a video essay I've been planning for at least SIX MONTHS, and I put a lot of work into it. Please share, and please leave comments. Enjoy! =D

0:00 Why this video 1:38 Hate for Byler on the internet 10:16 Case for Mileven 15:21 Case for Byler: Starting premises 17:56 If Will were a girl… 25:30 The evidence! 29:05 EXHIBIT A: The Snow Ball 31:34 B: Mike's reactions to El and Will being upset 34:21 C: Season 3 ending montage 39:16 D: Airport reunion 47:51 E: Rink-O-Mania argument 51:28 F: Heteronormativity, audience expectations 58:25 G: Throwing away the letter 59:55 H: 2nd heart-to-heart scene 1:05:43 I: Mike can't say he loves El 1:13:27 J: Platonic reunion 1:15:12 K: Will's role convincing Mike to say "I love you" 1:20:08 L: Effect of the "love confession" on El 1:39:54 M: The Painting Lie 1:43:22 Honorable mentions 1:45:27 Non-diegetic evidence 2:01:23 Actor statements 2:10:34 NOT how you write an unrequited love story 2:16:07 Why Byler SHOULD happen (queerbaiting, etc.) 2:28:21 A more powerful story 2:35:45 A personal note

I'm now making this my new pinned post, so I'll list a few of my posts here for people to check out.

ADDITIONS: -28:00 On "We should normalize same-sex friends being affectionate, they don't have to be gay," I should have been clearer. HOMOPHOBIA is the reason for that stigma. Straight friends feeling like they can be affectionate in our society HAS to include normalizing LGBT+ people. -1:16:55 I should've said this more clearly: Will reminded Mike that who HE is, HIS unique qualities, make him worthy of love and make El love him, not dumb luck. And Will of course could convey that because Will loves the actual nerd MIke and everything he is. -1:17:06 Mike making El "not feel like a mistake" doesn't fit El, because she says that Mike looks at her "like I'm a monster, too". Nor did she "push you away because she was afraid of losing you". That's Will, not El. Mike felt love because Will was describing himself. -1:52:36 I forgot to mention that, in the original Nina opera, Nina's lover is ALIVE and DOES return. The Duffers changed the story so that Nina's lover does NOT return, to further suggest Mike won't return! -2:35:22 I'm kicking myself for not being more specific about Mike and Will being heroes in more than one way: I think the theme of bullying from s1 will return, with Will (and also Mike) having to face bullying for being boyfriends in Hawkins.

EDIT: I hit 1000 subs, only to discover THIS VIDEO CANNOT BE MONETIZED. ='( I think I put over 100 hours of work in this video, and this isn't sustainable for me unless I get support. This also means I can't make public videos with the same quality -- using show clips and music makes a stronger impact. I've considered deleting and reposting an edit, but that would losing all the wonderful comments and CUTTING OUT THE LAST SCENE. ='( ='( ='( NO. FUCKING. WAY.

So this is what'll happen: future videos NOT use clips and music to the same extent, except versions I post on my Patreon. And I need Patrons because I don't make money as a social-justice lawyer, and rely on that plus YouTube ads. Here's the Patreon link! (Any future video will be clipped, with the full version on Patreon) https://www.patreon.com/c/theruleslawyer

Some other @teambyler posts:

Mike was saying "I love you" to Will

Questions to ask if ever you have Byler doubt

How the Duffers have set Will up to have a happy ending in Season 5

The most heartbreaking way Byler can culminate (and how I predict it will) (I know this is less likely than an "escape from Camazotz" possession scenario, but I still want this to happen =D )

-teambyler